Brandon Johnson develops renovation plan for Utah’s Jeremy Ranch

Brandon Johnson Golf Course Design and Turfgrass are collaborating on a renovation at Jeremy Ranch Golf and Country Club in Park City, Utah. 

“Since 1981, Jeremy Ranch has sat virtually untouched,” said Johnson. “Now, the club and its membership realise it is time to reinvest back into the course for continued growth and success for the next 40 years.” 

The architect has developed a masterplan that focuses on a complete renovation of green complexes, bunkers and tees, regrassing, native area conservation and cart path work.  

Rebuilding the putting surfaces is a priority for the club due to several issues: the complexes have shrunk, settling and collar buildup has caused extreme turf loss and damage, there is very high organic content in the greensmix, and subsurface drainage has been compromised. 

Adam Moeller, the director of agronomy for North America at Turfgrass, completed a greens audit with Johnson and golf course superintendent Chase Davidson. “Turfgrass and Adam’s data-driven approach helped guide our project team and the Jeremy Ranch membership to make timely and informed decisions about an appropriate scope for greens construction and the overall project,” said Johnson. 

Moeller said: “The life expectancy audit included a comprehensive examination of various components that impact the short- and long-term performance of the greens. The specific evaluation process included an agronomic inspection of all greens to identify factors that impact the physical performance, such as the construction method, surface and internal drainage, green sizes, useable area for hole locations, growing environments, entrance and exit locations, grass species composition, overall turf quality and historic performance.” 

Turfgrass sampled ten greens with a soil profiler for a visual evaluation and assessment of layers and organic matter content. It removed and sent 18 PVC core samples from six greens to a soil testing laboratory for analysis, dug test holes on five greens to visually evaluate the entire rootzone profile and gravel layer, measuring the field infiltration rate of the gravel layer, and created an inventory of the rootzone depths from the test holes and PVC core samples. Turfgrass then provided insight into greens mix performance and composition.  

“Our intent is to restore the original sizes and shapes of greens while making targeted expansion and contour modifications to introduce new pin locations,” said Johnson. “We will retain the existing character of greens and use that as a guide when redesigning any that will increase pin locations, setup variety and playability. Greens that currently have limited pinnable areas due to severe slopes and pitches will be recontoured to make more playable with increased setup options.”  

Proposed work on bunkers aims to enhance the character, aesthetics and strategic interest of the hazards, as well as address drainage issues, sand contamination, eroding slopes, faces and edges, and their locations.  

“We will also address problematic drainage areas on fairways,” said Johnson. “While we are still contemplating the variety, we will regrass all fairways to establish a consistent stand of healthy and high performing turfgrass.”  

Other work includes realigning and expanding existing tees, adding new forward and back tees, removing some cart paths and rerouting others to hide them from sight better.  

“Also, we will help blend the existing natural and native surrounding slopes and valley floor along the creek into the overall golf course character and aesthetic,” said Johnson. “And convert existing maintained turf areas into native turf and vegetative areas that are in character with the natural surrounding landscape.”

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