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Caribe Resort calls in AGS C
aribe Resort in Orange Beach, Alabama along the Gulf Coast, recently engaged Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS) to replace a concrete-built miniature golf course on the rooftop of a parking deck that had been severely damaged when Hurricane Sally came ashore in 2020. While the three 13-story towers of condominiums and vacation rentals that were originally built 16 years ago with poured concrete and post tensioned slabs at the resort were relatively undamaged, the mini golf course and some other outdoor amenities at the resort suffered severe damage and needed renovations estimated at $3 - $4 million. According to Stan Szapiel, general manager of Caribe Resort: “Hurricane Sally was a high Category 2, we tipped over to a Category 3 with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and speeds higher than that for gusts. The island lost power for six days and our staff was able to recover and get our operation back up and running. Since then we have done a tremendous amount of upgrades to the property.”
When it came to upgrading their golf course, Caribe Resort chose AGS for the quality of their work, price-point and relevant experience such as building on top of cruise ship decks. Szapiel adds: “Our team down here prepped
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the area and it was unknown what was under that (existing rooftop course) 16 years ago when artificial sod and turf was laid. It had a very thin Astroturf- like product that was laid like you would carpet. It was really a dated product when you look at what’s developed in the market these days. So when AGS came to us, they said, ‘Look we now have different panels with different thickness, different padding, we have a completely different product.’” AGS proposed using their Custom Modular System that is much lighter in weight than concrete and features a proprietary anchoring system that is safe, secure and even seaworthy. AGS says it is able to withstand heavy 24/7 foot traffic in all kinds of weather – from the harsh Caribbean sun and salt water to monsoon rains, wide temperature fluctuations and hurricane-force winds. “Their team was super professional,” says Szapeil. “They (AGS) gave us a truly three-dimensional links course that has accents with topography, it’s aesthetically exceptional looking…
“The benefit of this thing also is that when it rains, we have drainage up there. This (course) is on top of a deck where we don’t want to pool water into this area. So drainage was taken into consideration with the elevations that they did so they were able to create proper drainage and proper elevation so that
we don’t have standing water after a big storm… It all drains fully. And we have ADA access throughout the course.
“We have three towers of 13 stories each and close to half of these condominiums can look down upon this (mini golf) amenity from the south side of our building between the Gulf of Mexico and the building. So you go out on your balcony which is substantially large and you look over and we want to see what is the equivalent of a Disney-looking quality resort. And so that was our mission when we went into renovation. When you look down on this mini golf course, it is so enticing that you’ve got to play! And so at night, when we have our lights up, the accents of the different color of artificial sod that we have there, the tan sod that appears to look like you’re in the sand up there, it’s exceptional. “We’ve got a full 18-hole course. It’s like a links course. It’s interesting and people are loving it. This is really a three-dimensional kind of aspect and look and feel, whereas the other (course) was pretty flat. We had a little bit of elevation with the old course but not that much. It was a very plain, open course. Here, the elevations give it a true three-dimensional feel that, when you’re playing through it, you’ve got some more challenges other than flat surfaces. So this is so much more interesting and fun to play.”
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023
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