Sanford Golf Design Gets Honor for Ferry Point Course

In a rare recognition of golf course architecture, the Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (FLASLA) awarded David Ferris, RLA and Sanford Golf Design its top honor, the Award of Excellence, for their work at Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, Bronx, N.Y.

"The FLASLA Design Awards program honors projects that blend environmental and artistic principles, emphasizing beauty, function, and the environment. We recognize projects that demonstrate an inspired use of landscape architectural practices in an imaginative combination that adds to the body of the Landscape Architecture profession by bestowing it the Award of Excellence" said Jeff Brophy, FLASLA president. "Recipients are truly exceptional, unique and innovative."

The Award of Excellence was given to Sanford Golf Design and Ferris for their reclamation and transformation of New York City's longtime derelict site into a unique Irish links inspired public golf course that utilizes the Whitestone Bridge, the East River, and the Manhattan skyline as its backdrop. The project needed to address methane gas-venting, settlement, site monitoring, neighboring storm drainage and water conservation.

"I don't think that there has been another golf course project that has received this award from the Chapter," Ferris said. "This award of Excellence is our first landscape architecture design award, and I think it's extra special when a golf course project wins such a high honor."

Ferris, who has a Master of Landscape Architecture Degree and a Bachelor Degree in Turf Management from Cornell University, has been a Senior Design Associate at Sanford Golf Design for 17 years. In addition to his work at Ferry Point he has worked with John Sanford on Granite Links Golf Club, more than a dozen new, renovated or restored golf courses in Florida, as well as projects in Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Japan, the Canary Islands, and Egypt.

The Ferry Point Park landfill, which had been an eyesore and dumping ground since the 1940s, is now home to a golf course built atop a treeless 185-acre site. The 18-hole layout, set along the East River and adjacent to the Whitestone Bridge, is scheduled to open to the public next year.

The design of the golf course at Ferry Point was a collaborative effort with Jack Nicklaus. The project had special challenges, such as infrastructure, landfill closure requirements, permit approvals, methane venting and monitoring, differential settlement, erosion control during construction, post grow-in runoff, wetlands creation, and water quality.

Changing environmental regulations during the design and construction phases made the process even more complex. In addition, excavation had to be kept to a minimum to reduce the impacts of Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) requirement for all unearthed municipal solid waste to be removed from the site. In order to meet this challenge and create landforms that emulate an Irish links course 2,400,000 cubic yards of fill and sandy topsoil were imported over a 14-year period.

In addition to designing the facility, Sanford Golf Design was the project manager. Ferris was in the forefront of that effort as the firm's only New York Registered Landscape Architect. This did not go unnoticed by design competition jurors who were impressed by the breadth and depth of the project's scope performed by the firm and the landscape architect.

"The comments I received offered praise for not only the design but for taking on the huge role as project manager on such a large project that included oversight of the 10 design and construction management sub-consultants in our contract," Ferris said. "Also well received by the jury was our team's commitment to keep environmental stewardship at the forefront from the start of the project through completion."

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Sanford Golf Design Gets Honor for Ferry Point Course