River Oaks CC’s renovation begins sod installation

Last month marked the beginning of grassing to complete the renovation of the River Oaks Country Club golf course in Houston.

Architects Tom and Logan Fazio are in charge of the complete renovation of the 18-hole golf course. The renovation includes building three new golf holes, expansion of the driving range, new cart paths, a new computerized irrigation system, new golf shop, removal of the old grass, reshaping of the golf course and a complete regrassing of every playing surface. MiniVerde bermudagrass will make-up the greens and all other 113 acres will be installed with Celebration bermudagrass.

“We determined that we wanted Celebration early on,” says Morris Johnson, director of golf course operations at River Oaks CC. “We had it on our driving range and teaching facility tee for three years. We had success with it. It’s a tighter grass with better cold tolerance than other bermudgrasses that we tried.”

A year prior to the start of the project, Johnson visited other golf courses in Florida that share a similar climate as Houston to see how Celebration performed there. It can be found on golf courses from the Carolinas to Texas and well-known college stadiums like the University of Florida and Louisiana State University. The grass is known for its deep blue-green color, drought tolerance, wear tolerance and aggressive repair from divots.

The Celebration bermudagrass will be installed as solid sod from January to June. The club membership chose solid sod than as springs because, “the speed of reopening and the decreased possibility of contamination,” Johnson says.

All Seasons Turf Grass, based in Brookshire, Texas, will be transporting approximately 550 truckloads of sod to complete the project.

“This is one of the biggest jobs All Seasons Turf Grass has ever done,” says Scott Sipes, sales manager for All Seasons Turf Grass. “Most farms wouldn’t be able to supply that much of a sand-based single product because of the sheer volume. It’s all coming from the same farm, more than 100 acres of land.”

A total of 32,000 rounds of golf were played at the Donald Ross designed course in 2013 but Johnson expects the course will host at least 38,000 rounds of golf annually. The fully renovated course is expected to open on Labor Day 2015. The renovation of the back nine began in August. The front nine closed for play in December.

Photos: River Oaks CC