Bald Mountain Golf Course in Lake Lure, NC

Here is a project with a ridiculously low budget seven years in the making before I was hired. The scope of work was a greens complex renovation for the typical agronomic/severe slopes reasons. The project was accomplished over the span of two winters. The golf course was originally designed by a local and was the typical mountain golf course. It was one of two layouts that comprised the Lake Lure Golf & Beach Resort. Although labeled a resort course, it also had its own membership. The $700,000 budget initially did not include all the bunkers, but through strict cost control and smart decision making, we were able to renovate enough bunkers to make the project a cohesive one. In many cases, we just re-worked bunker faces and replaced sand to give a whole new look.

In a project with such a tight budget the costs typically become the primary design tool. Bald Mountain was no different. But with constraint comes opportunity and an almost throwback attitude to the golf course projects of the past. Whereas my golf architect ancestors were limited in the amount of dirt moved due to machinery, I was similarly forced to produce creative design solutions due to the amount of money we could spend. The end result at Bald Mountain is a textbook example of Richard Mandell Golf Architecture’s cost control methodology. Whenever a design decision was made, I consulted my quantities allowance and was successful in staying in budget.

Bald Mountain Golf Course is a great example of showing that great design does not cost money. It is a testament in the sense that interesting putting green contours and pleasing bunker lines (in addition to the basic function of the features) come with well thought-out design decisions and experience in understanding what is important to great golf design – and it is not necessarily money!