In addition to needing to complete its new pro shop in a tight, tournament-to-tournament timeframe, The Sea Pines Resort’s Harbour Town Golf Links sought a partner that could maximize the impact of customers’ shopping trips throughout the expanded space.
In a matter of hours after Matt Kuchar holed out a bunker shot on the 18th hole to claim the championship of the 2014 RBC Heritage Classic tournament at The Sea Pines Resort’s Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, S.C., demolition and construction crews began queuing up to begin the creation of a brand new clubhouse at the iconic seaside links course.
One key component of the overall construction of the new 55,000-sq. ft. facility was the pro shop, with its view of several scenic holes. After reviewing bids from a number of companies, the resort’s VP of Sports & Operations, Cary Corbitt, and Director of Resort Development, Cliff McMackin, selected Bend, Ore.-based Procraft Heritage Creations to design and furnish the new 1,800-sq. ft. shop.
The challenge of creating a pro shop from scratch that would be worthy of one of the country’s best-known resort courses came with a caveat: the new clubhouse, including the shop, had to be completed in less than a year, to be ready for the following year’s Heritage Classic Tour event. When the entire project was completed in less than 10 months, PGA Tour officials told McMackin they’d never seen an entire clubhouse of that size and scope demolished and rebuilt in less than a year.
“It was a very tight design and construction period, and Procraft rose to that challenge, as well as the rest of the project team,” McMackin says. “I can’t say enough about what a great partner they were throughout the design, selection of furnishings, and execution phases of the project.”
The Right Fit
Having concluded that the existing clubhouse, including the pro shop, was too small to accommodate what was needed for such a prestigious course, the other challenge for the resort team and Procraft was to find the best way to utilize the increased space in the new design.
“One challenge was to not make [the shop] too open,” McMackin says. “We wanted to have the merchandise fixtures spaced, to kind of guide customers through the shop.
“We chose a wood [alder] that was light and airy with a reddish tint, to match the aesthetics of the property,” he adds. “Operationally, we were very happy with the amount of storage that was hidden behind the fixtures. Having that space saves us time and dollars in going back and forth from the downstairs merchandise storage areas.”
Both McMackin and Procraft’s Founder and President, Mike Sieverson, agree that research and communication between Procraft representatives and the Sea Pines team was a key to streamlining the design and construction process, and to achieving the desired results.
“We in the home office, and Gary Elias in our Atlanta office, worked with the management team, the architect, the designer and [Sea Pines’] merchandiser, who is a real key person in these types of projects,” says Sieverson. “They all have their own unique way of displaying product and want to have the versatility to do different things. You’ve got to be a really good listener.”
McMackin agrees, noting that Procraft’s representatives “were very engaged with the user. They get down to the merchandise managers and find out exactly what they want.”
Noting that nearly every pro shop project is a custom design, Procraft’s Elias says that for the Harbour Town project, “We located the front and back counters for maximum exposure and [staff] deployment.
“We looked carefully at where the various counters and fixtures were placed, because certain things sell better in certain areas,” Elias adds. “We also designed all of the windowsill heights so that fixtures would fit underneath them, which enabled us to keep the backs of them out of sight.
“We also talked about the wood species, stain and type,“ he adds. “You’ve got to match the aesthetics to the shop and the course location and type.”
In addition to doing its part to help complete the overall project in virtually record time, Procraft also wrapped up its work “on a budget comparable to what we anticipated,” McMackin reports.
“One thing no one likes is surprises in a situation like this, and there weren’t any with this project,” McMackin adds. “We feel like a lot of vendors can produce a pretty project—but not all of them work as well as this one did.”
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