Ridges and Reefs

Hole #12 at Giants Ridge Golf Club in Bibawik, MN-- scheduled to open this spring-- features a pesticide collection basin required by environmental conditions on the site. Photo by Mike Klemme, provided courtesy of Golfscapes

The American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA), publishers of the acclaimed "Environmental Principles for Golf Courses," (pictured) stress the role of the environment in course development in the coming year, especially as new national wetlands legislation takes effect. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers have released legislation and permitting requirements that make it significantly tougher for developers to build over wetlands.

Jeffrey D. Brauer, ASLA, a member of ASGCA and principal of Golfscapes, continues to work right in the hub of golf course development. A Registered Landscape Architect in several states who works solely in golf course design, Brauer recently tackled the ridges and reefs of responsible resort design through wildlife corridors, wetlands, and water resource protection for his environmentally-sensitive design of Giant's Ridge Golf Course in Bibawik, MN. In an interview with LASN, Brauer commented on the transition from the "purely visual design of the 1980's" where high mounding techniques have become difficult to maintain without a great deal of pesticides-- to the current trend toward more natural golf course design. (See LASN April 1996, "Nature Links.") Golf course landscape architects are "paying more attention to the nuts and bolts of the course, turf wear from the golf cart paths, shady and wet conditions, traffic and circulation."