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 From the News Desk...Las Colinas course ready for Byron Nelsonby John ReitmanRebuilding a PGA Tour site from the ground up in time for the following year’s event is a daunting task when everything goes according to plan. When things do not go as expected, it can be a hair-raising experience that tests even the most experienced golf course superintendent. The redesign of TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in Dallas by former PGA Tour player D.A. Weibring falls into the latter category.  The course, which is the annual site of the Tour’s EDS Byron Nelson Classic, underwent a rain-plagued redesign/renovation that began immediately after last year’s event. With this year’s tournament (scheduled for April 24-27) about a month away, the project only received the thumbs-up from the PGA Tour last week.
Getting it ready in time was no small task. “It was a monumental challenge,” said John Cunningham, CGCS, director of golf course and landscape operations at Las Colinas. “It was the biggest challenge I’ve ever gone through.” The project began (May 10) just as Mother Nature began to unleash what the National Weather Service says was the wettest summer in Texas history. And it left all A total of 8.34 inches of rain (3.2 above the historical average) fell in Dallas last May. Another 11.1 inches, which came within one-half-inch of breaking a 79-year-old record, fell in June. And 5.5 inches, more than twice the average, fell in July. In all, nearly 24 inches of rain fell in the Dallas area in late spring and early summer. After a brief respite in August when less than one-half-inch was recorded, another 5 inches fell in September, which was more than double the monthly average. That wet weather ultimately left the PGA Tour concerned whether the course would be ready in time, and forced Cunningham to change plans midstream to help ensure that it was. “This was an extremely challenging project,” Cal Roth, PGA Tour vice president of agronomy, said via e-mail. “Any time you plan to rebuild a golf course and host a PGA Tour event within one year everything needs to go well.” Weibring’s Plano, Texas, design firm, Golf Resources Inc., was selected for the project because of the player’s relationship with Nelson, who died in 2006. “It was a monumental challenge. It was the biggest challenge I’ve ever gone through.”“(Weibring) was here a lot,” Cunningham said. “He had an unbelievable relationship with Byron, and he knew what Byron thought about all of these holes.” For years, it was Nelson’s name and close association with the tournament, not the playability of the golf course that kept PGA Tour players coming back to Dallas. Several factors, including unfavorable scheduling, Nelson’s death and less-than-perfect conditions, combined to keep many top-ranked players away last year. Enter Cunningham and Weibring.  The scope of the $10 million project was enormous, as was the ability of all involved to have it completed before this year’s Nelson.
Roth described the effort of rebuilding Las Colinas as a true team effort that included Weibring’s Plano, Texas, design firm, Golf Resources Inc.; Cunningham and his staff; administration; and the PGA Tour. Weibring consulted with several Tour players before drafting plans for the renovation. He had to couch the needs of the world’s best players with resort guests who play the course the rest of the year and, of course, with what Nelson would have wanted. “Each of the PGA Tour players consulted was united by a desire to honor the memory of Byron Nelson,” Weibring said in a news release. “Of Byron’s many accomplishments in golf, he kept the EDS Byron Nelson Championship closest to his heart. It was important to do what Byron would have wanted, and we had him in mind throughout every step of this project.” All 18 holes were altered, including lengthening of five holes. The redesign required moving 75,000 cubic yards of dirt and reshaping 112,500 square feet of putting surfaces. The project also included a new Toro 800 series irrigation system and improved drainage in all low-mow areas. Once all the dirt had been moved, the plan was to sprig the course by July 1 so the new turf – 419 Bermuda fairways and TifSport tees – would have time to establish prior to fall overseeding. But the relentless rains stalled the project in its early phases, ruling out any chances to sprig. The decision was made instead to sod in the fairways, tees and greens – a combination of 96-2 and LS 44 bentgrasses that were developed by Virginia Lehman, Ph.D., and husband Milt Engelke, Ph.D. Cunningham wanted no evidence that the course had been sodded, even in the fairways, so the crew topdressed all 72 acres of managed turf by hand. “The grass was so juvenile you couldn’t run anything over it. But we had to sod, because the weather pushed us back so far,” Cunningham said. “When the rains came, it just didn’t stop. We were off and on for the first 90 days.” Weekly conference calls between officials from the Tour and Las Colinas ensured that the project stayed on track. “John and his tem have done an extraordinary job getting the course ready for play,” Roth said.  With the overseed in place, Cunningham’s crew spent the winter completing bunker work. That phase of the project included rebuilding 67 bunkers and filling them with 80,000 cubic yards of sand. Unable to find the qualities and consistency he wanted, Cunningham settled on two types of sand from Arkansas that were blended at the course.
“Both were good, but together they were better,” he said. “We went through extensive testing. We tested 15 scenarios, and the two sands together had a better penetrometer reading and infiltration rate.” The Four Seasons has been home to the Nelson every year since 1983, with the Cottonwood Valley Course serving as a first- and second-round site since 1994. This year will be the first since 1993 that the tournament has been played on one course. Specific changes on the course include converting No. 11 into a driveable, 323-yard par 4 and adding viewing areas for spectators on No. 17, a 198-yard par 3. |
In other news... Study examines spring pre-stress fertility programs Research finds no correlation between biostimulant applications before spring core cultivation and recovery. Posted: 09/02/2010 Read more » Aquatrols, TurfNet present Water Week The series of five Webinars is aimed at helping superintendents manage water and soils more efficiently. Posted: 09/01/2010 Read more » News and people briefs Registration opens soon for Irrigation Show, Briggs & Stratton elects new chairman, FMC taps new director for professional solutions division Posted: 09/01/2010 Read more » GCSAA selects firm in search for new CEO Kansas City-based company will open search process for Mark Woodward's successor in October. Posted: 08/31/2010 Read more » Water foul! Research shows that droppings from non-migratory geese on turf can result in nitrogen runoff into adjacent bodies of water. Posted: 08/26/2010 Read more » Complete news index » |
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