FEATURE STORY

Illinois-based Lohmann Golf Designs Continues Renovation Efforts

By Hal Phillips,
Special for GolfIllinois.com
Jones Park GC photo credit: (c)2001 The Cedar Rapids Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - One down, three to go.

With June's grand opening of the remodeled and expanded Jones Park Golf Course, Lohmann Golf Designs has turned its attention to the 18-hole Ellis Park GC, the second of four municipal layouts here to be refurbished by the Marengo, Ill.-based firm.

Jones Park GC, once a flat and featureless 9-hole course, reopened this spring as an inventive, 18-hole, par-70 design that measures 6,009 yards from the tips. Under the direction of senior architect Mike Benkusky, Lohmann Golf Designs (LGD) completely retooled the existing loop while adding nine new holes, scores of bunkers and 10 ponds.

The result is a golf facility almost unrecognizable from the original, a track locals now call the "crown jewel" of Cedar Rapids municipal golf scene.

"It's been a phenomenal addition," said Tom Lavrenz, director of golf for the City of Cedar Rapids. "We're averaging between 350-400 18-hole rounds a day at Jones Park, compared to 280 9-hole rounds before. It's a more difficult course, but I've had nary one complaint. It really depends on which tee you play from. Lohmann designed the course to fit every golfer's skill level. They got it exactly right.

"We can't wait to get going on the next one."

Planning is already underway for the renovation of Ellis Park GC. The project will go out to bid in November of 2001; Construction will begin in the spring of 2002.

"The back nine at Ellis park is very hilly and quite unsafe," said Benkusky, a native of nearby Marion, Iowa. "So we're completely rerouting this nine. The front nine will retain its current routing, but we're designing all new greens, tees and fairway bunkers. I expect the new Ellis Park layout will probably exceed the results at Jones Park, if only because the land is more interesting."

LGD signed an 8-year agreement with the City of Cedar Rapids in 1999 to renovate and expand its quartet of municipally-owned course facilities. While it's not uncommon for course operators to secure long-term, multi-course management contracts with specific municipalities, LGD's design partnership with Cedar Rapids was the first of its kind.

Lohmann's master plan calls for the complete renovation of one course every two years. When Ellis Park reopens in the spring of 2003, LGD will turns its attention to Twin Pines GC, then Gardner Memorial GC.

Last year the USGA extended Cedar Rapids a $25,000 grant to help fund the city's summer golf program for under-privileged kids. The bulk of this money has been put to use at Cedar Rapids' one-year-old practice center - a facility also conceived and designed by LGD as part of its master plan.

"It's been very satisfying to see the course and practice facility in Cedar Rapids so well received," said LGD President and founder Bob Lohmann, who noted that municipal course renovation is proliferating nationwide.

"Sophisticated cities and towns have seen the handwriting on the wall. They recognize that municipal courses are significant revenue-producers; they also recognize they can't afford to stand idly by and watch their rounds and revenues go elsewhere -- mainly to all these new daily-fees being built down the street.

"Municipal courses have a sort of built-in clientele and renovation is a cost-effective way to keep those clients coming back."

LGD is responsible for more than 30 original course designs nationwide, including The Merit Club in Libertyville, Ill., site of the 2000 USGA Women's Open Championship, The Meadows in Dubuque (opened in 1996) and Hunter's Ridge in Marion (1997).

Working with its sister construction firm, Golf Creations, LGD has also conducted several well received renovations at private facilities in Iowa, including Davenport Country Club, Hyperion Field Club, Cedar Rapids CC and, most recently, Sunnyside CC in Waterloo.

For more information on this and other Lohmann Golf Designs projects, call 815-923-3400 or visit www.lohmann.com

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.