Theodore Wirth Golf Course Renovation Complete

With the 2018 golf season wrapped up, we can now look back on all the changes that were made this year at Theodore Wirth. After a season and a half the new holes 11,12, 18, and Par #1 opened on July 15th. The wait was well worth it, with golfers greatly enjoying the new holes, and we as a maintenance staff were very happy with the conditions of the new turf. Through the remainder of the season, the new turf held up very well. Greens have strong root zones and handled the traffic better than we anticipated (see below). The tees and fairways also were able to withstand the daily wear and tear from play. With that said, these are still young stands of turf and additional inputs from our staff will still be required for the immediate future.

This is a plug from the new 12th green on 10/30/2018, the root structure and depth are outstanding This was exactly what we were trying to develop on the new turf areas.

After the opening, we analyzed how golfers used and reacted to the new layouts. We made some observations and are addressing additional issues over the winter months. The intention is, with some slight improvements we can improve the golf experience for next season. Now, lets just look back and see where each hole started and ended.

HOLE #11

 Original #11 above, hole was regraded and green shifted slightly to the right to accommodate new 12th tee. Bunker was moved from right to left side of green.

Looking down on new #11 approach above, view looking back up from #11 green below.

HOLE #12

 Original #12 hole location. Hidden behind the trees and shrubs was the remains of a golf hole from Wirth's past. The new hole is a re-imagining of that layout. 

View from the new blue tee above, view back towards the tees below.

HOLE #18

 The new 18th hole was created through this stand of trees. Below, the scene after tree removals.

 The white post above was the marker for the center of the green, which you can see in the final product below. 

Above, the view from what would become the new forward tee after tree removal. Below you can just see the downtown skyline sneaking out from behind the green.

PAR HOLE #1

 The view from what would become the new 1st tee. The original green can be seen on the right edge of the photo. Below you can see the initial grading of the new hole.

 Below is the final look of the new 1st hole at the par course.

Additionally, this year we built a new forward tee for the 16th hole. The old tee has a long, forced carry over a rather wet area, this tee was added to ease that tee shot and try to reduce traffic through the left side wet rough. The location of the new tee brings it in line with the fairway and shortens the carry slightly. The placement of this tee was dictated by the irrigation system. This was as far forward as we could place the tee that could still be watered by an existing irrigation head. The new tee box will hold the red tee markers while the yellow tees will remain on the original tee box. This tee will not be ready at the beginning of the season, but should open late spring or early summer.

This fall also saw us take on a irrigation project on the par course. The par irrigation system is insufficient and was mostly operated manually. With the course renovation, we had a new irrigation controller installed to operate the new 1st hole. We placed that satellite in a place where we could utilize it for the rest of the par course. So this fall, we swapped out old manually operated quick coupler's (where you plug in a sprinkler), to actual irrigation heads. After that, we brought in a vendor to help us pull wire to all the new and existing irrigation heads on the par. This will allow us to operate the par irrigation system from our central computer, the same control feature as the championship course. These improvements will allow for better and more consistent turf management at the par course.

Once again, we want to thank all of our patrons for their patience as we work to make improvements to Theodore Wirth Golf Club. There is definitely much more to do and we are working on gathering resources to continue to make improvements that will benefit our patron experience. We will continue to strive towards providing an exceptional golf experience next year and the years that follow!