Successful 2-month infrastructure overhaul solves a ten-year drainage challenge in Arizona’s East Valley and leads to an expanded partnership for upcoming facility improvements.
Armando Najera, General Manager of Kokopelli Golf Club, discusses the remarkable transformation of their practice greens after partnering with PTI Golf.
CHANDLER, Ariz. – PTI Golf, a leading single-source golf course construction and management company in the Southwest, has completed a comprehensive driving range renovation at Kokopelli Golf Club, overcoming a decade-long struggle with soil drainage and grass establishment. The project’s overwhelming success has expanded PTI Golf’s relationship with Kokopelli and management partner Arcis Golf for additional course enhancements across the property.
For nearly ten years, growing and maintaining grass on the driving range at Kokopelli had felt virtually impossible. The range surface—a challenging mixture of dirt and heavy red clay—suffered from an outdated drainage footprint and an unreliable legacy irrigation system. Every significant storm left standing water trapped on the floor, rendering the practice area unusable and forcing an average of 40 days of facility closures per year. When severe storm runoff during the 2025 Arizona monsoon season overwhelmed the property’s legacy infrastructure once again, leadership engaged PTI Golf to find a permanent solution once and for all.
“If you would have told me this would be the end result, I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Armando Najera of Kokopelli Golf Club. “Historically, due to the driving range being dirt and clay, we didn’t have great drainage and lost over 40 days a year on the range alone. Working with the team at PTI to produce this end result was fantastic.”
Over a focused two-month timeline, PTI Golf executed a complete infrastructure rebuild to engineer a permanent turf solution:
- Underground Drainage Network: Replaced failing infrastructure with dedicated drain piping, hurricane drains, catch basins, and high-capacity pumps to route heavy desert stormwater off the playing surface in minutes.
- Complete Irrigation Overhaul: Demolished the legacy setup and installed over 90 new sprinkler heads in a proven triangular configuration, complete with new laterals, swing joints, and control wiring.
- Precision Surface Prep: Conducted extensive earthmoving, shaping, and laser leveling to guarantee proper water slope and establish an optimal seedbed.
The resulting lush, green practice floor now provides Kokopelli’s players and the East Valley community with a 365-day practice experience. Additionally, establishing a reliable, level range floor paved the way for the installation of modern TopTracer range technology on the property.
Following the successful transformation of the practice facility, Kokopelli and Arcis Golf have extended their collaboration with PTI Golf for additional site and infrastructure projects.
“Our philosophy in the dirt is simple: we don’t just build for day one—we build for long-term turf health and operational reliability,” said Mickey Brown, CEO of PTI Golf. “When a client has dealt with a ten-year headache, coming in alongside Arcis Golf and Kokopelli to fix the root cause and earn their trust for future work is the most rewarding outcome our crew could ask for.”
About PTI Golf
With over 30 years of experience, PTI Golf brings full accountability to every phase of golf course construction and maintenance. By understanding the critical intersection of design and agronomy, we deliver consistent playability, predictable budgets, and lasting course health for our partners. For more information call (702) 315-5121, or visit www.ptigolf.com.
Media Contact:
Jackie Kellogg | jackiek@onpointmark.com | 217.259.9949 | www.ptigolf.com
