AIKEN --- Change comes slowly at Palmetto Golf Club, which is one of the reasons why the 115-year-old golf course is a regional, if not national treasure.

So, when a plan was floated more than three years ago to renovate and expand the pro shop and adjoining lower clubhouse, head pro Tom Moore had serious misgivings.

He had no say about the proposed project, but in a way, Moore hoped it wouldn't get off the ground.

"It had the potential for disaster," Moore said.

The designers assured Moore that the pro shop/lower clubhouse area would have the same early-1900s feel and character of the old one. That sounded good, but could it really be executed?

"When we started the project, I was more against it than anybody. I was worried we wouldn't be able to make it look like a 100-year-old building that was added onto. That was my greatest fear," Moore said.

The plan, which was spearheaded by Palmetto club treasurer Bill Townsend, became a reality May 2, when the club was shut down, not only for work on the pro shop/lower clubhouse, but also to upgrade the golf course.

Both re-opened Oct. 2, and guess who was one of the biggest fans of the work inside the pro shop/lower clubhouse? None other than Moore.

"If you had to wish for something to come out the way you dreamed about, it would be just like it has turned out," Moore said. "If you'd never been here before, you'd think it was a 100-year-old building."

The ultimate compliment from Moore comes when he's asked what he misses about the old clubhouse.

"Not a thing," he said.

The work has been such a hit that members are bringing their non-golf playing wives to tour the 2,800-square foot pro shop/lower clubhouse, which was expanded by 1,300 square feet.

"That has never happened before," said Moore, who has been the head pro for nearly 27 years.

The character of the renovated area has stayed the same. Much of the original wood paneling and floor remained intact and was cleaned. In keeping with that theme, the wood floor used on the addition came from a 60-year-old house.

Club member Steve Kisner came up with the new design of the pro shop/lower clubhouse. To keep its character intact, nothing was changed to the outside of the clubhouse. The same two steps leading to the same pro shop door remain.

Once inside, the first noticeable change is the location of the pro shop counter; it is to the right side of the building instead of directly on the other side of the door, a change that makes for an easier flow of traffic.

Kisner made sure the new hallway mimicked the upper clubhouse in look and feel.

"I knew it was going to be good when I saw the carpentry work going on in the hallway," Moore said. "As we got into the project, I started coming around."

Additions include a trophy room, space for an additional 84 lockers, new fixtures, wireless Internet throughout the building, a storage room, snack bar and a real office for Moore, which even features a door.

"Before, my office was a community hangout for everybody," Moore said, referring to the room adjacent to the pro shop counter that served many purposes, including storage room.

The trophy room features golf balls Moore has found on the course dating back to the late 1800s, along with framed drawings of the course layout from its four-hole beginning to its current design. There is even a drawing of the course from 1895 that shows a hole that was replaced in 1910.

In the room, there are trophies associated with the club, including some from the it's most famous member, the late Bobby Knowles, a lifelong amateur who played in the 1951 and 1952 Masters Tournaments and settled in Aiken in the 1950s. Nine scorecards of Knowles' are displayed, including a Palmetto scorecard signed by Ben Hogan, one of his playing partners that day.

Another wall is reserved for one of Knowles' Masters invitations, a pairing sheet and a copy of one of his official tournament scorecards from Augusta National Golf Club.

The cost of the pro shop renovation exceeded $300,000. The work on the course -- changing the grass on the green to MiniVerdi, dropping the greens 2 to 3 feet and the grade by 3 to 4 percent and other improvements -- cost $1 million, according to Moore.

A benefit of the MiniVerdi, a Bermuda grass, is that it doesn't have to be overseeded twice a year. Greens are not smooth during those transitional times, and they frustrate golfers.

"We figured this would give us 100 extra days a year when the greens were good," Moore said.

Also, Moore said "seven or eight" original bunkers were returned to the course, thanks to a tip from Ben Crenshaw, who counts Palmetto as one of his favorite courses.

"He told us we could get defense photographs of the course and we found them," Moore said of the two-time Masters champion. "We got them from 1938-43, 1951, 1961 and 1966 and saw where some bunkers were taken out over the years."

Also, a new six-bunker configuration was added to the right greenside area of No. 6.

"Those are some bunkers you can only be in one time because you'll make sure you're never in them again," Moore said.

The changes haven't taken anything away from the old-world atmosphere of the course or pro shop, it has only enhanced them.

You still feel like you walked into the club's past, one that saw Masters champs like Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Crenshaw play there.

"Our members were without a golf course for five months, but for what they got back golf course-wise and the clubhouse is just unbelievable, from the transformation of the golf course and the pro shop area," Moore said.

Things might just stay this way for another 115 years.

"In the past, we put Band-Aids on things," Moore said. "This time, the project from start to finish with the golf course and pro shop were done first-class. There were no corners cut. We're not going to make any more changes to the golf course and clubhouse. In two years, we're not going to say, 'Gosh, I wish we'd done this.' "

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.