Watching the grass grow Watching the grass grow (August 19, 2005)

$40-million Callippe Preserve golf course comes to life
by Jeb Bing

Dave Davies job is watching the grass grow, which seems like a fairly simple task, if not downright boring

Except that Davies, a certified golf superintendent for the last 12 years, is now the point man for making sure Pleasanton's new, near-$40 million Callippe Preserve golf course opens for play before the end of the year.

Davies has been named the "grow-in" superintendent for the city's municipal course, assigned by CoursCo, which has taken over management operations for Callippe. The move brings to a close the city government's involvement in the planning, design and development of the 18-hole course that dates back to 1987.

The transformation of the 145-acre golf course and trails has been phenomenal in the last six months. The bulldozers and earthmovers completed their work in shaping the course and installing an extensive irrigation system with city Public Works Director Rob Wilson working on site to help expedite the work, which had fallen behind schedule. With that completed, CoursCo took over, with Davies and his crew here to make sure the turf grows in firmly before the first tee-offs.

"We want to establish the healthiest conditions we possibly can, so root depth is very important," Davies said. "We’re managing the height of the cut of the grass to strengthen the turf, aerating regularly, and very carefully monitoring the amount of water and fertilization. Our focus now is to get the turf throughout the course as healthy as we possibly can before Callippe opens."

Motorists on Alisal Street can see the change in just a few short months from the dirt and barren landscape of early spring to the wealth of green grass, shrubs, trees and waterways today. The fairways are a blend of Kentucky bluegrass and a perennial rye, with Creeping Bent for the greens.

Alongside the fairways, crews have planted four different varieties of fescue, which Davies will allow to grow to about 3 to 4 inches, high enough to let golfers know they're in the "rough" if their balls land there.

Walking the course, it's also clear that each hole has a distinctive character. The most difficult appears to be the finishing 18th hole, where golfers have to tee off across a creek into a landing area; hit across another creek to get up to a second landing area; hit across a third creek to get up on a somewhat elevated green, and then sink the ball in at least two putts to make a Par 5.

The 500-yard 9th hole is also a Par 5 and tough, again with waterways to hit across. Holes 2 and 8 are shorter Par 4s, with wide open landing areas that you can play with a choice of clubs. As with many golf courses, the front nine holes are easier and, at Callippe, relatively flat, with the back nine much tougher and with challenging water obstacles, bunkers, hills and ravines.

Although they're harder than the earlier holes, the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th fairways offer breathtaking views of the Valley down below and Danville and Mt. Diablo to the north.

"You’re going to be able to come out here with a 30 or better handicap and you’ll have a very enjoyable time based on how they’ve designed the course," Davies, an avid golfer, himself, said. "For the low handicappers that are looking for a difficult challenge, I think that most of the holes will provide all the challenge you’re looking for. From my perspective all Par 3s are very difficult."

Callippe Preserve architect Brian Costello of the JMP Golf Design Group has added flexibility in how the course can be played. There are five tee pads on every hole so that golfers can play the course based on their skills and the challenges they want.

"If you want to come out and make six or seven birdies and you’re a low handicap player, play from the middle tees," Davies advised. "The course from the back of the championship tee is 6800 yards long, but it's much less from the forward tees. Although the course has no gender-specific tees, each set of tees is color-coded so that golfers can remember how they are playing the course."

Another challenge for golfers will be the wind. The wind blows south to north on many mornings, but then switches to north to south in the afternoon. On some days, but not many, it doesn't blow at all.

"So you kind of flip a coin as to what you're going to come up across when playing Callippe," Davies said.

Davies, who lives in Union City, has been in the golf course maintenance and management business since taking a summer job at a private course on the Peninsula after graduating from Monte Vista High School in Cupertino. Later, he became assistant superintendent at Crystal Springs in Burlingame, was an assistant manager at the Sunol Golf and Country Club, and served as superintendent of the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course for 10 years.

