Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Gold Canyon, Ariz., is undergoing a $2 million bunker renovation project on its two 18-hole golf courses that is expected to be complete in five months. Charlotte (Mich.) Country Club is being reinvented under new ownership, with a full-time food-and-beverage offering, modified golf course, and updated outdoor dining facilities.
Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Gold Canyon, Ariz., recently started renovations to the bunkers on its two Nicklaus-designed 18-hole golf courses. The $2 million project will take approximately five months to complete.
“Renovating our bunkers is crucial to continue offering our members the first-class golf they have come to expect here at Superstition Mountain,” said General Manager Mark Gurnow. “This investment reinforces the financial stability of our club and the dedication by our ownership to the members.”
In order for the project to come to fruition, Gurnow and Scott Krout, Director of Agronomy, presented the renovation proposal to members of the Nicklaus architect team who created the original courses. Krout, who has been with Superstition Mountain since the club opened in 1998 and worked with the design team on the original plans, leveraged his relationships and deep understanding of the courses to help facilitate the approval process from the Nicklaus group, construction crew and Jack Nicklaus himself.
The bunker renovation, which will affect all 175 bunkers, will remove 4,000 tons of sand and install 4,500 tons of new sand. In addition, bunker updates include new drainage systems, re-shaping of the existing bunkers, and the addition of Capillary Concrete, the latest in bunker construction technology. The state-of-the-art concrete will allow the bunkers to drain efficiently from irrigation and rain, while maintaining proper amounts of moisture in the sand for optimal playing quality.
Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club will continue to offer 18-holes of golf for its members throughout construction.
Jim Cicorelli and 50 others bought the 100-acre, nine-hole Charlotte (Mich.) Country Club in late 2013 for $395,000. The new ownership is slowly reinventing the business. For now, that means adding a full, five-day-a-week menu courtesy of East Lansing-based catering and food cart success story Grand Grillin, the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal reported.
A few years from now, Cicorelli hopes to go bigger, tearing down the 70-year-old clubhouse and replacing it with an upscale, family-friendly sports bar. Those plans may seem far-fetched at a time when even he admits golf courses around Lansing have struggled, and several have closed, but Cicorelli says they aren’t, the Journal reported.
“We’re where we need to be,” Cicorelli said.
Investors want to open up parts of the course for event rentals. They’ve hired a property manager and golf professional, Chris Mann, to run things. And they’ve added a golf shop with clubs and accessories. They’ve also invested $150,000 in the course, itself, modifying tee positions on five of the nine holes and removing some trees and stumps on the grounds, the Journal reported.
The clubhouse dining room, which had been offering very limited food service to members before the sale, was renovated and updated. Outdoor patio seating and awnings were added on a deck overlooking the course. Grand Grillin owner Vicki Ueberroth took over the kitchen in April, Tuesday through Saturday, the Journal reported.
“We know you can’t do this with golf alone,” Cicorelli said. “You need other amenities.”
Ueberroth’s menu, which features her popular chicken in everything from sandwiches to nachos, is a step in that direction. Her creations have been popular in Ingham County, where she’s catered for ESPN crews during their live coverage of Michigan State University football. At Maple Brook, she offers an expanded menu and catered food. Ueberroth has huge hopes for the partnership, the Journal reported.
“Cars are constantly going by,” Ueberroth said. “The location is phenomenal, as far as being right off the highway. I envision this being a destination place. It’s a great place to just escape from everything, something really different.”
The biggest hurdle Maple Brook faces is its own history, said Moe Jackson, an investor in the business and a Charlotte-area resident. Three years after the ownership change, people still assume the course is private. “People will come up to us and say, ‘Oh, can anybody go there now?'” he said.
That perception is changing, said Mann, the club’s golf pro. “We’ve got a number of people who are starting to come here just for Vicki’s food, and that’s a good sign,” he said. “The feedback I get is not just, ‘That was good,’ but ‘Wow, that was awesome.'”
Recognition of what the business is becoming is something owners can build on in the future, Cicorelli said.
“We’ve got the atmosphere, a great product,” Cicorelli said. “My dream is a full-fledged sports bar with casual comfort food—two or three, four businesses under one roof. That’s our goal. It’ll get there.”
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