For Immediate Release:
04/12/10
South renovation project approved
South Golf Course will receive a significant facelift this spring and summer after the Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc. Board of Directors recently approved the renovation project at Sun City’s second-oldest golf course.
The purpose of the project is to repair and reposition the golf course’s sand bunkers and tees. Preliminary work has already started, but the golf course will shut down Monday May 3 for the main renovation work to begin. South Snack Shop will be closed starting May 3, as well, and will remain closed through the entire project. No reopening date has been set, but RCSC officials expect it to be sometime around this fall’s scheduled overseeding.
RCSC personnel will perform needed irrigation work and remove the cart paths, which will be relocated as part of the project. Preliminary marking of this work has already begun and irrigation trenching and removal of cart paths will begin this week. The contractor will be on site as early as April 19 to begin work that is out of the way of golfers.
Although renovating the bunkers is the primary goal, the South renovation project will also update the tees, which are too small for the amount of play on the golf course. Using the peak number of golf rounds at South, the project will reconfigure the tees so they can accommodate the amount of golfers using South. This will allow the physical wear to be spread across a properly sized tee. Also, tees will be aligned with the intended direction of play.
As part of the project, the architect has worked closely with women golf groups to design three different tees at each hole to encourage women of any handicap to play South. RCSC records show that women account for only 10% of play at South. With the three tee options, women will have three varying yardages to play.
The South Golf Course project is based on the South Master Plan, which was created using evaluations and recommendations from golf course architectural firm Tripp Davis and Associates. The evaluation looked at maintainability, playability, strategic character, utilization of land and aesthetic quality of the golf course. Tripp Davis and Associates also worked on the redesign of Lakes West Golf Course, which was completed last year.
The architectural company said it is excited to be a part of the South renovation project and believes golfers will be eager to play the newly renovated course when it reopens. “With the renovation of the tees to provide an improved playing surface and the renovation of bunkers to have a greater impact on the playability and strategy of every golf hole, the South Golf Course will become one of the most desired courses to play in Sun City,” the company said.