Purdue News
Purdue NewsFebruary 14, 1997
Weather permitting, crews from Milestone Contractors LP, Lafayette, could begin digging as early as Monday (2/17) on the Kampen Course (formerly the North Course) just south of Lindberg Road and west of Sheridan Road. The construction process for the lake is expected to be completed within two months.
Diane Windler, project manager and civil engineer in Purdue Facilities Planning, said the lake not only will be a key new design element of the Kampen Course, but it also will serve as an environmentally friendly irrigation reservoir. Noted golf course designer Pete Dye has incorporated the lake into the course renovation, in part to protect the nearby Celery Bog, residential property and roadways from water runoff. A drainage system will route water to the lake, and the course's irrigation pumps will draw water from it, creating, in effect, a large water-recycling system.
Dye, Golf World Magazine's 1994 Architect of the Year, is known for designing courses that are sensitive to the environment. He is contributing his design and consulting services to the project.
Windler said another important environmental element of the course's redesign is that it ultimately will have significantly more trees than it does now. Some 40 Kampen Course trees are being transplanted to the Ackerman Course (formerly the South Course), and a phased-in tree plan will include hundreds of new plantings on both courses. In addition, man-made wetlands will be incorporated next to the Celery Bog. The wetlands will serve as a natural water purification area related to the irrigation/runoff system, and they also will bloom with a variety of wildflowers and native Indiana grasses.
"The short-term disruptions the construction process may pose for nearby residents will easily be offset by the long-term aesthetic and environmental benefits the redesign will bring," Windler said.
Milestone is doing the excavation for the lake, the course and related drainage-pipe installation. As one of several corporate partners in the redesign, Milestone is providing significant labor and equipment savings for Purdue, said Morgan Burke, director of intercollegiate athletics.
In addition to the redesign of the 18-hole Kampen Course into a championship course, the 18-hole Ackerman Course is receiving major upgrades. The overall project also includes an enhanced practice range and a new clubhouse, cart storage shed and shelter facilities. Integral to the project is construction of a new Turfgrass Research and Diagnostic Center on Cherry Lane, which will provide a real-life learning laboratory for students in the fast-growing field of turf management.
Significant contributors to the overall project include Michael and Katherine Birck of Hinsdale, Ill.; Barbara Kampen of West Lafayette and her family in memory of Emerson Kampen; and Jim and Lois Ackerman of Indianapolis.
The renovated Kampen Course should be ready for its first rounds in 1998. The Ackerman Course will be in operation throughout 1997.
gaz/golf.lake/no
Sources: Diane Windler, (765) 494-6936
Morgan Burke, (765) 494-3189
Writer: Greg Zawisza, (765) 494-2086; e-mail, greg_zawisza@purdue.edu
