Course of the Week: Southern Trace Country Club completes $4.2M renovation

Photo: Troon Privé

Southern Trace Country Club in Shreveport, La., recently completed a two-year, $4.2 million course renovation and enhancement project.

The project included irrigation and drainage system upgrades, green complex enhancements and the addition of a new short-game practice area.

“With the golf course renovation, we essentially have a brand new golf course with a new irrigation system and new greens,” Alexander Mijalis, vice president of the Southern Trace Country Club Board of Directors, said. “We have modernized the architectural features by a renowned golf course architect. It’s an exciting time for the membership of Southern Trace Country Club.”

Golf course designer and Southern Trace member Jim Lipe oversaw the project with Wadsworth Construction, Black Creek Construction and Winterberry Construction executing the work.

The renovation project included rebuilding and resurfacing all 18 greens with Mach 1 bermudagrass, adding and eliminating tee boxes, reshaping fairways and installing a new state-of-the-art irrigation system.

The renovation also included repairing and rerouting cart paths and reinforcing retaining walls. The construction team added a bridge on holes five and 15 to accommodate walking and cart traffic. In addition, the Southern Trace Country Club agronomy team completed large drainage projects and cut tree canopies on several holes to increase playability and enhance the ability to grow healthy turf.

“I’m very pleased with what we’ve accomplished here,” said Lipe. “As a longtime Southern Trace member, I was able to identify areas on the golf course that needed to be changed or updated and address those during this renovation. We have a wonderful superintendent, Graham Kornmeyer, who brought a lot of expertise and experience to this project.”

Lipe designed the club’s new short game practice area that includes four acres of turf, two greens with a combined 13,000 square feet and four sand traps.