The Horseshoe

Description

We took our basic driving range and turned into a fully functional practice park including a 9hole short course “The Horseshoe” and added two 3000sq ft chipping, pitching and bunker practice areas to our short game practice offering. In order to make the Horseshoe as realistic as possible we used the same Tif Eagle Bermuda on the greens as we use on the golf course and included holes ranging from 65 to 125 yards. There are also seven bunkers carefully placed on the course to provide a more challenging experience and ample practice opportunities for golfers of all abilities.

During the renovation we were able to also enlarge our south teeing ground as well as level and enlarge our north tee which provides the members with a better driving range experience year around. Another benefit of the short course is the ability to test different ideas and strategies regarding course maintenance, type of bunker sand, mowing patterns, fertilizer and more which allows us to provide a better golfing experience on our 18 hole championship course. This project took land that previously was just a place to collect golf balls to one that we can use to enhance the experience for all of our golf members.

Implementation

We opened the Horseshoe on Thanksgiving and have had nothing but great member feedback. Many members have commented on the flexibility the course gives in terms of the challenge it offers because we have two pin locations and hole sizes per green. This allows those who want to have fun with the kids and beginning golfers to enjoy the course while also providing a challenging 9 holes for the more serious golfer.

We have seen such great success on the new course that we have added a tee sheet on ForeTees with tee times every 7 minutes. Currently, we are opening the Horseshoe on Sunday afternoons and are seeing 40+ players each week. We have also hosted glow golf events using the short course and have seen an increase in participation in our junior golf program since it opened.

Some of the member comments we heard on Thanksgiving Day:
“we didn’t realize it was authentic with the greens having the surface as the on-course greens.”
“We didn’t think you would have to hit quality shots and some hole locations are quite challenging”
“We had a bunch of fun with the kids and it didn’t take long at all”