After 43 years, Anaheim Hills Golf Course is getting a makeover – partly from design but mostly out of necessity.
Built in 1972, the 110-acre golf complex on the eastern edge of the city has built its reputation on canyon vistas overlooking lush turf on hills and fairways. But as California’s drought deepened, water bills skyrocketed and resulted in a renovation project to remove 29 acres of turf. When completed at the end of December, the new landscaping will conserve an estimated 35 million gallons of water per year.
“The goal is to lower the water use at this facility,” said general manager Cameron Carr of Championship Golf Services, which runs the course. “And we’re doing the right thing for the community and the environment. When it’s finished, the golf course will have a brand new look that I think is an improvement on the original design.”
The $2.5 million project is funded by the Metropolitan Water District’s turf reduction program. Earlier this year, MWD, which manages water for 26 cities and water districts, mandated a 20 percent reduction across the board in water consumption. One incentive to comply with the order is a program that pays homes and businesses a rebate for replacing turf with drought-tolerant landscaping.
“We’ve always had discussions about how to cut our water use and what would be feasible,” Carr said. “When MWD came up with this program, we did our due diligence and immediately applied for the funding.”
Once approved, the first step was hiring Costa Mesa-based golf course architect Casey O’Callaghan and Palm Desert landscape architect Ken Alperstein to survey and redesign the golf course.
“Both of them have done turf reduction projects for other golf courses so they knew the ins and outs of the MWD program and how it worked,” Carr said. “They also were able to work with MWD to get an extension for the time of the project since we are a city owned golf course and the approval process takes a lot more time.”
The two architects identified 29 acres of nonessential play areas on the course where turf could be removed. Much of those areas will be landscaped with small–, medium- and high-density shrubs, native grasses and wildflowers that are drought tolerant and designed to blend with the existing hillside environment.
Since the affected areas will mainly affect errant shots, “the project won’t make the golf course more difficult to play,” Carr said.
“Most of the new landscaped areas will be designed so golfers can play a shot,” he added. “Of course, in the area of high-density shrubs, the ball will be unplayable.”
The new design will also relocate five women’s tees and four men’s tees, with another improvement a new tee on the 250-yard fifth hole, one of the longest par-3s in the region.
“The new tee will play 200 to 190 yards. Still a challenge, but I think we’ll get rid of the logjam of golfers that used to get backed up on the hole when we had high-traffic days,” Carr said. “The new women’s tees are needed because this is a really hard golf course for them. The new tees play a tad shorter and gives them better angles into those five holes.”
Initially, Carr feared that construction on the course would slow play and adversely affect customers.
“But I learned quickly that our contractor, American Landscape, it’s not their first rodeo. They’ve done a lot of these golf projects,” he said. “I thought all the new tees would be very time intensive. But they can do them in one to three days each. So far it’s gone smoothly and we’re on time.”
BY THE NUMBERS
6,266 – Yards from the back tees of the par-71 course
905 – Difference, in yards, from the tips to the forward tees
296, 254 – Yardage, from the back tees, at the shortest par-4 (No. 4) and the longest par-3 (No. 5)
71.4, 124 – Rating and slope from the back tees
30,000 – Square footage of the Clubhouse, a Spanish Mediterranean building on property for business and social events
$52-$70 – Standard rates, including cart, for non-members on weekdays, weekends and holidays
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