Waco’s Cottonwood Creek Golf Course could close for renovation, erosion repair

The Waco City Council on Tuesday approved a $240,000 contract with Walker Partners LLC to create a master plan and conceptual design for upgrading the course. The plan will lay out strategies to replace the 40-year-old course’s aging drainage and irrigation infrastructure, which has suffered from flooding and erosion.

Cottonwood head golf pro Kenny Duron said he noticed the course’s failing drainage trend about 10 years ago, and the problems have intensified since then. The course retains much of its original infrastructure from when it was developed in the early 1980s on former Veterans Affairs hospital land. The course opened in April 1985.

Even a small amount of rain can cause a significant problem for golfers, and a substantial rain poses the risk of developing sinkholes on the course, Duron said. The excess flow isn’t an issue during periods with no rainfall, but those conditions can last only so long, he said.

Duron said land use surrounding the course has changed since the 1980s. Bagby Avenue, which borders the course to the southeast, was then a two-lane road, and Highway 6 to the southwest was undeveloped.

He said when he first came to work at Cottonwood in 2002, the 36-inch drainage pipes beneath the course did their job and the course could drain a few inches of rain as well as any other course.

Parks and Recreation Director Jonathan Cook said rapid growth and development in the area has had an effect on the course’s drainage system. Increased impervious cover — nonabsorbant surfaces such as parking lots and rooftops — in the drainage area of Cottonwood Creek can sometimes double or triple the amount of water into the creek, which flows through the course, he said.

“So what we’ve battled with is, the original drainage system has started to deteriorate, and then we also see a lot of erosion of creek beds, and that’s even led to sidewalks and bridges being washed out,” Cook said.

The drainage culverts beneath the course have deteriorated and the water they used to carry has diverted itself in different directions.

Culverts in six sections have been removed to open up flow into the creek, and a city crew is now removing one near Beverly Drive at the back of the course. That pipe has deteriorated so much it has come loose, Duron said.

City crews this week are also using heavy machinery to repair parts of the Cottonwood Creek bank, which will be lined with rock.

Cottonwood staff also has struggled with an irrigation system that was installed in the 1980s. The system is inefficient for water and electrical use and must be repaired often, Duron said.

Some golf courses are designed so that water can drain naturally into a pond, but the ponds along Highway 6 are basically wetlands due to the sediment and silt that washes in during rains, Duron said.

Cook said the water collected in ponds and lakes can be recirculated for irrigation, and the city has taken many steps over the years to improve the course’s water usage. He said the master plan will likely look at flow patterns into these collectors and types of detention ponds.

Duron said the plan, which will take about 10 months to develop, will have three components: an analysis to combat drainage issues, an irrigation plan to replace the 40-year-old system, and a long-range plan.

The plan will also take into account environmental sustainability and cutting-edge techniques, Cook said, as he hopes to maintain the course’s natural essence.

“It’s really sort of an oasis when you look at it as far as the natural surroundings,” he said. “As we’ve seen more develop we do see it as a park, and so we want to definitely expand on that natural beauty of that area.”

Waco-based Chet Williams, who has designed several golf courses, will serve as a subconsultant on the Cottonwood project, City Manager Bradley Ford said Tuesday.

“I expect the combination of Walker Partners and Mr. Williams to really provide a compelling renovation plan so that Cottonwood continues to be the leading municipal golf course in Central Texas,” Ford said.

Waco has set aside $1 million in its 2024 capital improvements budget for the course’s improvements.

The city anticipates the course’s closure at some point, but Cook said the details of those closures are “all up in the air.”

“A lot of times you’re able to work on certain holes, certain areas, but we’re too early in the process to really tell how that lays out,” Cook said. “But it’s something we’ll consider and then also work with our other … golf courses around the city to make sure that we try to minimize that impact.”

He said the team will try to minimize the closure’s impact on public play, as the course “serves a great recreational and wellness need,” while looking into possible significant renovations.

“It is a public facility, but a really unique thing about Cottonwood is it’s not just the amount of people playing golf, it’s also home to upwards of 50 high school and college teams that play out there,” Cook said. “And then also part of it is the tournaments that they bring in, and that money that filters back into the economy.”