The back tier of the driving range tee has been shrinking for years. The usable practice area was limited by a landscaped bed at the back of the tee, costing us nearly a week of playable turf. In early August, we removed the palms in that bed and started to prepare the tee for new sod. The Tifway hybrid bermuda has been down for over a month and players have enjoyed the tee for the last two weeks. Playable surface area increased from 4700 square feet to 7400 square feet, a 60% increase. We should get three weeks of practice time on the upper tee alone.
Further improvements to the area include the renovation of the space between the driving range and the tee complex for the first hole. We removed some large and overgrown birds of paradise bushes and will be planting over fifty drought tolerant plants matching the rest of our new landscape. Decomposed granite will replace the turf that used to cover this area, providing a clean look and multiple access points between practice area and the first tee. This small project increases our turf reduction total by another 3500 square feet to nearly 40 acres in the last three years.
