Golf Course Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2016 04 18

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From: Polly Boyd To: Polly Bovd Subject: FW: Native Areas on Coal Creek Golf Course Date: Thursday, April 07, 2016 11:12:45 AM Attachments: Environment Rockland Country Club case study.html From: David Dean Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2016 12:07 PM To: 'djhonan65 @gmail.com' Cc: Joe Stevens; Alexander Kosel; Justin Williams; 'Ken Gambon' Subject: Native Areas on Coal Creek Golf Course David, The area that thinned out and was stressed was down from your property further into the corner. Behind your house we increased the water trying to get it established so it looks better now than it did last season and hopefully will continue to improve. The native area around #1 green was one of the last areas seeded and is still a little thin is spots. We mowed a strip behind #1 green to see how it would survive at a lower height of cut and with the intended amount of water it does not survive to our standards. What I would like to see and what was intended by the architect is that allow the native are to grow to 6 -8 inches in leaf material and then decrease the water input to little or no water at all. As the water is decreased the fescues and rye grasses will produce a seed stalk that will grow 12 -18 inches and give a wispy ground cover that players can find their ball in and have a shot out of. The native area to the left of #1 green is a great representation of what we would like to have all of our native areas look like. One factor we cannot control is the weather and amounts of precipitation. If we have a wet spring the native areas can get thicker than what we want and thinner if the spring tends to be dry but that is the nature of native areas. By design these areas are to be low use, low maintenance areas which were approved and adopted by the City of Louisville. This summer we will be incorporating more areas of the golf course into this native landscape that I think will frame the golf course as Kevin Norby envisioned. By turning low use areas to native grasses we are lowering our water demand and becoming more sustainable. It is a direction that many golf courses across the nation are headed as the demand for water increases and our resources are decreasing. Below are some links to articles and information about water conservation and golf courses which will shed some light on this subject. In a nutshell maintaining areas that have little to no play does not make sense environmentally or economically. I understand that some of the areas that have been converted to native grass are new and different to adjacent properties and will take some time to get used to. What used to be an extension to property owner's back yards has changed and with it the intended use of the property. As I drove around last summer I witnessed the area behind #1 green being used as an area to socialize, allow dogs to run around, have children playing in, the setting up a bounce house on the 4th of July, and recently the home of a snowman. With this being part of the golf course and potentially in play these are not the desired activities for this area. 7