I was an Assistant Superintendent at Renegade Golf Course in Scottsdale, AZ, and Mr. Nicklaus was onsite for the day. He came to visit in advance of the scheduled major renovation project to explain his vision for the golf course transformation. Renegade is located at Desert Mountain Club and is the first of six Nicklaus Signature golf courses to be developed at the Club, opening in 1987.
The timing of my introduction to Mr. Nicklaus that day is comical, but important. As Mr. Nicklaus pulled up in his golf cart for an introduction and a quick handshake, I stood behind the ninth green watching the crew mow rough, slipping and sliding down the mounds and steeply pitched green surrounds seen in the photo below.
“Where are you from?” Mr. Nicklaus asked before briefly explaining his vision for the renovation. As he discussed his plan to knock down the outdated mounding on the golf course and I watched our rough mowers continue to struggle on the dew-slicked mounds; it seemed appropriate to ask about his intentions relating to ease of maintenance and agronomic practicality. After assuring me they were an integral aspect of his design intent, I chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief before we parted ways.
While employed by Desert Mountain I was able to enjoy staff golfing privileges and I tried to get out as often as my schedule allowed. Over time I played all six courses, each with its unique character and aesthetic. All of the courses are stunning and immaculately groomed, but given the option I would always prefer to play Renegade despite the outdated shaping and superficial mounding. It simply offered the most variety and greatest challenge. Renegade was a bold design for 1987, each hole with two flag locations for daily play (five of the holes offered two separate greens, the other holes were built with large yet distinguishable double greens). The ‘White’ flag was always the shorter approach and preferred members’ pin, the ‘Gold’ flag was a longer approach with generally tighter pinnable areas for players who desired more of a challenge.
Renegade’s infrastructure was long overdue for an upgrade prompting the renovation. The irrigation system was thirty years old, undesirable turf types had encroached throughout amongst other agronomic challenges, and the outdated features were difficult and costly to maintain. The other courses at Desert Mountain had all received upgrades over the years and they will stand the test of the time, however Renegade in 2018 was the same course with the same bones that opened in 1987. When Renegade reopens in March, it will not only be the most innovative golf course to open in 2019, it will also be the most influential and scientifically intelligent renovation of recent memory.
PAY ATTENTION
Full disclosure, this project is a high-end private facility and Desert Mountain has resources that not every club can bring to the table. Bear with me while I explain how to apply the genius behind the Renegade renovation at every club and why every club considering renovation should pay attention. Throughout this report you’re going to see statistics and figures that relate to the golf course pre-renovation and post-renovation; my request to the audience is that you focus on the ratios and percentages, not raw data. The goal here is to present the information objectively, highlighting the concepts being employed by some of the industry’s greatest thought-leaders to create an exciting golf experience full of variety while utilizing advances in agronomic science to ensure environmental sustainability. After seeing both the new and old Renegade, I was immediately inspired to show the golfing public what is possible when we let the experts think outside the box and break away from the traditionality of golf development.
THE VISION
Shortly after opening in 1987, Renegade vaulted up the golf course rankings earning a Top 100 designation in 1991, 1993, and 1995. The overall goal is to modernize and bring Renegade back it’s prominence, giving the members at Desert Mountain a globally acclaimed golf course again. In addition to receiving an aesthetic makeover, Renegade is getting a new irrigation system, adding more variety to the playing options, and regrassing the golf course with all cool-season turf (we’ll unpack the significance of this topic in a bit). The redesign will add eight new greens to an existing bold layout, new teeing grounds will lengthen the course from the back tees and eliminate forced carries from the forward tees, all while reducing approximately twenty acres of maintained turf from the old layout.
