Page 58 - April 2015 Life In Naples Magazine

of members and management; multiple
greens and grounds committees, golf
committees, governing boards, club
presidents; multiple architectural firms; a
handful of exceptional contractors; and a
course maintenance crew of 14 ladies and
gentlemen who rose to the occasion.
Initially, the club brought in a series of
construction consultants. All came to the
same conclusion - that the infrastructure
was antiquated, the game of golf had
changed in the last 25 years, lake banks
were deteriorating and bulkheads and
greens sub-surface drainage had to be
replaced. For the strategic planning team,
there was no question that the way to do
this right was to restore the course in its
entirety all at once.
“When we started this, we had letters
from everyone in the profession telling
us how risky it was for our club to do
this scope of work in this short amount
of time: 120 acres and five months
of construction is 24 acres worth of
construction every month. It is mind
boggling,” reports Levitre.
58
“Then, on top of this, we added the perimeter
project; removing two and a half miles of trees and
plants along the perimeter, building a 10 foot berm,
erecting a fence, landscaping and planting again.
Throwing that scope of work on top of what was
already viewed as an impossible timeline, it seemed
like it couldn’t be done.That’s the adversity we knew design firms, the club chose architect
we were up against.”
The club started bid negotiations with five
preeminent golf course construction companies,
and after pitting the final two contractors against
one another, secured what all believe was
the best contractor, Ryangolf. Waldrup
Engineering, JTM, and O’Donnell
Landscaping were also selected.
After vetting many course architectural
Mike Smelek of Smelek Design due to
his familiarity with the property and the
course. Smelek was partner in the original
course architectural design firm of von
Hagge, Smelek and Baril. He worked with
Robert von Hagge for 30 years and was
involved in the original Bay Colony Golf
Course construction.
“I was with the architect every minute,
every hour, every day he was here, and he
always considered ‘what would Bob do?”
(Robert Von Hagge), keeping in mind
the original designer’s intent,” reports
Levitre. “Smelek is professional to a fault,
highly intelligent, brings his own skills and
artistry, has a very good understanding of
what it takes to maintain a golf course, and
he’s a great golfer, so he understands what
it means to play a great golf course.”
A decision had to be made whether
to replant the same grass or select a
different turf. A tremendous amount of
due diligence was conducted, including
multiple consultations with golf clubs to
ensure the right decision was made for Bay
Colony Golf Club. The turf is, after all, at
the heart of any golf course construction.
Ultimately, the decision was made to
switch to Tif Sport everywhere with the
exception of greens, for which Tif Eagle
was selected. Both are sub-species of
Bermuda grass.
Selecting the turf and “watching the
grass grow” was its own challenge. There
are only a limited number of turf farms
that grow Tif Sport; one in Texas, one in
central Florida and Pikes Creek Turf in
Life in Naples | April 2015