Now that the renovation is complete, Stevens Park plays to a par of 70 with a rating of 70.3 and a slope of 127.
The City of Dallas recently contracted with a golf architecture firm located in Arlington, Texas, to prescribe them the best medicine for the nearly 90-year-old Stevens Park Golf Course in order to bring it back to good health in a sickly golf economy.
The original design featured several “Snap” dogleg holes and was overall a “quirky” design. On 110 acres the course was also segmented into pieces by streets, creeks, vegetation, topography and utilities which criss cross below the surface.
The architects were given the challenge of re-routing the 5,700-yard course into a respectable layout. The new design will allow all handicaps to hit the driver off of the tee if so desired. It now measures close to 6,300 yards but feels much longer. The firm took advantage of existing bluffs, creeks, trees and vistas, which had been ignored in the original routing.
Now that the renovation is complete, Stevens Park plays to a par of 70 with a rating of 70.3 and a slope of 127.
Sporting a state of the art irrigation system, Stevens also has a 400,000 gallon water tank to eliminate the need for a pond and to secure the effluent water which the course uses for irrigation. Along with the revamped irrigation system new turf types have been introduced.
Thirty-eight sand bunkers were incorporated into the design in order to provide definition, beauty but most of all to establish the strategy for each hole. The feature noticed as most unique by those seeing the new layout for the first time are the geometric green shapes. (During the architect’s research, a 1930 aerial of the course was located and he noticed the variety of shapes each green on the course had back in the day. Square, rectangular, diamond, triangular and round. These same shapes were re-introduced into the classic green complexes for a more authentic retro appearance.)
The City of Dallas wanted Stevens Park to be a “Garden Golf Course.” This term was coined by Assistant City Parks Director Barbara Kindig, who along with the Head Park and Recreation Director Paul Dyer set the tone for the aesthetic appeal of the course.
In achieving that garden feel, the course is now adorned with many of the same plant materials used in the surrounding neighborhood. This allows for a seamless transition from community to course. Over 800 trees were planted including magnolias, arizona cypress, live oaks, red cedars, red oaks, pond cypress and chinquapin oak to name a few along with a variety of holly, pittosporum, nandina and over 2000 knockout roses.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.