Jamestown Park Golf Course has reopened following a greens renovation project led by golf course architect Lester George.

Work began at the municipal course in Jamestown, North Carolina, in May of this year. The project scope included the redesign, reconstruction and regrassing of 19 green complexes at the club.

Previously, many of the greens featured severe slopes and offered a limited number of hole placement options. A survey carried out by the club found that the sloping on the greens was the chief player complaint about the course.

The recent work has seen significant alterations to the sloping of the greens. This is with the aim of improving player enjoyment, and enabling a wider variety of hole placements.

Improvements to drainage and irrigation have also been made, with the aim of enabling easier turf management.

“Our focus at Jamestown Park was threefold: improving putting green functionality, maintenance sustainability, and playability,” said George. “We updated the original push-up native soil greens with Tif-Eagle Bermuda Grass, creating a better, more sustainable green. Upgrading the greens to modern standards on a very small budget underscores the fact that renovation is often a realistic possibility even when alterations might seem out of reach.”

Green surrounds were also regrassed as part of the work, as well as roughs and selected areas of the fairways.

“The thing I hear the most from players is that they love the new design of the greens,” said John Crowe, golf course superintendent at Jamestown Park. “They love the surface and the ball roll, but their favourite part is the new strategy Lester provided. Players are saying Jamestown Park plays like a different golf course. I’ve always been skeptical when people say renovation will bring in more play and increase revenue, but we have been packed.”