"I am constantly in awe of Callippe Preserve," Davies said. "This is the most picturesque site I’ve ever worked at and I’ve work on seven different golf courses. The thing that strikes me about this golf course is the visual impact that it has from wherever you are on the golf course. Wherever you are, you can see a large part of the golf course from almost every fairway."

"You don’t' have any busy streets or freeways to see or industry or anything like that," he added. "You don't even have any noise except for an occasional Southwest Airways flight passing overhead. In fact, I just got back from a trip on Southwest and passed right overhead coming back. This course is just as spectacular from the air."
Golf course lots selling fast Realtor sees them as "last" in the region

If you want to have a home alongside Pleasanton's new Callippe Preserve golf course, you'll want to hurry. The half-acre lots, priced from $950,000 to $1.4 million, are selling fast as buyers grab the chance to own prestige property on what could be one of the last golf courses built in the region.

Realtor Roger Manning is handling sales for Mariposa Ranch, a 37-lot development on Westbridge Lane and Clubhouse Drive that border the new 18-hole golf course. Some of the lots already have "Sold" signs out front and a steady stream of prospective buyers last weekend at Mariposa's sales trailer near Alisal Street and Happy Valley Road indicated strong interest in the remaining lots.

"We've sold about three-fourths of the lots, and the course won't open until late this year," Manning said. "It's really a rare opportunity because we aren't building golf courses in the Valley anymore. Even if you do find a golf course going in, it's unusual these days to find housing being constructed along with it."

Manning and his wife Jane, in fact, are among the lucky ones. They bought their house in 1987, and the golf course design wrapped around their home and another one owned by Bobbi and Steve Jensen, allowing both couples to keep their homes. The Manning house, once reached by a long driveway off Alisal, now fronts on Clubhouse Drive. But a home owned by a third couple, Denza and John Jordan, stood in the center of the course and had to be razed. The city of Pleasanton, which is developing Callippe, bought the Jordans' home and provided them with two of the 37 lots. The Jordans are now completing a new home on one of the lots and will sell the other.

Actually, it was Manning, Jordan, Jensen and their investor associates who first proposed a golf course in the area. At the time, the course was proposed for the Koopman Ranch south of Happy Valley with a 300-home housing project to go on the 312-acres of land where Callippe Preserve is now located.

City planners rejected the proposal for two reasons. The city's plan was for "feathered" housing growth as the city boundaries were extended south, and a 300-home development did not mesh with that plan. Also, the proposed golf course, although planned as a public facility, could only be reached from Koopman's own driveway near the Sunol exit on I-680, too far for a city-owned facility.

Still, the city was interested in building a municipal course and its golf course committee started eyeing the Happy Valley site. The committee, which had considered other golf course sites on the Bernal property and Staples Ranch, persuaded city officials to buy, annex and develop the Happy Valley site, which would also lock in the southwest end of Pleasanton with a golf course and public trails. As part of its development agreement, the city also agreed to sell off 34 lots and to allow the three existing homeowners to keep their properties or, in the case of the Jordans, to relocate.

"These are really choice parcels," Manning said. "You're located on or across the street from a golf course, with fabulous views, only two minutes from the freeway, a five minute drive to downtown Pleasanton, and with no homeowners association or maintenance fees. Everything that surrounds us is public, including the streets, and is maintained by the city."

Already, property throughout Happy Valley has appreciated dramatically. Manning said he sold a 2-acre vacant lot on Alisal Street recently for $1.2 million, and estimated that empty 1-acre parcels would now be worth as much as $1 million, with the buyer having to pay the cost for city water and sewer hookup that are now available from underground utilities the city of Pleasanton installed on Alisal.

Manning said he also expects a bypass road to be built as part of a pending development agreement with Greenbriar Homes. Greenbriar has asked for permission to build 79 homes off Alisal and north of the golf course. The project's through street would carry golfers and other Callippe traffic from Sycamore Creek Way to Westbridge Road and Clubhouse Drive, with Westbridge to be closed at Alisal and Happy Valley Road. -Jeb Bing

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