Bay Area golf course preps for wide-ranging revamp and modernization
LOS GATOS — A wide-ranging upgrade for a South Bay golf course would completely modernize the fairways and greens and make the venue more environmentally sustainable.
La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos is in line for a major revamp that would modernize the course layout and replant the entire venue, according to the club’s officials.
Plans for a complete upgrade of the prestigious golf course have emerged about four years after the course’s members paid $18.9 million to buy the property in 2021 from a local family that had been long-time owners of the site.
“The modernization and sustainability plan is going to make this nearly 100-year-old golf course more playable and enjoyable as we head into our second century” in Los Gatos, said Bob Riland, president of the golf club’s board of directors.
The owners and operators of the 125-acre La Rinconada venue have decided to move forward with the upgrade, which would fully transform the course. La Rinconada Country Club opened in 1929.
“The plan is to completely modernize the 18-hole layout and resurface the entire course by replacing fairways with more drought-tolerant Bermuda grasses, adding native trees and plantings, and installing a more efficient irrigation system,” La Rinconada CountryClub officials stated.
Todd Eckenrode, a renowned golf course architect with Origins Golf Design will lead the modernization effort, according to La Rinconada officials.
Morley Bros., a Los Gatos-based real estate firm, is heading up the project’s development and is providing consulting efforts to help steer the project through the municipality’s project review process.
“This modernization facilitates the reduction of water usage by 30% to 40%, saving approximately 30 million gallons annually,” Andy Kimball, La Rinconada general manager, wrote in a letter to Los Gatos municipal officials. “It will also allow the club to be more competitive and financially sustainable over the long term.”
La Rinconada Country Club is one of the largest open spaces in the Town of Los Gatos.
The nature of the Bermuda grass that will be the primary surface of the golf course will require the uprooting of hundreds of trees, including some redwood trees that were planted in the 1950s.
“The new drought-tolerant grass requires more sunlight and many non-native trees are in locations that will prevent new grasses from growing successfully due to narrow fairways, tree heights and excessive shading,” La Rinconada officials stated in the letter to Los Gatos planners.
An estimated 207 of the 1,100 trees that are currently on the course venue would be removed. These include the redwood trees and non-native eucalyptus trees, according to the proposal.
“We have a reforestation plan to replant 172 native trees, primarily mature oaks, in 24- to 60-inch boxes, and will also pay approximately $57,000 for in lieu fees to support the town’s urban reforestation program elsewhere in the community,” Kimball stated in the development proposal submitted to Los Gatos planners.
The golf course is slated to be closed for about a year or slightly longer.
“The club anticipates the entire project will require the course to be closed for approximately 12 to 14 months with a 7- to 8-month construction schedule and 3- to 4-month grass grow-in period,” Kimball wrote in the project narrative to Los Gatos planners.
The modernization is slated to begin in the spring of 2026.
“Our family has lived in the La Rinconada community for several generations and we have seen the property evolve,” said Sammi Moser-Wingo, who lives near the golf club. “We are very excited about the club’s plan to create a more sustainable course and even better golf experience.”
Construction will proceed on a hole-by-hole basis. This approach means that only one section at a time will experience construction as the work proceeds.
Modernization work will last about two to four weeks for each hole, depending on location, an approach crafted to minimize disruption to neighbors, club officials stated.
“We are proud of our continued stewardship of one of the largest open spaces in the Town of Los Gatos and enduring support for the larger community as one of its oldest institutions,” Riland said.