Salamander Hotels & Resorts Announces Restoration Plans for the Ocean Course at Hammock Beach Resort

More expedient options would allow the Hurricane Matthew-damaged Signature Jack Nicklaus Ocean Course to open sooner, but Salamander Hotels and Resorts is taking the prudent alternative.

PALM COAST, FL – December 6, 2016 – Salamander Hotels & Resorts has announced plans to restore its Signature Jack Nicklaus Ocean Course which  remains closed since Hurricane Matthew passed in early October. Salamander’s press release was preceded by an announcement of plans to Club members in late November.

HAMMOCK BEACH RESORT

Though little reported, the Hammock Beach Resort’s Ocean Course suffered heavy damage from Matthew.  Salt water breeched the dunes and inundated most of the course, destroying grass and vegetation and contaminating the soil and lakes with salt. Water levels quickly returned to normal, but the salt remains; in both the soil and in the lakes that are used for irrigation. For the most part, all 18 holes were affected by Hurricane Matthew. The wind, rain, and storm surge were strong enough to destroy most of the fairways and bunkers, along with over five hundred trees and the irrigation satellite controllers.

Rain will dilute the salt content of the lake water over time and gradually leach out the salt left in the soil, but there has been no appreciable rain since the hurricane.  Salamander been treating the soil to neutralize the salt, but there is no substitute for the missing rain.

Short-gap measures that would have allowed reopening the course sooner were considered; like over seeding with rye grass. However, when the rye died out in the spring, the underlying salt-contaminated soil and dead vegetation would remain. In the end, the final solution (close the course for a total restoration) would be inevitable.

“After numerous expert analyses and recommendations, we determined that a full restoration was best to ensure that The Ocean Course will re-open as one of the finest resort courses in America,” said Terry Bechtold, Hammock Beach Resort’s managing director. “Upon completion, we will be able to offer one of the finest grass surfaces on which a golfer can play.”

The Ocean Course is famed for its six Atlantic Ocean-hugging holes and thrilling closing stretch named “The Bear Claw.” The extensive restoration work, which is being undertaken in conjunction with Nicklaus Design, includes re-grassing all fairways, greens and rough with the salt-tolerant Platinum Paspalum as well as reconstructing each tee box, bunker and green complex. The course is scheduled to re-open in October 2017.  Hammock Beach’s other championship layout, the highly-rated Conservatory Course, continues to accommodate member and guest play.

[I hope that the 16th green will be reconfigured to make it more receptive to a mid-iron or long-iron approach shot. But then, it is said that golf was invented by a sadist to be enjoyed by masochists.]

The Ocean Course restoration work follows several enhancements at Hammock Beach. The resort recently reimagined its grand lobby to now feature beautiful new flooring, contemporary furniture and lighting, and a brand-new sushi bar. It also upgraded 75 of its spacious one-bedroom suites, including installation of new carpet, furniture, updated artwork, flat-panel televisions and reconstructed kitchenettes. All 15,000 square feet of Hammock Beach’s indoor meeting and event space were also updated with new carpet, wall coverings and lighting. In addition, the resort has refreshed the décor in its Delfinos Italian restaurant and is currently updating the interior design in its Loggerheads Lounge.

Nestled along northeast Florida’s shoreline in Palm Coast, Hammock Beach Resort features more than 300 spacious accommodations, including a 12-story tower of luxury suites. In addition to its golf experience, the amenity-rich resort offers a rejuvenating ocean-inspired spa and fitness center, multiple restaurants and bars, a multi-level pool complex with adult and children areas, and one of the most relaxing, unspoiled beaches in the state.

2 replies
  1. Ron
    Ron says:

    New Lodge?

    Are they going forward with the new hotel at the Lodge site? Do they really have investors? What is the new time table?

    The Lodge was submerged by hurricane Matthew. This building is ready to fall. It was consumed with mold. Why are they trying to renovate?

