After the storms

The storms that drenched Southern California in 2005 are gone, but the effects are still being felt by many courses. One year later, Soule Park in Ojai is in business, but dealing with major changes.

The massive storms that swept through California in early 2005 wreaked hovoc on the golf industry.

Storms of this magnitude aren’t expected again any time soon, according to Logan Hall, starter/tournament director at Soule Park.

“The storms that we had in January 2005 were described in many ways by many people: ‘50-year storm,’ ‘another El Nino,’ ‘100-year storm,’ etc.,” he says. “Our creek, which is usually dry nine months out of the year, was almost 100-yards wide and an estimated 15-feet deep.”

The heavy rains wreaked havoc to the course’s infrastructure.

“To the Soule Park Golf Course it was simply devastating,” he adds. “At the time, we didn’t know what the outcome would be. We lost bridge access to two-thirds of the golf course due to riverbanks washing away. Our irrigation lake, which also served a major aesthetic purpose, was completely washed away. All irrigation lines crossing the creeks were severed and washed away. Several greens and tees were also partially washed away. The situation looked very grim.”

The county of Ventura owns Soule Park Golf Course and Soule County Park. After the storms hit, the county had many things to deal with in addition to the course.

“The hillside collapse in La Conchita that buried homes and killed several people was at the forefront of the county’s rescue and repair efforts,” Hall says. “There were also many roadways and bridges that were washed away or otherwise destroyed by the floods. The county of Ventura had a lot on its plate. After much deliberation and cost analysis, funding was finally cleared to repair – and ultimately completely redesign and renovate – Soule Park
Golf Course.”

Soule Park needed extensive work for a long time, according to Hall. With the golf course slowly deteriorating, an eventual repair/renovation was inevitable. The county concluded that because repairs were needed to fix the flood damage, it was the right time to take care of all the other things that Soule Park needed. Among one of the first items on the agenda was a new irrigation system.

“The previous system was installed when the course was being built in 1961,” Hall says. “By 2004, it had developed many functional problems. A brand new, efficient, state of-the-art irrigation system was installed over the entire golf course. Now with the push of a button, the right amount of water can be dispersed throughout the golf course. That was just the beginning of a massive renovation process.”

The course was completely overhauled. All bunkers and greens were ripped out and redesigned. Most of the old tee boxes were replaced as well. While the location and direction of most of the golf holes remained similar to the old design, everything else is brand new, according to Hall.

“It involved little contouring and basically just followed the lay of the land,” Hall says of the old layout. “The new design has taken that simplicity and greatly expanded and improved on it. The new course will offer a perfect blend of challenge and playability.”

After all of the damage had been assessed, the previous management company opted out of the lease, Hall says. The county hired a new management company to oversee the renovation, rather than leasing the course again. Soule Park now is under the management of Highlands Golf, which brought in an architectural firm – Hanse Golf Course Design – to design the new layout.

Holes at Soule Park are re-opening as work is being completed.

Soule Park has been open for business throughout the entire renovation process. During most of the construction process, the golf course had temporary greens in place of the older greens, which were being removed. Because temporary greens aren’t popular with golfers, rounds declined.

“Our rounds dwindled during a large part of construction,” Hall says. “Now that we have many of the new holes open and are seeing a dramatic increase in rounds played per month. The word is getting out about all of the new things to see, and people are responding in a big way.”

As the holes are completed, Soule Park opens them up to public play. Hall says golfers have been giving a tremendous amount of positive feedback since early on in construction of the course.

“The general consensus of the public is that Soule Park has undergone a major improvement,” he says. “Everyone is eager to have new golf holes open. Every day people come in and ask when a new hole will be playable. The new holes that have been played are a big hit among regulars and weekend golfers.”

Once financing was procured, the project has run smoothly, Hall says. For the most part, everything has stayed on schedule; and while the opening for the entire course has been only slightly delayed, the new golf holes are opening quickly.

“In the beginning, it was a project in itself to try to help people focus on the end result,” he says. “Many of the regular customers and other patrons that have been around Soule Park were concerned about where the construction might lead. For people that have been here for many years, it was difficult to let go of the old Soule Park and welcome in the change. We reassured everyone that Soule Park was in very good hands, and after seeing it for themselves, most everyone is now on board.”