This week, I started marking some areas on the golf course that will be resodded this winter. If you play golf this week and see my white lines, these are the areas I am referring to. Above, the three tee on hole #18, needed to be re-squared. This happens to tees over time and we periodically have to go back and measure and reorient them to the green. Note, in the photo above, the lines look like they are aiming right of the green, but that is just the appearance in the photo. Each year, we address a handful of tees like this.
There are a couple other areas on the golf course that will look a lot different next year. Above, is one such example. Over the past three years, we are making an effort to slowly get rid of pinestraw on the golf course. For one, it's not the most attractive look. Second, it is far from a native material. The species of pine that shed needles which are then harvested, don't grow in Western North Carolina. In fact, most of the farms that sell pinestraw come from South Georgia and Florida. It's a good look in those areas of the country where it's native, but installed on our mountain golf course, looks odd. Rather than pinestraw, we are using more shredded hardwood mulch or simply grass. On the 5th hole (pictured above), we are going to be sodding under these pine trees on the left side of the hole. Another area that will look drastically different is on #8. The whole hillside along the cart path as you drive to the green, will be grassed this year as well. As I said, over time, we hope to move away from straw completely. From a financial aspect, pinestraw is much less expensive compared to hardwood mulch and less time consuming to install. Pinestraw does have other benefits over mulch. It doesn't washout in heavy rains, like mulch can. Despite the drawbacks, we still feel the change is worthwhile.