Published: February 10, 2010 11:23 pm      

The Farm a wildlife haven

Club honored by Audubon

The Farm Golf Club’s sterling reputation as a wildlife haven is secure.

The 18-hole private golf course in Rocky Face, site of the prestigious Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic each fall and host to various state and national amateur tournaments over the years, has retained its designation as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.

The Farm first attained the designation in 1998 and is one of 795 courses in the world to receive the honor.

Trey Cutshall, course superintendent at The Farm, led the effort to maintain its sanctuary status.

“It’s obviously a source of pride for our membership,” Cutshall said Wednesday shortly before leaving for a Golf Course Superintendent Association conference in San Diego.

“It’s hard to give a certain percentage we devote to Audubon, but it’s always in the back of our mind.”

The Audubon’s sanctuary program, en-dorsed by the United States Golf Association, provides course superintendents information and guidance to preserve and enhance wildlife habitat, and protect natural resources, according to a release from Audubon International.

“We frequently see deer, wild turkeys, squirrels and many different species of birds,” said Cutshall, a Mississippi State University graduate who came to The Farm in 2007. “We have great blue herons, large hawks and owls and in the past year had red foxes on the property. It’s neat to see the different varieties of animals around the course.”

Cutshall said there are two large corn feeders on the property to keep the deer and turkeys fed and smaller feeders “all over the property” for the birds.

“The Farm Golf Club has shown a strong commitment to its environmental program. They are to be commended for their efforts to provide a sanctuary for wildlife on the golf course property,” said Jim Sluiter, staff ecologist for the Audubon Cooperative Sanc-tuary Programs, in the release.

Other factors in the Audubon program include water conservation, the reduction of fertilizer used on the course and plant health issues, Cutshall said.

Deck Cheatham, golf director at The Farm, which opened in 1988, said course superintendent Tim Kennelly originated the Audubon program around 1996.

“This is a program that superintendents pursue,” Cheatham said. “Tim pursued and established it and it has been maintained over the years. It’s really an opportunity for us to be a steward of the environment. What we’re doing benefits everyone. It’s reasonable stewardship.”

The 35-year-old Cutshall has been associated with the golf industry since 1993 when he was just out of high school working on Shallow Falls Golf Course in Pickwick, Tenn., while it was still under construction. He worked at The Honors course in Ooltewah, Tenn., and then at the Stones River Country Club in Murfreesboro, Tenn., before joining the staff at The Farm.

The entire course management team, Cutshall said, takes pride in maintaining its devotion to the Audubon program.

“Retaining our status is just recognition and encouragement for doing things the right way,” he said. “The program was in place when I got to The Farm and I’m just continuing that work.”

Cutshall will be late arriving at the superintendent’s convention in San Diego, but with good reason.

“It started Monday but I’ve been tied up with a drainage project we’re doing here,” he said. “We’re in-stalling a massive drainage system to alleviate some saturated areas on the course. We started the project in January and it will run through June.”

This year’s Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic will be held on Sept. 10-12 with Clemson, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas Tech, East Tennessee State and Tennessee-Chattanooga making up the 12-team field.