There are differing opinions on what an opening hole should “do” for a golf course. One side of the discussion suggests that an opening hole should be a warm and welcoming handshake that allows players to ease into their round. Another side feels just as strongly that the opening hole on a course should serve as a clear introduction to the style of design and type of features that players will encounter as they make their way around the course.
The original design at Brookside came down distinctly on the side of the latter as it clearly introduced the concept of random bunkering that creates movement in fairways that are more adequately sized so that alternate routes of play are made available to players of varying abilities.

A short landing area bunker on the left and bunkers left and right frame the drive zone and add multiple landing areas down the length of the golf hole. Bunkers left and right are rebuilt such that they sit below the level of the green and the odd front hazard has been eliminated and the area restored to fairway.

The green itself is extended/restored back right such that a more testing pin position can be set behind the right-side bunker.

Original bunker concepts are restored in the landing area with the left side bunker pushed a bit further down the fairway. Alternate fairway landing areas are highlighted by the fairways becoming wider short and long of fairway bunkers.
Vintage photos suggested a second landing area identified by bunkers and these have been restored and the resulting fairway made to twist and turn as close cut turf moves around the replaced hazards.

Oddly small bunkers short of and closer to the green have been eliminated and the green bunkered to the left and right sides.
The green is extended/restored to the right rear and close cut turf extended to connect to the back tee on #3.

 

A prominent bunker with a bite off angle was added down the left side of the hole and this bunker, in concert with an approach bunker on the right, imparts pleasing movement in the fairway as it makes its way to the green.

The green had been rebuilt in the contemporary fashion that found the putting surface below green side bunkers in the style some refer to as low green/high surrounds. This was in direct contrast to the vintage manner that often-found greens higher than its greenside hazards in the high green/low surrounds set up.

Excess material around the green was cut away and bunkers cut down into the ground in order to restore the green to a more Brookside appropriate style where bunkers sit below the level of the putting surface.
 

A narrow corridor of play that could still be improved by removal of a few additional trees down the left side of the golf hole.
The drive zone is unencumbered with fairway bunkers but then a central bunker in the second landing area requires thought as to just where players want their second shot on this par five to come to rest. As in all cases where fairway bunkers are added, the second landing area becomes significantly wider than before, especially to the right side of this central bunker.

The center approach was “cluttered” with a bunker whose function was not necessary and did not fit well with the strategy that is now part of the second landing area. Bunkers at the Green were re fashioned in a style more appropriate to Brookside.
 

Bunkers left front and right were rebuilt, and the right rear bunker was eliminated. The vintage design sparingly used rear bunkers and when it did, these bunkers were often cut well below the level of the putting surface and therefore were not visible to oncoming play.

The green was restored to the rear and left rear to more closely approach the fall off back down to existing grade in this section of the green surrounds.
 

With the existing hook fairway bunker filled to grade, a new “thru” bunker is in place further down the fairway with a long and wide fairway expansion short of this bunker.
Bite off bunkering challenges players down the right side of the hole with the fairway expanded short of this bunker pair.

At the green, rear mounding and the right side bunker have been eliminated with a front right corner bunker added and a close cut “kick-in” feature added that starts in the left approach and can help shots played slightly away from the fronting bunker to kick onto the putting surface.
 
 

The drive zone has shifted dramatically to the right by eliminating the existing slice bunker, installing a new bunker on the left and expanding the fairway significantly to the right. The fairway has been significantly widened from its start to past the new hook bunker.
The approach to the green has been widened and given appropriate movement with a new bunker on the right and light mounding on the left.

At the green, the right-side bunker was restored into a setting that had been shaped in a previous renovation such that it appeared to be begging for a bunker to be placed there.  
 

While this par three was previously dominated by a tree short and right of the green, the hole’s inherent character is now the dominant factor in its appearance from the tee, not to mention, its’ play.

Longer greenside bunkers are in place both left and right of the green with the putting surface expanded to the rear and at its back “corners”.
 

The original concept of offset flanking bunkers is back in place with the existing slice bunker pushed further down the fairway and set with a sharper angle relative to the tee shot and right-side bunker in place back closer to the tees. The fairway has been widened from its start to through the flanking bunker pair and its flow has been impacted by the placement of these bunkers.

At the approach of the green, the left side bunker adjusts the fairway back towards the green while the right greenside bunker has been rebuilt.

The out of scale rear bunker has been filled to grade and its associated mounding softened.