January 27, 2016 – The new year brings many exciting changes to Prestonwood Country Club; changes that display Prestonwood’s commitment to continuous improvement of the golf courses and the highest standards.
Firstly, a new plan has been approved to convert the greens of the Highlands course to Champions Dwarf Bermudagrass during the 2016 season. After consulting with USGA Advisors, PGA TOUR Agronomists and other industry experts, ownership and senior management at decided that this variety of bermudagrass would be a great fit and will provide many benefits to the golfing membership. Champions Dwarf Bermudagrass has a reputation of being the finest warm season turf for greens, which provides a longer window of quality playing surfaces throughout the year. This project will improve the playing condition and consistency of the greens to compare with the best greens in the world.
Below is a tentative schedule of the 2016 conversion process.
June 12: Close Highlands Course at 2 pm
June 13: Highlands Course Closed
June 14 – 19: Open Highlands Course for Father’s Day Weekend
June 20: Close Highlands Course for 10 weeks
September 3: Re-Open Highlands Course
October 10 – 16: Highlands Course hosts 2016 SAS Championship
Prestonwood Country Club is also excited to announce the appointment of Lee Hancock as the new Director of Golf Course Maintenance. Lee joins Prestonwood with over 18 years of experience in the Golf Course Agronomy industry and an impressive background at many prestigious courses in the Southeast, including East Lake Golf Club, The Atlanta Athletic Club, Reynolds Plantation, and The Greenbrier Sporting Club.
In his most recent role, Lee served as the Golf Course Superintendent at The Greenbrier Sporting Club from 2002-2013. In this critical position he worked with Fazio Design to oversee construction of The Snead Course and continued overseeing maintenance operations after the course was completed. In 2013, he was promoted to Director of Golf and Agronomy, where he was responsible for overseeing both the maintenance effort and the operations team.
Lee comes highly regarded by Cal Roth, Senior Vice President of Agronomy for the PGA TOUR, whose primary role is to oversee course preparation for all TOUR events. He also worked under the mentorship of Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Member Ken Mangum, one of the most respected golf course superintendents in the industry, at The Atlanta Athletic Club.
Prestonwood is excited for Lee to lead the efforts of converting the greens on the Highlands Course from bentgrass to Champions Dwarf Bermudagrass this summer.
