Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Billy Hull, 18-year veteran golf course maintenance worker, works daily to keep fallen leaves out of play at the city of Chattanooga’s Brainerd Golf Course.Golfers love leaves on the trees of summer. Leaves provide shade from the heat, wind direction information for proper trajectory of the next golf shot, and they are key to the visual beauty of a golf course.
When fall arrives, leaves on the ground present a problem for players of the game. The dimpled spheres tend to roll underneath the new ground cover of autumn.
That is when the grounds crew of Brainerd Golf Course comes to the rescue.
Leaf management is a two- to three-month job for golf course maintenance crews at the Donald Ross-designed course. The public facility is owned by the city of Chattanooga and is on the west side of the Brainerd levee.
The course is renowned as one of Chattanooga’s oldest. Many of the trees are, as well.