Renovation of the Year 2023: Private Clubs

What makes a good architect when it comes to renovation? Big name, innovative ideas, great smile? Try thoroughness.

While thoroughness may not be the flashiest quality, it can make the difference between a course that stands the test of time and one that makes a big initial splash but quickly fades because of design or construction problems.

This year’s Renovation of the Year winners are all noted for their thoroughness.

In the private sector, Brian Silva’s remake of Metairie Country Club in Louisiana took the top spot. To celebrate 100 years of operation, the course went back to its original design.

“Silva, working with Mr. Darryl Bartlett and his team at NMP Golf Construction, made this a reality while overcoming adverse weather conditions and logistical hurdles during the pandemic,” said Paul Reuter, former club president and chair of the renovation committee. “Membership is extremely excited with Brian’s design, which brought back our Seth Raynor heritage.”

Golf Inc.’s Renovation of the Year once again sought nominations from across the globe and judged entries on the following criteria: vision; course aesthetics; economic and environmental sustainability; and course routing and land use. This year’s judges were Jason Sloan, director and project manager at Frontier Golf; John Buser, general manager at TPC Colorado; and a panel of Golf Inc. editors.

Here are the winners for the Private Club category.

(Excerpted from the July/August 2023 issue of Golf Inc.)

FIRST PLACE

Metairie Country Club
Metairie, Louisiana
Owner: Metairie Country Club
Architect: Brian Silva
Contractor: NMP Golf Construction
Cost: $10 million

For Metairie Country Club’s centennial in 2022, the owners wanted to make the course more reminiscent of its original provenance while also updating its infrastructure.

This included installation of a new drainage system with more than 550 basins and several miles of drainage pipe, as well as a new irrigation system, which addressed the club’s inadequate drainage, failing greens and poor turf conditions.

The course was reshaped to resemble the original 1922 Seth Raynor design while adding such features as new USGA greens, bunker lining and high-end bunker sand, more than 15 acres of fairway and close-cut areas, all-new cart paths to reduce wear on the grassed areas, enhanced approaches, expanded ponds with new overflow structures and bulkhead walls, and repositioned tees to refashion the holes into a more recognizable…