Todd Quitno gets green light for Lincoln overhaul

The Country Club of Lincoln in Nebraska has approved a renovation plan from Todd Quitno and Landscapes Unlimited is expected to begin construction in July 2025.

“The club last assessed and commissioned major course renovation work during the 1990s,” said Quitno. “Thirty years is a long time – many first-rate golf and country clubs keep a course architect on a loose retainer, to check in from time to time and offer opinions on the state of holes, safety issues, agronomic health and the ever-evolving state of tree growth, among other issues. CC Lincoln had never gone this route, so the issues have multiplied and piled up over the decades.

“The greens are 30 years old. The life expectancy of a putting surface is generally thought to be 20 to 30 years, so this is the appropriate time to be considering an update.”

Work on greens will include the resurfacing of all 18 putting surfaces, with some to be expanded and others relocated.

Quitno believes the layout at CC Lincoln is ripe for change: “This whole golf course, today, is a bit too much down the middle and one-dimensional – visually and strategically,” he said. “The renovation will add options. More width for higher handicappers to manoeuvre and more teeth in the right spots for better players. The greens are big a part of achieving this balance: we plan to uniformly move greenside bunkers closer to putting surfaces. That’s going to increase challenge across the board. But we’ll also be creating more strategic places to miss, places that are easier to recover from.”

A series of design changes will require members think more strategically when playing tee to green. For example, every green complex will be flanked, to some degree, by closely mowed chipping or collection areas, allowing for a variety of recovery shots.

Bunkers will be updated too. “The new bunker design does away with mounding and other obstructions in front. It also flashes sand up on the faces of these bunkers,” said Quitno. “We want golfers to see them and make strategic decisions based on what they see.”

One huge bunker will come into play alongside the eleventh and sixteenth greens, part of an aim for golfers to converge and interact more over the course of the round.

Tree management is a big part in Quitno’s plan. “Most golf courses occupy a property footprint of some 130 to 150 acres,” he said. “CC Lincoln occupies just 110 acres, where, today, more than 1,000 trees crowdedly take root. Such limited acreage also creates some risks outside the club footprint – on each of the club’s boundary holes, where golf balls can leave the property and endanger cars and people on public streets and neighbouring parcels.

“The masterplan includes reorienting these boundary holes to direct play more inwardly. In doing so, we recommended the removal of dozens of trees – many from the left side of boundary-hole fairways, to better invite safe play away from the streets.

“Though they are certainly an integral part of any golfing landscape, trees on a golf course do pose a multitude of problems. They compete with turfgrass for nutrients, sunshine and water. As they grow, they compete ever more effectively – and obscure play more dramatically.”

Around 200 trees will be removed, including several cottonwoods that obstruct play. Tree removal will also open long views across the course and allow for more connectivity between holes. This will be evidenced by clearing trees in corridors between holes one and eighteen, seven and eight, and thirteen and fifteen.

“On a tight property like CC Lincoln, excessive tree plantings also give a feeling of diminished scale,” said Quitno. “By selectively removing trees in key areas, without sacrificing safety, we can open up long views, giving it more visual connectivity and appeal, while making it seem more expansive than perhaps it is.”

The architect has also reconsidered teeing areas. “The tee shot is the only shot that we as architects can even remotely control,” said Quitno. “How and where the hole is played after that will vary for every golfer. So, what we call ‘drive equity’ is our main goal, including the staggering of tees so that everyone is hitting their drives into the same general landing areas, with the more forward tees offset in some areas to have more chance to dodge the hazards.”

Quitno identified that the forward tees were playing too long for the club’s shorter hitters, so his plan addresses that issue by shifting them further down the fairway. He also recognised that the distances between tees was too large, so he is aiming to position them so all abilities have a suitable tee. For those playing from the back tees around 100 yards will be added to the course length.

The club also wanted to increase car parking capacity, so Quitno has reconfigured holes five and six to create space for 38 new parking spaces and to expand the practice facilities. By moving a maintenance access road to the north, more space for employee parking will be created.

“I think of this club as one of the top two or three high-end private clubs in the state,” said Jake Muhleisen, club president and long-range masterplan committee member. “The proposed changes take our most valuable piece of real estate, our greens, to the next level. Each proposed upgrade would put our club in a more favourable position in a competitive golf market for the next 30 years.”

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