Soil amendment helps develop Laughlin Ranch golf course

Taking a desert site with extreme climatic conditions and making grass grow to create a premier golf course is no easy task. Add a tight schedule and one might be left scrambling. But as part of a new development community called Laughlin Ranch in Bullhead City, Ariz., Laughlin Ranch Golf Club had a unique soil amendment suited for such a situation, supportive partnerships to see the project through and a seasoned professional in golf course superintendent Bob Weekes to make it happen.

Because the sandy condition of the soil was not conducive to growing grass, the entire course was sodded.

Considered to be the largest master planned community ever to be built in Mohave County, Laughlin Ranch’s development began construction Jan. 5, 2004. A favored feature of the development is the construction of the golf course. Ground was broken to build the course, which has five sets of tees, in February 2004. Architect David B. Druzisky designed the course, and Landscapes Unlimited LLC built it.

For Weekes, one of the challenges of building the course was the condition of the sandy soil, which has a rocky, gravely consistency and isn’t conducive to growing grass. He knew a solution would require creative thinking.

“It was obvious we would have to create some topsoil,” Weekes says. “We looked into importing it from a local pit, but they were going to charge us $11 to $12 a yard.”

Extreme temperatures also posed a challenge for a course located in a climate that can reach daily temperatures hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Bullhead City has one of the most extreme temperature climates in the country,” Druzisky says. “We knew it would be important to take advantage of any product that would help withstand the heat.”

Another obstacle was the course’s completion schedule. Weekes needed to have the first nine holes completed and ready to play by mid-December 2004. Given this time frame, Weekes knew his original plan to sprig the entire course would need a lot of support to accommodate the aggressive schedule. Another creative solution was needed.

A solution was found soon when Weekes began working with Profile Products LLC to devise an optimal strategy that would create a premier golf course in a limited amount of time. Weekes elected to use Profile Porous Ceramic for the topsoil construction. Weekes considered PPC to be the ideal product to do the job based on each particle’s ability to hold water and oxygen in nearly perfect balance and to store vital nutrients that ensures healthy root growth. Weekes knew that because of these features his water, fertilizer, labor costs and green maintenance would be reduced.

Profile Porous Ceramic's ability to hold water and oxygen made it ideal for topsoil construction.

“Basically, we did the entire golf course with Profile,” Weekes says. “With the extreme temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions in the area, I needed a product that retains moisture and nutrients. At the same time, because of the high salinity of the effluent water source, I needed to be able to flush out the soil.”

Weekes was also mindful of the course’s $15-million budget for the 7,000-yard course and made the decision to mine the topsoil on Laughlin Ranch’s property. Instead of paying $11 to $12 a yard, Weekes was able to produce topsoil for $3 a yard. Being able to produce the topsoil for such a reduced cost involved not just removing the soil but also transporting the soil to a central site on the property where Greensmix (Waupaca, Wis.) could blend the PPC with the mined soil to create a topsoil that was 10 percent PPC and 90 percent sand.

In addition to producing and bringing in new topsoil, Weekes had to contend with an aggressive deadline to make the course playable by December. So Weekes decided to sod the entire course. Knowing the sod that’s typically produced would compromise the nature of the PPC-mixed topsoil, Weekes contracted with Evergreen Turf out of Tempe, Ariz., to produce the sod that contained similar physical properties to his topsoil. Created with no PPC from compatible sand supplied by Ft. McDowell Materials, the sod was grown, cut in 18-inch and 30-inch widths and spread over 100 acres.

With Druzisky’s assistance coordinating the construction of the course and the application of the PPC, Weekes first started spreading more than 90,000 tons of PPC-mixed topsoil to be spread four inches deep in August and laid the first specially grown sod in early October. Weekes says the holes on the front nine were ready to play at the inaugural tee-off by its Dec. 18, 2004 deadline, and the final nine holes and practice facility were ready to play by mid-February. The sod establishment had definitely been complemented and encouraged by the PPC-mixed topsoil, according to Weekes.

And the interest in the course isn’t just limited to those setting foot on the greens. Druzisky said interest in the course and its use of PPC is spreading.

“Laughlin Ranch has such an extreme climate that it will be a good test for the effectiveness of PPC,” he says. “Others from across the country will be interested in its effectiveness.” GCN

Willnerd is a writer with Swanson Russell Associates, a communications firm in Lincoln, Nebraska.