The Sioux Falls, S.D. municipal has had to cut down trees and reroute its 27 holes because of an FAA-mandated runway extension at the nearby regional airport. Rounds have been affected by renovation work that will extend into 2016, but the outlook is for “wholesale improvement” that could pay off in the long run.
When Tom Jansa, President of Dakota Golf Management, gets in a golf cart and starts up the cart path along the nine holes comprising the North Course at Elmwood Golf Course, he has a clear view of what has made the past two years so hectic at the Sioux Falls, S.D. municipal course, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported.
Light towers leading planes to the runway at Sioux Falls Regional Airport dot the horizon and stand on the course itself, the Argus Leader reported. What used to be an imposing bunch of pine and black walnut trees is now a fairway, thanks to a Federal Aviation Administration directive to expand the airport’s runway area that cut straight into Elmwood’s North Course. An adjacent fence stands as a reminder of the land’s new resident, the Argus Leader reported.
But Elmwood GC is currently in a brief state of rare unity, the Argus Leader noted. Renovations to the North Course were finished on August 28 and the West Course doesn’t go under the knife until September 8, providing a short period when Elmwood golfers could once again play all 27 holes in a day.
The West Course renovation won’t be completed until 2016, and that promises to cause a continued hit in attendance during construction for Elmwood, the Argus Leader reported. But early reviews of the newly done North Course have been promising, and conditions on the East Course have also improved in the year since its opening. Overall, the Argus Leader noted, while the runway expansion has given Elmwood its share of inconveniences, but it has also given the course the opportunity for wholesale improvement.
Regardless of whether the Sioux Falls Regional Airport Authority was going to lengthen the runway, the Argus Leader reported, Jansa and Dakota Golf Management, which has been contracted by the city of Sioux Falls to run its three public courses, knew that a number of the golf course’s trees had to come down to comply with height regulations for land adjacent to the airport. The trees that formed a boundary for the driving range came down, as did the trees on the North Course’s opening hole that formed a dogleg to the left.
“If there’s no trees, there’s no dogleg,” Jansa noted.
Holes had to be moved and remapped to accommodate the new runway, and along with that new turf and irrigation would be put in, the Argus Leader reported. And to do it on just the holes affected by the renovation would produce a “patchwork” effect on the entire facility, so Dakota Golf Management took the opportunity to work on the entirety of the East and West Courses, rather than just the holes affected.
The East Course was renovated starting in September 2013 and opened for play a year later, the Argus Leader reported. An unusually wet June and delays in the delivery of materials set the construction of that course back and affected the playing surface, but a year in, the course has “matured” and the greens in particular are drawing raves, It was reported.
For the North Course, however, the process was almost painless, said Kevin Norby of Herfort Norby, the golf course architecture firm working with Dakota Golf Management with for the renovations.
“We had, really, a perfect growing season and construction season for the North nine,” Norby told the Argus Leader. “I really don’t think there were any unexpected challenges there.”
Overall, there’s been roughly a 50-50 split of holes that have to be moved around and those that are just tidied up, the Argus Leader reported. The North Course saw the most drastic movement, with the trees forming a line from the airport to the clubhouse, and a new par-3 hole going in. The course’s maintenance facilities have also been moved closer to the East Course.
The improvements are obvious, though, even with the new look of everything, the Argus Leader reported. The new turf maintains height better and is more resistant to diseases. Renovating the North Course meant Dakota Golf Management could take a fairway built on a riverbed filled in with garbage—meaning it kept having to be re-leveled and re-graded—and turn it into an area of rough between holes.
The West Course will likely be the least drastic of the three renovations, the Argus Leader reported, with much of the work dedicated to shifting the current layout around and maintaining a uniform look across the course’s 27 holes. The project will, however, open up room for two holes, to complete the course’s five-hole junior golf facility, which used to be by the airport but now sits next to the clubhouse.
As he neared the end of the North Course, Jansa veered off the cart path and onto the fairway of the 16th hole to chat with a threesome that was effusive with its compliments for the course, the Argus Leader reported.
Ginger Jones expressed her appreciation for the natural flora of the rough being maintained, with sumac and other plants lining the course. The only problem she had was with the divots that broke the pristine nature of the course.
“It’s wonderful,” Jones said to Jansa. “You did a good job.”
Jansa was happy to hear Jones’ reaction, though not entirely surprised. “That’s pretty typical of just about everybody who’s played [the renovated course],” he told the Argus Leader as he headed back to the cart path.
C&RB published these earlier reports on how the airport expansion affected Elmwood GC:
http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2014/09/30/elmwood-gc-closes-north-nine-renovation/
and
C&RB also reported on the course’s plans to add a hotel on the property:
http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2014/03/28/pennsylvania-s-d-golf-properties-add-hotels/
and
http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2013/11/20/city-build-hotel-near-elmwood-gc/
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.