THE COURSE
Many of us dream of the variety and options at the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch, an enigmatic and raw site just north of Bandon Dunes Resort complete with 13 green sites and no particularly defined routing strategy. Just tee up your ball, hit a shot, find it, and repeat. Liberating and thought-provoking. Renegade will present its golfers with a similar freedom, endless playing options from tee to green(s), but you will follow a traditional 18-hole routing that meanders through the stunning Sonoran Desert with views of Tonto National Forest to the northeast. Each hole will offer a minimum of five teeing grounds, additional tees are scattered throughout the property where interesting shots or dramatic views were discovered during the construction process. Once you’re off your tee of choice, you get out to your ball and have the option of playing to the White or Gold flag. Many players will decide which flag to play before they reach the first tee for handicapping purposes, but that really limits the playing options and inhibits the notion of non-traditionalism I’m hoping to address. With three par fives and three par threes on the back nine, it is the greatest test of Match Play golf I have witnessed. I strongly encourage all golfers who get a chance to play Renegade to not be hindered by stroke play and let your imagination take you out for the round of your life. Don’t let ‘posting a score’ get in the way of experiencing the brilliance this golf course offers.
Imagine yourself with your ideal foursome on a Saturday morning, the game is Wolf. The Wolf’s first decision is selecting the teeing area that gives them the best chance at success on each hole. Balls are put in play and the Wolf decides to choose a partner or go solo. Here comes the twist. The Wolf arrives at their ball, and then chooses which flag they will be playing this hole to. The playable combinations are staggering - by computing five tees with two flags per hole, there are 43,758 different ways to play the golf course before you put a tee in the ground on the first hole [ C = n! / {r!(n-r)!} ]. You could spend your whole life out here and never play the same 18-hole combination twice.
The driving force behind the Renegade renovation is Chris Cochran, Senior Design Associate for Nicklaus Design. He is the man responsible for bringing Jack’s visions to reality and has done so for more than thirty years. As it relates to Renegade, Chris is most proud of the work being done to make approach shots into the greens more receptive for golfers of all skill levels and creating more forward teeing grounds while eliminating difficult forced carries. Renegade was known for being difficult, ranked in Golf Digest’s Top 50 Toughest Courses in 2007. When it was built in 1987, tough golf is what the people wanted, that’s what sold memberships and garnered attention. As time rolled on, the demands of the modern golfer changed and people wanted fun golf opposed to difficult golf, and it showed at Renegade. Renegade for years has had the fewest number of “guest” rounds played on the six courses at Desert Mountain, presumably because it was such a challenging test of golf played on aging infrastructure. Renegade will open in 2019 with a new nucleus – swapping adjectives like “tough and long” for “fun and thought-provoking”, a golfing experience the talented Cochran is exceptional at creating.
I don’t want to lead you to believe the new course will be easy, it will be easier from the forward tees but from the tips Renegade still packs a punch worthy of testing the best players in the world. The back tees will stretch out to play over 8100 yards while the forward tees will play around 4300 yards. The back tees to the Gold flags will play more than 1100 yards longer than the old course and the forward tees to the White flag will play roughly 500 yards shorter than the prior set-up. The majority of play on Renegade was always to the White flags on the old course. As a former employee of the golf course, it was clearly evident by the difference in wear and tear to the putting surfaces. The White greens would have scuff marks and unrepaired pitchmarks on a daily basis while the Gold greens were pristine – sometimes completely untouched after a full day of play. The addition of new forward tees and Gold green sites will help to offset the wear and tear issues previously seen on the White greens by creating a more thoughtful and inviting approach to playing the Golds. Playing to the Gold flags is no longer reserved for players seeking a challenging round, everyone will have a chance and be encouraged to play to the Gold flags on the new design when playing from appropriate tee markers. Much of the added length and teeing grounds found on the new course is by virtue of separating some of the old double greens and rebuilding the holes to include two new green sites pushing the Gold greens back to the expanse of the golf corridors.
The golf holes themselves are classics, the team here did not compromise creativity to enhance playability or increase playing options. The Gold green on the par four 3rd hole might be the most challenging approach shot on the golf course. From the fairway you hit a strong mid-iron to an elevated green site. The green is a turbulent sea of movement from back right to front left, pushing errant shots off the green and into a deep arroyo that separates the White green site.
The Gold green on the par three 4th hole is redan-like, testing the players mid to long iron skills from an elevated tee over a lake to a green that slopes away from the direction of play. The 4th plays as long as 232 yards and as short as 75 yards.
The par four 7th hole is a risk-reward drivable hole playing 307 yards from the back tees to the White green, with trouble everywhere for those of us who refuse to lay up. A native waste area peppered with Mesquites and Palo Verdes splits the White and Gold greens forcing the player to hit a confident shot. The lay-up off the tee brings fairway bunkers into play with OB left and right.
