Gardagolf Country Club, on the southwest shores of Lake Garda in northern Italy, has completed work on all 27 holes following a bunker renovation by Pierfrancesco De Simone.

The club, which is located between Brescia and Verona, has three nines called Red, White and Yellow. The 27 holes were originally designed by Donald Steele in 1986 with the club going on to host four European Tour events, three on the Challenge Tour and one on the Ladies European Tour.

“Gardagolf is laid out on hills, creating a natural amphitheatre with great views towards the lake and the Alps in the background,” said De Simone. “Since opening almost 40 years ago, the course had not changed much from its original layout except for the addition of a few fairway bunkers and new back tees to keep up with modern hitting distances.”

De Simone developed a plan to modernise the three nines, focusing on the bunkers. “Almost all bunkers had erosion issues and very poor drainage, especially when torrential rain occurred,” he said. “In addition to maintenance issues, many bunkers were located in areas where the growing vegetation hid them from golfers’ view or were quite far away from the line of play.”

The architect proposed reshaping bunkers, almost halving the overall bunker square footage, relocating hazards closer to the line of play and grassing over bunkers that were out of position.

Bunker faces have been rebuilt with EcoBunker edging and IdealBunker liner, installed by Wald und Garten. “This work will reduce maintenance costs and better define the bunker profile to create a nicer aesthetic, especially during the morning light and evening sunset,” said De Simone.

In addition to the bunker work, a ditch in front of the seventh green on the Red nine was excavated to solve a drainage issue and, at the seventh on the White, a new green was built to extend the hole by around 50 metres. “The new green is located very close to a water hazard, making it very hard to get to the green in two shots,” said De Simone.