Good morning fellas.
As promised in an earlier post, I would like to describe our most current project. It is called Nebraska National and is located 5 miles south of Kearney, Nebraska, just off of I-80. The land is characterized as rolling sand hills and has the type of feel that is very inspiring to my profession. It is in fact considered to be within the Nebraska sanhills, on the southeast edge. On the south part of the project are nine holes of a golf course previous known as Craneview. It has been closed with no upkeep for a few years. I believe that Gene Bates was involved with it originally, but I have yet to speak with Gene about the course. The majority of the natural landforms on the Craneview side had been preserved. Therefore it’s wonderful rolling character remains intact. It is certainly my intent to preserve this naturally rolling character. In an effort to control costs, which on a project is mandatory, much of the existing irrigation system will be used in place. However, the new nine holes will eliminate all of the long walks from green to tee…… You heard it first here! Jim Engh is designing a golf course with its priority to be easily walkable….. About half of the holes will be newly placed/formed. All of the green sites will be repositioned within existing contours or simply reshaped. The original nine will, in general, gain a great deal of width. As an example, our new ninth hole will consist of a previous par 3 hole connecting with a previous par 4 hole to create the new par 5 ninth. This allows us to use the existing irrigation in place and provides the golf hole that I feel best fits the land and routing.
The land directly to the north, is native and untouched (no center pivot). The rolling character reminds me in many ways of some of the softer Irish links courses. Maybe in the mold of a County Louth or Caste Rock. Certainly the larger hills/dunes on the land will provide drama and excitement, but it is the gentle and quirky rolls and falls of the native landforms that most inspire me with this project. Very little if any excavation will occur over the entire project. In fact, there will be no disturbance to the existing grasses and vegetation. We will mow the native grasses very closely within the proposed fairways and then “slit seed” in our desired mix of Chewings Fescue and Colonial Bentgrasses. Possibly a touch of Bluegrass? Six of the nine greens will be graded with nothing more than a sandpro. The irrigation system will be “pulled in”, allowing for no disturbance to the native grasses or ground surface. Basically, the quirks in the land, that are impossible to create, will be preserved. Aside from the wonderfully creative aspect of this project, I am really excited that we will construct it for a ridiculously modest cost.
Certainly, it is the exception rather than the rule to be able to create a golf course in such a gentle manner. It is the quirks, odd looks and just weird features that makes golf interesting to me. I look forward to having a blast with this project this spring and summer.
All the best
Jim