The par five 9th hole wins “Comeback Player of the Year” without a doubt. This was the hole with the absurd mounding where I first met Jack, the new hole is essentially all fairway with only a couple mower passes of rough around the edges. A desert arroyo separates the fairway and approach forcing the player to make a committed swing on their second shot. The tee shot is particularly interesting with two clear playing options. The safer option is to the lower left fairway where you could simply roll one out there but risk running out of room and getting blocked out by desert vegetation on your second shot. The bold player will challenge the elevated right fairway off the tee, separated from the lower fairway by a long sweeping bunker that bisects the landing areas.
The par four 13th has three large centerline fairway bunkers that can really cause some carnage as you start to get rolling on the back nine. They are in play from every teeing area on this hole so the only play is to take them on.
The par three 14th hole has three separate green sites playing a flip wedge short or a long iron to the back and middle greens. This hole will play from 66 yards to 237 yards.
The par five 17th is going to go down as one of the greatest holes in the Arizona desert. Another great risk-reward tee shot, you have the option to bunt it out to the bunkerless left fairway leaving yourself a painfully long and uphill approach, or you can try and take on the right fairway by carrying the punishing bunkers staring you straight in the face. The Gold green is a semi-punchbowl with an artful grassline that flows right into the 18th tees behind it. The shaping on this golf hole is so good, when you’re standing on the tee box all you see is an ocean of bunkers out in front of you, once you reach the green and look back to the tee you can’t see a single grain of sand. Not the longest hole on the golf course in terms of yardage, but it will certainly play the longest. I imagine a lot of matches being won or lost with the daunting tee shot on the 17th.
By this point, you’re probably asking yourself how these concepts relate to a potential renovation at your own Club. You’re thinking there’s no way your club can successfully manage 31 greens with your available resources. For starters, forget about the numbers. Renegade added more greens but the total square footage of greens remains the same as pre-renovation, the tees as well. By separating the old large double greens, we are able to provide more playing options and operate more efficiently from a maintenance perspective. Vastly reducing the total acreage of rough-height turf provides the maintenance crew with more manhours to dial in the detail work after they complete primary tasks. Eliminating island tees and building flowing runway tees reduces the amount of maintenance required to keep sharp edges looking clean, again freeing up more staff for other tasks. Don’t forget at the end of all this, the renovation still reduced approximately 15% of total maintained turf throughout the golf course. Renegade used to require an experienced crew that was capable of overcoming difficult agronomic challenges on a daily basis. When they reopen, they will be able to truly let their crew shine because they won’t be applying band-aid solutions to an aging golf course that’s leaking oil. The new design will allow them to focus on the areas in play without having to expend valuable time and resources managing perimeter details.
Not every Club will be able to provide 37 daily hole locations and add 1100 yards to the scorecard. What you can do is establish native areas to reduce maintenance inputs and expenses. Fill in bunkers that aren’t strategic on your golf course. Eliminate sharp edges around the golf course that require hours of handwork to maintain. Remove problematic trees and vegetation to open some space and airflow. With your newfound time, resources, and labor savings; you can consider adding more variety and new features to the golf course. Maybe you now have the means to add an interesting putting course or short course, maybe you can add a handful of alternative greens on the existing golf course, you can grade out some new tee boxes that offer shot value or an inspiring view. The Renegade model is not a one-size-fits-all solution, it is the mindset of the decision makers that should be applied at your Club. Be willing to try something different, eliminate “this” to add a little of “that”, step away from traditional standards and think about golf differently. Establish a committee of qualified personnel who can help open your Club’s eyes to what is possible with the right tools. One of the golf industry metrics I can’t stand is the “how many new golf courses are being built” benchmark. It forces the public to believe that the state of the game is in a bad place when that number is low. The truth is, the world doesn’t need more golf courses. We just need to reimagine and enhance the many existing opportunities that are already out there. Don’t just renovate – innovate.
