Overton Golf Course closes Monday for reconstruction
Golf course designer Rob Collins shows how he will redesign the area around the 8th green during a recent tour of Overton Park golf course. (Tom Bailey/Daily Memphian file)
The last chance to play Overton Park golf course will be Sunday, Jan. 17, after which the nine-hole course will close for redesign, city and Overton Park Conservancy officials announced on Friday.
Construction starts Monday, Jan. 18, and will continue until March or April. But the course will remain closed until fall so the new grasses can grow.
Last-chance play is expected to be so heavy Saturday and Sunday that park officials ask that golfers call the clubhouse at (901) 725-9905 to request a tee time.
The King-Collins Golf Course Design team will start placing erosion control materials around the perimeter of the course as early as Saturday.
According to a release from the conservancy and city, the project will begin with some work on the edges of the course. That’s where vegetation has encroached five to 10 feet past the boundary of the Old Forest State Natural Area and into the golf course, officials said.
The new plan for Overton Park Golf Course is displayed on a site plan by King-Collins Golf Design. (Credit: King-Collins)
“Working under the supervision of Overton Park Conservancy staff, contractors will remove this growth in some sections of the edge with a forestry machine, which is a lighter-impact machine than an earth-moving bulldozer,” the release states. “Other areas will be worked by hand to remove invasive shrubs and vines while leaving valuable native plants intact.”
Some trees will be removed on the golf course, too, officials said, “such as the small crape myrtles on the fairway between holes No. 3 and No. 4.
“Specimen trees, such as the large magnolias in this area and the oaks near the green on hole No. 1, will be left intact,” the release states.
“Although golf course designs normally prioritize as much sunny, open space as possible, the architects from King-Collins recognized this course’s unique site, adjacent to the habitat-rich Old Forest State Natural Area, and are highlighting this uniqueness in their design approach,” the release states.
The conservancy will explore other areas of the park where new trees may be added to compensate for any losses incurred in making the golf course more playable, the release states.
A fundraising drive of private donations from conservancy board members emeritus, park supporters and golf enthusiasts had raised $2 million of a $2.5 million goal as of earlier this month.
Some of the money will be used to renovate the historic Abe Goodman Club House.
The project is a partnership between the City of Memphis Division of Parks and Neighborhoods and Overton Park Conservancy.
Other municipal course remain available during construction of the Overton course. Those courses are: Audubon, Fox Meadows, Galloway, Pine Hill, Riverside and Whitehaven.
For more information on those courses, visit memphispubliclinks.com.
Topics
Overton Park golf course Overton Park Conservancy Overton Park MidtownTom Bailey
Tom Bailey retired in January as a business reporter at The Daily Memphian, and after 40 years in journalism. A Tupelo, Mississippi, native, he graduated from Mississippi State University. He has lived in Midtown for 36 years.
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