Familiar work

The GCN staff presented the 2006 Golf Course News Builder Excellence Awards at the Golf Course Builders Association of America’s awards dinner, which occurred in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show in Atlanta. This year, four awards were presented. Landscapes Unlimited won the Creative Award for best new construction with Laughlin Ranch Golf Club in Bullhead City, Ariz. Ryangolf won the Heritage Award for best reconstruction with Boca West Country Club’s Course No. 2 in Boca Raton, Fla. McDonald & Sons won the Legacy Award for best renovation with Hermitage Country Club’s Manakin Course in Manakin-Sabot, Va. And Mid-America Golf and Landscape won the Affinity Award for best environmental project with Lambert’s Point Golf Course in Norfolk, Va. The following four articles are about these award-winning projects.

 Members of Boca West Country Club know a good thing when they see it. They’ve seen Ryangolf reconstruct three of their four golf courses in Boca Raton, Fla. For the most recent project, Course No. 2, Ryangolf teamed with architect Jim Fazio, who it has worked with before.

Ryangolf has developed a unique relationship with Boca West management because it reconstructed Course No. 1 in 1997 and Course No. 3 in 1999.

“We developed a strong team approach, working together to come up with the best product possible,” says Phil Garcia, president of Ryangolf. “So starting this project almost felt like coming home.”

Steven Wright, CGCS, director of golf course and landscape operations for Boca West, director of golf Brad Luken, and president and general manager Jay DiPietro also were involved in the project from the beginning and were integral parts of the reconstruction team.

Boca West Country Club was willing to spend the money needed to achieve excellence, yet was committed to establishing sound budgets and monitoring expenses, according to Garcia. With the parameters clearly defined, it’s easier for the owner, architect and contractor to collaborate on a project.

It was decided early on to build a new course rather than substantially renovate the existing one. 

“The property was a typical golf course of the 1950s and ’60s, with flat fairways, flat greens and draining to the side,” Fazio says. “We wanted to develop a new, updated course, not spend $5 to $8 million and have the same thing.”

“There was sufficient acreage to design and build a new Course No. 2, updated to current standards, and at the same time, do something spectacular and creative for the members,” Garcia says.

Ryangolf starts each project with a flexible preconstruction plan based on the project development meetings with the architect and owner’s representatives. Three to five months before a start date, Garcia and the architect conduct an extensive site visit. Considerations for the Boca West reconstruction included determining which lakes or parts of lakes to backfill, where to expand for more water and where to excavate for new lakes.

“There were some mature oak trees lining the golf holes that Jim wanted to design around,” Garcia says. “We decided which trees could be left in place, which we’d want to take down, and which could be moved with an aggressive root pruning program.”

Following the master plan, Ryangolf had its purchase orders for materials in place well before the start date. Shipments were scheduled to arrive before the projected use dates.

“We start bringing in the construction equipment the week before the job was to begin, so when we start – we start,” Garcia says.

Preplanning is vital when the project time is as compressed as it was for Boca West, Garcia says. Ryangolf sprayed the turfgrass in February and moved the oaks before mid-March of 2005, though there was still play at that time. It broke ground in April and completed construction in September to meet the projected December opening date. 

“With an accelerated project, we figure that any day we lose to a delay of any type is a 1-percent reduction in our overall construction time,” Garcia says. “So we always have an alternative plan to keep things moving forward despite weather conditions or unexpected problems.”

Interactive communication kept everyone connected. Ryangolf established a corporate satellite office on site, and Fazio was on site at least two to three days a week.

“Jim is a credit to the profession – a creative architect who knows what he wants to achieve and is hands-on throughout the process,” Garcia says.
“When issues arose, they were able to present all the options and walk through them with us so we could work together to make the best decisions,” Wright says. “Both understood we were building the course for playability for the members. That was our common goal.”

Fazio says one can make a course so hard that no one can play it, but the trick is to make it hard enough for the really good player, yet fun for the others.

“That’s what we did here,” he says. “Brad Luken and Jay DiPietro made this project a real joy for me by serving as the communications center for the club members and homeowners. They asked that any suggestions or complaints come directly to them so they could bring any issues to my attention. That’s a huge factor. On a reconstruction, we take a developed golf course and change it when there are 600 to 700 people, or 150 to 200 homeowners, who are used to things the way they were. Our goal is to create a better course for them to play and a better view, so everyone wins.”

The scope of the project was like a new course. More than 400,000 yards of dirt were moved during the process. Many holes were rerouted. Some lakes were added on the interior and canals were dug between the golf course and the properties. Two rock waterfalls and creek systems were constructed, with the moving water adding to the overall effect.

A new computerized irrigation system was installed within 40 days of the construction start. The overall contour was reshaped, with mounds and undulations developed. New bunkers and greens were designed. SeaIsle 1 paspalum was installed on the tees, fairways and roughs. TifEagle was used on the greens. About 45 percent of the course was sodded.

A major change was the decision to preserve a restroom facility, rather than destroy it. The structure was less than 10 years old and in good condition, but it was near the 18th hole. A facility of the same size and design was planned for construction on the 15th hole. The existing structure was moved on giant steel skids a mile and a half across three holes and placed on a newly constructed foundation for less than half the cost.

Ryangolf wrapped up construction in September and submitted its letter of completion on a Friday. That weekend, Hurricane Katrina came through.
“A lot of the landscaping came down, but we didn’t even consider leaving the site,” Garcia says. “Our crew spent the next three or four weeks helping put things back together and fixing the ruts from putting the trees in.”

Then Hurricane Wilma made a direct hit, with wind speeds exceeding 120 miles per hour. “Ryangolf had installed additional drainage where we thought we might have water runoff, but we had no washouts from Katrina,” Wright says. “Even with Wilma, we had very minimal washouts. The tree damage, and the resulting removal and replanting process, was what hurt us.”

The tree damage changed the look of the golf course. Fazio had to select 55 oak trees to replace those that were lost. That cost close to $300,000. Ryangolf’s crews followed the tree installation crews, fixing the turf and any of the smaller landscape features that had been disturbed, as well as repairing cart paths that were damaged by the tree-moving equipment.

“They worked seven days a week from morning to dark,” Fazio says. “They did it so fast no one saw it or realized how much they did.”

Repair from Wilma was completed Dec.15, 2005, and the new course opened Dec. 16.

“We can never become satisfied with doing a great job on a course,” Garcia says. “There’s always something new, better or harder to accomplish. I’m very lucky to have employees who are extremely motivated, embrace the challenges and are dedicated to our team approach to creating the best possible product.”
“This is the third golf course Ryangolf has done for Boca West and each time the finished product exceeds our expectations, which are very high to begin with,” Luken says. “When was the last time you could say that about a contractor?” GCN

Steve and Suz Trusty are freelance writers based in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They can be reached at suz@trusty.bz.