While the county considers capital improvement and maintenance investments at Superior National at Lutsen, golf courses around the country are looking at new – and lower – standards in golf course maintenance.
A May 14, 2010 online Wall Street Journal article entitled Is Brown the New Green? by John Paul Newport said, “When Jim Hyler was inaugurated as president of the U.S. Golf Association in February, he surprised many by speaking out more forcibly than USGA presidents are wont to do on a controversial subject: water usage and the misguided perception that golf courses need to be lush, green and perfect to be good. It is the issue, he said, ‘that is perhaps of greatest concern to golf ’s future.’”
The article goes on to say, “…Even when water is abundant, maintaining wall-to-wall greensward in impeccable shape is creating a heavy and unnecessary financial burden. Verdant courses require more mowing, more chemicals to prevent weeds and disease, [and] more general tweaking and fluffing…”
Newport points out that dryer grass is firmer and faster. He quotes Jim Hyler as saying that the courses seen on TV are prepped to peak for tournament weeks and don’t look that green all of the time.
Fescue is a grass used by some ecofriendly courses that requires less water, mowing, fertilizer, and pesticide, although it doesn’t grow well everywhere and is less hardy than traditional golf course grass. An August 30 online Time article quotes Josh Lesnik, president of a group that manages municipally owned Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, where fescue is the turf of choice: “This is a different kind of golf for North America. Some number of people just don’t get it.”
According to the Time article, Robert Trent Jones Jr., who runs KemperSports, a firm that designed Chambers Bay and other eco-friendly courses, said, “In reality, golf started along the sea with grasses that were gray, purple, green, and brown.” The author goes on to say, “Indeed, Scottish courses originated on shoreline land deemed unsuitable for farming.”
A group of local Superior National advocates would like the course to be considered and maintained as a premier golf destination. A document outlining their vision states, “Since Superior National was first built in 1992, standards for high-end courses in general have increased. This is due in part to the building [of] many new high-end courses in the 1990s, where each new course upped the ante, and in part to the constant march upward of customer expectations that occurs at all recreational (or entertainment) facilities, whether they are ski areas, movie theaters, or golf courses.”
The document calls for investment in sand bunkers, tees, landscaping, irrigation, restrooms, equipment, and the clubhouse.
The Wall Street Journal quotes Jim Hyler further: “In my opinion, many of the standards by which we construct and maintain our courses have become, quite simply, unsustainable. With the recent economic downturn, focus on these critical issues has sharpened. If we are not careful, high construction costs, soaring maintenance budgets, and declining membership rosters will threaten the survival of many courses and clubs.”
The article goes on to say, “Golf has a continuing role to play. It creates jobs and wealth. Increasingly it will have to compete for every ounce of water it uses and avoid becoming a whipping boy for environmentalists.”
Superior National has taken its place among golf courses initiating eco-friendly practices and has been designated a “certified cooperative sanctuary” by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System, a division of Audubon International. According to the website of Golf & the Environment, a partnership of the United States Golf Association, The PGA of America, and Audubon International, “The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses awards certification to recognize golf courses that protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and provide wildlife habitats. Achieving certification demonstrates a course’s leadership, commitment, and high standards of environmental management.”
Perhaps a move toward incorporating some of the latest eco-friendly trends that leave courses looking slightly less polished could help Superior National both save money and add to the natural appeal that draws so many to Cook County in the first place. If brown truly becomes the new green, Superior National just might get its groove back sooner rather than later.
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