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Scott Weersing

  • Karma: +0/-0
The Great Wall of El Paso
« on: March 23, 2011, 12:26:09 PM »

No, it is not to protect us from illegal immigration. It seems that they are building a wall to protect Fazio's $9.5 million course, Butterfield GC from sand storms.

http://www.kvia.com/news/27276318/detail.html#

So here are some questions that come to mind:

How come they are building it now? They didn't have sand storms during the grow in?
How much sand will it take to hurt grass from growing?

Can you think of another golf course that has a wall to protect the course from sand storms?

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jonathan_becker

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2011, 12:38:07 PM »
I love how they call Tommy F a pro golfer!  That's funny.

I've never been to El Paso and know nothing about the need for this fence, but as someone who works in the aviation field, I can't believe the airport would dip into their funds and grab 1.7 mil to help out a golf course.  But, like I said I don't know all the facts.
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Matt_Ward

Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2011, 03:59:59 PM »
As a locally elected official -- I am amazed if such an allocation of funds were done without any public comment or through a public hearing. Doesn't say in the article and I'd like to know more too.
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Mike Nuzzo

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2011, 04:28:48 PM »
How do they know that the wall will protect the golf course?
Does silt not float over short walls?
I wonder how their debt is doing?
Cheers
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Thinking of Bob, Rihc, Bill, George, Neil, Dr. Childs, & Tiger.

jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2011, 04:33:24 PM »
Quote from: Mike Nuzzo on March 23, 2011, 04:28:48 PM
How do they know that the wall will protect the golf course?
Does silt not float over short walls?
I wonder how their debt is doing?
Cheers

An airport has $9.5 million to build a golf course?
and another 1.4 to build a wall to protect "their investment"?

I'd use the $11 million to build more airports(not golf courses) as clearly they're profitable investments
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"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

Ben Sims

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2011, 04:38:24 PM »
Airport sees the course as an investment, wants to protect their investment.  Pretty easy connection in my opinion.  That golf course has gotten a solid amount of pub in Texas and is the only other golf course west of the I-35 corridor worth traveling to play, other than the Rawls in Lubbock.  I've flown over Butterfield a dozen times and sure enough, it's surrounded by sand.  

By the way Matt, you make sure to keep questioning those west Texas airport officials from your office in Jersey.  I'm sure they'll hop right into action getting more information out there about the funding.  
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David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2011, 05:01:36 PM »
"Can you think of another golf course that has a wall to protect the course from sand storms?"

Scott Weersing -

I wonder how the courses in the Middle East deal with the sand storms that blow often thru that region.

While i can't think of another course that has built a wall to protect it from sand storms, many, many seaside courses (Pebble Beach, Ballybunnion, Royal Dornoch, among others) have spent a great deal of money building walls and barriers to protect against coastal erosion.

Fighting Mother Nature can be an expensive (and losing) proposition.

DT
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Brad Klein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2011, 05:20:18 PM »
There's a long wall built up along the English Channel beach at Littlestone GC in southeast England that not only prevents sand from covering the course but also insulates the course from its greatest natural asset.
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Sam Morrow

Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2011, 11:06:58 PM »
I swear that when I opened this thread I thought it was about imagration.
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Phil_the_Author

Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2011, 11:46:19 PM »
Trust me, if you ever played Coronado up on the mountain you'd think that money was VERY well spent...
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Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2011, 01:43:48 PM »
I played Painted Dunes, a very good Ken Dye daily-fee nearby, in early 2006, and was appalled by the poor conditioning of the course.  Wind erosion was evident throughout, but in the bunkers in particular.  One could see the desert reclaiming the periphery of the playing areas, including some of the fairways.  So, if golf is to be played in this type of environment, it makes sense to protect the investment by whatever reasonable, cost-effective means.  That it is a government entity that funded this project is another issue altogether, but what to do next may not be.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2011, 02:15:06 PM by Lou_Duran »
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Pete_Pittock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2011, 02:13:36 PM »
Once the blown sand rises to the level of he top of the wall, do they build another wall?
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jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: The Great Wall of El Paso
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2011, 03:54:58 PM »
Quote from: Pete_Pittock on March 24, 2011, 02:13:36 PM
Once the blown sand rises to the level of he top of the wall, do they build another wall?

nope.



just build another airport
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"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey
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