Congressional Country Club, Home of the 2011 U.S. Open

Mark Giarraputo, AIA and founder of Studio Z Design Concepts, contacted Outdoor Illumination to design and create an understated yet dramatic scene at the 18th and 10th greens, to be viewed from the large terraces overlooking the golf course.

The 18th and 10th greens sit aside a horseshoe-shaped black bottom pond, which is flanked by Sycamores and Maple trees at the bottom of the hill from the club house. The club house has large glass walls and many outdoor patio spaces at multiple levels where the guests relax after a day on the course. While these gathering areas overlook the fairways and greens by day, the scene was simply vast spaces of darkness in the evening. Our job was to transform that area to a beautiful backdrop for members and guests to enjoy into the night year round.

Our challenge in design was to mirror the contour of the land and create visual destinations, and avoid glare produced by visible light sources. The sloping topography could easily have generated glare. We employed 150 watt metal halide narrow spot light sources, up lighting flanking Sycamore and Maple trees, where the canopy did not open until more than 40 feet above ground. This effect was enhanced by reflections on the black bottom pond while framing the space. The up lighting was anchored by illumination on the large signature Sycamore tree in the left front foreground.

With the "framing" of the scene laid out, we needed to create a subtle scene with some depth. We again used 150 watt metal halide narrow spots but in this case down lighting 60 foot heights in the Hardwoods, softly illuminating the 10th and 18th fairways and greens, creating composition on the undulating topography plus the sand traps, greens and water line.