The overview
Located in the Great Hills neighborhood in North Austin, the family-oriented club is open to members outside of the neighborhood and features various levels of limited memberships.
The golf course project was initiated nearly three years ago to address its irrigation system, which is now over 50 years old, said GHCC board vice president Tom Schoelkopf.
“We still have the original irrigation system, which is the sprinklers, the piping that gets the water to all aspects of the golf course, the pump station, the retention ponds,” Schoelkopf said. “If we didn't address that, we would have significant challenges keeping the golf course alive and well.”
The club also took the opportunity to hire Chet Williams, a renowned golf course architect, and a design team to renovate the golf course along with the irrigation system replacement, Schoelkopf said.
Some of the projects include a short-game practice area, bunker renovations and an improved driving range with covered bays.
The current irrigation system now is inefficient for many reasons, GHCC General Manager Chip Gist said.
The new system will allow for the club to control the water required to grow the turf on the golf course.
“We’ll end up using somewhere between 25-30% less water on an annual basis once we put this in,” Gist said. “This will allow us to have new turf as well. There’s upgraded turf, just like there’s upgraded irrigation systems that are acclimated to the climate in this region.”
GHCC organized a sustainability team and hired experts to identify how this process would work and how much it would cost, Gist said.
“We had to package that and promote it to the members as a long-term benefit that we just couldn’t put off any longer,” Gist said.
What else?
Along with the golf course overhaul, the country club is set to renovate other facilities as part of its 2030 master plan.
Some of the improvements include:
- Tennis court expansion
- Pickleball courts
- Family dining and grab-and-go cafe
- Children’s play area
Clubhouse renovations are expected to begin this summer and wrap up before the golf course renovations begin. The racket sports facility upgrades follow later in the overall project timeline, as completing the golf course is the “number one project,” Gist said.
Looking ahead
The golf course renovations are slated to begin this October. Holes 1–7 will remain open for the first six to eight months while renovations begin on holes 8–18, then switch. The full course is expected to reopen in spring 2027.
“There is some pain, but there's a lot of gain,” Gist said. “This membership is committed to having a quality facility that's upgraded. Anytime you set out to do that there's going to be a little bit of impact.”
