EHRA Engineering was proud and honored to work with the Houston Golf Association alongside a project team that included Finger Dye Spann (Golf Course Architect) and Heritage Links – Lexicon Inc. (Contractor) for the Gus Wortham Park Golf Course renovation project. This golf course has a history that dates back to 1903. It is known as one of the earliest 18-hole golf courses in Texas and the first in the City. In 1903, it was founded as The Houston Country Club, and in 1953, Gus Wortham purchased the golf course, naming it the Houston Executive Club. In 1973, the City of Houston acquired the property where it was renamed in honor of Gus Wortham. The course was in jeopardy of being redeveloped for other uses beginning in 2007, but Houston Golf Association stepped in and formed a partnership with the City of Houston, as well as raised private funds, to renovate and preserve the historical golf course.
The golf course is located in the City of Houston, adjacent to Brays Bayou and exists partially within the 100-year and 500-year floodplain along the stream. EHRA performed the detention and floodplain impact analysis for the renovation project on behalf of the Houston Golf Association. The proposed golf course improvements included reconfigurations and regrading of fairways, greens, bunkers and a driving range, construction of a proposed detention basin that also serves as an irrigation basin for water supply for the new irrigation system and removal and replacement of existing cart paths throughout the entire course and bridges that cross the D103-00-00 tributary. EHRA obtained the FEMA effective hydraulic model for Brays Bayou to analyze the floodplain impacts along Brays Bayou from the proposed golf course re-grading within the limits of the floodplain and floodway. The analysis was challenging and took a lot of back-and-forth coordination with the golf course architect to determine what grading and dirt moving would be required in order to not cause impacts to floodplain conditions, but also create the look and feel that was needed for the renovation. Holes along Brays Bayou had a tendency to become inundated by the Brays Bayou floodwaters, and it was a goal of the project to try to reduce the frequency of those holes being inundated and un-playable.
A cut-fill analysis was also performed for the grading project within the floodplain to show that no net fill would be placed within the floodplain as a result of moving dirt. Floodplain mitigation was provided within the new detention basin/irrigation lake in addition to the required detention volume for the project for new cart paths and additional pavement. A hydraulic HEC-RAS model had to be created for D103-00-00, an unstudied stream, which extends through the golf course draining areas upstream. The model analyzed the existing and proposed conditions for the renovation project to ensure the proposed re-grading and replacement cart path bridges to be constructed across the stream would cause no adverse impacts to the flood hazard conditions upstream or downstream of the golf course. EHRA prepared a report documenting the analysis performed for the renovation project and submitted it to Harris County Flood Control District and the City of Houston for approval.
In addition to the analyses performed for the project, EHRA prepared construction drawings for the re-grading of the golf course within the limits of the 100-year floodplain and the proposed detention basin to provide storm water and floodplain mitigation volume for the project. Construction plans for the basin included design of a vertical level-control/outfall structure that includes a trash rack screen for storm water quality. The grading of the golf course required extensive dirt modeling and calculations to show that no net fill would be placed within the limits of the floodplain and compensating floodplain mitigation would be provided within the lake/basin, as well as additional cut throughout the golf course.
This project required a strong team effort to ensure the successful completion of the renovation. Some challenges included working through wetland constraints in the location of the new basin and along the D103-00-00 tributary; working around or avoiding the existing City utilities (sanitary and water) that extended across the course that had to be located; meeting time constraints to ensure construction was completed on time for planting and sodding season and working in the area of the floodplain and floodway. Not many projects come without challenges, and this project made sure that it threw a few our way.
Gus Wortham Park Golf Course is alive and doing well thanks to the Houston Golf Association and the project team. EHRA Engineering is certainly grateful to have been given the opportunity to be a part of such a great project!
