"Tiger's Carolina Course Back on Track"

[Thomas Patterson]

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2010-09/golf-tiger-course-construction-0923


LATEST NEWS
Tiger's Carolina Course Back On Track
Construction for Tiger Woods' first American golf course, the Cliffs at High Carolina, is back on schedule


September 23, 2010
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Chalk up one victory for Tiger Woods this year.

Construction on Woods' first American golf course, The Cliffs at High Carolina near Asheville, N.C., is back in full swing after developers agreed to reduce the planned impact the layout would have on area trout streams by almost half the original design.

Woods said in a statement Thursday that new routing makes the course a tad shorter and some of the walks between greens and tees a little longer, but does not take away from his intent to have a walkable, mountain course with breathtaking views.

"High Carolina remains a truly amazing golf course," Woods said. "I'm looking forward to getting back there to check on construction."

The Southern Environmental Law Center, Western North Carolina Alliance and Trout Unlimited had challenged permits issued by North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources. They charged that developers planned too much impact to trout streams without sufficient mitigation.

Attorney DJ Gerken with the Southern Environmental Law Center said The Cliffs quickly got in touch with the environmental groups to see how best to settle the dispute. The new design calls for 1,655 linear feet of impacts compared to 3,132 linear feet in the original design

Gerken said mountain construction involves steep slopes that require significant grading and the underground piping of streams in the way.

"There was a lot of back and forth," Gerken said. "Eventually, The Cliffs came up with a creative solution."

Woods' PGA Tour season ended with the BMW Championships two weeks ago. He is scheduled to play for the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup matches in Wales next month.

Jim Anthony, founder and CEO of The Cliffs Communities, said he was initially disappointed in the challenge because of how hard his company worked with North Carolina state and local agencies to limit environmental impacts. Still, Anthony said they slowed down construction to discuss the issues.

The agreement also calls for increase protection of other area streams. The environmental groups agreed to drop their challenge to the Cliffs' permits.

"We are pleased with the outcome and we applaud The Cliffs for their willingness to work hard to address our concerns," said Julie Mayfield, executive director of the Western North Carolina Alliance. "They were committed to reaching an agreement and made significant changes to the golf course to do so."

The Cliffs has resumed major construction on the course, scheduled to open in the fall of 2012. Course builder Medalist Golf, Inc., has begun clearing, grading and shaping.

Anthony said it was the willingness of Woods' and his design team to work with area residents that made the agreement possible. "Their passion for the project and positive attitude helped create a win-win solution," Anthony said.



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[JC Jones]

I am certainly intrigued enough to make the 2 hour drive up there once this opens.

[Kris Shreiner]

Kudo's to Tiger's team for a collaboration with responsible stewardship groups to reach solutions that benefit all involved. It is these types of cooperative partnerships, where compromise by committee trumps stubborn ego jousting, that are surely the way forward.

Today I , along with Tom Paul, attended a superb, broad-based gathering of golf and related industry folks, hosted by Dr. Mike Fidanza at the Penn State University Berks campus. While its still early days there, some exciting programs being developed at this school and I think we'll be hearing much more from this institution with real positive impacts for the industry. Dr. Mike is very a progressive and visionary thinker. While his expertise is heavily turf oriented, he speaks regularly about the need to share information and educational insights AMONG  the various professional groups.

Too often, our professions have operated in an insular, segmented manner. This is NOT how our environment works, so how on earth can we who are charged with creating, maintaining and cohabitating with every other living thing present... not adopt a similar approach. We MUST interact and communicate to a far greater degree than is occurring now. Yes, things are somewhat better than the past in this department, but we've barely left the porch on the journey of where we need to go.

I encourage all GCA er's to engage and partcipate, in efforts to learn and contribute to improving the game and your little sphere in general. We all have something to give... make a difference!


Cheers, kris

[Wade Whitehead]

Deleted.

Thanks.

WW