Reference
Golf course renovation glossary
The vocabulary you hear on Golf Course Rehab, defined in plain English. See the renovation cost guide and the turnaround playbook for the full picture.
- Agronomy
- The science of soil and turfgrass management, including fertility, water, mowing and pest control.
- Bunker liner
- A layer installed under bunker sand to stop contamination from native soil and reduce washouts after storms.
- Documentary production
- Filming a real project as it happens. Golf Course Rehab documents the course's own renovation; it does not perform the construction.
- Golf course superintendent
- The professional responsible for agronomy and maintenance: turf health, irrigation, mowing, staffing and equipment.
- Grow-in
- The period after seeding or sodding when new turf is established and matured to playing quality before golfers return.
- Irrigation system
- The pipes, heads, pumps and controls that water a golf course. Coverage and efficiency directly affect turf quality and water cost.
- Island green
- A green surrounded entirely or almost entirely by water, reached by a narrow path or bridge.
- Location release
- A signed agreement granting a production permission to film on a property. The course signs one, and it spells out filming terms before cameras roll.
- Muni
- Short for municipal golf course: a public course owned by a city, county or parks district, usually priced for the local community.
- Nine-hole course
- A golf course with nine holes rather than eighteen. Faster to play and cheaper to run, nine-hole courses are, central to community golf and a frequent subject of the series.
- Push-up green
- An older style of green built by pushing up native soil. Common on older courses and often slower draining than modern sand-based greens.
- Qualified in-state spend
- Production spending inside a state, such as local crew, vendors and services, that a film incentive program counts toward its credit. Local contractor and vendor records help document it.
- Redan
- A classic hole template, usually a par 3, with a green that angles away from the golfer and slopes from front-right to back-left.
- Renovation
- Changing or modernizing parts of a golf course, such as rebuilding greens, reshaping bunkers or updating irrigation, without necessarily returning to the original design.
- Restoration
- Returning a golf course to its original architect's intent, often by recovering lost green size, original bunker shapes and routing.
- Rounds played
- The number of rounds of golf a course hosts over a period. It is the core health metric for any golf facility.
- Routing
- The order and path of the holes across a property, from the first tee to the final green.
- Short course
- A course of shorter holes, often par 3s, built for quick, beginner-friendly and family golf.
- Signature hole
- The single most memorable hole on a golf course, the one golfers photograph and talk about. When a featured renovation includes one, Golf Course Rehab gives it a dedicated spotlight.
- State film office incentive
- A tax credit, rebate or grant a state offers to film and television productions that shoot and spend locally. It is how Golf Course Rehab finances production at no cost to the golf course.
- Subsurface drainage
- Pipe and gravel systems installed under fairways, greens and bunkers to move water away so the course dries quickly after rain.
- Tee sheet
- The schedule of tee times a golf course sells. A modern online tee sheet is one of the fastest operational wins for a struggling course.
- USGA green
- A putting green built to the United States Golf Association's recommended construction method: a gravel drainage layer under a sand-based root zone, designed for consistent drainage and firmness.