Shaftesbury Glen renovations include improved drainage and vast waste bunkers

Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club in Conway is closed for the month of January as course operators make alterations to the course that should help alleviate wet conditions.

The course was scheduled to close on Jan. 4 but rain late in December led operators to close the course a few days after Christmas. The scheduled reopening date is Jan. 29.

The work is extensive, as bulldozers are moving earth to fill in low-lying areas, ponds are being enlarged, the drainage system is being improved, several holes are gaining vast areas of waste bunkers, some fairway bunkers are being removed or integrated into waste bunkers on a handful of holes, and all greenside bunkers are being renovated to improve drainage.

Waste bunkers will cover approximately 250,000 square feet on nine holes – five on the front nine and four on the back – and waste bunkers on adjacent holes 11 and 12 will completely cross fairways.

Much of the work is being done on the perimeter of holes, as fairways are generally crowned and water has been collecting at the edge of rough lines.

“We’re trying to eliminate low areas of turf, and waste bunkers will help as well and provide more driving areas for golf carts,” Shaftesbury head pro Eddie Willever said. “It will make the course more appealing to the eye, may make it a little more challenging and improve drainage. We’re trying to accomplish all those with one month of work.

“Whatever is deemed necessary is what’s going to get done. If we can get it to stop raining while we’re working we’re hoping to reopen on Jan. 29.”

Flooding in early October and three months of consistent rain have exposed some problem areas on the course – a 6,935-yard Clyde Johnston design that opened in 2001 and features A1/A4 bentgrass greens – as they have with most courses on the Grand Strand.

“It’s getting to the point where it’s unsolvable,” Willever said. “We’d like to get to the point where we can ride fairways.”

The Glens Group ownership and management company, which also operates Heather Glen Golf Links, Glen Dornoch Golf Links and Possum Trot Golf Club, is spending approximately $600,000 on the project, according to Shaftesbury Glen general manager Ryan McCarty, and some of the work may continue after the reopening.

An outing for area golf package providers will be scheduled shortly after the reopening and a grand reopening event may follow in late February or early March.

“In these tough times I’m proud to be part of an ownership group that won’t just sit back,” McCarty said. “… Ownership is proud of the product and wants to improve it.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Shaftesbury Glen renovations include improved drainage and vast waste bunkers."