Oasis Greens and Grass Owner Eric Van Tassel Chosen to Design and Construct Artificial Par 3 Golf Course at the Solaris Hotels Resort in Sibenik, Croatia
When Mirage Turf Technologies was initially contacted by Solaris Hotels Resort in Sibenik, Croatia, the resort indicated they were interested in constructing an all artificial, mini golf course consisting of six putting greens at an average of approximately 2,500 square feet each. They also wanted to construct a practice putting green of approximately 5,000 square feet as well as a driving range.
Solaris Hotels Resort is a family resort on the west coast of Croatia with five hotels and various amenities such as beach side swimming pools, a water slide, beach side bars and restaurants, an authentic Dalmation village, a tennis venue, soccer fields, kids play areas, an RV park, and basketball courts just to mention a few. In addition to these amenities they wanted to offer golf to their guests. You can visit the resort’s web site at www.solaris.hr.
Probably the biggest challenge presented to me was the fact that the course was to be constructed in another country. The challenge of getting a crew, as well as all the proper tools and construction materials to another country, was a big one to say the least! Relative to the installers, we put together a crew consisting of six men from three different dealers around the world, one from the United States, one from Canada, and one from Finland. The combined experience of the installers in this crew was over thirty years. All of the necessary golf course amenities such as cups, markers, the turf itself, tools, and so on were shipped from the United States to Croatia. The crew flew in on March 8, 2010 and we had until April 22, 2010 to complete construction as this is when our return flights were scheduled.
Currently, there are only about five legitimate golf courses in all of Croatia. As a communist country just over 20 years ago, golf was not allowed as it was considered a capitalistic, western game. Since the country has blossomed as a democracy over the past twenty years the country has welcomed many western ideas, including the game of golf.
When I first inspected the site at the resort that the golf course was to be built on I first indicated that I thought it would be a better idea to construct a nine hole course versus one consisting of only six putting greens. This would allow golfers to play either nine holes or eighteen by playing the course twice. The resort was receptive to the idea so I walked the property looking for the best locations to construct nine putting greens of various sizes as well as tee boxes and fairways for each.
The land that the course was to be constructed on was within only a few hundred yards of the beach and had an abundance of pine trees. Considering that this would be a scaled down course with shots from the tee boxes to the greens of anywhere between 30 and 50 yards the challenge was to try and make the course as safe as possible. I was able to situate most of the tee boxes so that they were protected by the trees and was also able to lay-out most of the greens such that they were also surrounded by or bordered by the trees. The putting greens ranged in size from roughly 1,300 square feet to 2,500 square feet.
The next big challenge was to deal with the fact that the course was literally at sea level and very close to the ocean. This meant that the water table wouldn’t be any more than a foot or two beneath the existing ground, if even that in some places. The level of the entire course needed to be raised as far as possible above the water table.
Since artificial putting greens need to be constructed over the top of a free draining aggregate compacted to at least 95%, I decided that we would need create nine large pads that were a minimum of two feet above the existing ground. Each pad was constructed of a class II aggregate that consisted of approximate 3/4" inch granite rock mixed with granite fines at a sixty/forty ratio respectively.
Each pad was built two feet longer at each end and two feet wider at each side than the total length and with of each putting green, including a two foot fringe border around each green. As an example, if we had a putting green that was 60' deep and 45' wide, the pad would be 64' deep and 49' wide. Each pad was sloped off at an approximate forty five degree angle on the sides and ends. All the pads were constructed with a 1.5% fall from the back to the front so as to enhance drainage as well as help the ball holding capabilities of each putting green when hit to. Since the resort wanted to make the fairways and surrounding landscape out of natural grass with irrigation, the rest of the course was raised up to the level of each of the pads. Hundreds of tons of fill were brought in to accomplish this.
When it came time to begin construction of each putting green we had to address how to create undulations since each pad was flat. We brought in aggregate fines consisting of crushed limestone and used the fines to contour the proper undulations on each pad. Once the undulations were finished the turf was laid and the designs of each green were contoured. Each green was in-filled with approximately 2 pounds per square foot of quartz sand that was brought in from a aggregate supplier in Croatia. Additionally, I designed each putting green with a sand trap and we surrounded each sand trap with one of our grass products that simulated a ruff. The ruff surrounded the traps and then attached to the fringe of each putting green. Between holes 7 and 8 we built one sand trap and then extended the ruff from that trap to each of the putting greens.