  2. George Edward Chuddy
    George Edward Chuddy says:

    How that area was elevated

    Orlando Sentinel
    ‘Tis a Privilege to Live in Central Florida

    Preservers Applaud Palm Coast
    By Peggy Poor
    Sentinel Staff
    Dramatically changing the damaged image of usually damned developers, ITT Levitt Corp., now buildling Palm Coast, the country’s largest housing project in Flagler County, is winning kudos instead of kicks from conservationists.
    More than that, with long-range environmental planning and careful study by staff
    ecologists, the mammoth venture may not only set an example for future would be despoilers but come up with some urgently sought answers to pollution problems.
    For Example, ITT Levitt scientists are investigating why St. Johns and Flagler County shellfish harvests had to be prohibited because of contaminated waters. The hope s to reverse conditions that required the ban, if possible.
    Preliminary findings indicate sewage dumped principal culprit, according to Dr. Stanley Dea, the firm’s chief ecologist.
    NEW CONCEPT
    Therefore, in order not to aggravate th situation, ITT Levitt is making a detailed engineering analysis of sewage disposal possibilities to come up with designs new for Florida, and cheaper, Dr. Dea said.
    Because Florida’s flat terrain and high ground water level have made gravity systems costly, developers have tended to use septic tanks. But septic systems have become a serious factor in the pollution picture.
    America’s biggest conglomerate, therefore, is exploring feasibility of pressure and vacuum systems which may be tried for the first time in the Florida venture.
    Meanwhile, in the first section now under construction, 20,000 acres of the total of 100,000, sewage will get secondary treatment, prior to storage in a polising lagoon, providing tertiary treatment. Effluent thus purified but still nutrient rich will be used to irrigate an 18 Hole golf course.
    Sewage Studies
    This recycling, by an adaptation of nature’s own system, is a relatively new concept in sewage disposal developed at Pennsylvania State University and now in use in several California communities and in one near Tallahassee.
    Much of the polution and “mrder’ of streams, and lakes, such as Apopka, is the result of eutrophication or over-enrichment by nutrients, which are not removed by treatment plants.
    As most plants discharge into some body of water, pollution results. If , however, the treated effluent is sprayed on vegetation, as was demonstrated at Penn State and is planned for Palm Coast, it irrigates and fertilizes crops and even raises the ground water table. The vegetation absorbs the nutrients that would eventually destroy streams, lakes, and estuaries.
    Using Willows
    Palm Coast ecologists plan to plant Florida vegetation and particularly high absorption qualities, such as willows.
    Engineers have devised a mechanical apparatus which can fit in a residential size and style bulding, so the neighborhood view will not be spoiled by an unsightly treatment plant. A chemical has been developed that eradicates the odor, according to Dick Beidl, Palm Coast public affairs officer.
    The University of Florida’s famed coastal engineering department, whose $1 million facilities are now considered unexcelled in the United States, is advising how best to lay out the system of canals for waterfront property so that tidal action will keep them flushed clean, Beidl said.
    A brief flurry of local fears that the big dredge churning inland from the Intracoastal Waterway channel to scoop out a yacht basin would increase turbidity in the estuaries has been set at rest.
    Dike Employed
    Although the dredge is operating in a man made cut not subject to provisions of the Randall Act, ITT Levitt will still ‘plug’ the opening into the Intracoastal with a dike until its earth stirring digging is completed and settled.
    “It’s the cleanest operation I’ve seen. No problems”, said Larry Shanks, of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission at Vero Beach, who inspected the site last week.

