The new green under construction, from the left side of the fairway. |
The
Club de Golf Lac St-Joseph, near Quebec City, will soon offer a new green to its members and
visitors. The green of the first hole was recently rebuilt in June by the NMP
Golf Construction team and the grow-in is now under way under the supervision
of the Club’s superintendant, Claude Frenette.
The Club hopes to open the new green before the end of August, if the
conditions allow it.
Before
the renovation, the green of the first hole was a very small target sitting on
top of a severe slope that stopped all the approach shots that came short. The
punchbowl type surface also caused a lot of problems during the winter, when
ice often took over the entire surface of the green, causing nightmares to the maintenance team in the spring.
Another view from the left side of the green. |
The
new green was seeded in bentgrass and the surface area was doubled and reshaped to be
visible from the fairway. The slope at
the front of the green was also softened to allow players to easily climb on
the surface. The green was also enlarged
towards the back right, where a large, existing depression is now more in play. Any approach shot that is too aggressive and
slightly off-target to the right will most likely end up at the bottom of this
slope, a good twelve feet below the green surface.
Golfers
who will play the course until the opening of the new green won’t be let
down. The club still offers 18 holes to
play since it has a 19th hole that can be inserted into the routing
when works are under way on any of the other holes on the course. Golfers now even have the opportunity to play
the existing first hole as a practice hole before their rounds officially begin
of the second hole. That’s a little
bonus only a few clubs can offer!
©Yannick Pilon Golf 2014