Golf Management Firm's Environmental Approach
A Good Fit For Palouse Ridge
For Immediate Release 7-31-08
With a well-established track record as an environmental leader, CourseCo, a golf course management and development company based in Petaluma, Calif., was Washington State University’s top choice to operate Palouse Ridge Golf Club on its Pullman campus. CourseCo’s nature-first approach to the sport dovetailed with WSU’s mandate that its new course be an integral part of the Palouse and not disturb the character of the land.
Tom Isaak, president of CourseCo, believes his firm, renowned for its environmental stewardship, was chosen because of the common ground shared by his company and the university. “Our philosophy of ecology-sensitive design and maintenance spoke to their values,” Isaak says, noting that a properly maintained golf course preserves wildlife habitat and functions as a nature sanctuary. “CourseCo’s award-winning experience in environmental management is being applied to all facets of the club’s operations,” he adds.
Laid out by John Harbottle, a Tacoma-based architect whose green thumb approach mirrors CourseCo’s philosophy, Palouse Ridge stands apart from all other courses in the Inland Northwest based on its dramatic landforms, strategic interest and inherent beauty. Working with CourseCo’s team, Harbottle made artful cuts and fills so that golf holes could be shoehorned into the rolling terrain. “The highly contoured site made the design of the course a very difficult task,” Harbottle admits. “However, the topography also helped to create a very dramatic and varied character for the holes.” Even a trained eye cannot tell where Nature began and Harbottle left off.
CourseCo has proven its environmental dedication by achieving Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary designation at 11 of the 13 daily-fee courses it manages. (Palouse Ridge, CourseCo’s first project outside California, has already been enrolled in the Audubon program. The cornerstones of the program are environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, water quality management, and outreach and education).
The key to operating an environmentally sustainable program, says Isaak, is creating effective, efficient drainage and irrigation systems from the outset to ensure natural turf health.
CourseCo recognized immediately the special circumstances that applied at Palouse Ridge. Although Washington State is known for its abundant rainfall, the Palouse region can be prone to drought. Initially, there were community concerns about the region’s fluctuating aquifer levels. CourseCo ensured that a combination of drought-resistant grasses and a state-of-the-art irrigation system would have as little impact as possible on local groundwater levels.
Ray Davies, director of golf maintenance and construction for CourseCo, says the advanced technology irrigation system achieves about 90% efficiency, compared to about 30% efficiency for most home watering systems. The system utilizes 30 computerized field monitors networked to a main computer. An on-site satellite weather station linked to individual sprinkler heads enables the maintenance staff to measure precisely the amount of water to be used. In addition, superintendent Todd Lupkes and his staff can program each of the layout’s 2,000 sprinkler heads, factoring in variables such as evaporation, precipitation and microclimates to conserve water. Looking ahead, the club’s irrigation system has been retrofitted to convert to recycled secondary water once a proposed effluent treatment plant is built in Pullman.
“Conservation is our top priority,” Lupkes says. A second priority? “We want the course to look like it’s been here for 50 years.”
To achieve that goal, general manager and PGA pro Bruce Perisho, a Wenatchee native whose skills as a teacher and player match his reputation for community involvement, explains that slightly over 100 acres on the expansive 315-acre site on the WSU campus are watered. The perimeter acreage, seeded with native fescue and prairie grasses, is not maintained, which reduces water usage. The layout’s naturalized areas, Perisho says, provide a distinctive frame for the rolling green fairways. Needless to say, there are no petunias at Palouse Ridge.
In addition to enhancing the overall undergraduate experience for WSU students, Isaak believes the course will provide a wealth of opportunities for people of all ages to learn and enjoy golf. “Bruce and the entire CourseCo staff are working closely with university departments and local businesses to provide education, research and economic growth opportunities for students, faculty and area residents,” he says.
Starting this fall, the golf club will serve as an outdoor classroom. A partnership with WSU’s turf program will provide an array of opportunities for student and faculty participation and research on the grounds of this ‘living laboratory.’
Isaak contends Palouse Ridge is a genuine “destination” course that will attract avid golfers to the southeast corner of the state. To that end, CourseCo has proposed that Palouse Ridge be packaged and co-promoted with two outstanding resort courses in nearby Idaho: Circling Raven, an excellent course operated by the Coeur d’Alene Indian tribe; and Coeur d’Alene Golf & Spa Resort, a property famous for its floating island green.
Even before the club announced it would open for play on Aug. 29, 2008, Palouse Ridge was named the host site of 2012 Women’s Pac-10 Golf Championship as well as the 2014 Men’s Pac-10 Golf Championship. Given the world-class challenge presented from the Crimson tees at 7,305 yards (par 72), university officials anticipate that Palouse Ridge will attract an NCAA Championship in the years ahead.
While Isaak concedes that Yale, Stanford and Ohio State are home to some of the finest college courses in the nation, he says he does not know of any other university-
affiliated newcomers that can join such an elite group—with the exception of Palouse Ridge, a golf course that complements the environment rather than competing with it.
Golf Course Contact: Bruce Perisho
General Manager, PGA
Palouse Ridge Golf Club
1260 Palouse Ridge Dr.
Pullman, WA 99163
509-335-4342
bperisho@palouseridge.com
Media Contact: Brian McCallen
860-572-7942
mccallenbmc@aol.com
