Diamond Golf on the move in Mexico

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - After wrapping up a strong third year in operations here, Diamond Golf continues to show a strong presence in Mexico.

The golf course construction company has completed several projects that are scheduled to open this fall and early winter. With few Americans on the team, the company has established itself as a builder in demand here by developers and architects.

Projects to be completed this year includes work with architects Tom Weiskopf, Jim Lipe, Jack Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus II, Robert von Hagge and Richard Baril and also involves project work totaling an approximate contract value of $72 million.

"The first project we started on here was the Vista Vallarta," said Randy Ruth, one of the three senior managers at Diamond Golf. "That was a Nicklaus-designed 18 holes and a Weiskopf-designed 18 holes."

The project began in Oct. 1999, and the Nicklaus course opened April 1 this year. "We finished construction on the Weiskopf course June 30, and it'll probably open next month," said Ruth. "One of the biggest challenges of working in Mexico is that there's a rainy season that lasts from mid-June to the middle of October.

"We had a substantial amount of rain damage in 2000 on the Nicklaus course that delayed the opening," explained Ruth. "It was suppose to open in January, 2001. So far this year, we've gotten the construction completed on the Weiskopf layout before the rains hit, but there's been a few washouts. It's basically been patchwork here and there. We've been replacing some areas where we planted sprigs with sod on three of the holes."

'WORKING IN THE MUD'

The company has four projects in Vallarta, with another one being the Von Hagge-, Baril-designed Paradise Village. "What distinguishes Sal's [Salvador Rodriguez, president] company from all the others is that they give the architect what he wants - without endless meetings," said Robert Von Hagge, architect with Von Hagge, Smelek and Baril based in Spring, Texas.

The course opened the first week of September and has a celebrity tournament scheduled for this month and an official opening this December. "Diamond also has a year-long maintenance contract with the course," said Ruth. "So we'll handle the grow-in and upkeep as well. It was a fairly flat piece of swamp land. So we didn't have much washout when it rained, but the flood levels would rise during construction and we'd have to pump water off everything. We basically did that project working in the mud."

The property had several acres of swamp land to encounter, so Diamond had to dig 42 acres worth of lakes, said Ruth. "We worked through the rainy season last year and pump a lot of water," he said. "Then we had to pump water out after the rainy season from the lakes we dug in order to line them with clay."

The company has also completed construction on the Isla Maya course in Cozumel, which opens this month. The Nicklaus-designed layout will be the first golf course on the Yucatan peninsula and required several environmental precautions during its construction.

Weiskopf s 18-hole addition to the Cabo del Sol course [GCN, Jan. 2001] in Los Cabos, Mexico, will have its inaugural event on Nov. 9. "They're calling it the Mountain Course to go with Nicklaus' 18-hole Ocean Course that opened back in 1994," said Ruth. "We ran into some rock we had to blast there, but other than that the project went smoothly. We grassed the last hole at the end of August this year."

Copyright United Publications, Inc. Oct 2001
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