The challenge when it came to designing each green and fairway was to create a course that was challenging enough for advanced golfers yet easy enough for novice golfers. I accomplished this by creating short tee shots, roughly between 30 and 50 yards as previously mentioned, yet designing difficult hole locations. Each tee box was constructed over raised pads as well, with our tee box turf, and each tee box was 8' wide by 6' deep. With this lay-out it allowed the novice golfer a relatively short tee shot just to get the ball to each putting green. Difficult hole locations made it challenging for the advanced golfer due to making ball placement on the green crucial in order to have a chance at a birdie putt. As an example, on holes with the shortest tee shots, which were hole 3 and hole 5, the holes were placed on the front portion of each putting green.
Based on location, with a beautiful, scenic view of the beach and ocean, I decided that hole number four was to be the signature hole. There was a considerable downslope from where I wanted to locate the tee box to the putting green and the view from where the tee box would be located was spectacular as it was elevated. I designed the tee box such that it was located between two man-made ponds that were constructed. A stream connected both ponds and meandered around the tee box. Basically, the tee box was situated on an island and a bridge was constructed over the stream that would allow golfers to access the tee box.
Pertaining to the design of the practice putting green, I suggested that the green be constructed at approximately 2,400 square feet, half the size that the resort originally wanted. This would be plenty large enough to allow several golfers to practice putting at one time. The practice putting green was constructed on a pad the same as the course greens, well above ground and the surrounding grade was raised to the level of the green. The practice green was constructed with nine cups spaced evenly on the green.
The last item constructed was the driving range. Since the entire course, including the driving range and the practice green, was located on just under five acres it would not have been possible to build a full sized driving range. The golf course itself has a footprint of approximately three acres. Therefor, I designed a large driving cage that would be enclosed on three sides, as well as the top, by netting.
I decided on a location for the driving range next to hole nine. There was an open space that would accommodate a 50' wide by 60' deep driving cage. To start, I designed a 50' wide by 8' deep concrete pad with six recessed 7' x 6' squares that would accommodate our tee box turf. The remaining 52' long area from the front of the tee box pad to the back of the driving cage was filled with class II aggregate, raised to the level of the pad, and compacted to 95%. We laid one of our turf grass products over the top of the compacted aggregate and sand in-filled it as a surface for balls to land on. Eight, 20' high wooden poles were raised around the perimeter of the driving cage so as hang the netting from. The netting was custom built for a 60' deep by 50' wide by 20' high area. The netting started at the back of the concrete driving pad and was open on that end. The reason the netting was extended to the back of the pad was to prevent a miss-hit ball from leaving the caged in area. ½ inch thick rubber padding was fitted into each recessed area for each tee box and our tee box turf was laid over the top of the rubber so as to create a soft feel when hitting off the turf. The driving cage was the final item built.
Constructing a project of this magnitude and doing so by bringing in experienced installers from other countries was a first. Never had a project like this been created in this manner. The construction went flawlessly, all items shipped and arrived on time, and the resort was thrilled with the end result. I feel there is a great future for "hybrid" artificial courses like this one and it has now been proven that a project such as this can be constructed in the manner in which it was. Mirage Turf Technologies would like to thank Solaris Hotels Resort for putting their faith in us as the company to make it all a reality!
Sincerely,
Eric Van Tassel
International Project Manager
Mirage Turf Technologies
Oasis Greens and Grass
Oasis Greens and Grass Owner Eric Van Tassel Chosen To Oversee Installation of Athletic Field in Middle East
Oasis Greens and Grass Owner Eric Van Tassel was hired as the project designer and supervisor for an athletic field installation in Doha, Qatar. Mr. Van Tassel traveled to Qatar at the beginning of June, 2009 to coordinate the installation of a Mirage Athletic Turf Field for the U.S. Military Base. It was the first ever installation of an artificial field surface on any U.S. Military Base in the world. 57,600 square feet of Mirage Sports Turf, the dimensions of an American football field, was installed so that members of the United States Army could have an athletic field to use for sports and various activities.
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