GOLF COURSE CONSTRUCTION · SINCE 1982
Turning 9 Holes Into 18 With Championship Golf Course Construction
Catawba Island Club needed a course to match its status as one of the finest yachting clubs on the Great Lakes — an 18-hole championship layout, built in four phases, without ever closing the original nine, on an island made mostly of solid rock. Aspen turned that rock into the course’s signature feature instead of its biggest obstacle. See how we built 16 new holes at Catawba Island Club.
44 Years +
GCBAA
$5M+
PROJECT SNAPSHOT
Catawba Island Club · Port Clinton, Ohio
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GOLF ARCHITECT
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COURSE OPENED
THE PROJECT
Catawba Island Club is one of the finest yachting clubs on the Great Lakes. “It’s safe to say few people joined CIC for the golf experience,” remarks Steve May, CFO for CIC — the existing 9-hole course was challenging and popular with the locals, and a nice extra feature for the boating set. But a championship-style 18-hole course would launch CIC into a whole new realm of recreational possibilities.
The challenge handed to Aspen: build a course on a bed of solid rock, and keep 9 holes in play at all times. The project transformed the existing 9-hole course into an 18-hole layout across four unique phases over four seasons, reusing some of the existing golf corridors while major re-building and reconstruction touched two of the original nine holes.
The four-phase, four-year nature of the project represented an extraordinary commitment to a long-term vision. Aspen worked closely on a phased-in approach with owner Jim Stouffer, who had purchased the land and envisioned a golf course more than 20 years earlier — golf course architect Arthur Hills’ first visit to the site came 20 years before Aspen ever broke ground.
The challenges were numerous, since the course was built on an island made primarily of hard rock; very little topsoil or clay was available, and nearly all materials had to be trucked in from the mainland. The hard white rock found in parts of the island was so indestructible that it was sometimes necessary to incorporate it directly into the design — Aspen turned the course’s biggest challenge into its signature attribute, the natural rock outcropping that backs Hole #9. The rock adds beauty, interest, and challenge; no two holes look or play alike.
Phasing brought its own complications for irrigation, personnel, and materials — keeping continuity of greens mix and bunker sand while routing and hole numbers changed from phase to phase. Because the phases weren’t fully designed at the outset, the irrigation system had to be built essentially backwards, and Aspen used the phasing to its advantage by performing call-back repairs on one phase while building the next.
Drainage grades were critical on a property bordering Lake Erie that was very, very flat — every grade was checked and controlled with laser technology. When Aspen discovered that engineers had been working from an outdated USGS topographical map with an incorrect bench mark elevation, the team took the initiative to research the discrepancy and fix it with the architect and owner at no additional cost to the project.
PROJECT GOALS
- Transform an existing 9-hole course into a championship 18-hole layout in four unique phases over four seasons, reusing existing golf corridors.
- Keep 9 holes in play at all times while major re-building/reconstructing two of the original nine holes and building additional new holes.
- Create a real estate amenity to anchor a growing residential community.
- Deliver a golf experience worthy of one of the finest yachting clubs on the Great Lakes.
THE CHALLENGES
- An island made primarily of hard, indestructible rock, with almost no topsoil or clay — nearly every load of material had to be trucked in from the mainland.
- A four-phase, four-year build with routing and hole numbers changing from phase to phase, forcing the irrigation system to be built essentially backwards.
- A limited budget funded sporadically as adjacent residential property sold, demanding trust, communication, and constant “value engineering.”
- Flat, lakefront property bordering Lake Erie where a mapping error on the original USGS survey threatened the accuracy of every drainage grade.
THE RESULTS
- Aspen turned the course’s biggest obstacle — the Catawba rock — into its signature feature, the natural outcropping behind Hole #9.
- “Our members are on cloud nine,” says Course Superintendent Bob Griffin — veterans of Inverness and Firestone now travel to play CIC.
- Membership increased in the six months after opening, as golf became a premier attraction for the established resort community.
- Aspen caught and corrected a base-map elevation error at no additional cost to the project, protecting the accuracy of every drainage grade.
PROJECT GALLERY
From bare rock, mud, and silt fencing to a championship 18 — sixteen new holes built in four phases, before and after.
Grading still underway around the green — before construction
The same corridor today, framed by the new fairway homes — after construction
Silt fencing protects the shoreline while the pond bank is graded — before construction
The finished green and pond, seen from above — after construction
Mature cypress trees fenced off and preserved mid-build — before construction
The preserved shoreline, fully grown in — after construction
Raw earth along the pond’s edge, mid-grading — before construction
The same water feature at golden hour — after construction
A bunker complex taking shape in raw sand — before construction
The finished bunkering, sweeping across the hole — after construction
Trucks and equipment stage along a fairway still taking shape — before construction
The finished fairway and bunkering from above — after construction
Fresh sod going down during grow-in — before construction
The same corridor, fully grassed in and playable — after construction
A tractor grades the fairway corridor — before construction
The finished fairway and pond, seen from the tee — after construction
Rock placed along the bank during shoreline construction — before construction
The completed green and water feature — after construction
Early grading — standing water and silt fencing mark day one — before construction
A golfer plays the finished green — after construction
An excavator shapes the bunker and pond bank — before construction
Crisp mowing stripes on the finished fairway — after construction
A bulldozer and crew shape a new bunker — before construction
The same bunker’s fairway, freshly mown — after construction
Crew members hand-shape the bunker sand — before construction
Golden hour on the finished hole — after construction
A Big John tree-transplanter relocates a mature tree — before construction
Mature trees and green surrounds, preserved and grown in — after construction
Championship Golf Course Construction, Built On Time and On Budget
WHAT THE CLUB SAID
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