THE SCIENCE
Over the course of the next three years, the renovation at Renegade will in turn pay for itself. Not because of increased guest rounds and not because of incremental member spending. Renegade will pay for itself by creating operational efficiencies through intelligent design, and taking advantage of available agronomic science. Most golf courses in the surrounding area go through the overseed process each Fall, followed by a transition period in late Spring. Overseeding is the process of scalping down the warm-season bermudagrass and cultivating a new stand of cool-season turf for the winter months – typically either perennial ryegrass or poa trivialis locally. The Spring transition period is when the soil warms up enough to awaken the dormant bermudagrass and choke out the winter ryegrass. These biannual grow-in phases see a lot of money going out, and no money coming in as Club’s typically close their doors for two to three weeks each period to allow for uninterrupted maintenance and constant supervision of turf growth. During these periods, it’s not uncommon to see a golf course run a million gallons of water per day and put out tens of thousands of dollars in fertilizer and pesticide applications. That’s a combined month and a half that require the most overhead to operate, yet don’t see a penny of revenue coming in.
Renegade is bucking this costly trend by regrassing the entire golf course in year-round cool season grasses. Tees, greens, and fairways are being grassed with a mix of 007 and Mackenzie bentgrasses, while the rough areas are being grassed with a bluegrass/fine fescue blend. The agronomic implications of this project are just as important to the golf industry as the variety in playability on the golf course itself. An advanced scientific understanding of the microclimate at Renegade allows for the implementation of cool-season grasses. The summer heat is actually a minor concern for overall turf health because humidity is so low, it is actually the threat of extended periods of frost during the winter months that poses the most risk to turf health. Because these modern cool-season grasses are so heat and drought tolerant, the Club is able to eliminate the overseed and transition periods altogether. This not only adds more than 40 days of golf to the calendar, it’s going to lead to a 20% savings in overall water usage and reduce fertilizer and chemical applications by another 20% throughout the year (based off historical data and environmental conditions).
Building a self-sustaining golf course like Renegade isn’t only about limiting inputs and resources, it’s also about freeing up the work force to focus on in-play areas for the long term. As the golf course ages, a Superintendent usually finds themselves spending more time repairing and maintaining areas that are off the actual playing surfaces of the golf course. This is amplified on a bermudagrass based golf course because bermuda has a horizontal growth habit, whereas cool-season grasses have a vertical or upright growth habit. Bermuda has stolons, or runners, that are basically stems that grow across the surface helping to spread out turf coverage. These stolons can grow out of control when not managed properly. They encroach on bunker faces, they creep off the golf course perimeter and into native areas, they soften the appearance of sharp edges around tee boxes – and this all leads to hours upon hours of endless handwork. After the crew finishes setting up the golf course each morning, they commonly spend the rest of the day with hand trimmers and edgers cleaning up this overgrowth postponing their efforts for detail work that can be focused on the in-play areas. These cool-season grasses do not have the runners that will continue to spread into out of play areas, greatly reducing the amount of work required to keep the perimeters looking sharp and clean. Mike Gracie, Superintendent at Renegade, says he’s most excited to be able to keep his crew on the golf course for the full day instead of dividing up his crew to tackle the out of play areas. Not only does Mike get to keep his crew on turf all day, he’s managing less turf and running less water. His job isn’t getting any easier, he’s just able to manage his crew and operate the golf course much more efficiently than before.
THE TAKEAWAYS
So, what can we learn from the Renegade Case Study? It doesn’t take bottomless pockets to add strategy and features to your golf course when applied properly to your specific site and business model. We can greatly enhance our golf experience by making it more accessible for high handicappers and architecturally interesting for low handicappers while reducing our carbon footprint and eliminating maintained turf areas. We should always consider science first before promising to deliver Augusta-like conditions. To that point, we also learned that under the right environmental conditions we can put the science to work for us and when implemented properly, it can pay off or at least offset the cost of construction. Most importantly, and what I hope we can all learn from Renegade, is that it’s important to think about golf differently and push the limits of creativity. Renegade has more variety in its 18 holes than anyone can ever enjoy in their lifetime, and at the same time, you can still play the same tees to the same flag every day if you choose to. There’s no right, there’s no wrong, but you have the options and the freedom to hit the shots you want to hit and play the course you want to play.
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