2016 Olympic Golf: Is the Course in Peril? Could Another Be Substituted?

It's hard to judge what's going on in Rio de Janeiro from a continent away. But when a judge considers asking the golf-course developer to move three holes and redesign the rest of the course without that land, the request shows a complete lack of understanding about how golf courses are built and the time needed to build them.

That is the current situation at the Olympic golf site. It's possible, with those kind of issues, that the course could be rendered a large unplayable lie.

The Olympic golf course has been a magnet for legal battles. First, two parties claimed ownership of the same land. That held up progress for months. Now local prosecutors have stepped forward in a last ditch effort to slow or stop completion of the course.

These prosecutors want a wildlife corridor. They are not asking for something the width of a road or even a four-lane highway. They want a swath that is a quarter-of-a-mile wide, reports Jenny Barchfield of The Associated Press. And they want three holes of the golf course plowed up to do it. Unless there is abundant land on site, it could be a course killer.

According to an AP story (via Golf.com), the course owners have just a few days to decide if they will remove holes 12, 14 and 15 and relocate them to allow for preservation of the area.

The problem is golf holes are not relocated with a sky hook. There's shaping, irrigation, drainage and more under the ground. Grassing has been done on some areas, and according to Rio 2016, it takes 11 months for the turf to completely grow in. In a Golfdom article, Marcelo Matte, the man in charge of grassing the course, has been quoted as saying that it will take one full season, from November to May, for the grass to be ready, and that would be six months.

So, it's not just moving holes. It's shaping and irrigating and re-grassing three holes, if there is the land to do them. Then there's the even bigger question of time to completion if holes can be relocated.

Stating the obvious, objections should have been made at the outset because the grass needs to be in place perhaps six to nine months prior to a big event being held. And the grass being used does not grow all year long in Rio's climate.

The best place to build golf courses is the desert of California in the Coachella Valley where it can grow start to finish in 11 months if everybody does exactly what they are supposed to do exactly when they are supposed to do it. (This is from firsthand viewing experience.) Any other location takes longer because the Coachella Valley has absence of weather. It has sun and more sun.

We are now two months from 2015. It's 22 months and two growing seasons to the Olympics. There has been talk of a 2015 "test" event to see how the course plays, according to Barchfield. If the course is ripped up, it will take being lucky to get it re-grassed and opened in 2015. A practice event next year would be difficult. That leaves precious little time should any adjustments need to be made for Olympic play.

Climate is absolutely critical to growing golf course grass. Brazil has a cool season and a warm season, and the Olympics will be played during the cool season. But the grass has to be grown when it is warm, from now until next May.

The Olympic turf for everything but the greens will be Zeon Zoysia, a type of grass that is currently being used at Cordillera Ranch in Texas in the San Antonio, Texas, area.

The greens are SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum, selected because they can tolerate the salt spray sure to be a part of the mix at that location. Both are warm-season grasses. They can't be started and grown during cool seasons, just as Bermudagrass can't be grown in the southern U.S. in the fall and winter.

A perfect recent example of how long it takes to get a golf course in shape for a top world-glass golf event is the renovation of the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course. It began in March 2006 after the final putt dropped at the Players Championship.

The entire course was ripped up and put back like new. New drainage and SubAir were installed. New grass was grown on all fairways, tees and greens.

The crew was blessed with no hurricanes and relatively perfect weather until two months prior to the new May date when an atypically cold March stunted the growth of the warm-season grass coming out of the North Florida winter. Because of the weather wrinkle, the turf in 2007 was not as perfect as the PGA Tour would have liked, but it was acceptable.

That was a 13.5-month ordeal, done by people who absolutely know what they are doing. We are now just 14 months away from the beginning of 2016, the Olympic year, and someone wants to rip up three golf holes?

It looks like the Rio 2016 committee should start considering some alternative sites. Unfortunately, like many places in the world, there just aren't many courses that can handle top-level, professional golfers. There are only six findable ones that are more than 7,000 yards. None are the preferred 7,200-7,300-7,400 yards that a championship test should be today.

The choices seem to be:

Terravista: 7,112 yards and comes with a helipad.

Vista Verde Golf Club: 7,021 yards

Damha Golf Club (Championship Course): 7,078 yards

Fazenda da Grama Golf Club: 7,123 yards

Ipe Golf Club: 7,064 yards

Vista Verde Golf Club: 7,021 yards

Of course, that presumes that one of these courses could become an Olympic venue and the ownship would would want to become an Olympic venue on short notice. It is unlikely that they would be ready to accommodate crowds, parking and concession needs on short notice.

It's 22 months and two growing seasons to the Olympics. If the 2016 Games are to have golf, decisions need to be made to complete the construction of the current course or find a replacement. It would be a shame if the return of golf to the Olympics was diminished by an incomplete course, poor conditions or a course that is less-than-proper length to test the best in the world. There's a chance it could happen.