Floating Green to make maiden maintenance voyage
LOREN BENOIT/Press The Hagadone Corporation will be moving the famous Floating Green to Skip Murphy’s marine yard to be worked on over the winter. This will be the first time the green has been moved that far from its usual location since it was installed in 1991.
Former Spokane Chief and San Jose Shark Ray Whitney hits to the floating green during The Showcase on July 28, 2018 at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course. The floating green will be worked on over the winter. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — The world-famous Floating Green at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course is going for a ride.
But fear not, sports fans. It isn’t going far.
For the first time since it was constructed in 1991, the Green on Tuesday morning will be moved from its home on the waters at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course, roughly 2 miles to Murphy Marine Construction, where it will be housed through the winter while it receives its first thorough maintenance check-up.
“When the Green was designed, part of our plan in engineering was, ‘What are the ongoing and long-term maintenance requirements?’” said John Barlow, a retired long-time executive and present consultant for the Hagadone Corporation. “In the long term, we’ve reached the point where we need to do some maintenance.”
The floating structure and marine system will be inspected, cables and winches will be updated, the liner under the soil will be replaced, water storage tanks will be sandblasted and recoated, all of the wood siding and framing are being replaced, and the weight of the Green will be adjusted. Barlow said more than 200,000 pounds of sand have been added to the green through the years, through the process of top dressing the putting surface.
“We’re going to remove about 5 inches of sand in the putting surface area,” he said. “Our golf architect, Scott Miller, will help reshape it and new sod will go on the putting surface back to where it was when it was first built.”
The Green will also be brought up to date with state-of-the-art equipment.
“The hydraulic lines will all be replaced because we want to be sure we’re protecting the environment,” Barlow said. “They now make an environmentally safe hydraulic oil that’s actually vegetable oil.”
The Floating Green has helped make The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course a destination for golfers around the globe. Barlow said while preparing for the scheduled maintenance, he and his colleagues found that nearly 2 million golf balls have been hit by golfers at the Floating Green.
“The thing we notice more than anything else from our golfing customers is, people don’t ask how the golf was, what score you shot,” he said. “They all ask, ‘Did you get on?’ And that’s the biggest part of their golf experience.”
Duane B. Hagadone, whose vision of the former Potlatch Mill site included not just a spectacular golf course but the world’s first floating green, said the cost to build and transport that green exceeded all estimates.
“If I’d known how much it would actually cost I would never have done it,” he said.
But now he’s sure glad he did.
“When you look at the impact it’s had, on our company, our community and our state, it’s the best investment I’ve ever made,” he said.
The Green will return to its usual location after its maintenance and refurbishing by March 1, 2019.