Renovated Scotsdale to have Scottish flair
Golf Committee member Tom Stephens looks forward to being one of the first to play on the renovated Scotsdale Golf Course next fall. By then it will be a new experience.
“There will be nothing like this in Northwest Arkansas or around here,” promised Ron Stratton, a member of the Property Owners Association Board.
The new restaurant and event center at nearby Loch Lomond Marina will help the course, Stephens said. The area will become a destination.
Both men, along with about 25 other golfers, were at Scotsdale to hear Golf Maintenance Manager Keith Ihms update the project that will make Scotsdale more closely resemble a real Scottish Lowlands Golf Course. All 18 greens will be replanted, some cart paths will be repaired and new bunkers will be added.
The “pot bunkers,” the collars around the greens, signage with a Scottish logo and the double green on the first hole all combine for a Scottish experience, Stratton said.
Many of the greens on Bella Vista’s six 18-hole courses are near the end of their life span, Stratton said, but the cost of renovating that many greens is very high. Over the past few years, better Bermuda grass has been developed . That makes the greens project feasible.
The board approved $210,000 for the greens at their December 2015 meeting, along with another $90,000 for work on bunkers. A project to repair an erosion problem around the 13th hole, at the cost of $124,000, got underway this spring.
The greens on Scotsdale will be Champions Bermuda grass, just like the greens on Bella Vista’s nine-hole course, Brittany. It’s less expensive to plant Bermuda, compared to the bentgrass greens it will replace, because of the drainage, Ihms explained. The Bermuda grass won’t require a new drainage system the way bent grass would, he said. With 18 greens, that’s a savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It will also need less watering during hot-weather months, he said.
Bermuda grass has to be covered when temperatures are very low, Ihms said, so that may mean closing the course early so the staff can tarp it when cold temperatures are predicted. Removing the tarps may mean a late opening. But, he said, golfers will be able to play on one of the remaining courses with bent grass greens.
The Bermuda grass has a firmer, faster surface, he said, and some golfers may have to get used to it. But he believes they will made the adjustment.
Around each green is a collar of Latitude Bermuda, another type of Bermuda that will still be very firm. Golfers will be able to putt from the fairway, because the collar will have a smooth surface like the green. The collar has already been laid as sod and will complete the growing-in process over the summer.
In the past, Ihms has heard many complaints about hole number seven at Scotsdale, which was converted to Bermuda as an experiment several years ago. But the problem, he said, was that it was the only Bermuda hole on the course. Golfers used to the bent-grass greens couldn’t adjust. With all the greens the same, it won’t be a problem, he said.
Not only will the course have new greens, it will also have eight or nine new “Scottish Pot Bunkers.” The bunkers, Stratton said, won’t affect play very much. Most of the original grass bunkers will remain and the new ones will be more for looks.
The pot bunkers will have an artificial turf on the steep sides and the same liner that was used on a few Country Club bunkers after the floods last year. The liner has been effective in keeping rocks out of the sand that covers the bottom, Ihms said.
There’s also a double green for holes 1 and 8, which is not uncommon in Scotland, Stratton said. It’s large enough for two groups to each play each hole simultaneously.
When the course reopens, it will have a new logo and new signage to add to the Scottish feel, Ihms said.
Each hole will have a name, Stratton said, so there will be 18 different experiences on the course. The names will probably reflect some of the unique characteristics of each hole and many will have a Scottish sound.
Stephens was part of the process of remeasuring the course, so the distance between the tees and the greens is accurate. The new measuring added some distance to the course, he said.
A semi-retired golf course architect, David Whelchel, who is also a member of the Golf Committee, helped Ihms with design and construction questions. Whelchel, who still works in the industry, said he was happy to volunteer his time because he enjoyed the project and looks forward to playing the course when it reopens.
Three more tours will be scheduled before fall, Ihms said. In July, he’ll talk about the new greens and the process used to establish them. In August, he’ll have more to say about the new bunkers and the drainage system it incorporates and a final “Sneak Peek” of the course will be scheduled for late August. The exact dates of the next three tours will be decided based on the growth of the new grass. The course should reopen in early September.