Can Tobacco Road’s New Synthetic Turf Par 3 Course Start A Movement?

The Matchbox, the caller short people astatine Tobacco Road, has each synthetic writer playing surfaces.

Tobacco Road | Ryan Barnett

A caller short people – The Matchbox -- is debuting Aug. 1 astatine Tobacco Road successful North Carolina’s Sandhills and it mightiness conscionable beryllium a trend-setter successful the play world. Or astatine slightest an exemplar.

Tobacco Road is the latest play destination spot to clasp the Par 3 people movement, pinch its 12-hole summation coming 28 years aft Mike Strantz created the original – and often polarizing – 18-hole layout. Like its older sibling, The Matchbox is extracurricular the box… and occasionally nether the character canopy.

That’s because The Matchbox was constructed utilizing synthetic turf that’s blended into the earthy landscape, for teeing areas and greenish complexes. The people was built successful conscionable six months – pinch nary irrigation aliases wide clear-cutting of trees. With the synthetic turf, there’s nary interest astir the shadiness from the existing character canopy and playing conditions will beryllium consistent.

While different U.S. accommodation person incorporated artificial writer – from nine-hole courses successful Alaska to short courses astatine nationalist layouts specified arsenic Grand Patrician (W.V.), Skamania Lodge (Wash.) and Shortland (Ore.) – Tobacco Road is the first spot pinch nationalist renown to adopt synthetic turf surfaces throughout.

“It could beryllium a inclination setter for different courses and we induce anyone willing to travel spot it for themselves,” said Tobacco Road proprietor Mark Stewart, whose family opened Tobacco Road successful 1998. “Our footprint is 7 1/2 acres including the 2-acre pond, truthful possibly it’s a bully measurement for an existing spot to utilize a area of their spot that is presently vacant.”

Water conservation and sustainability are topics of liking and scrutiny successful the play manufacture and that played into the decision-making process for Stewart, who noted really difficult it would person been trying to found and support caller turf this twelvemonth pinch parts of North Carolina experiencing drought conditions.

“We judge that there’s a spot for synthetic astatine greenish writer accommodation too believe scope tee areas,” said Stewart. “At the very slightest having a synthetic greenish for believe areas would springiness a installation options during the regular attraction closures.”

Synthetic greens themselves are getting much celebrated and commonplace, whether they’re of the backyard assortment aliases indoor venues (from TGL and commercialized simulator locations pinch short crippled believe areas to much accepted facilities).

105-Yard Max

Winding done the trees adjacent the 12th and 13th fairways of Tobacco Road’s 18-hole layout, The Matchbox features holes that scope from 40 to 105 yards. The people was created by Carlton/Marshall Golf Design and Mark White, the second of whom was 1 of the original shapers astatine Tobacco Road and learned his trade nether Strantz.

The 3rd spread features an 80-yard unsighted tee changeable from 1 of the tee boxes, while the seventh spread has a 60-yard changeable complete a cove, and the ninth plays done 2 ample mounds that were inspired by the famed opening spread astatine Tobacco Road.

“The wide conception is to support it nosy pinch bold features and heroic changeable values but besides supply a short-game situation for those who really want to trial their wedge game,” said Marshall.

As for the playing conditions themselves, Stewart said he’s happy pinch the capacity of the synthetic turf and highlighted that the process was facilitated by the USGA’s GS3 ball that’s engineered to supply superindendents and different people officials pinch insights connected playing surfaces arsenic good arsenic actionable data.

“We person measured the firmness, smoothness, trueness and speed, and person recovered them each to beryllium wrong acceptable parameters for earthy writer turf,” said Stewart.

The consequence is 1 of the astir unconventional short courses successful the game. And conscionable possibly it’s 1 that starts a movement.