D€V£LOPM€NT Big Gulp: Developers spade treefuls at wooded site

By LARRY TROJACK DEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — In the complex field of planning and developing residential golf communi Eties, it is hard to imagine progress without problems. However, for the developers of Bearpath Golf and Country Club here, finding a solution to one huge problem meant getting innovative. The result of that effort was a dramatic saving in time, manpower and better than 2,500 trees — as well as a correspondingly impressive dollar savings. PINEHURST, FAZIO AND 100 Bearpath is taking shape on 426 acres of rolling terrain in PINEHURST, N.C. — Pinehurst Re- this rapidly growing community located 25 minutes southwest sort & Country Club will celebrate its of Minneapolis. Course construction will begin in October. centennial in 1995 and complete its Cen- Getting to that point, said Bearpath Secretary Brian tennial Course, Pinehurst No. 8. Construc- Gensmer, has taken a number of interesting turns — not the tion has begin on the Tom Fazio-designed least of which has been the movement and/or removal of Centennial Course, scores of trees located in a nursery on site and at various and Pinehurst locations throughout the 426-acre parcel. DINEHURST President Patrick "Obviously, a project such as this entails a great deal of ¿HOTEL AND COUNTRY C1X bX Corso siad it should planning, both from a logistical standpoint and for actual site be complete in the layout," said Gensmer. "Even the most meticulous planning, fall of 1995. Fazio designed Pinehurst No. however, could not totally avoid the situation. Many trees had 6 with his uncle George in 1976. The to be moved or removed. Certainly it would have been easy to course will give Pinehurst, owned by Club simply cut them. However, we chose to examine other options Resorts Inc., 144 holes of golf — more Continued on page 25 Crews move one of hundreds of trees at Bearpath G&CC. than any resort in the world.

DEER TRACK ON TRACK SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. — Deer Track Golf Resort is midway through a Putting Blue Monster year-long renovation of its North Course. The 7,200-yard layout designed by Bob back together again Toski and Porter Gibson will include By MARK LESLIE faster greens, changes in bunkering, the addition of pine-straw areas and new MIAMI—An "old and tired" Blue mowing patterns. The entire project is Monster, cornerstone of the five- set for completion by late summer. course Doral Golf Resort and Spa, will be rejuvenated where it counts, beginning next year. NYC WATERFRONT FACE LIFT BEGINS "The main priority is to change NEW YORK CITY — Construction grasses," said Pat McHugh, a certi- has begun on the Chelsea Piers Sports fied superintendent who and Entertainment Complex on Piers 59- has just joined Doral from Hunters 62 o fthe Hudson River in Manhattan. Run in Boynton Beach. "It's like put- The project, reclaiming rundown piers ting HumptyDumpty back together." between 17th and 23rd streets, includes a Lee Chang, left, has been keeping close watch on his new design, Southern Other major aspects of the project 52-stall outdoor golf driving range. A run- Wood Golf Club, above, in China., where workers seed the course by hand. will be a state-of-the-art irrigation sys- ning track, skating rinks, maritime recre- tem and renovation of the bunkers. ation center and marina, and other facili- "We will leave the integrity of the ties are part of the project, being developed From Georgia to China, [Dick] Wilson design," McHugh said by Chelsea Piers Management, Inc. course which hosts the Doral-Ryder Chang making a name Open in March. "It is quite a favorite of the players. They enjoy coming A WEISKOPF-MORRISH COLLABORATION Lee Chang, 48, was born in Fujian Prov- particular area, so we stayed in Atlanta. It back to the old style." BLAINE, Wash.—The city of Blaine ince in the People's Republic of China (PRC) was a good decision. I definitely enjoyed Designed by Wilson and Robert Von and Whatcom County have given but grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. Armed with my time with Willard. He's very intelligent Hagge, the Blue Course was built in Semiahmoo Co. permission to develop a bachelor's degree in architecture, he moved and a nice person. It was just a good time to 1962 and is entirely covered with the another 360 acres, including an 18-hole to the 25 years ago and even- get out on my own. old Ormond Bermudagrasses. "We're golf course designed by tually earned a master's degree in city plan- GCN: What's the main thing you learned looking to regrass the fairways," he and Jay Morrish. Weiskopf and Morrish ning and architecture from Georgia State from Byrd? said, adding that the greens are 328 are still completing courses begun to- University. In 1972, he went to work at LC: As a landscape and golf architect, he' Bermuda. gether, though taking on no new Atlanta course architect Willard Byrd's firm, taught me how to deal with both the golf An architect will be brought on board projects. The new track will join the where he had a hand in designing such course and other real estate usually in- for the work, McHugh said. After the highly ranked -designed widely known layouts as Long Boat Key Golf volved in a golf project. Blue Course renovation is complete, Semiahmoo track. Club in Sarasota, Fla., Planter's GCN: How would you de- the Red, White and Gold courses will Row in Hilton Head, S.C., Wild scribe your architectural be improved—one at a time, so as not Wing Plantation in Myrtle style? to disrupt golf at the resort. DALY DESIGN JUST PLAIN 'WICKED' Beach, S.C., and Lion's Paw in LC: I'm a classical natural- KSLRecreation Corp., which bought MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — You've Sunset Beach, N.C. Chang ist. I let the site dictate what Doral earlier this year, has announced heard of Crooked Stick, Make Way for opened his own firm in Atlanta the course should be like. I more than $15 million in renovations Wicked Stick. The winning entry in a in 1993. He has two projects want an environmentally sen- in a four-phase process, beginning with contest to name underway in the PRC and a third -A sitive layout that is challeng- clubhouse improvements. McHugh 's first in Missouri. Lee and wife Fiona ing for golfers of all abilities. I could not pinpoint exactly when work golf course design recently celebrated their 21st anniversary. like to incorporate a local flavor and use on the course will begin. is Wicked Stick They have two children, Yvonne, 18, and local materials. In Taiwan, for instance, In a press release, General Man- Golf Links. The Erwin, 15. there is a lot of black sand. They use it in ager Hans Turnovszky said: "When prize for the win- the bunkers and it works just fine. You completed, Doral will not only have a ner, Chris Merillat, Golf Course News: Why did you start don't see that as much here [United States]. complete facelift but extensive addi- chosen from 800 your own business after so many years Bunker sand has to be white. It's too bad. tions and improvements to its infra- entries, is a round with Byrd? GCN: Who are your favorite old-time structure, energy management capa- of golf with Daly on Lee Chang: People always want to try and contemporary architects? bilities and other back-to-the-house the links-style track getting out on their own, no matter what LC: Alister Mackenzie is my favorite old- facilities necessary to provide our John Daly scheduled to open they do. I stayed with Willard so long time architect. His book, Golf Architecture, is guests with the very best leisure expe- in the fall of 1995. Southpark Golf Group partly because of my family. We wanted still used extensively by contemporary de- rience." Ltd. is developer of the course. the children to have a sense of roots in a Continued on page 24 DEVELOPMENT

