Bunker down at Moses Pointe

MOSES LAKE – The final few nips and tucks are still being applied, but it is obvious the facelift started back in 2003 has been worth the considerable time and money spent in enhancing the appearance of an already alluring golf course.

The Links at Moses Pointe, with its scenic views of nearby Moses Lake; huge, slick greens, and wide variety of challenging holes, has been a popular early spring destination for Spokane-area golfers since it first opened in 1999. But the ongoing renovation, which should be completed by the time it plays host to the WSGA Men’s Amateur Championship in late June, has given the links-style layout a look more befitting its stature as one of the best in the Pacific Northwest.

As part of the upgrade, the courses new ownership group, Moses Pointe Holdings, LLC, has planted nearly 200 trees and added three sets of championship tees that can stretch the distance from the tips to a formidable 7,549 yards.

Still in the works are the addition of two sets of forward tees, a redesign of the funky par-4 13th hole and the reopening of the original tee boxes on No. 11, which will allow the hole to be played as either a par-4 or par-5.

But the most striking improvement is the addition of 35 bunkers and the enlargement of several existing ones.

“The bunker project was really the main focus of the renovation project,” explained Bill Porter, who was promoted from head professional to Director of Golf by the course’s new owners. “It was mainly just a matter of taking some holes that didn’t have a lot of visual excitement and doing something that wouldn’t necessarily make them more difficult, but that would, perhaps, frame the holes better and make them visually exciting.”

Examples abound, but the best use of the new bunkering strategy can be found on the 461-yard, par-4 eighth hole, which, prior to the renovation, was as non-descript as any on the course.

“That’s probably where the bunkering effect is the most dramatic,” Porter said. “Before, it played like a long bowling alley – ridiculously flat and as straight as you could laser it, and that’s what we had to work with.”

So what Florida-based architect Randy Ray, who was hired to design and oversee the renovation, did was add a pair of crossing bunkers on opposite sides of the fairways. From the tee box, the hole now appears considerably more daunting as the new bunkers squeeze the landing area to a knee-knockingly narrow width – visually, at least.

“There is about 30 yards between that first bunker on the left and the one on the right,” Porter noted, “So if you take your drive over the left bunker with a little bit of a fade, there’s actually quite a bit of landing room.

“More than anything, the new bunkers took a hole that was fairly blah and made it more visually exciting and interesting.”

New bunkers play a different role on the 572-yard, par-5 sixth hole, where any drive lost to the right in past years often ended up in one of the many native grass areas that Porter aptly describes as “native junk,” where lies routinely range from unplayable to unfindable.

To make the hole less penal, a series of bunkers was added to the right side of the fairway as a way to keep errant drives from rolling into even deeper trouble.

“Most average golfers can really get it going to the right,” Porter explained, “so what we did was took the whole right side of the landing area and peppered it with bunkers to help players keep from hitting it in the junk.

“That’s typical of much of the bunkering we’ve done. It not only makes the hole look better, but it also protects people from going into places where they really don’t want to go.”

One problem hole the bunkering plan couldn’t fix was the 434-yard, par-4 13th, where golfers playing the course for the first time and not knowing how much of dogleg to cut off were faced with the distinct possibility of watching a well-aimed and solidly struck drive land in the middle of the sloping fairway and run into the pond guarding the side.

To remedy the situation, Ray designed a new hole adjacent to the existing one that will play about the same distance, while giving golfers a less confusing look off the tee. The new hole as been shaped and seeded and is expected to be ready to play for the state amateur, which will take place June 24-27.

Another project currently in progress is the re-grooming of the original tee boxes on the 11th hole, which was changed from a par-5 to a par-4 during the facelift. The original hole, which doglegged left and played around a small lake, stretched 561 yards from the back tees, but drew criticism from golfers of all levels because of its difficulty and the uncertainty it cultivated from the tee box.

“We heard so many negative comments about that hole, and I agreed with them,” Porter said. “Not only was it difficult, but if you’re a good player, you can stand up on that 11th tee, hit a really good drive and watch it roll through the fairway and out of bounds.”

There was also a temptation to aim drives, Porter added, down the 13th fairway to the left of the lake, because “that’s where the golfer’s eye went.”

As a fix, new tee boxers were constructed near the elbow of the dogleg and the holes was shortened to a 326-yard risk-reward par-4 featuring extensive bunkering on both sides of the narrow fairway.

The fix, however, has not sat well with the locals who regularly play the course. And it has further confused first-time visitors, who must now drive past the overgrown original tee boxes and halfway down the original fairways to the new tees.

“That was one hole where we really didn’t have a good feel for what the golfers wanted,” Porter admitted. “It was really ticking off the players who had never played the course before, so we decided to make a cute, little par-4 with bunkering down both sides and make it really nice looking.

“But it was like that ugly building in town that everyone’s always complaining about. Once you finally tear it down, everyone is suddenly, like, ‘Why did you do that?’ And now we’ve got everyone telling us how much they miss the old hole.”

As a result, the original tee boxes are being restored and hole will be converted back to a par-5.

The problem with looking left off the tee box has been solved by the maturation of nearby vegetation, which has grown tall enough to obscure the view of the adjacent 13th fairway.

“We feel that when we put it back in play in a week or so, it’ll be a much, much better hole,” Porter said. “We’ll still have all of the new bunkering, which will now frame your approach to the green rather than your drive.”

One of the new tee boxes will still be maintained, however, so those wishing to play the hole as a short par-4 can do so.

With the renovation nearly complete, Porter is receiving increased feedback from golfers, and most of it – for good reason – has been positive.

“Any time you start a project like this, you’re at a little bit of risk because you’re messing with a golf course that has been well-received by the general public since it first opening,” he said.

“We knew we needed to make some changes, but we didn’t want to alienate the people who really liked the course the way it was.

“And I think we’ve done that, because the majority of those coming through have had just great things to say about the renovations.”