Kenwood completes course renovation to mark 90-year anniversary

Below are excerpts from an article that originally appeared in Golf Course Architecture.

Kenwood Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, has reopened its Kendale course following a renovation by golf course design firm Fry/Straka.

The project was prompted by the club’s need to update the irrigation system for both its Kendale and Kenview courses. The Kendale renovation began in August 2019, with Fry/Straka principal Jason Straka saying: “The club wanted to explore what other improvements should be done ahead of time, or in concert with the irrigation installation. Refurbished bunkers were on their list, as was improved drainage and removing overgrown trees.”

Over 800 large trees were removed as part of the renovation. “The trees were choking the course,” said Straka. “Yes, they made the rough and fairways much thinner and susceptible to disease, as well as shading out many tees and greens, but they also narrowed the fairways and disabled so much of the original strategy of the course. With tree removal, we were able to widen the fairways back to what they historically had been in most cases.

“This made a profound impact when restoring much of the original bunkering, which strategically cut into the wide fairways at different angles and distances. This is what brought back the strategy.”

Fry/Straka also rebuilt all the course’s greens. “The restoration of the greens is significant,” said Straka. “The slopes were so severe that many interesting pin locations behind bunkers, or ridges, had completely become obsolete. The original greens were laser scanned and rebuilt with all the same nuances, but just at softer slopes in critical pin locations. This will result in hole locations not seen on Kendale for 30 or more years.”

Click here to read the full article on golfcoursearchitecture.net.