Lonnie Poole Golf Course at NC State University, Raleigh North Carolina

TIM PEELER: Course Gets Audubon Status; Palmer to Visit

Courtesy: NC State
Release: 11/21/2007

BY TIM PEELER

RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State’s nationally top-ranked turfgrass program is taking a few extra steps to make sure that the Lonnie Poole Golf Course, under construction on Centennial Campus, will be environmentally friendly when the Arnold Palmer-designed course is open for public play.

In cooperation with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Crop Science Department, the Center for Turfgrass Environmental Research and Education (CENTERE) has agreed to provide the resources to help the course earn Audubon Silver status, a designation from Audubon International that the course operates in an environmentally friendly manner.

“We do a lot of environmental studies on the effects of turfgrass at NC State,” said CENTERE program co-director Fred Yelverton. “We are always talking about being aware of the environment impact of what we do. We consider ourselves and others consider us a leader in that area. We have done lots of research that shows that when golf courses are correctly maintained, there is a very good environmental story to tell.

“Since we are leaders in that area, we thought we would be setting a good example by doing all we could to make this an Audubon-signature course.”

There are only four other Audubon-signature courses among the nearly 650 existing public, private and resort courses in North Carolina and fewer than 150 nationally. The others in the state are Pinehurst Country Club (Course No. 8), Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, Hasentree Golf Club in Wake Forest and The Palisades Club in Charlotte.

Over the last five months, more than half of the holes at the Lonnie Poole course have been fully graded and designed by Shapemasters, Inc., a Southport, N.C.,-based golf construction company. Construction is on schedule, and the course will be opened for the NC State men’s and women’s varsity golf teams next fall and to the public in the spring of 2009.

Earning the Audubon designation will be in keeping with Chancellor James L. Oblinger’s mission of making NC State a “green,” environmentally friendly setting.

“It is absolutely imperative that we are the forefront in this regard,” said Dr. Tom Rufty, an NC State plant physiologist and a CENTERE co-director. “We hear from our chancellor and upper administration all the time that we want to be an environmentally conscious university. That is what the Audubon-signature program is all about.”

In addition to overseeing student surveying projects and faculty involvement that will allow the course to meet Audubon guidelines during construction and operation of the course, the Department of Crop Sciences and CENTERE will split the cost of the $12,500 Audubon-signature application fee. In all, the amount of donated services and cash for this part of the course’s construction approaches $100,000.

“We thought it was important for this to happen,” Yelverton said.

Construction began in late June on the course, located on more than 200 acres in the southeast corner of Centennial Campus. Palmer was on hand July 9 to take one of the official first shots on the pristine tract of land. Both Poole and PGA Tour professional Carl Pettersson, a former NC State All-America golfer, also hit drives deep into the woods over-looking downtown Raleigh.

Fundraising for the $11.4 million project is on-going through University Development. However, naming rights for all 18 holes have been secured and pledges and in-kind donations have topped more than $6 million.

“The momentum surrounding the Lonnie Poole Golf Course is at an all-time high,” said Becky Bumgardner, the Director of University Development, which is overseeing the construction and fundraising for the course. “We are still in a true fundraising mode.

“While many individuals saw the value in naming something on the course after the groundbreaking, several significant naming opportunities still remain. We hope that the construction of the course will continue to spur people to give gifts to help build NC State’s golf course, clubhouse and research and training center.”

Palmer, who took the first shot off a temporary tee overlooking downtown Raleigh in July, will return to inspect the course on Dec. 7, along with NC State graduates Brandon Johnson and Erik Larsen, two executives at Arnold Palmer Design Co. For $2,500, a total of 10 patrons can tour the site with Palmer and eavesdrop on his suggestions for fine-tuning the course design.

Palmer will also meet with a limited number of guests in an “Afternoon with Arnie,” an intimate lunch and silent auction at Amra’s Restaurant in downtown Raleigh. Tickets are $300 each and are limited to the first 200 sold. For more information, contact University Development at (919) 513-4412.

You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.

For additional information about current news at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course please email news@lonniepoolegolfcourse.com