Stats for the State of Georgia Certified Signature Sanctuaries: 2 Featured Signature Courses: Cateechee Golf Club Summer Grove Golf Club

Cateechee Golf Club
Located on 473 acres and blending into the natural surroundings of a predominately mixed hardwood forest is an 18-hole golf course in the rolling hills of the northeast Piedmont Plateau, south of Hartwell, Georgia.  Designed as an effluent land application system for the city of Hartwell, Cateechee’s greens, tees, and fairways make up less than 25% of the project acreage.  The golf course handles more than 639 million gallons of treated wastewater annually as irrigation water through 1,600 sprinkler heads on 270 acres.  Because of this system, the city of Hartwell abandoned its practice of discharging effluent water into a local stream.  Cateechee was built with an innovative drainage system that removes water quickly from the course and uses natural plants as filters and buffers to protect nearby water sources.  “Cateechee” is a Cherokee word for “deer’s head.”  To learn more about the Cateechee legend click on www.cateechee.com.  Cateechee Golf Club was the first Certified Audubon Signature Sanctuary in Georgia.

SummerGrove Golf Club
SummerGrove Golf Club is an 18-hole public golf course set as the centerpiece of a planned residential community, located in Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia.  The project, just south of Atlanta, spans over 250 acres and splits into 2 loops of nine holes that wind through the community and wildlife areas.  Architects Joe Jemsek and Jeff Burton designed the course in concert with the lowland hardwood forest and pine uplands of the Southeastern Plains natural region.  The dominant ecological community is the Oak-Hickory-Pine-Forest, featuring sweet gum, red maple, tulip poplar, chestnut oak, hickories, short-leaf pine, loblolly pine, northern white oak, and post oak.  Ten naturalized acres consist of wildflower blends, native grasses (such as lovegrass and broomsedge), and tall and fine fescues.  Water features include thirty-five acres of undisturbed wetlands, three streams, including White Oak Creek, which bisects the property from North to South, with 8,000 linear feet of shoreline.  The site also includes lowland hardwood forest and pine uplands.  Learn more about this Certified Silver Signature Sanctuary by going to its webpage at www.summergrove.com