Seaford Golf & Country Club in Seaford, DE

I was hired by Seaford Golf & Country Club to design a nine-hole addition to their 1940 Alfred Tull when I was a principal in Whole in One Design Group. The project was a joint-venture between the club and the DuPont Corporation. Seaford was originally owned by DuPont and was the primary social center for workers at the adjacent DuPont factory. It was here in the sixties that nylon was first developed. Over the years, DuPont stored a by-product of their manufacturing processes called fly ash in holding ponds adjacent to the factory and their company airfield. When DENREC called to ask DuPont to remove the overflowing fly ash, factory officials were faced with more than $7 million in transportation costs. But if they could properly bury it closer, they could save money.

For years, the Club had kicked around the idea of adding nine holes. DuPont’s need to do something with their fly ash and the Club’s desire for nine new holes led to my job of figuring out a way to lose more than 210,000 cubic yards of ash on nine new holes without making the place look like the moon. This was a special challenge for me because I don’t even like to move more than 150,000 yards of dirt on eighteen holes. Instead of creating a large berm surrounding the flat property (less than eight feet of elevation change) like a fence, I created two large ridges that blended seamlessly into the landscape.

Two issues arose in the design phase which led to creative thinking: Additional material was needed to provide a twelve inch cap of native material on top of the ash and; the concern of growing grass on top of the ash, which was never done before. Five of the proposed greens sat on top of the ash, so to ensure proper grass growth, I created a plan which provided for excavation of all ash in places where putting greens sat replaced by native material. The result was that all nine greens complexes had identical (and native soil) profiles below the USGA spec materials.

The flat site and supply of ash allowed me the freedom to create nine holes of varying lengths and shapes and be creative in other ways as well. One of the holes I nicknamed, “Son of Nylon Hill”, is a nod to the first hole of the original course (which has a large mound that blocks the direct route to the green). The original Alfred Tull features are replicated on the new nine, including similar approaches and sand bunkers. The bunkers are flat-sand features whose serpentine shapes are derived by symmetrical mounds. The new nine has stood the test of the past decade very well and many out of play areas have naturalized, minimizing maintenance. The project use of an environmental detriment (fly ash) and reclamation of an old airfield led to the 1996 DuPont North America Safety, Health, & Environment Excellence Award.