Holes reshaped at Camelback

30 August 2011

The famous JW Marriott Camelback Inn in Scottsdale has completed a renovation of two holes on its Padre course.

“We had a couple of holes where the sight lines weren't the best from the tee box,” said Kirk Hardin, the resort’s director of golf grounds. “We wanted to improve those holes by moving some mounds and relocating bunkers.”

Camelback hired Arizona-based construction firm Pro Turf International to do the reshaping, and the work started in June. Kip Wolfe, Pro Turf’s director of operations, said: “Not only is this an outstanding resort, it has a lot of history. The golf courses are really well done. We were just called on to slightly improve upon what is already a great golf product.”

Pro Turf was reshape the fairway landing areas on the fourteenth and sixteenth holes of the Padre course, which was originally designed by Arthur Hills’s firm. Both holes featured extensive mounding with bunkers in the middle of the fairway. On the fourteenth hole, the firm cut a new bunker on the left side of the fairway and removed the high mounding. 

“That allowed for more landing area for tee shots, and better line of sight for the golf hole,” said Wolfe. “We basically did the same thing on the sixteenth, cutting a new bunker on the right side, and removing the large mounding that was in the landing area. These changes made the holes more playable.”

Hardin agrees. “Now you can see from the tee box how the hole is supposed to be played,” he said.