Pat Mucci's Boca Rio

[Patrick_Mucci]

E Peveto,

It's to cover up a mistake.

This is a double bulkhead wall, and the the upper bulkhead was intended to be no more than a foot from the lower bulkhead, but there was a mistake made in the drawings, and the upper bulkhead was seperated from the lower bulkhead by
two to three to four feet in some places, creating a problem.

At first we thought about filling the gap between the upper and lower bulkhead with dirt and sod at about a 45 degree angle, but figured we could never maintain it.

It was decided to make all of the bulkhead, upper and lower, in the hazard and plant the gap with dense low growing vegetation, similar to lariapi or spartina.

The green goes right to the bulkhead, with a red line two inches from the bulkhead, such that any ball landing in the gap is virtually unplayable, in the hazard.

The look turned out pretty neat, and a side view from the 16th fairway will be posted soon, including the life preserver which hangs from the bulkheads on holes # 1 and # 17.

Tommy Naccarato,

Anything you can do to get some additional photos up would be appreciated.

[A_Clay_Man]

Patrick- Thanx for the detailed history of the mounds. I think your use of the chips was extremely effiicent. I am learning how hard things can be in Florida, my friend Ed is in frustration overload as we speak. I still have some confusion. Are the mounds a non-issue as JL suggests? I have just recently seen similar mounds used almost everywhere and  are perfectly integrated, by none other than Pete Dye at CCOD.

[E Pevoto]

Patrick,

Life preservers!  That little area says, "Stay away from me" and adds to the psychological effect of the water, I think.  

That feature would be a good discussion point for the natural vs. man-made debate thats raged on other threads.  It doesn't look natural, but to me that seems to add to the "scare" factor.

Thanks for the photos and the explanation.  

Eric

Eric

[Patrick_Mucci]

AClayman,

The mounds are a non-issue to the members, and I believe most who play there.  I've never heard a critical comment directly or indirectly.

When you play the course they don't draw your focus, and even though the terrain is flat they seem to fit in very well, creating what Tom Paul and Tom MacWood seem to love, a harmony with the surrounding land.

There is another set of mounds to the left of the 4th fairway.
These mounds are composed of all the debris and discards from the project.  The location previously filled with Brazilian pepper trees seperated the 3rd and 4th holes.  Once the trees were removed we decided that that area would make a good "garbage dump".  We covered the debris with fill from a nearby lake excavation and then planted the mound with Spartina.  The result came out great visually, practically, and playably.

Sometimes there is more to Mounds then  coconut and chocolate, just ask Peter Paul, Tom's distant cousin.
It was actually the Paul family that invented Mounds, bringing them to real prominence after 1951, when they became bitter at the USGA for eliminating the STYMIE.

[Patrick_Mucci]

E Pevoto,

Unfortunately, the life preservers are for functioanal rather than visual use.

A maintainance worker drowned when he fell off the right rear portion of the green.  I recommended that long poles be added as well since that area is steep and deep and the only practical way out is toward the front of the green where the bulkhead stops.

[A_Clay_Man]

Ironically I was eating an Almond Joy when last I posted.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tommy Naccarato,

Thanks again for posting these pictures.

The top two photos are from the 14th tee, this is the hole that is first pictured at the begining of this thread.  It is one of the most demanding tee shots on the course, into a prevailing wind, water right, bunkers and woods left, and if you don't hit it far enough, you can't get past the corner of the dogleg for a shot into the green.

The next to photos are from the 16th tee, the par 5, slight double dogleg.

The 5th picture is of the 2nd shot on # 16.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th pictures are of the 3rd shot into
# 16, with the 9th photo taken from the right side of the fairway about 120 from the center of the green.

The last photo is of the 1st hole, the short opening par 5,  taken from about 100 yards on the left side of the fairway.  
Note the lifer preserver on the bulkhead.  When the pin is back left, even a 50 yard shot is filled with anxiety.

[Patrick_Mucci]

One of the features you may notice in the photos is that the fairways are not Florida flat.  There are rolls, undulations and mounds within the fairways.  Unfortunately, one of the past green chairman softened some of them, especially on the 5th hole.

You may also notice water in some of the pictures.  In many cases that was land, excavated to provide the soil to cover the wood chips, thus serving two functions.

The other major development at Boca Rio was the recent hiring of a spectacular individual and superintendent, Bob Randquist, formerly the superintendent at Southern Hills for over 20 years.

Bob understands firm and fast, and all aspects of playability from a golfers point of view.  Unfortunately, most members come from Northern clubs that are overly lush, hence there is a clash of philosophy with respect to course conditions that Bob, with the help of some members, is changing, slowly but surely.   For those members who like lush, green, wet conditions, I tell them, "You're going to be in a cemetary for all of eternity, why play golf on one now ?"

