How long does a greenside bunker on the Oldfield course stay out of play after a summer storm rolls up the Okatie River? Ask that, and the $1.1 million renovation that wrapped this August starts to make sense. Construction began May 19 and finished August 7. Members came back on Saturday, August 22, for an 18-hole, two-person competition on the completed course.
The new stacked-sod faces are what show up in photos. Most of the money and engineering went into the parts nobody photographs: drainage, liners and a bunker floor built to hold up when the sand gets soaked. The club's September 15, 2026 announcement lists the problems it was fixing as "aging infrastructure and years of sand contamination, drainage challenges and washouts."
Half the Sand, the Same Golf Course
The biggest number in the project is a reduction. Before construction, Oldfield had more than 114,000 square feet of bunkers. Norman Golf Course Design and the project team cut that area by nearly 50 percent.
Halving a course's sand usually means rerouting play. That isn't what happened here. The club says the work was meant to "retain the strategic and visual impact of the bunkering" without changing the layout, and to sharpen bunker definition and restore architectural features that had faded over time. Less sand to look after means fewer square feet that can wash out, get contaminated or sit under standing water after the next storm.
| Before May 2026 | After August 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total bunker area | More than 114,000 sq ft | Reduced by nearly 50 percent |
| Greenside bunker faces | Sand faces | EcoBunker stacked sod on all greenside bunkers |
| Bunker floors | Aging infrastructure with drainage and washout problems | Capillary Concrete and mesh hybrid with a new liner |
| Course routing | Greg Norman design, opened 2000 | Unchanged strategic intent |
The Part Under the Sand
Under the new sand is a hybrid floor of Capillary Concrete and mesh. According to the club, it gives the bunker faces structure while letting water drain through the floor quickly, which cuts down on washouts, contamination and standing water after a big rain.
Director of Agronomy Thomas Davis managed the project and explained it in maintenance terms. "From an agronomic standpoint, we wanted to build something that would perform as well below the surface as it looks above it," he said. He added that the smaller footprint, better drainage, capillary concrete, new liner and EcoBunker systems "should allow us to provide our members with greater consistency following the heavy rainfall and challenging weather conditions we experience in the Lowcountry."
The USGA Green Section puts some numbers on why this matters. In a December 2025 guide to bunker liners, it says repairing washouts after a storm can take more than 100 staff hours. It also says liners help bunkers get back in play sooner and keep fine soil particles and stones from working up into the sand. The same guide lists the playing problems this prevents. Sand pushed back into place after a washout can leave buried lies if it isn't compacted carefully. Stones splashed out of greenside bunkers can disrupt putting and damage mowers. The USGA also says liners alone aren't enough. Design, subsurface drainage, sand choice and moving surface water away from bunkers matter just as much. Oldfield's project covered all of these together, from new drainage up to a smaller footprint.
What the Stacked Sod Adds
The stacked-sod faces are the change players notice first. EcoBunker now lines every greenside bunker, giving the faces a layered, links-style look that the club compares to the courses of The Open Championship.
The look fits the drainage work. In Davis's list of systems that make the bunkers easier to maintain, EcoBunker appears right next to the capillary concrete and the new liner. Director of Golf Mark Reilly said the goals were to fix the underlying infrastructure, make the bunkers play more consistently and "restore the bunkers to their original architectural character." He said the finished work "has made an immediate difference, both visually and in how the course plays."
Built While the Course Stayed Open
The project was split up so the course never fully closed. Southeastern Golf did all the construction, drainage, shaping and sod work. Davis worked with Norman Golf Course Design and with support from Troon's Design and Development team.
- May 19, 2026. Construction starts on the first of three phases, each about three weeks long. Parts of the course stay open for member play.
- Summer 2026. Work moves around the course in phases.
- August 7, 2026. Construction is finished.
- August 22, 2026. The Bunker Renovation Re-Open Event brings members back for an 18-hole, two-person competition.
A 26-Year-Old Course, and the Clubhouses Next
Oldfield's course opened in 2000. It runs through moss-draped live oaks, Lowcountry savannas, freshwater and saltwater ponds, and along the marshes of the Okatie River. The club calls the bunker work part of evaluating "the long-term needs of an increasingly mature golf property." Reilly called it "an important part" of an effort to protect today's experience while keeping Oldfield an exceptional course "for generations to come."
The bunkers are only the first completed piece. The same announcement says the River Club and the Golf Clubhouse are both being renovated as part of an approximately $8 million reinvestment in club facilities. As of a September 20 follow-up, nobody had published a designer, builder, scope or reopening date for that work. For now, all that can be said is that construction is underway at both buildings.
The course work also follows the club's conservation commitments. Oldfield is a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. When the designation was renewed in May 2025, Community Naturalist Leanna McMillian and Thomas Davis were named as the people leading the program. That program includes a bird rookery, nesting structures, protected habitat corridors, a honeybee program and an annual Golf BioBlitz. Reilly's quote ties the two together: "The live oaks, native areas, marshes and views of the Okatie River are a tremendous part of its identity. Any investment we make in the golf course has to respect that."
The Rebuilt Course in Its First Fall
Fall charity events give the new bunkers their first run of full-field play:
- September 28. Habitat for Humanity of the Lowcountry held its 29th annual fundraiser at Oldfield, supporting the nonprofit's 14th Golf Tournament House, as the Bluffton Sun reported.
- Monday, October 19, 2026. Child Evangelism Fellowship of the Lowcountry holds its 15th annual golf fundraiser at Oldfield, with proceeds going to outreach in Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton and Colleton counties.
Events like these bring a lot of play to the course, and the October fundraiser comes right as Lowcountry fall weather begins. The club built the new drainage, smaller bunkers and lined floors for exactly this kind of use. The work was meant to keep the course playing the same after a hard rain.
At SCLuxuryHomes, Thomas Kersey follows how Oldfield and its neighboring clubs reinvest in their courses and clubhouses, because that work shapes daily life in these communities. If you'd like to talk through how Oldfield's $8 million facilities program fits your plans, get a private consultation.
