Speakers during the CapillaryFlow presentation at the Renovation in Action Interactive Facility Tour at Country Club of Orlando demonstrate sand flushing. Photo by Darrell J. Pehr
Architect Ron Forse sketched out the thinking behind a major renovation of the Country Club of Orlando in 2017 during Monday morning’s interactive tour of the Country Club of Orlando.
Despite frigid early morning temperatures, participants stayed on track as speakers outlined the history of the renovation as well as current-day maintenance practices during the session, “Renovation in Action at Country Club of Orlando presented by CapillaryFlow.”
Forse noted that a primary objective was to redesign with Donald Ross themes in mind at the 18-hole course. Founded in 1911, the Country Club of Orlando had undergone previous renovations in 1960, 1976 and 1990, so emphasizing a Donald Ross-inspired design required a rethinking of several aspects of the course, including greens complexes.
Inspiration was provided by several Donald Ross-designed courses across the country.
“We used the bunkering style of Seminole Golf Club because that was vintage Donald Ross in Florida at the top of his game,” Forse said. The Seminole course, in Juno Beach, was built in 1930 and 1931.
The irrigation system also was redone in the 2017 project, which had a budget of about $4.8 million.
“Everything was rebuilt,” Forse said. “We had to rethink everything.”
Many areas were regraded to improve irrigation. Four greens have no bunkers, relying instead on contouring to achieve a Donald Ross effect. The renovation included TifEagle greens with Celebration bermudagrass on all other surfaces.
“That was state-of-the-art at the time for our area,” Forse said. “This was a really important job to me. I really wanted to put my heart and soul into this.”
Another part of the renovation project was construction of a state-of-the-art maintenance facility. Country Club of Orlando Superintendent Ed Batcheller, Assistant Superintendent Cameron Karaus and Equipment Manager Wesley Holsenbeck walked the group through the building, which included highlights such as a digital white board used for scheduling staff and tasks, special lifts for servicing equipment and a fully equipped equipment maintenance workshop.
One of the four stations attendees visited was a demonstration of a bunker renovation and capillary renovation by CapillaryFlow. Speakers outlined the benefits of the capillary wash boxes, which are installed at the lowest point in the bunker, to ensure algae, debris, silt, clay and organic pollutants can be washed away from bunker sand, preserving the sand’s percolation rate, color and desired playing properties. At the same time, the need for frequent sand replacement is eliminated.
Speaker David Hardesty, Sales and Installations manager, North America, for CapillaryFlow, compared the process to filling a jar with water and dirty sand and shaking it.
“You can watch the heavier sand settle out and then that water stays real cloudy,” he said. The contaminants suspended in the water are much like the particles that are flushed away into the wash boxes in the CapillaryFlow process.
Attendees also heard a presentation from Vernon Jones and others who outlined the benefits the Country Club of Orlando is seeing by the use of Redox bio-nutrients.
“Redox is a reactive material,” said Redox turf agronomist Jeep Hogue. “You have a nutrient tied to a bio-active molecule,” which makes important compounds more available to a plant, assisting in healthy growth.
“So that’s going to help with uptake in the plant, it’s going to help with reducing tie-up in the soil or in the plant or in the tank,” he said.
Darrell J. Pehr is GCM’s science editor