22 Not to be confused with its Donald Ross-designed namesake in Minnesota, Interlachen Country Club in Winter Park, Florida, opened its golf course in 1985. Designer Joe Lee moved over 1.5 million cubic yards of earth in the process of excavating lakes and creating contour for the club’s 270acre site. The club turned to Tom Fazio, ASGCA, to reimagine the layout. Fazio has many friends at Interlachen and has played golf there often with his wife, Susan. He wanted a member-friendly round that is visually bold and holds player interest with variety in green shapes, angles and contours. ASGCA Past President Tom Marzolf of Fazio Design has been working on site with Fazio, club superintendent Bryce Gibson as well as Fazio Design colleagues, and ASGCA Past Presidents, Rick Phelps and Michael Benkusky. The team have been replacing aging infrastructure, upgrading irrigation and drainage, and reimagining course features. “The land the course sits on is very gentle and relatively flat,” says Marzolf. “We listened to the members, who asked for dryer, firmer conditions, on a site prone to seasonal hurricane flooding and slow-to-dry soils.” Delivering that vision meant overcoming significant site challenges. “It has been a tough assignment,” says Marzolf, who has extended the existing lakes to provide the fill needed to reshape the layout. “It required a massive amount of earthworks to lift the course’s landing areas, improve surface drainage and gain separation from the water table.” The project has seen Marzolf reunited with agronomic consultancy Turfgrass, who he worked with at 2027 Ryder Cup venue Adare Manor in Ireland, among others. Together they have integrated agronomic best practices into the design. This included a full peer review of agronomic specifications, material evaluation and laboratory testing oversight in partnership with Kansas-based Turf & Soil Diagnostics. “We completed a review of the construction specifications and grass species selections for the entire course,” says Adam Moeller of Turfgrass. “We also provided a growin plan for all sprigged and sodded areas, developed and executed a thorough quality control program for all sands and gravel used for the project, and made agronomic site visits to assist the golf course superintendent with fine-tuning the grow-in and construction processes.” INTERLACHEN CC Fazio Design is undertaking a project to improve the playing experience of the Joe Lee layout at Interlachen Country Club. A fresh vision for Florida club “ The design produces a predictable bounce on approach shots to a front pin and reliable rollout on recovery chips”
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