Construction work is progressing on a new nine-hole short course at the Golf Acadamie 57 facility in Longevilleslès-Metz, France, using synthetic turf for tees, greens and bunkers.

Diamond Golf Architects has created a layout of par threes and fours for the course, which is now being built by Greenshaping and Southwest Greens Construction.

“Constructing tees, greens and bunkers with synthetic turf has a big impact on the maintenance budget that will be needed to maintain the course to a high level,” said Christophe Estermann, director of Academie 57. “We have tested Southwest Greens’ product intensively for two years and it has taught us it will stand the test of time. More importantly, we just need to maintain our natural fairways and rough which means a lot less machinery and greenkeeping staff involved.”

Alexandre Groysiller, managing director of Greenshaping, a partner for Southwest Greens in France, said: “We use classic construction methods and there are no compromises needed to make the synthetic systems work with the design. We simply execute Diamond Golf’s design and install the Southwest Greens solutions to mimic a natural course with the benefits of utilising synthetic turf solutions.”

Kevin Holinaty, president of Southwest Greens Construction, said: “The fact that our products come with five years performance warranty and a full maintenance manual tells you our industry has developed to a serious alternative for golf course owners and is a safe bet to invest in. Many have and will continue to take a ‘seeing is believing approach’ as to whether our product can achieve these objectives. We are glad to take on the challenge and it motivates us to improve our portfolio.”

This article is based on a piece that first appeared in the October 2021 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.