The second fortunate thing that happened at Boca Rio is that they retained Ron Forse after he did the Pine Tree restoration.  Ron and  Bob are a great team, but still have an uphill struggle against "the will of a non-golf oriented membership" that  comes up with some wild ideas from time to time.

[George Pazin]

Only 10 years old!

It's always rough for me to pull up an old thread and see Tommy's name...

[Bill_McBride]

Aclayman,

On the east coast of Florida south of Palm Beach there is very little in the way of land movement.  As you head west from the ocean, much of the land was flat farmland or swamp, relaimed due to cheap land costs years ago.

Once you go west of the Turnpike, you encounter worse soil conditions.  From the ocean to the Turnpike you have sugar sand, west of the turnpike coral and marl and swamp.

Boca Rio sits below the water level in some areas, as do many area courses, so most movement in the land is man made.

The movement in the fairways was done with a dozer and the native soils.

The variety of mounds was a product of regulatory mandates and finances.

Once into the project, vegatation clearing permits had to be obtained to clear some of the overgrowth occuring over the last 25 years.  In the midst of the project when we applied for the permits, the State and County mandated that we clear the property of all Braziilian Pepper trees ( Florida Holly) over a three (3) year period., 50 % the 1st year, 25 % the 2nd and 3rd year.  Brazilian Pepper, almost a softwood weed, grows like wildfire, and even if you cut them down, the stumps will rejuvenate and regenerate within a very short time.  

After the plans were drawn to clear areas of the property we had to incur the additional expense of running new irrigation lines, fumigation and grass planting costs for the now barren areas of the golf course.  

Track hoes were brought in to pull down and cut down the pepper trees without damaging other trees of preferance.
Once we had them down, we had to dispose of them.
Initially, we had a burn permit, which could only be exercised when wind velocity was below a certain level each day.
Subsequently, the county revoked all burn permits, and we had to obtain huge machines that chipped up the Pepper Trees.  As you can see, our project costs were escalating rapidly.  The substantial additional cost and damage associated with bringing huge dump trucks on to the property to remove over 40 acres of Brazilian Pepper tree chips was
not a viable alternative.  Instead it was decided to use the chips as the foundation for onsite mounding.

In addition, all of the plastic that covered the golf course, contaminated with methyl-bromide and roundup had to be disposed of.  Florida does not permit below ground burial. hence the plastic was also to serve as mound foundations, with dirt obtained from lake excavations used to cover them.
In some cases a grass called spartina was used to cover off play mounds adding texture to the golf course.  They can be seen in the pictures of hole # 6.

Mounds that were in play were built to accomodate mowing.
Mounds that were in off play areas, were grassed with spartina.

Some mounds served as the platform for bunker placement with the bunkers cut into them.  Hole # 16 on the left as you approach the green is a good example.

Soft Mounds were used to hide virtually every cart path from the golfers view, with the exception of paths around tees, and some greens.  As one walks Boca Rio, from tee to green the cart paths are mostly invisible during the play of the holes despite the fact that over 17,000 linear feet of cart paths and 6 inch curbs wind through the course.

One of my early concerns had to do with the settling of the mounds.  We estimated that as the material decomposed we might lose as much as a foot, however, after ten years, the loss is undetectable.

Had I had a year's advance notice of the State and County's intent with respect to trees on their noxious species, eradication list, I would probably have approached the solution to the Pepper Tree's final resting place differently.
But, this was sprung on us mid-project, with strict compliance and time line mandates, and we made the best of a bad situation.

One has to understand the serious time and financial blow this mandate caused the project  Yet, in the final analysis, the State and  County did us a favor as the pepper trees had become so invasive that they interfered with ones swing on some fairway shots, and the club had to adopt a local relief ruling if the ball went into the pepper trees due to the danger involved in retrieval and the slow down of play.  Pepper trees also cause breathing problems, and are toxic in that nothing will grow under them, Florida Hurricanes also push them over, and break them leaving an unsightly mess.

Some mounds are borne of necessity, and sometimes people only see, like an iceberg, the tip of the mound and not what lies below the surface, or the reasons for their existance.

These mounds were created due to the combination of regulatory mandates, time lines, project progress, and substantial financial considerations.

I think, when you play Boca Rio, that you will find that the mounds are not an objectionable feature, add variety to your fairway shots, and provide an untypical golf experience in Florida.  But, I'm biased, so you might be well served by listening to other opinions as well.

This is very interesting reading about the difficulty of permitting and building a golf course in Florida.   It reads much like a longer version, John Strawn's book "Driving the Green," on the same subject.   

Fascinating stuff, nuts and bolts. 

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