From golf course to horse farm and back again, Olde York site returns to its roots

From STAFF REPORTS idle for 15 years. Closed in 1979, Pinehurst #2 and part 1990s golf COLUMBUS, N.J. — Olde the course had been used as a course. Five holes are completely York Country Club, a once-popu- horse pasture until the new own- enclosed in woods. lar golf course that was trans- ers hired Design Co. It sports bentgrass tees, greens formed into a horse farm for 14 to revive the course in June 1993. and fairways, with Kentucky blue- years, re-opened in July — rede- Player and project architect grass surrounding the 146 sand, signed by Gary Player and owned Mark Stallone refashioned the grass and stacked sod bunkers. The by Ed and Corinne Eget. south-central New Jersey course large, undulating greens are be- "We have no homes, just na- using a traditional Scottish theme. tween 7,000 and 11,000 square feet. ture," said Eget, "and a most The new layout plays par-72 over Stallone has stayed on as su- breath-taking piece of property." 6,967 yards and was designed to perintendent, joining head pro The par-3, 200-yard 15th hole at Olde York Country Club. The property has been sitting look part Pine Valley, part Gary Vanlderstine. Q&A: Chang Continued from previous page signers. Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Pete and Alice Dye are my favorite contemporary architects. GCN: How do you view the domestic golf market? Will devel- opment continue at 350-plus ILORGANITE courses a year? LC: Things are stabilizing. The U.S. economic situation and envi- ronmental considerations will probably slow things down to 250 to 300 courses annually over the IT'S TOUGHER next few years. The market is ripe for renovating existing courses. THAN EVER There are a lot of 40-, 50- and 60- year-old layouts that are out-of- TO PRODUCE date because of advances in equip- GREAT GREENS. ment. They need to be updated. GCN: How about the Asia-Pa- cific market? LC: That's still growing. The SAND BASED GREENS, Japanese fueled much of the de- velopment in the 1980s. The col- FREQUENT SAND TOP lapse of their economy slowed DRESSING, AND IMPROVED things. But other countries—like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, DRAINAGE SYSTEMS MAKE Malaysia, Thailand and India — IT DIFFICULT TO KEEP THE are picking up the slack. NUTRIENTS TURFGRASS GCN: Are environmental issues as important in Asia as the U.S.? NEEDS IN THE ROOTZONE. LC: It's important in some coun- tries and less so in others. In Ja- pan and Taiwan, you can run into a stone wall if environmentalists MILORGANITE HELPS get involved. In China, Vietnam MAINTAIN GREAT and Malaysia, they are concerned about the environment. But it is GREENS BY KEEPING less likely to stop a project. In NUTRIENTS IN THE those countries, it's often up to ROOTZONE. the architect to take responsibil- ity for balancing development and environmental concerns. GCN: Does your Asian heri- tage and language ability help you get jobs there? LC: It helps. But the main thing is to have a local architect involved who knows how to deal with local details. My partner in Asia is Lin

CONTACT YOUR MILORGANITE Fu Ming. He's based in Taiwan and has helped take care of many DISTRIBUTOR OR OUR STAFF local matters. AGRONOMISTS FOR FURTHER GCN: Do Asian developers want INFORMATION. different things in a course design than American developers? NATURAL ORGANIC LC: Most Asian developers want a 7,200-yard course, not because they are better golfers, but because • 90% WATER INSOLUBLE • COMPLETE MICRONUTRIENT Milorganite that's what they think will sell. Asian NITROGEN PACKAGE FERTILIZER developers don't like unplayable SLOW RELEASE TO MINIMIZE SURGE CHELATED IN AN ORGANIC COMPLEX rough. American architects will put GROWTH AND LEACHING HIGH IRON: NITROGEN RATIO it in and then the developer elimi- MILORGANITE DIVISION - MMSD nates it. Fairways are generally • UNIFORM APPLICATION • NO SALT TO CREATE STRESS 1101 NORTH MARKET STREET wider, which also compensates EVEN AT LOW NITROGEN RATES TO OR BURN ON TURF MILWAUKEE, WI 53202 some for the extra distance. AVOID "FRECKLING" 414-225-3333