The Golf Course at Mountain Lake 
R. H. Linderman, Lake Wales 
Mr. Floyd has requested me, in pre¬ 
paring this paper, to try and give such 
information as would apply to lawns, 
generally, and I have tried to do so, men¬ 
tioning our golf course at Mountain Lake 
only at such times as the methods prac¬ 
tised there, might be of use to private 
lawn owners. 
The first nine holes of our course were 
constructed during the season of 1916, 
with fairly good results. The second 
nine, making a complete eighteen-hole 
course, was built in 1920, with splendid 
results, owing, largely, to good seasonal 
conditions and our previous experiences. 
The entire course was laid out by Mr. 
Seth J. Raynor, a noted golf architect of 
New York City. All that we had to do, 
was the construction work. That is 
enough history I believe, for this paper, 
but a great deal more could be said if a 
true biography of the course were de¬ 
manded. 
In preparing land for grass, the meth¬ 
ods used, and the thoroughness of prep¬ 
aration differs in no way to the preparing 
of ground for potatoes, a citrus grove, 
or any other commercial planting. I be¬ 
lieve that I am correct in saying, that 
the great trouble with the average person 
in planting a lawn, or large acreage, to 
grass, is that he does not take into con¬ 
sideration the very important fact that his 
crop will need caring for, in the way of 
fertilizer, .water, etc., exactly the same as 
his commercial crop. One fertilizes or¬ 
ange trees, gardens, etc., at certain peri¬ 
ods during their development, so why not 
do the same with a lawn and get the most 
from one’s work in like proportion that 
you endeavor to get from the commercial 
crop. 
I believe that it might be interesting to 
know of the methods used at Mountain 
Lake, if only for their criticism, so, with 
your permission, I will outline each step, 
hurriedly, starting with the preparation 
of the ground. This same routine can, 
and is, used to advantage by the man who 
only plants a small area. 
After thoroughly clearing, our ground 
is plowed with a tractor and three-disc 
plow, as deeply as six or seven inches, 
which will get most of that under-ground 
growth, called gopher-root. The roots 
that are thus exposed, are then picked up 
by hand, burned, and the soil thoroughly 
pulverized with the disc and the Acme 
harrow. Whether the land will need the 
second plowing depends on the condition 
after this final harrowing. One plowing 
is usually sufficient in our local sandy 
soil. 
The next step is, to get the Bermuda, 
St. Augustine or other grass roots, that 
we have decided to use for our lawn. We 
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