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By Design
I
n the language of the Pascua Yaqui
Tribe of Arizona, ‘Sewailo’ means
‘flower world.’ The tribe’s belief
is that they emerged from Sewailo,
before traveling through the desert to
reach their present homeland.
This journey was to be the
inspiration for the design of a new golf
course for tribal families and visitors
to the tribe’s Casino Del Sol resort in
Tucson, Arizona. They turned to fellow
Native American and former PGA Tour
player Notah Begay III, who worked
in collaboration with California-based
golf course architect Ty Butler, ASGCA,
to bring this vision to reality.
The resort is one of the few in the
Tucson market to earn the
Forbes
Four Star
and
AAA Four Diamond
awards, so the golf experience would
need to be of the highest quality to
meet guests’ expectations – but also
to help transform the property to a
destination, with golf becoming a
primary draw for visitors.
A key challenge for the designers
would be to successfully incorporate
water into the desert environment.
“Water is an integral part of the
Yaqui’s belief system and, for this
reason, the tribe wanted water to be
a big part of the design. It also meant
the golfing experience would be like
no other in the Tucson market,” says
Butler. He and Begay developed the
concept of a ‘desert oasis’-style course,
which features lakes, flowing streams,
waterfalls and lush landscaping.
However, the existing site was flat and
featureless, so a degree of engineering
would be required to create the fall
needed for the stream system, and to
give the holes shape and visual interest.
“Like at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas,
the approach involved sinking areas of
the course below existing grade and
raising others, in order to create the
flowing creek system,” explains Butler.
“To reflect the Pascua Yaqui journey,
the course transitions from desert to
oasis, while taking full advantage of
the surrounding mountain views to
create an exciting and unique setting.
The course finishes with a waterfall
backdrop to the final green, signifying
the Yaqui’s hope of returning to
Sewailo one day.”
The tribe has water rights that
enable them to service the stream
system and provide the irrigation
source for the course. But the area
also has to cope with a tremendous
amount of runoff/flooding during
the monsoon season. The property
is in the path of this runoff and the
designers saw an opportunity to
use the course to capture this water
and direct it to the Black Wash area
north of the course. “We constructed
a series of retention areas to capture
runoff before it could spread to other
areas where flooding occurred. From
these retention areas we created
desert washes which run through the
golf course to carry the runoff in a
controlled manner to the neighboring
Black Wash. The washes added
another visual element and became
a key strategic element for the holes
that play along them.”
Begay and Butler worked closely
with Ken Alperstein of Pinnacle
Design, who was responsible for
landscaping of the course. The plant
Sewailo Golf Club
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Toby Ingleton
Honoring
nature’s gifts
CASE STUDY
When the Pascua Yaqui Tribe decided to build
a golf course, they wanted it to work with the
land and reflect their cultural beliefs