Tee time nears at Jaycee

The million-dollar makeover nearly is complete at Cape Jaycee Municipal Golf Course, and what largely remains is for Mother Nature to work her annual spring magic.

The 18-hole course has undergone its most dramatic transformation since its creation as a nine-hole course in 1955. A renovation that started last June is nearing completion, and if the weather cooperates and the new grass strengthens its hold, area golfers may be resuming their positions on the tee boxes as early as the first part of June.

"I think people are really going to be surprised," longtime Jaycee course superintendent Randy Lueder said. "Especially if they haven't seen it in four or five years."

People who haven't seen the course in one year should be in for an eyeful, too.

Lueder and his crew are applying the finishing touches. They are in the process of grading the land on No. 8, where a pond used to be located. It soon will be sodded and a few other areas will get sod and attention.

Hole No. 11 was one of the holes that was rerouted during the project. (Fred Lynch)

"We just need some hot weather and do some fertilization," Lueder said. "We've already fertilized the greens and we're going to start putting some chemicals on them. We'll fertilize the fairways in the next few weeks and everything should start coming together."

Oliphant Golf Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., constructed the bent grass greens to USGA specifications and also installed a high-tech water irrigation system for the entire course. Oliphant completed its work in three months, with the final greens seeded in mid-September.

"We're going to allow the greens to get the maximum amount of growth on them before we open it up to the public," Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation director Dan Muser said.

Muser said there is not a date set for the re-opening of the course, and he wasn't sure if there would be anything beyond a ribbon-cutting to commemorate the occasion.

"There's an approximate date for somewhere around the first part of June," Muser said. "I don't know if I see that getting pushed further back, and I don't know if I see that getting pushed up. A lot depends on what kind of weather we have between now and then."

This is a view from the men's tee box looking toward the 15th green, far left, at the Cape Girardeau Jaycee Golf Course.

Lueder is in his 21st year at Jaycee, and in the past year he's spent more time at the course than any other period.

"Once the contractor left, we still weren't done," Lueder said. "We still had a lot of work left to do."

Lueder said he worked between 14 and 18 hours a day as he oversaw his crew during the three months of construction. At one point his crew was pouring 1,000 feet of concrete as it pushed to complete a tight 10-day deadline because the contractor had to finish the project.

"It's kind of my baby now," Lueder said. "I'm out here every day, no matter what. I come out on weekends when we're not open and check the greens and make sure everything is running right. I'll be married to it for a couple more years before I can turn loose of it."

The physical changes range from slightly enlarged greens to dramatic rerouting. All 18 bent grass greens feature some undulation, ranging from subtle to a couple that border tier-like.

The small crowned seasonal Bermuda greens are a thing of the past, with the new greens about 50 percent larger overall. Several greens on the front (Nos. 1, 4, 5) have been lowered five or six feet and as a whole are contoured on the edges to keep the balls on the green.

Some of the shorter holes have been fortified with bunkers. The five previously existing bunkers have been reconstructed with five more added. Seven of the 10 bunkers are on the front nine.

The most dramatic transformation on the front is No. 4, where all the trees lining the left of the fairway were removed in favor of two fairway bunkers. The once elevated crowned green has been lowered and made concave.

The major transformation took place on the back nine, where memory is needed to recognize the landscape on holes Nos. 11 though 15, which were rerouted over basically the same tract of land. All five of the holes feature greens in new locations.

The city of Cape Girardeau, which passed a three-eighth-cent sales tax in April of 2008 to fund a variety of park facilities, originally budgeted $1.5 million for the renovation.

Golf course architect Arthur Schaupeter formulated the renovation, which included a previously unplanned rerouting of the five holes. It was believed the $1.5 million might be enough to cover the cost of the rerouting, but the lowest bids came in at $260,000 over the budget. Oliphant ultimately was awarded a $1 million contract for the greens and irrigation system.

"Nothing really got pared back at all," Muser said. "We did the balance of the work we couldn't afford in-house. So we actually did more than we originally planned because the original plan was to simply build new greens and a new irrigation system. We did not have any plans to change the existing holes."

While Oliphant installed the five greens on the rerouted holes, Lueder and his crew cleared trees, built new tee boxes, sprigged fairways and removed old cart paths and poured new ones.

"That was by far our worst challenge," Lueder said. "Those five holes are beautiful."

Lueder was part of a five-man, full-time work force that was assisted by four part-time workers. Help also came from other park employees when they were available.

"My guys did an outstanding job," Lueder said. "I couldn't ask for any better crew."

The bent grass greens have been getting mowed since about three weeks after they were seeded. Lueder said the greens are "99.9 percent" ready but need time to fill in and mature to handle their first summer that figures to feature heavy play.

"I haven't seen any of the greens that we're really going to have any trouble with," Lueder said. "They all came through the winter real nice."

Muser said the green fees will increase by $4 on both weekdays and weekends from the 2009 rates. The cost will be $16 on weekdays and $18 on weekends. Season membership fees will increase, but will be prorated for the shortened 2010 season.

The course also has a new fleet of carts, but cart rental will remain the same at $12 per person.

"We went up in price, but people obviously are getting a better course than what we had," Muser said. "The big difference is the bent grass greens, bottom line. We basically spent a lot of money to improve the greens, but it's also going to cost us more money to maintain those greens.

"If one needs to know why we [increased fees], that's why we did it. It's still a pretty reasonable price for around here or most places."

Muser said not many people have seen the renovated course, but he's yet to hear any negative feedback.

"I'm ready to get some people golfing out here and see what their reactions are," Lueder said. "I think we're going to be busy, really busy. That's my opinion. I think we'll be swamped the first week or two and then it will level off, but I think it will be constant.

"I think people will like it."