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A team effort
Interview
05
John Fought, ASGCA, is leading a
water reduction project at Ironwood
CC in Palm Desert, California.
Courses in California are dealing
with a drought and negotiating a
number of state mandates. Ironwood
CC is one of a number of courses
in the state committed to removing
areas of turf and surface water
across the course.
More than 10 acres will be
removed this year, and around 40
acres of irrigated turf and surface
water will be removed over three
years on the club’s South Course.
Fought leads water
reductions at Ironwood CC
C
onstruction work at
Rockwood Park Golf Course
in Fort Worth, Texas, is now
in full swing. New tees, greens and
bunkers have been added to the front
nine, and now John Colligan, ASGCA,
and his project team are switching
their focus to the back nine.
What have been the biggest
challenges of the Rockwood project?
The biggest challenge has been
Mother Nature. The 1938 John
Bredemus design was very flat with
no subsurface drainage and there
was over 20 inches of rain during
the first part of the summer, along
with temperatures which were much
cooler than normal. The cooler
temperatures set back the turf farms
which created a big demand when
the grass was ready to harvest.
How have you met these challenges?
Our contractor, Heritage Links, has
brought on more manpower and the
City of Fort Worth has added more
funds for extra labor, an increased
sprig rate and more sod. In addition,
the city has been flexible with the
opening date in order to give the
superintendent, Bill Strum, more time
to get the course ready. It has been a
great team effort!
What do you believe is the most
interesting part of the project?
I feel that the most interesting part
starts with the rerouting of the
course. My associate, Trey Kemp, has
created a routing which will hold its
own against any course, public or
private, in the Dallas and Fort Worth
area and beyond. Trey has reversed
the direction of several holes, and
combined elements of par three and
four holes to create a new par five hole.
We located an aerial of the course
from the early 1940s that allowed us
to document the original Bredemus
bunker style and inspired many of
the quirky green shapes that we have
added to the routing. We also created
some of the most interestingly subtle
green floors to be found anywhere.