The public Ghost Creek course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside Portland, Ore., will provide 12 of the holes for the composite routing when the LIV Golf Series visits in July. Photo courtesy of Ian Murphy
In just a couple of days, Tropical Storm Debby dropped at least 16 to 20 inches of rain on Sarasota and the surrounding Florida communities starting Sunday, Aug. 4.
Ian Murphy, GCSAA Class A superintendent of Bobby Jones Golf Club in central Sarasota, was stranded at home until the following Wednesday. His golf course was under water for 48 hours as well, taking on floodwater from much of the surrounding community.
But that’s exactly what the golf course was designed to do as part of a major two-year renovation project that was recently completed. Instead of floodwaters rushing downstream too quickly and flooding neighborhoods and businesses south of the course, Bobby Jones GC took on that water — so much so that most of the course was entirely submerged.
"The whole area got hammered pretty extensively. It was a lake out here — the golf course looked like just another lake," Murphy, a 21-year GCSAA member, says.
"The course did exactly what it was designed to do in the event of a major rainstorm,” Murphy says. “That's the neatest part about it, is to actually see it work, to actually see it happen — to take on all that water, retain it and do its job. That was the first time we had a rain event like that, that was that widespread, since it was redesigned."
From 2022 to 2023, Bobby Jones GC, a municipal course owned by the city of Sarasota, was closed for a renovation largely aimed at improving stormwater mitigation in the surrounding areas. Previously a 36-hole course, Bobby Jones GC was converted to 18 holes along with a sprawling nature park, walking trails and wetlands — a 300-acre project in all. The complex also has a par-3 nine-hole course that was not part of the renovation project.
Richard Mandell, the golf course architect for the project, says what’s unique about the design is its ability to intentionally take on runoff water and detain it until it can safely proceed downstream without flooding neighborhoods and businesses. Much of the land not set aside for the course was dug out to improve stormwater detention and filtering, with the excavated dirt used to raise the level of fairways, tee boxes and greens.
“What makes this such a unique project and why it was so successful with flood control during (Tropical Storm Debby) is that we intentionally divert water onto the golf course when the creek (running adjacent to the course) reaches a certain elevation. The water is stored on the course instead of letting it rush through downstream and endanger homes and businesses with flood conditions,” Mandell says.
Richard Mandell helped create the flood mitigation design currently utilized by Bobby Jones Golf Club. Photo courtesy of Richard Mandell
Mandell says water stays on the course as long as it takes to be more slowly transmitted downstream. As water passes through the course, it is naturally filtered by the native grasses and wetlands.
“That’s the beauty of golf in this respect — golf courses are a natural place to filter dirty water,” Mandell says. “Water that comes onto a golf course from the surrounding city is always dirtier than water that leaves the golf course. Knowing that, when we bring water onto the golf course, we create a system that lets it travel throughout the golf course. All the water bodies on the course are connected. A cup of water that enters the course on the north side of the course eventually travels through all these bodies of water and exits the course on the south and ultimately goes to the (Sarasota) Bay.”
According to Mandell, about 20 acres of the project are set aside as lower-lying floodplains. “We created a bunch of ponds on the course for (permanent) water retention and a bunch of dry hollows, which are low grassy areas that will (temporarily) detain water until it naturally leaves the area," he says.
The new water mitigation design at Bobby Jones GC at work. Photo courtesy of Ian Murphy
“All of the water bodies are strategically placed for golf as well. That’s how the golf and environmental considerations work together. The ability to dig out these ponds and raise the fairways allowed us to create some really interesting rolling topography and mound complexes to really give the golf course another dimension on such a flat piece of property,” Mandell says.
Murphy says the community is pleased with the project and rounds are up significantly since the redesign. "They like the fact that it's wide open, and everything's out in front of you. It's enjoyable that way. You can get around it pretty easy," he says.
The redesigned Bobby Jones GC is a 6,714-yard, par-71 course with Celebration bermudagrass everywhere except the greens, which are TifEagle bermudagrass. Before the renovation project, Murphy says, it could take days for water to recede from the course. Now, even with Tropical Storm Debby's historic rainfall, the course was open and dry in less than a week, Murphy said. The debris was more of a nuisance than the water, he said.
"The damage from the flooding wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There was just a lot of debris. We found Tommy's basketball and Terry's soccer ball and a lot of interesting things on the golf course," Murphy says with a laugh. "A lot of tree branches and vegetation that had been moved through the waterways as it worked its way into our property. A lot of things settled out in the bunkers, so we had to clean those up and push them back up.
"But by that following Saturday, we were open. We were able to mow the entire course and get things picked up. We had a lot of help from the cart staff and the pro shop staff, so it was a team effort to get everything done and back open."
“When we opened back up, we had zero cart path restrictions,” Murphy adds. “By Saturday, we were pretty well completely dried out,” he said. “It’s great to see the property actually work the way it was designed to, to take on the water burden that it was designed to take on and pretty well recede after 48 hours and then within three days of that we were back. It was impressive to see.”
Phil Cauthon is GCM's managing editor.