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Project listings
Bears Paw
Bears Paw, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course located in Naples Florida, was built in 1979 and is considered one of the oldest Signature Courses in the Jack Nicklaus Portfolio. The Club hired Landirr Inc. in January 2015, under direction of David Savic of Nicklaus Design to restore the Green Complexes. During the restoration, the goal was to bring the greens back to their original shape and contours per the USGA Specifications.
The original greens were redone in 1992 and regrassed in 2000. Landirr’s restoration included the restoration of the new greens back to the approximate elevation of the 1992 green cavities with the 1979 and 1980 original design. The sizes of the greens were 97,000 sq. ft., and after the construction the new green sizes were 120,000 sq. ft. with the green surrounds measuring 90,000 sq. ft.
The bunker restoration took place early in the construction phase and Landirr Inc. performed the bunker restoration along with the addition of out fall drainage, earthwork, shaping, and finish work. TifEagle was planted on the greens at 30 bu per 1000 sq. ft. The Club regrassed with Celebration Bermuda Grass and performed replacements of the irrigation system and pump station. At the grand opening Jack Nicklaus praised the work and was thrilled that this very original signature course was restored back to the original look.
venetian bay
Golf course architect Clifton, Ezell and Clifton partnered with Landirr Inc. to build Venetian Bay located in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The goal was to renovate Venetian Bay into a Championship Golf Course. Many months were spent reviewing several iterations to achieve the final championship golf layout. While working and re-working the plans, it was always a matter of a 360 degree feel. As you turned the question was, "what are we seeing now?" It was never about how many home sites can be garnished on the golf course but more of how we can offer the player a true feeling of being out in nature. As a result, we have no holes with development on both sides. The fact is, most of the fairways actually have none.
To complete the course routing, we utilized a large state owned riparian corridor to the east of the property as a backdrop for the development. We brought the clubhouse well into the golf course off the collector road locating it in a centrist position to the playing field. Again, the 360-degree vista. We have plenty of staging area adjacent to the Pro-Shop, two practice greens and a beautiful driving range with eight target greens. All but two holes play in a north/south alignment so the sun is never a problem. The existing wetlands were isolated cypress heads scattered about this old pastureland. These offered opportunities to sculpt the holes over and around them creating interest, utilizing less land and framing many of the shots. Through patience and proper planning it equated to almost zero clearing on the golf course proper. We still have adequate sunlight and air flow on every hole to maintain a sustainable healthy golf course for years to come.
With low flat pasture land such as this, it was important to create storm water ponds. Much of the course uses these ponds for shot strategy. We have several holes with risk/reward scenarios using these ponds and trees to tempt riskier angles. Another by-product of storm water ponds is sculpting material, which we used to our advantage. It was important for us to create a real WOW affect when driving into Venetian Bay to complement the beautiful architecture. We shaped in one hundred and fourteen bunkers throughout the course all plainly seen from tee or roadway. These were created and placed as more of a dramatic affect from the tees but not as penal as they may appear. It's more of a look hard play easier concept, that keeps the golfers happy. We offer large softly rolling greens to enable maintenance staff many pin placements and to obtain faster stimpmeter readings in the range of 11 to 13 if desired for tournament play. The finishing holes are the main/hot topic of conversation in the clubhouse. Number nine is a very short par 4 (sometimes called a par 3 Y2). It offers a gutsy shot for the green over a cypress head but is well protected by staggered bunkering in front and an adjacent pond to the right of the putting surface. Play well; you've got spectators on the C.H. patio just a few feet away. Number 18 is a longer straight away par 4 with early bunkers to distort the depth perception off the tee, alternating bunkers along the fairway and then on to the green perched against the entry feature pond. This course is a true championship test of golf demanding every club in the bag. We're very pleased to see Venetian Bay has been well received by amateurs and tour players alike.
copperleaf
Gordon Lewis was the original golf course architect on Cooperleaf’s 500 plus home, old WCI Community. Starting on April 10th 2015, Kipp Schulties was hired to restore the entire golf course with the help of Landirr Inc.
Copperleaf was 15 years old at the start of the renovation. The scope of work consisted of a total reconstruction of all green complexes with specifications from the USGA specifications, removing and installing new greens loops irrigation with quick couplers, and drainage.
All tees and bunkers were either redone or repaired with no liner added. The whole golf course was re-grassed with Celebration Bermuda Grass on all tees, fairways, and roughs. The greens were Tif Eagle. The entire practice area was redesigned and enlarged to accommodate the increasing number of golfers.
Kipp Schulties likes Florida cap rock so the scope of work included a large amount cap rock walls in the lakes around green complexes. Some restoration rock work was completed on existing walls throughout the golf course. A minimal amount of earthwork was renovated on several holes to change the drainage and raise a few landing areas.
The existing asphalt cart path was reworked, with the addition of some new asphalt path and new asphalt overlay on the balance of the remaining holes. The construction was completed in approximately seven months with some added extras at the end. The membership is extremely pleased with the work of Landirr in conjunction with the golf course superintendent David Dore-Smith, who grew the golf course in with outstanding results.