Spence changes provide classic new feel at Starmount Forest

Call it a restoration. Or call it an update. Both would be accurate descriptions of Kris Spence’s recent work at Starmount Forest Country Club.

Either way, Spence and Starmount Forest president John Barbee agree that the finished product has a more consistent flow, offering a greater challenge to good players while giving more options to high-handicappers and shorter hitters.

The most obvious changes are in bunkering and green complexes.

“It’s a new day at Starmount, for sure,” said Spence, the Greensboro-based architect who has specialized in restoring many of the characteristics of classic layouts, especially the designs of legendary architect Donald Ross. “There’s more change than what you can initially see.”

“The changes are spectacular in the way that the golf course looks and how it feels,” said Barbee. “It’s a new golf course for each and every member.”

The multi-million project, which closed the course for more than a year, opened to members on October 18. The wet summer caused delays in grassing the fairways and resulted in sodding of about 20 acres. Spence credits superintendent Brooks Turner and his staff with getting the course ready despite the wet weather.

Common to many classic courses, Starmount had changed over the years with normal changes in maintenance and periodic updates.

Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek designed the west Greensboro course in 1930. In 1947, Starmount played host to the 1947 U.S. Women’s Open. 

George Cobb, the architect of Quail Hollow and the Augusta National par-3 course, made renovations and tweaks in 1970. Lester George, whose original designs include Ballyhack in Roanoke, Virginia, made changes, many that improved drainage in 1999.

Spence wanted to restore the old-style feel, though not build a replica.

“Both changes took it away from an older, classic style,” Spence said. We wanted to make it look like the course was built in 1930s.”

Spence tweaked each hole in multiple ways. Bunkers were added, eliminated and moved.

Zoysia tee boxes were leveled, widened and lowered. Some were moved. A few new back tees were added. Some trees were removed – the par-3 eighth hole is more visible from Holden Road – to open sight lines.

Many bunkers were repositioned to coincide with the increased of today’s players. The new capillary concrete bunkers drain quickly and play consistently. 

Spence removed much of the mounding around greens, providing some shaved areas around the putting surface for greater chipping options. Areas behind greens where mounds had served as backstops now filter away from the green.

Areas around the front of greens were firmed up with a sand base to allow approaches to roll on to the new TifEagle surfaces, which were recontoured to accommodate the faster speeds. The Tahoma 31 collars are durable and resist encroaching on TifEagle.

“The biggest change is the change in the greens, the subtle breaks and challenges added to the greens,” Barbee said. “I’m surprised how well they are putting after only a few weeks.”

About 15 acres surrounding the TifTuf fairways were planted in fescue for a new natural look.

A few new back tees add about 150 yards, making the par-72 layout play to about 6,700 yards from the tips. Course rating and slope were not yet available.

Keeping the course in pristine condition will be much easier thanks to a new irrigation system with 1,000 sprinkler heads, each of which can be controlled separately. The old sprinkler system was three decades old.

Spence made significant changes on the par-5 seventh, the course’s most visible and, arguably, its signature hole, which stretches along Starmount Drive near Holden.

Spence eliminated three bunkers on the left side of the fairway, while placing a new bunker to the left reachable for long hitters. Another two bunkers tighten the second landing area.

A bunker right of the green was removed, allowing the green to move close to the lagoon that extends down the length of the right side with a roll off toward the hazard.

The bunkering on No. 8 features a new bunker with a grassy island on the front left and a small pot on the back left. The right bunker was repositioned, leaving a small corridor open to the green, though shots to the right can filter off the surface.

At the short par-4 ninth, a half-dozen bunkers were tweaked and moved, opening up part of the fairway, but tightening the shot for bigger hitters trying to drive the green. A back bunker was removed and replaced by a slope.

“To drive the green, you have to thread the needle,” Spence said.

The 12^th green was moved back to a new spot. A new back tee, shared with 18, can extend the hole from 384 yards to more than 450 yards. The slope on the uphill approach was softened to prevent shots that come up short from rolling back down the hill.

A new back tee at 18 was extended back adjacent to the 17^th green. New bunkering design adds difficulty to a long-iron approach into the short par-5 finishing hole.

As pleased as the members are with the improvements, Barbee said results of the renovations will be more impressive when warm weather returns.

“It’s been an overwhelming success to the membership of Starmount Forest,” Barbee said. “We can’t wait until springtime comes around, we get a full growth season and everything turns green.”