    ——>The Operation is pumping the material removed by a 1 1/4 mile pipe line that crosses the waterway and runs under highway A1A.
    With a 1100 housepower booster pump the excavated sand is being hoisted up and down over this uneven course to fill a depression just behind the sand dunes which rim the ocean shore.
    The hole will be filled to a height of about 20 feet above sea-level about even with the dunes; and this will be the site of a motel, probably to be operated by Sheraton, another ITT subsidiary.
    Dunes Retained
    Shands had nothng but praise also for this beachfront plan which contemplates leaving the natural dunes as a stabliizer against erosion.
    Palm Coast experts are also studying the whys and wherefores of erosion and exploring preventative treatment, according to Dea.<------ Palm Coast has also handed its brain trust the choking problem of weed eradication, he said. At the display site, where six model homes and four story office building with viewing tower are under construction, bulldozers wove an intricate path around trees marked for salvation instead of knocking everything down. This more costly method has won approval of forestry officials, and Palm Coast expects it to pay off in long-run appeal of attractive landscaping to prospective purchasers. Space Advantage In the master land use plan, thousands of acres will be presserved in the natural state, Dea said. Additionally, there will be parks and artificial ribbon lakes, Studies are being made to ascertain optimum factors for maintaining maximum sport fish populations in these. Palm Coast's planning advantage, Beidl said, lies in having control of the entire 100,000 acres. To get this vast land area in focus, it can be compared with the area of all five boroghs of Greater New York City, for example, which cover only about half that territory, or with the city of Detroit which spreads over about 88,000 acres. Projection is for an ultimate population here of only about 750,000 as compared with New York's 11.5 million and Detroit's four million. An area comparison closer to home is with the Disney's 27,000 acres. Strict Zoning The assure adherence to this careful planning. Dr. Dea said is a model zoning and building code is being formulates, which will not merely meet, but 'exceed' in stringency all federal state, and local regulations, including those necessary to control air, water, solid waste, radiation, noise, and vibration pollution. This will cover not just major regulations affecting industries which might be attracted to the area, but also folksy questions such as when and even whether residences may have trash incinerators in their back yards. Even one possible future doubt raised apparently will be resolved in favor of conservation, according to Harold 'Burrows, and engineer on the project. Line Questioned Question arose at a recent country commisiioners meeting about a bulkhead line for Longs Creek, which branching off the Matanzas River, meanders through the tract a few miles north of the first 'Five Year Plan' development now under construction. some 3,000 to 9,000 on the creek, are submerged public lands under control of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund. Burrows conceeded that prior to recent legislative action, this would have beenn 'prime development property'.But under present law 'we will sit down with the Department of Natural Resources and do what they tell us we can." AD 2531 Palm Coast ITT LEVITT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION A planned community by the ITT Levitt Development Corporation A subsidiary of Levitt and Sons, incorporated/ A Worldwide Service of ITT Please tell me more about Palm Coast. My Major interest is (check one). Vacation Retirement Investment Name:__________Telephone_______ Address________________________ City__________State____Zip_______ Remember: Palm Coast is a planned community by the ITT Levitt Developoment Corporation, a subsidiary of Levitt and Sons, Incorporated/A Worldwide Service of ITT Two renowned names assure you that Palm Coast will offer a better place, a better life, a better way. Upper Left Quadrant reads: Palm Coast, A planned community by the ITT Levitt Development Corporation A subsidiary of Levitt and Sons. Incorporated/A Worldwide Servise of ITT by the ITT Levitt Development is making headlines across the country... Palm Coast is 28 miles South of St. Augustine and 24 miles North of Daytona Beach. Scale of Miles - 1 inch-0 miles 55 miles 110 miles Scale: One inch equals 110 miles. the information contained in this brochure is general to the eastern coast of the United States area. The property offered for sale at Palm Coast may or may not be affected by the conditions described herein. Lower Left Quadrant reads: Palm Coast A planned community by the ITT Levitt Development Corporation A subsidiary of Levitt and Sons Incorporated/ A Worldwide Service of ITT ITT Levitt Development Corporation ( I, and also my family, bought multiple parcels within ' The Palm Coast Project ' prior to the Opening of Palm Coast. The above is from one of the Advertising Promos' I'm Steward of. I xeroxed a copy and sent this also to the Levitt Palm Coast Collection at ' The Smithsonian ' per their request of me. I framed the original and have it displayed in my Levitt & I.T.T. ' Santa Rosa ' Model - this Mid-Century Modern ' Santa Rosa ' is 100% historically accurate exterior; I'm presently painstakingly restoring the ' African Safari ' Interior design. If newer Palm Coasters want to see this google Historic Marker Database and enter Palm Coast. Thank You very much ).

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