With the US$5 million renovation almost half-complete at the Texas A&M University golf course, Sterling Golf’s Rene Rangel and designer Jeff Blume gave a sneak peak of how progress is coming along.

At a press conference at the university, Rangel said that the course is still on course to open this autumn.

“We're behind about 30 days,” said Rangel, the renovation projects principal. “We hope to make some of that up here in the next couple of months but we still anticipate opening in the fall.”

One huge feature of the renovation is the addition of sand soil base to the fairways. Normally used on tee boxes and greens, the sand soil will be used by the ton advance what is currently clay and hard dirt and improve the overall golfing experience.

“We intended this course to be an early American style golf course, something that harkens back to the designs of Seth Raynor, CB Macdonald and AW Tillinghast,” commented Jeff Blume. “They were really the pioneers of golf course design in the United States. Theirs was outstanding work, and we wanted to do something that really pays homage to that, and I think we’ve done that.”

“The elevated greens create a lot of interesting chip shots and playability factors around the putting surfaces that I think people will enjoy. The wide fairways are generous and the idea is to get people around this course in 4 and a half hours,” continued Blume.

Other features include the large number of bunkers on the course, totalling close to 150, a state-of-the-art irrigation system, and a machine-maintainable design meaning easy contouring and few mounds.