Practice Area Tees - How Big?
One area of particular focus at many clubs and golf courses today is the practice area. Many clubs that have practice facilities are expanding or enhancing them, and those that don't are considering ways to establish practice facilities.
At many clubs, practice areas have become increasingly busy and a resulting challenge has been the wear and tear on range tee turf areas. Nobody wants to hit off mats, especially in-season and at many clubs it often seems as though by mid-season the range tee area is pretty much "used up" as a result of inefficient use patterns, more people practicing and limited turf areas. Since many clubs focus on the maintenance of the golf course itself, it occurred to me that maybe the practice tee wasn't getting its due attention.
In order to determine how much tee area is required, there is some necessary information:- How many balls are hit in an average season?
- How much turf is disturbed by a typical shot (divot)?
- How long does it take for seeded/filled divots to regerminate and be ready for play?
- What is the cost of seed?
- If sodded, how long after placement before the sod is ready for use?
- What is the cost of sod?
Assuming the balls are owned and dispensed by the club, counting the number of balls hit should be able to be done, either from a machine or simply tracking how many buckets are emptied and filled. Most clubs encourage (and most dedicated "range rats") promote using turf efficiently by placing each ball on theback edge of the preceding divot. According to Philadelphia Cricket Club Director of Grounds and 2012 National Superintendent of the Year, Dan Meersman, the typical divot is 5" X 2½". With the typical divot of 12½ square inches, that means that for every thousand balls 86.81 SF (144 sq. inches = 1 SF) of turf would be impacted. If the course did 25,000 rounds and each player warmed up with 40 balls that would be 1 million balls. For each 1 million balls, 86,805 SF (approximately 1.99 acres) of turf would be disturbed. According to Meersman, quality turf can be regenerated twice per season. Given spacing necessary for safety, placement of golf clubs, club washers and other elements at a nice practice facility, 2 cycles would require about 1 acre of turf at a minimum. That's about the equivalent of a 100 yard by 50 yard tee area. As a guide, many modern courses have 4-5 acres of tee area on the golf course itself. Busier clubs might (and do) use many more balls (up to 4 million) and require proportionately more tee area.
If your club has enough tee space, carry on. If not, one way to make up for it is to re-sod the tee area during the season at a cost of roughly $.70 per SF ($30,000 per acre for bentgrass) which would be ready for play in a few weeks, or to use mats, which are often undesirable to members. In any event, the above numbers can be a rough guide in planning the use and possible expansion of a practice facility. Understanding how much tee space is needed and having enough is critical to the enhancement of a quality practice facility.
Practice areas that are well conceived and properly implemented can enhance play and revenue at daily fee courses and membership development at private clubs. In addition, for those clubs that host outside functions, when the course is occupied, a quality practice area provides a positive alternative for the membership and can enhance revenues at all facilities.
