Congressional Country Club, Blue Course

In 2019, Soltesz began supporting Congressional Country Club in the complete overhaul of their legendary Blue Course that has been home to three US Opens and a PGA Championship. Soltesz supported the architect specializing in golf and turf design during a proactive planning process, that addressed potential design constraints such as tree overgrowth, greenside mounding, and poor drainage.

With our extensive knowledge of the local environmental conditions causing architectural design impacts and the requirements of local permitting regulations, we provided innovative civil engineering design, landscape architecture, and stormwater management for the course.

As local experts, we knew the extensive permitting process would be heavily scrutinized for the high-profile project by the County, State, and Federal authorities. Soltesz helped Congressional Country Club navigate this process to secure permits that included water quality stormwater management, stream restoration, water quality, erosion and sediment control, and tree mitigation per local mandates.

Soltesz also provided unique design features for the concerns about potential stormwater runoff, by designing retention basins strategically placed along the course. Five basins are approximately an acre each in size and three half-acre basins.

The course began construction in October 2019 and was closed all of 2020. The par-72 course fairway expanded from 25 acres to 46 acres and reopened in the Spring of 2022.

The course is currently scheduled to host eight PGA events over the next two decades, including the 2031 PGA Championship and the 2037 Ryder Cup.