Tellico Village Golf 2019 Year-in-Review

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2019 proved to be both a very challenging and successful year for our Golf Department. Despite weather extremes, we were able to provide record golf programming options as well as excellent course conditions.

The weather in 2019 can be summarized as wet and hot. Highlights include:

• Six individual months with 5-year high monthly rainfall totals
• 28” more total rainfall than the area’s historical yearly average of 50”
• 24% less days with lows below freezing from the 5-year average
• 27 out of 30 days with highs above 85 degrees in September (10 days above the average)
• 120 days of rain versus an average of only 83 days in the years 2015-2017
• 101 days with highs above 85 degrees (we typically only have 88 days above 85 degreesDespite the crazy weather, golf in Tellico Village not only survived but thrived.There are a lot of things to highlight over the golf season, but the ongoing theme was the virtually unlimited options available for members to enjoy the game. In addition to our busy regular daily play plus all of our popular leagues, we added several new and creative options to play golf:
  • Chips, Putts, Suds and Strings
  • Pints, Putts and Trivia
  • The Palmer Cup
  • Major’s Par 3 Series
  • Wine, Cheese and Par 3s

  These new programs were created to grow the game in a fun manner and were all a rousing success.

  The Member-Guest Red-Tailed Hawk Invitational is the biggest event on the golf calendar each year and the 2019 Men’s Member-Guest Tournament may have been the best yet. We were able to improve the format and make use of all three of our championship golf courses. The championship shootout occurred at Tanasi and served as a climatic conclusion to another outstanding Member-Guest tournament. Adding Tanasi to the tournament not only allowed our members to show off all three courses to their guests but took some stress off the other two courses. This change also allowed for greater access for regular member play during this popular time of the year to play, thus improving the overall golf experience.

  Tellico Village offers a league for every Villager, both male and female. The League options include:

  • Men’s Golf Association (MGA)
  • Rainbow Linksters
  • Ladies Golf Association 18-hole
  • Ladies Golf Association 9-hole
  • Lady Linksters
  • Homeowners Association (HOA)
  • New Villagers
  • Toqua-Tanasi-Kahite Scramblers, etc.

  We have a very busy and active golf community with unrivaled options for our members. Growing the game remains a point of emphasis with ongoing clinics, camps, instruction, and custom club fitting. We have an award-winning team of Golf Professionals including Adam Jacob who won the 2019 Knoxville Chapter PGA Richard Eller Growth of the Game Award for the 3^rd time and Casey Flenniken who was named the 2019 Professional Golfers’ Association Omega Regular and Assistant Player of the Year. We are fortunate to have some of the best in the industry driving golf in Tellico Village.

  The new normal for weather is simply the average of the extremes. In spite of another crazy weather season, the golf course staff provided the best possible playing conditions. The courses were all in excellent condition all year long and set the standard for the region. The golf courses in Tellico Village are in a state of Continuous Improvement and 2019 was another great year. All three courses improved, but some highlights include:

  • Toqua Golf Club – use of dirt from the old clubhouse site to expand and improve some yellow tee areas, plus the new Clubhouse landscaping project.
  • Tanasi Golf Club – ongoing bunker renovation project with Capillary Concrete and serving as the host for the final round of the Member-Guest Tournament.
    • The Links at Kahite – eliminated 17 of the 32 bunkers that will be removed according to the plan laid out by Bergin Golf Design and the new Community Center addition landscaping project.

     

    The golf course and landscape improvement projects were all completed with in-house labor which lead to a superior product and saved the POA tens of thousands of dollars. Tellico Village has a highly educated and world class agronomy staff that also serve as leaders in the industry. Chris Sykes is the Vice President of the Tennessee Turfgrass Association. Wells McClure serves as the Grassroots Ambassador for the Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America where he works directly with Congressman Tim Burchett on governmental issues involving Golf and the Green Industry. Jordan Clark is the Secretary-Treasurer for the East Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Association.

    Needless to say, Tellico Village Golf has a world class staff and is in great hands. The future is very bright!

     

 

Posted on: February 6, 2020, by : caddyshack