The ground was recently broken on a renovation project for area golf course. The project for Cooper’s Hawk Golf Course in Melbourne consists of three phases and is expected to be completed in the fall of next year.
Phase One will include adding and changing some of tee boxes throughout the course and reshaping all of the bunkers. Plans also include new fairway bunkers. Course owner Jim Cooper says Phase One should be completed next month.
Phase Two is expected to start this winter. It will include the addition and alteration of several water features of the golf course, the improvement of drainage areas with new infrastructure, a more efficient utilization of the natural terrain and minor changes to the layouts of some holes.
Phase Three is set to get underway during the summer. It will will include stone masonry using local stone to accent the existing aesthetics of the course. A few more in-depth changes will also be made to the course layout.
The project is headed up by CE Golf Design owner and architect Todd Clark of Overland Park, Kansas. He says two major improvements will be with irrigation and drainage, especially during times with heavy or very little rainfall. This aspect of the project will reportedly be done by using the natural topography as efficiently as possible during the excavation and construction on these areas. In addition, the irrigation system will get a high-tech upgrade, allowing Superintendent Travis Lawrence to monitor and manage irrigation to critical areas of the the course, all remotely.
Cooper’s Hawk first opened to the public in 2000, and since then, Arkansas Business has selected it as the top public course in the state on four occasions. Cooper says he hopes people traveling from other parts of the state or from Missouri to
play golf think of Cooper’s Hawk as a “bucket list” golf course like other destinations on the “Arkansas Golf Trail” in the region, including Big Creek Golf and Country Club.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI