Topeka CC renovation nears the turn

Topeka Country Club in Kansas recently started an extensive golf course renovation and enhancement project. Kansas-based golf course architect Todd Clark of CE Golf Design, and golf course historian and designer Ron Whitten are leading the renovations, while Mammoth Golf Construction is executing the work. The project started in January and is expected to be completed by mid-summer. Kent Morgison is Topeka Country Club's superintendent. 

Aside from an irrigation system update in 2004 and a greens resurfacing project in the late 1990s, the current project marks the first major renovation of the golf course since the original Perry Maxwell design debuted in 1940. Maxwell’s design added nine holes to the existing Thomas Bendelow-designed 9-hole course, which opened in 1906. Clark’s and Whitten’s master plan focuses on modernizing the 83-year-old golf course and was approved by Topeka Country Club stockholders in late 2022.

The renovation project includes adding, eliminating and laser-leveling tee boxes; installing new drainage; and adding 12 new fairway bunkers. In addition, all existing bunkers will be modified, reshaped and rebuilt using the Better Billy Bunker method.

As part of the renovation and to improve playability, invasive trees are being removed resulting in wider playing corridors as well as additional air circulation and sunlight to tees, fairways and greens, which will help improve agronomic conditions. Tree removal will also enhance the long-range views across the golf course and reveal the rolling topography of the club. 

Many modifications are also being made to the overall routing, including adding a cascading water feature to the 15th hole that feeds a pond in front of the 17th green; Maxwell’s original Topeka Country Club design did not include any water hazards. The new water feature is similar to what Maxwell created at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition, new cart paths will be added or rerouted throughout the property.

“In remodeling Topeka Country Club for the 21st century, we seek to install as much Maxwell authenticity as we can,” Clark said. “His wonderfully contoured greens are being preserved while reclaiming a few front and back corners to recapture lost hole locations. The bunkers protecting the greens will all be new and be shaped in a Maxwell style with playable bright white sand and contain the most efficient drainage component. We're also adding fairway bunkers to a number of holes where none previously existed, to add both definition and challenge to certain tee shots and second shots.” 

Clark has more than 25 years of experience in designing new and renovated golf courses for both private and public facilities. A graduate of Kansas State University, he has designed courses throughout the Midwest. Whitten served as senior editor of architecture for Golf Digest from 1985 to 2020 and has been involved in the design of five courses, including The Architects Golf Club in New Jersey and Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin, site of the 2017 U.S. Open. Whitten lives in Lenexa, Kansas.