Golf Notes: Honors switching to Bermuda greens

Honors switching to Bermuda greens

The Honors Course will close for about seven weeks this summer when it replaces its bentgrass greens with Champion's Bermuda.

Head professional Henrik Simonsen said the club made the decision to switch -- following the lead of other area courses, including The Farm and Council Fire -- so as to attract more high-profile competitions that are played during hot summer months when bentgrass needs to be longer and slower to stay alive.

"One of Mr. [Honors creator Jack] Lupton's main goals was to attract major amateur championships, and we can't host them in July, August and sometimes September with bentgrass greens," Simonsen said. "We won't have those issues with Bermuda.

"What's lined up is the Southern Am in 2014. And for '15, we're in negotiations with another major championship, and we're talking with the USGA about a championship in '16 and or '17.

"It makes a lot of sense."

Area aces

Jerry Harrel sank a hole-in-one Sunday at Council Fire. He aced No. 7 from 136 yards with a 9-iron while playing with Andy Smith, Matt Brown and Jim Jackson.

Cleveland invitations

The Chattanooga TPC series will begin the 2013 season with the Cleveland Invitational on May 4-5 at Cleveland Country Club.

The tournament swapped positions on the calendar with the Brainerd Invitational because the bentgrass greens at Cleveland are better early in the year and the new Bermuda greens at Brainerd will be better when that tournament is played Aug. 17-18.

Applications are available at the club and online at www.IfYouLikeGolf.com. Entries, at the cost of $135, will be accepted until May 1 or until a field of 144 players is reached.

Lookouts' golf night

Steven Fox played in the Masters. His next athletic challenge will be throwing out the first pitch along with his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga teammates Thursday before the Lookouts' game.

The Tennessee Golf Foundation and the Lookouts have teamed up for a "Golf Night" featuring the UTC golfers and area professionals who will be present to provide swing tips and even hit chip shots from the home-plate area into the outfield.

Demo Day this week

The 13th annual Super Demo Day will be held Saturday at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, starting at 10 a.m.

Golf Headquarters associate manager Josh Williams said representatives of at least 12 golf club companies will be on site and all products except Ping and Titleist will have 10 percent discounts at the course and in their store.

"This is one of the biggest demo events that Chattanooga will have. Granted, most courses have their own," Williams said. "This is the Big 12 in the golf industry. Everything that folks saw in the Masters is available for folks to try side by side."

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