About Project
A century ago, legendary golf course architect Seth Raynor, with his partner C.B. Macdonald, undertook the design of The Lookout Mountain Club in North Georgia. The design would become the most expensive golf course construction project at the time. Complications arose — from hauling materials 1,730 feet up a steep incline, to blasting through solid rock to dig out bunkers — Raynor’s vision struggled to become a reality. And then, mid-construction, Raynor died. Multiple attempts to build the course as planned faltered. A partial renovation in the 1990’s brought the club closer to that vision but still, much was left to be done.
Architects Tyler Rae and Kyle Franz, known for their expertise and enthusiasm for classic golf course design, were hired to restore the Raynor esthetic. Gary Guilloz joined the team as director of grounds to consult on agronomic matters and lead the grow-in. Guillloz recommended Tahoma 31 Bermuda to elevate the look and playability of areas that had long struggled in the cold and elevation of the mountaintop.
Architects Tyler Rae and Kyle Franz, known for their expertise and enthusiasm for classic golf course design, were hired to restore the Raynor esthetic. Gary Guilloz joined the team as director of grounds to consult on agronomic matters and lead the grow-in. Guillloz recommended Tahoma 31 Bermuda to elevate the look and playability of areas that had long struggled in the cold and elevation of the mountaintop.
Challenges & Solutions
Challenges:
- Built on the top of a mountain at 1,730 feet, bermudagrass (Common and Tifway 419) had long struggled at the site.
- Dormancy came early.
- The course does not overseed.
Solutions:
- Tahoma 31’s cold tolerance extended playing conditions a month earlier in the spring and a month later into the fall, adding 60 more days of playability to the shoulder seasons.
- Tahoma 31’s early spring green-up and later dormancy means the course stays greener longer.
Cold Tolerance
Guilloz says cold tolerance was a must for the renovation that included tees, approaches, bunker surrounds, and collars grassed in Tahoma 31 Bermuda.
“Our climate matches up a lot closer with Kentucky and southern Ohio. We have a lot shorter bermudagrass season. And one of the reasons why we selected Tahoma 31 was because of its lineage, being bred out on the plains of Oklahoma and really being tailored more towards the climatic factors that we’re trying to maximize in our grass,” Guilloz says.
“Specifically cold tolerance and performance during our shoulder seasons, which really elongated our spring and our fall play. We typically warm up later in the season than surrounding areas. And we cool off sooner in the fall. And so it creates more extremes for our turf to have to perform under. We often have months where we don’t get above 30 degrees. January and February, those two months, can actually run right around freezing.
“Some of the factors that it mitigated for us were the shoulder seasons especially. The time coming out in the spring, we were looking for something that would hopefully green up faster and start to grow and be able to recover from traffic and, and divots earlier in the season. And the same would be said on the other end of the season. In the fall, it’s going to stay green longer into the cooler weather. For our 419 and Common, our season is about three to three-and-a-half months long for real favorable temperatures, and we do not overseed.
“Because Tahoma 31 stays green longer than 419, we feel it allows us 60 more days of good performance,” Guilloz says.
Mow It Low and Tight
“The Tahoma 31, the role that it ended up playing in our finished product, is that we’re able to mow it below half-an-inch and create the firm, fast conditions that we want to have around our greens to promote the bump and run shots, and also on tees to esthetically set them off from the surrounding bermudagrass,” Guilloz says. “We’re mowing it at .400. “
Roth agrees. “Yeah, playability is incredible on the Tahoma 31,” Roth says. “The membership and our staff have been extremely pleased. Being a course that does not overseed at all in the wintertime, that’s the time of year that our members are playing out here. And the playability at this time of the year when the Bermuda is not actively growing a lot is great. It’s a really good dormant surface. It stays lush and a full canopy through the whole dormant season, and it provides a really good playing surface. It’s really tight around the greens. Ball roll is great. You can putt from around the greens off the Tahoma, and it’s a really good complement to firm and fast greens.”
PGR’s
“When we looked at it closer, Tahoma 31 allowed us to use our growth regulators and not see as much bronzing as we have on some of the other bermudagrasses. Along with that, we have less concern with cleaning up grass clippings. We’re able to keep the upright growth and a tight turf easier.
“Tahoma 31 allows us to have a nice, tight, fine textured bermudagrass.”
Drought Tolerance
“Topography plays a big role in where water ends up. Because we are on rocky, clay soil, we have a lot of runoff potential. We have to pay attention to how much and how fast the water gets to certain areas. The Tahoma 31 has performed very well in some of our steepest sloped areas. I definitely can speak to its drought tolerance. Seeing it side-by-side with some of the other grasses, we actually chose to put it on some bunker banks because it was performing so much better. And these were places that we had winterkill (on other grasses) from the winter of ‘23. I think over time it will be a bigger and bigger percentage of the grass on the property.”
Blair is very happy with the decision to grass his inaugural golf course with Tahoma 31. “It’s just a good grass to play golf off of,” he says. “I played off of it maybe a couple different places before we put it in at The Tree Farm, and it was exactly what we were looking for, just in terms of keeping it tight and being able to let the ball bounce and run and roll. It’s been great.”
Faster Grow-In
Guilloz credits the sod producer who grew the grass, Legacy Turf Farms in North Georgia, with delivering healthy turf to his project.
“What really matters for establishment is getting healthy grass. That is something that Legacy Turf Farms did an outstanding job with. By the delivery, we had good grass to work with. It helped shorten the time to get it established with roots to be able to sustain itself. That definitely makes guys on our side of the business happy. It makes our lives a lot easier.
“It took half the time to get roots established. When you put sod down, you’ll do a pull test to see if the roots are taking. We were mowing sodded areas very close to the end height of cut within a week-to-10 days, and starting to cut the water back substantially. From a playability standpoint, and from a labor standpoint, it just really helps on the golf course if the grass comes in healthy and ready to go.”
Award-Winning Renovation
Golf Digest named The Lookout Mountain as the 2023 Renovation of the Year.
“One of the true joys of what we do for a living is providing a facility that people love. And, you know, we had groups from all over the country and some from out of the country that have come in and enjoyed our members’ club. Being able to win Golf Digest Renovation of the Year for 2023 gave our membership a lot of pride and made them feel that much better about tackling this project,” Guilloz says.
“From a superintendent’s standpoint, there’s nothing better than seeing happy customers, people enjoying the property. There’s a lot of imagination and history behind our property. People are really just like little kids on a playground. They get out there, and they get to put their hands on what things were like a hundred years ago.”
