Course News

Devils Tower to expand
Hulett, Wyo. – The nine-hole Golf Club at Devils Tower will be an 18-hole facility in July. The second nine, designed by Phelps Golf Design, is laid out on land incorporating red rock canyons and cliffs, along with views of Devils Tower National Monument and the Black Hills.

The Golf Club at Devils Tower will be an 18-hole facility in July.

Architect Kevin Atkinson worked with The Golf Course Co. to renovate the existing nine by rebuilding bunkers, adding a few tees, upgrading the irrigation system, widening fairways, incorporating native grasses, and transplanting and removing trees that yielded a more open feel to the existing front nine. The new back nine is a more traditional, mountain-style layout.

Developer Jim Neiman says the plan is to tie-in the golf course with the new neighboring airport.

Once the second nine opens, the facility will convert from public to private. Additionally, another Phelps-designed, nine-hole daily-fee course is planned.

Bedminster adds second course
Bedminster, N.J. – Construction on a second course at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster will begin this spring. The 18-hole course will be designed and built by Tom Fazio II. Tom Fazio II Golf Design LLC will be the contractor.

The course, for which all municipal permits are in place, is scheduled to open in spring 2008. The par-72, 7,400-yard layout will follow a similar design as the existing layout and will be carved into a 240-acre parcel of the property, which is 506 acres.

Nicklaus course in development
East Brandywine Township, Pa. – ClubCorp entered into a development and acquisition agreement with Pulte Homes to develop Applecross Country Club. Along with a Nicklaus Design golf course, the club will feature a 22,000-square-foot clubhouse and a 19,000-square-foot community sports center. Construction of the golf course is slated to begin this spring.

Weed completes Jacaranda rehab 
Plantation, Fla. – Weed Golf Course Design completed a redesign of Jacaranda’s East Course. Last summer, Weed Design began a maintenance and renovation upgrade for the East Course, originally designed by Mark Mahannah in 1970. The updated par-71 layout, which endured four hurricanes during construction, stretches 7,245 yards and borders lagoons. Lepanto Golf was the golf course contractor.

The project encompassed comprehensive replacement of the drainage and irrigation systems along with substantial agronomic upgrades, including new greens and turfgrasses. Seadwarf paspalum was planted on the tees and fairways, and Tifdwarf Bermudagrass is on the greens, collars and approaches.
New concrete cart paths and enhanced landscaping also were part of the project. Five holes were rerouted.

Olympia Fields to be updated
Olympia Fields, Ill. – Olympia Fields Country Club’s South Course, which was built shortly after the club was formed in 1915, is going to receive a major restoration designed by golf course architect Steve Smyers. He intends to restore, yet modernize, the South Course – reintroducing its original style and strategy, which has been lost throughout the years and through two renovations.

Steve Smyers

About 500 yards will be added to push the championship-tee distance to more than 7,200 yards. Irrigation and drainage also will be improved.

Throughout the years, maintenance and upgrading of the South Course has suffered, according to grounds committee chairman Mike Drew. Greens have changed from their original shape, and bunkers have deteriorated and lost their style.

Permitting is under way, and Smyers hopes construction will begin in July or August.

Ross course to be renovated
New Smyrna Beach, Fla. – Weed Golf Course Design was retained to renovate the City of New Smyrna Beach’s golf course, a layout believed to be Donald Ross’ last design on paper. Originally, the course was completed in 1956, eight years after Ross died.

The city initially retained Bobby Weed and his associates to restore the greens and greenside bunkers and now has expanded the scope to include a more comprehensive renovation that includes new tees, fairways, fairway bunkers, greens, irrigation, cart paths and added length to the 6,377-yard, par-72 course.

Weed Design will work through the summer to have the facility reopened for the 2006-07 winter golf season.

El Niguel club remodels bunkers
Laguna Niguel, Calif. – A major bunker remodel project is nearing completion at El Niguel Country Club. The club’s green committee selected golf course architect Dale Voloshin of Voloshin Golf Design to develop the master plan and construction documents for the remodel.

The club originally opened in 1963 and has undergone several different green remodel projects by different architects. The result has been an inconsistent style of bunkering and greenside mounding that appears out of character with the rest of the golf course, Voloshin says. Plans call for softening the tall, steep mounding that surrounds most of the greens, while adding some soft, lower mounds and contouring around the greens that were fairly flat. Plans also call for enlarging and reshaping the small, deep bunkers so they’re more playable and accessible to members and easier to maintain for the maintenance crew. The flat, shallow bunkering that surrounds other greens will be reshaped and deepened slightly to be consistent with the new bunker style.

Ranger Golf Construction is shaping and doing the bunker construction. West Coast Turf is resodding the course with overseeded Bermudagrass. Brian Archbold, golf course superintendent, and his maintenance crew are providing irrigation adjustments and installing the new bunker sand.

Lehman course opens in Arizona
Tucson, Ariz. – Omni Tucson National Golf Resort & Spa’s new Tom Lehman-designed Sonoran Course, nestled in the foothills of Santa Catalina’s Mountains, opened to the public Jan. 1. The Omni resort now has two 18-hole championship courses.

Lehman also redesigned two holes on the Catalina course to lengthen and tighten the holes, as well as enhance their safety.

The Lehman Design Group redesigned the former nine-hole Green course and added nine holes to create the Sonoran course. Lehman’s design objectives were to use and protect the natural washes and native vegetation, to create a seamless appearance between the two parcels and a layout with elevation changes and rolling greens. The par-70 course, which features MiniVerdi Bermudagrass greens, measures 5,254 to 7,138 yards.

Wadsworth Golf Construction Co. completed the project in 10 months.

Ridge Creek to open in 2008
Dinuba, Calif. – City council selected KemperSports to serve as construction and operations manager for the area’s first-ever 18-hole championship golf course – Ridge Creek Golf Club. The upscale daily-fee layout will take advantage of the Central Valley mountain ranges, abundant wildlife and native vegetation while strategically incorporating natural grasses and bunkers. John Fought Design is the architectural firm.

Construction of the par-72, 7,000-yard course is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2006. KemperSports will assume operations management upon the course’s opening in 2008.