Heathland golf experience on this side of the pond?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Jeff:

I've played the Gailes a few times. I'm pretty sure it's an imitation links. Not a heath.

It was super fun when we played a few years ago. The ball was bouncing, the greens were slick, and there's some very interesting contour throughout the course.

The Gailes surprised me. I'd play there again.

[Tom_Doak]

JC:  It's been about five years since I got back to The Legends.  The course was looking a little overgrown the last time I saw it; the myrtle bushes we planted as "imitation gorse" looked great for a while, but they're getting tall now.

I have always been proud of that course.  It handles 60,000 rounds successfully, and there are a lot of cool features.  I shied away from talking much about it from the beginning, because we moved 400,000 cubic yards of earth to build it, and I didn't want people to think that was my normal practice.

I think it's underrated in Myrtle Beach, but I understand that the client has three courses, and doesn't want one of them to grab more ink and reduce play on the other two.

[Dan_Callahan]

From: http://www.okemo.com/okemosummer/okemogolf/index.asp

"The Okemo Valley Golf Course is Vermont's first Heathland-style course and is unlike any other resort course in New England. It's truly golf in its purest form."

[Norbert P]

Calluna vulgaris                    Ericaceae

Scotch Heather                ka-LU-na vul-GA-ris

Evergreen ground cover, 4-24 inches (10-60 cm) high, spread of 2+ ft (60 cm), upright branching, dense, leafy ascending branches forming thick mats.  Leaves scale-like, 1-3 mm long, 4-ranked giving a squarish shape to the shoot.  Flowers rosy to purplish pink, urn-shaped, 6 mm long.  The flowers of Calluna are distinguished from those of Erica (heath) by possessing a colored calyx longer than the corolla, which persists after flowering.
 
Sun.  Prefers acid, sandy, organic, moist, and very well-drained soil.

Little or no fertilizer required.  Drought resistant when established.

Prune back after flowering in spring.  Good for seashore locations.
Hardy to USDA Zone 4        Native to Europe and Asia Minor.
Known as the ling of moor and mountains.  The term heather is sometimes only applied to the genus Calluna, of which there is only one species,

C. vulgaris.  

It has been cultured for centuries and there are reportedly over 700 cultivars, possibly 1,000.  The three genera commonly called heath and heathers are . . .

Calluna, Erica, and Daboecia.
 
calluna: from the Latin, to cleanse; it was used to make brooms;    

vulgaris: common.



  An interesting question to me is... what plant would replace this plant with similar toughness, texture and golfability for an appropriate climate?

  Would coprosma work well as a replacement in Australia or Southwestern America?

Would prostrate junipers (blue rug, etc.) work in the desert?