Private Courses

Anyone else out there working on a private course? Would love to share ideas and tips on things that work, haven't worked, challenges and how they were overcome and so on.

[SLO]

hey chuckster,
We are just south of yall in NE Georgia, we got a 18 hole private course could be more holes eventually, but if you ever wanna add us to your tour drop a line. SLODOWN THO'Down.

[Tim Kieffer]

I understand the saving money part. I bought the 9 Mach III baskets over a 4 year period (2 a year, splurged for 3 one year so it didn't take 5 years) to help spread out the costs. It also helped keep my wife from getting upset and stopping the process.

But once you have them, the money spent is pretty much forgotten and the baskets should last longer than you can throw at them.

[donnyv]

Nice courses everyone!

Hope to have mine ready by Easter. Just a 9-holer for now, but it'll be a good mix for us casual players. I plan on buying portable baskets. We'll also be able to bring them to the temporary course we have at the family farm.

I agree that it dosen't happen overnight. It's been three years in the making, working in sections, usually by myself. It will be worth it though.

I'll have to post some pics when we get the baskets.

[jeffrey(pedro)peck]

Hey Chuckster, if there's anything i can do to help with the course send me a E-mail ([e-mail])
i'm a carpenter by trade so building benches, tee signs anything like that is no problem

[ghstinshll]

Excellent idea... I'm looking forward to buying some land in a few years for my next house. Wont build for 15 yrs i bet. Either way, how much land will I need for 9? 18?

[Tim Kieffer]

All depends on what you are trying to build, what the terrain is and where on the property the buildings are located. I've seen 18 hole courses on 5 acres with crossing fairways that are great for one or two groups at a time.

I've got 20 acres and put in 10 fairways that don't cross with very little problem getting it to fit. With two tees on each fairway, we can have 10 groups play a round of 20 holes simultaneously without endangering each other.

With average foliage and terrain, the adage of 'an acre a hole' is about right if you don't want fairways to cross or shots from one fairway flying into another. But if you are only going to have your buddies over once and awhile for a round, you can get away with much less.

[Ben Calhoun]

We have an 18 hole private course, and would probably allow a camper. It's in southern Michigan though, Ann Arbor. Hour north of ohio.

[Nascar Dave]

if it's not too late, my older brother has an eighteen hole course just outside Ft Wayne IN

[johnny betts]

Invest in a chipper. It will be your best friend. No brush piles and it provides free substrate for your wet areas.

[Tim Kieffer]

Looking forward to trying out my chipper soon. Bought a used one last summer and promptly burned up two drive belts trying to chip up green (very green) white pine boughs. All of the sap clogged up the discharge and flywheel. Now that the brush piles have sat about a year, I'm hoping the chipper will tear into them in no time. If not, I may have to look into a different model of some sort.