By Steve Lord | slord@tribpub.com | Aurora Beacon-News
PUBLISHED: September 10, 2024 at 3:06 p.m.
The Fox Valley Park District board Tuesday approved an $8.3 million contract for renovations to the Orchard Valley Golf Course.
Commissioners voted unanimously to award the contract to Plainfield-based Wadsworth Golf Construction Company, the sole bidder for the project and the company that originally built the golf course in 1993.
Greg Martin, an architect from Martin Design Partnership, said the project is based on the idea that while the golf course is still in good shape, its infrastructure needs updating.
“The course has been managed but not really renovated” since 1993, Martin said.
The work will start at the end of the golf season this year, and continue roughly through the spring of 2026, according to Jared Campbell, Fox Valley Park District director of operations. That means there will be no play on the course during 2025.
One of the key pieces of work will be rebuilding two walls along the lake that is central to the course. Also, much work will be done on the cart paths throughout the course, including rebuilding six bridges. A state-of-the-art irrigation system will be installed, Martin said, and all the bunkers will be rebuilt with an aeration drainage system that will allow water to run through them, keeping the sand from getting hard.
Campbell said in addition to the infrastructure renovations, the work will be “improving the course and its aesthetics.”
Martin said improving the look and things like pace of play while also working on the infrastructure makes sense.
“We want to take care of things while the patient is open,” he said.
Work will be done to slightly change holes four, 10 and 13. On both holes four and 10, work will be done to encourage play away from the houses alongside both holes.
The work on hole 13 is somewhat in response to comments through the years about how tough the hole is to play. Part of that will be filling in part of a wetland that runs alongside the hole, to create more fairway.
Martin said the changes will make the hole fairer, but still challenging.
“This is a tough par, anyway,” he said.
Jennifer Paprocki, Fox Valley Park District executive director, said the district and board will keep all the residents of the subdivision surrounding the course up to date on “how the progress on the course is doing” throughout the construction.
slord@tribpub.com
