Cherokee Plantation Golf Course, Yemassee, S.C., recently proposed plans to build a new 13th hole at the Donald Steel-designed tract, directly over wetlands that drain into a tributary of the Combahee River, reports the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier.
The private club is seeking permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to fill 5.39 acres of wetlands, an area slightly smaller than Marion Square in downtown Charleston, on land that now separates the two holes. The acreage is farmed wetlands that grow corn, said General Manager Robert Drouin.
As a trade-off, club members plan to preserve a portion of Sweetleaf Swamp, a 595-acre property in Jasper County.
Still, the proposed project raised eyebrows among local conservation groups that questioned the necessity of it.
In its permit application, Cherokee explained that most golf courses have a tee-to-green between holes of less than 75 yards, putting players on the next hole in less than three minutes. At Cherokee, the commute between holes 13 and 14 is so long that it has an “adverse effect on play performance because of muscle cooling and extended breaks in mental concentrations,” according to the permit application.
Filling in the wetlands and moving the holes closer, according to the club, also would promote “green living” because the course would become more walkable.
Drouin told the paper he didn’t know the proposed cost of rebuilding the 13th hole, though the mitigation credits alone would cost about $150,000.
Army Corps of Engineers has not decided whether it will approve the project.
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