Mollymook Golf Club Beachside Golf Course Renovation
Beachside is one of two beautiful golf courses housed under the Mollymook Golf Club. Beachside is a 9-hole, par 33 course that lies atop the southern tip of the gorgeous Mollymook Beach, surrounding the stunning Collers Beach inlet. One of the larger tourist attractions for the small South Coast town, Beachside Golf Course accommodates many new faces, as well as regularly hosting its loyal members.
After many successful years and a strong community presence, the Mollymook Golf Club made the decision for its Beachside Course to undergo a transformation. A massive redesign and course restructure was on the agenda, with opportunity to level up the functionality, and overall experience for those who step up to the tees.
This renovation project was originally discussed around 15 years ago, with several redesigns proposed by various architects, but the project never got off the ground. Over recent years, the Club has become very strong financially, and the renovation project was revisited roughly 3 years ago with the various stages of planning discussed between Programmed Turnpoint (Construction and Maintenance Services), Troon Golf (Golf Club Management Services) and Mollymook Golf Club. Mollymook Golf Club were planning to start construction in winter of 2020, but it was postponed by 12 months due to the uncertainty of Covid-19 at that time. Programmed and Troon worked very closely behind the scenes to present the final design to the Club that ticked all the boxes.
The main reason for the course redesign, was to improve safety both on and around the course. With 9 holes in a rectangle that is surrounded by houses, roads and pedestrian traffic, issues can arise time to time. The 1st and 9th holes had a public road going across the middle of them which was not ideal. As the Club worked its way through the design process, it became more and more evident that moving a couple of tees and greens wasn’t going to be enough. When the final design shortened the course from a Par 33 to a Par 28, the club wanted to provide superior playing surfaces and raise the profile of the course.
The Club agreed the best way forward was to rebuild every tee and green in the renovation with a whole new irrigation system to compliment the course. An irrigation system was a high priority, being both a vital and sustainable step for large-scale area turfing during its establishment, and future maintenance.
Mollymook Golf Club were working with a short time frame (18 weeks) to complete the whole project to get the course open again in time for the busy tourist season in December. After a few meetings and visits to other courses, it was decided to seed all the greens and returf all the surrounds and tees.
The Mollymook Golf Club had a small team that have worked very closely all the way through the design, planning and construction phases which included preliminary site visits to other courses and local turf farm, Turfco.
The design and construction plan were spearheaded by;
- Justin Trott, the General Manager of Programmed Turnpoint and a very experienced course architect.
- David Lunardelli, the Director of Agronomy for Troon, has a wealth of knowledge in agronomy and new golf courses.
- Barry West, the Golf Manager at Mollymook Golf Club who has been involved in several large golf projects interstate and overseas.
- Mollymook Golf Club Superintendent Mark Pullinger, who has worked on the courses at Mollymook for over 20 years before becoming the Superintendent 3 years ago, with good knowledge of what is above and below the ground at Mollymook.
Turfco produces more than 200 acres of quality turf and is the NSW South Coast’s only Lawn Solutions Australia accredited turf grower. The Turfco team were included in the planning process during multiple site visits to the Berry Turfco Farm. Mollymook Golf Club presented a timeframe that scheduled the large-scale turf installation within September-November 2021. Turfco would supply a quantity of around 3,500m2 within this window, with Mollymook Golf Club and Programmed Turnpoint to complete the turf installation.
With Beachside Course is subject to both full sun and heavily shaded areas, as well as constant high traffic and wear & tear, the Mollymook team were in the market for a turf that could thrive in this setting. Turfco hosted various display visits to farm the Mollymook Golf Club with all the necessary knowledge to ensure a successful returfing on the Beachside Course.
Sir Grange Zoysia was the favoured variety for the Mollymook team for both its beauty and heavily researched qualities. In the month of May 2021, Turfco delivered a small quantity of Sir Grange as a trial on a particular Beachside tee. The team were impressed with the results, despite the turf being laid in the cooler months. The go-ahead was granted for Sir Grange Zoysia on the Beachside Golf Course reconstruction.
The greens were seeded with a mix of A1/A4 Bent and the surrounds were solid turfed with Sir Grange Zoysia while the tees were solid turfed with TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda. The Club wanted a low maintenance grass for the surrounds that looks very impressive hence the Sir Grange Zoysia, while also after a grass that can handle high traffic and repair quickly, so the TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda was an obvious choice. TifTuf was also selected areas for its fast establishment, ensuring a quick turnaround for the more popular spots that were of high priority in the reopening.
It was decided to periodically deliver the quantities of turf over two-three months. Spaced intervals allowed both Turfco and the Mollymook Golf Club to manage and optimise the workload, while allowing certain areas of the course an extended period of establishment prior to the reopening.
Pictured on October 12th, 2021 is a progress update of two areas of Sir Grange laid at different times (8th Green).
In the coming weeks Turfco will begin their delivery of TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda to Beachside Golf Course.
Turfco and Mollymook Golf Club have a long-standing relationship developed over many years, in the past supplying Eureka Kikuyu turf. Turfco welcomed the opportunity to provide The Club with a more suitable turf variety that would top-off their course transformation.
The Superintendent Mark, and many others at the Beachside Golf Course are well equipped and experienced individuals who no doubt will provide the course with all the required maintenance and care.
