Golf Passiria – An example for challenges of building Mountain Golf

By Wilfried Moroder, EIGCA Associate Member

Initially it should have been an enlargement of an existing 9 holes course based on no real design, where the routing was quite impossible and very exhausting: the 1st/9th straight uphill, others with extreme transversal slopes, no level stand on the whole course. At the end a new and modern 18 holes Alpine Golf Course was realized by keeping only the nice clubhouse and the position of a lovely par3 playing down a valley.

The course is approximately 597m above sea level but is surrounded by 2000-3000m Alpine peaks; the big challenge consisted in a level difference of about 175 meters.

The Passiria Valley where it is situated is v-shaped and runs in a north-south direction which means there is open sunlight and a reasonably good climate all year round. The climate here is continental type with hot summers and cold winters. Depending on the severity of the winter the course is normally open from late February until the end of November.

In mountain regions, especially in the Alps, the disposable amount of land is restricted, normally steep, with different solar exposures and therefore changing micro-climates, big level differences cause irrigation problems, short playing seasons due to strong winters.

In Passiria there is basically good but delicate climate with warm summers and winds coming from Southern Garda Lake when the temperature reaches more then 30°C, but chilly northern winds from Austria in spring and autumn with 6-8°C, and snow in the wintertime.

The most important issue when designing a mountain golf course is to analyse the local morphology and understand the character of the land itself, the so called “genius loci”, which generates a lot of problems but at the same time offers big chances for unique design such as fantastic views, natural environment, outstanding surroundings and idyllic panoramas.

The main goal is to fit in the singular holes possibly in a sensitive environment and a widely visible landscape, as if they had always been there. To be able to do this a precise topographic survey is required which allows a detailed study of earth moving for the various areas such as tees, fairways and greens. But more importantly good sculptural imagination is needed to guarantee a low impact.

Obviously the routing is the most important step and the placement of the greens in protected but sunny spots as well as tees in scenic positions are the first decisions. In Passiria the top is reached by a serpentine promenade, where the single fairways are gained on slight terraces.This cut/fill-operation is very delicate and in order to avoid straight steps with road character, Moroder tried to have only smooth contour lines. Sometimes level change between the holes is compensated using rock walls, lake borders or steep slopes.

For the purpose of minimising the earth movements and their costs many cross sections has to be studied and levels of tees, drive zone and greens to be defined; to provide good playable holes and avoid blind holes 3D-modelling techniques are often necessary.

In steep land a playable hole cannot be generated without intelligent “local” earth movements: concentrate these in a small part of the course doing a local compensation with the excavated material for filling future levels needed for a good stance, within a few holes. In Passiria 280,000 m³ were moved but no material was driven in or out of the construction site except for gravel and sand. The original humus was recovered before the excavation and screened.

On the slopes the water can easily run away, but since thunderstorms can be very heavy in the Alps, an efficient storm-drainage is important to avoid erosion. The water is collected in catch basins, conducted into lakes, and pushes the overflow in the valley river. During construction and grow-in phase special erosion protections had been brought in with blankets and provisional channels; bunkers had to be protected from wash-out.

In mountainous regions amount and good quality water are good, but often you have to bring it from far springs or rivers. The main problems are given by the level differences and the mostly low temperatures of the water itself. The first one often causes the need of strong pumps to rise the water to a basin or push it directly into the irrigation system with enough compression to be guaranteed in every spot and level of the course. Sometimes – like in Passiria – the water source is above the course at the mountain springs. Therefore pressure reducers had to be installed. The realized system has a basin on top with filters, a main pressure 250 mm tube descending water on gravity fall to the switches for the various zones, an automatic Rainbird irrigation with satellite control, but no pump system was built in. In autumn irrigation is turned off and the system blow out. In spring the course can’t be irrigated as long the underground is frozen, and then the cold water temperatures can stress the turf.

Although being in the Alps it’s an issue to provide quality material for green & tee-construction since gravel and sand is mostly calcium-based and therefore not usable. After lots of analysis the right materials for USGA-specs were found, but topsoil and bunker-sand had to be carried for about 500km.

Anyhow turf quality you can produce on the sunny part of the Alps is quite good. Obviously appropriate seed has to be used which can stand the continental climate with hot day-, but cold night-temperatures, but specially can survive the winter frost and recover quickly in the spring with little diseases. Due to cooperation with agronomic consultants and based on regional golf course experience in Passiria a grass mixture was chosen for the fairways and tees(30 lolium, 30 poa pretensis, 40 festuca), while greens where seeded with L93. Because of slow grow in a very important part was the renaturation of the slopes after shaping to recreate a natural agronomic environment and habitat: For the heavy rough an expensive local seed-mixture of Alpine grasses, weeds and flowers was used.

Since suitable land for golf is restricted in mountainous regions the permission for new courses is often only given, if you can propose a solution for a combined double use of the land for other leisure activities such as mountain bike & riding trails, fishing lakes or an altered use in the wintertime for skiing slopes or tracks.

At present Mr Moroder is working on a project in ValGardena for an 18 holes woodland course integrated with a cross country skiing track. In order to save greens & tees from damage in spring they are placed on spots where the track doesn’t pass. The water basin and part of the irrigation system for the artificial snow production will be combined.

Very important was the grow-in phase. Therefore a very professional Irish Superintendent, Mr.Brian O’Flaherty, native from Ballybunion was hired. His article about the greenkeeping challenges in the mountain climate at GC Passiria was published in Greenside, the Irish Superintendent Association Magazine in June 2006.

This article originally appeared in Golf Course Architecture October 2008. Click here for further information.
It was also published in Italian, in Il Mondo Golf.