The Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club will soon begin work on a new “plaza paver” project to upgrade the expanded entrance to the club campus. The plaza aims to link amenities such as the new clubhouse and snack bar currently under construction and the widened cart path in a revitalized new welcome point to the Covenant’s historic golf course.
On Oct. 1, the Rancho Santa Fe Association board approved the $850,000 expenditure for the project, funded entirely by the golf club. Tom Huesgen, the RSF Golf Club’s director of agronomy, said the plan was reviewed and approved by the Association’s Art Jury and audit and finance committee, as well as the RSF Golf Club board and numerous club committees as the project impacts nearly every aspect of operations.
Huesgen said the project is complex and the hope is for construction to be completed by the first week of February 2027—his biggest concern is the expected super El Niño, the wet weather this winter that could slow down the construction process. During the construction, there will admittedly be some access challenges but the outcome will be a much improved experience, he said.
The welcome plaza to the club will be about 10 to 12 feet wider than it was before, providing a connected entrance to the new clubhouse and restaurant, players’ clubhouse and pro shop, and the expanded snack bar, incorporating new landscape features. Huesgen said it will have a great view of the course, framed by two new stately oak trees.
“Once construction is complete, it’s going to be the best it’s ever been,” Huesgen said. “When it is done, it will be epic, tying all of these amenities together and solving numerous challenges, problems and concerns we’ve had…We’re feeling really, really confident and positive about what this represents for the community as well as the golf club, and, more importantly I think, the first impression (of the campus).”
The Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club will improve the entrance and wayfinding of the club with a new paver plaza project. (Karen Billing)
RSF Association Chief Administrative Officer Dominique Albrecht noted that some of the work has been required by the county: “While it will be beautiful and I think will help reduce the visual clutter when you’re first coming in and seeing all the carts, much of it is required as part of stormwater requirements,” she said.
Progress continues on the Association’s ongoing clubhouse and restaurant renovation and is getting to the “pretty part,” Albrecht said, readying for a fall opening. A lot of time has been spent behind the walls on work such as addressing wood rot and fixing plumbing, but Albrecht said they are now moving into the beautification stage, installing wood flooring and wall finishes, and doing the restroom tile work. The restaurant’s new kitchen recently received a temporary certificate of occupancy from the county allowing them to start prepping the kitchen and training staff.
The snack bar renovation also continues—when completed it will feature an enhanced kitchen, upgraded restrooms, and an expanded outdoor patio space that will include a small upper patio on top of the structure. The golf club aims to finish work by the end of the year.