Facing the Challenge: ASGCA Design Excellence Award Winners
Below are excerpts from an article that originally appeared in By Design.
The ASGCA’s Design Excellence Recognition Program highlights some of the best recent examples of golf course architecture. By Design profiles this year’s honorees.
The Ambiente Course at Camelback Golf Club
One of two courses at Camelback Golf Club, Indian Bend had a poor reputation among local and visiting golfers. An out-and-back routing that followed the Indian Bend Wash, the course was so flat that, despite being in a desert, it would flood easily and failed to drain well even with normal irrigation.
There were a number of other issues: greens and tees were too small, there were concerns relating to safety, the course had a lack of visual and strategic quality and, with 210 acres of maintained turf and numerous non- native trees, it lacked environmental sensitivity to its location.
The club worked with Jason Straka, ASGCA to oversee a complete renovation of what would be renamed the ‘Ambiente’ course. The main wash occupied by the course was lowered several feet in elevation, and the fill was used to raise the new golf holes. The effect has been dramatic, with more change in elevation in a single hole than there previously was in six holes. The raised playing surfaces now mean that the course drains better and can stay open even during moderate flood events.
Ambiente now has just 90 acres of maintained turf, with the remainder having been replanted with a mix of native trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers, adding visual interest and creating animal habitat. The new course will significantly cut required maintenance resources and reduce use of water, fertilizer, pesticides and fossil fuels.
Columbia Country Club
A development project adjacent to Columbia Country Club in Missouri required the construction of a new highway access road, which would cut into four of the club’s holes. Facing the possibility of losing the property to eminent domain, and also a request by the developer to accept 250,000 cubic yards of fill, the club needed to work together with the developer and local government to find a solution that would be acceptable to all parties.
With a rich and proud history stretching back to 1921 and a reputation as one of the premier clubs in the area, Columbia CC felt it was essential for any redesign to yield no loss in par or yardage. The club turned to Jason Straka, ASGCA, who produced a new design that would accommodate the 250,000 cubic yards of fill, largely to create a large, landscaped perimeter berming that would obscure the new road and development from the course.
By rerouting and reconstructing the back nine and parts of the front nine, Straka was also able to maintain the par and even lengthen the course by 200 yards.
Furthermore, the work provided the opportunity to restore Army Corps of Engineers jurisdictional streams on two holes to improve the urban water quality flowing through the course. During this process, parts of the development fill were used to raise playing surfaces out of floodplains to improve drainage and maintenance of the course.
Straka says: “In the end, the club not only saved itself but added significant numbers of members with the improved course. The environmental agencies are happy that the environment has been improved and the local government and community are benefitting from the team solution.”
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