Building the steel wall is the first part of a three-phase project that will help the club keep the golf course dry as the adjacent Red River continues to rise. The project is being paid for by the membership, and the golf course could be playable by June. The second and third phases will include work on the two lowest holes, bunkering, irrigation, and drainage.
The steel flood wall being built at the Fargo (N.D.) Country Club is taking the club’s war with the Red River to another level, the Fargo, N.D., Inforum reported.
At a cost of $1.7 to $1.8 million that will be paid by the membership, it’s the first phase of what is hoped to be a three-phase project to deal with the potential of the rising Red. Phase 2 will attack the two lowest holes on the course—17 and 18—that run parallel to the river, and Phase 3 is expected to address a litany of items like bunkering, irrigation, drainage, cart paths and the planting of a variety of grasses. There is no timeline yet on the final two phases, the Inforum reported.
The club is hopeful this phase will make the golf course playable by the middle of June, and by then most of the wall will either be covered with dirt or shielded from view by some sort of combination of trees or vines, with most of the steel being below the surface, the Inforum reported.
In fact, there will be areas of the wall by No. 16 tee that will be almost completely invisible mainly because of planned mounding and shrubbery in front of it, the Inforum reported.
“Visually for golf that’s important,” said FCC head professional Mark Johnson.
The project will keep the course dry by the holes to a flood level of 30 feet, usually more than enough to handle the summer nuisance floods caused by heavy rain. A system of pumps and drainage inside the flood wall will help deal with the spring floods that exceed 30 feet, with a design aimed at removing water near those three holes in about 48 hours, the Inforum reported.
“That’s vital to keeping turf alive,” Johnson said. “The pumps are large enough to handle that volume of water.”
The No. 14 tee box is being raised and a new back tee will be constructed on more stable and higher ground that will add about 20 yards to the hole. A new senior tee and forward tee are part of the improvements, too, the Inforum reported.
The fairway will be the most noticeable difference, with brush being removed along the left side in favor of more fairway that is expected to give the hole a bowl feel. The wall most likely won’t come into play unless golfers hit a very wayward drive, the Inforum reported.
“The fairway will be a lot wider,” Johnson said. “We’re reclaiming some land there.”
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