Lyman Orchards Golf Club to Break Ground on New Golf Center

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Middlefield, Conn. - Lyman Orchards Golf Club - managed by Billy Casper Golf and home to two celebrated 18-hole golf courses - plans to break ground in April  on The Golf Center at Lyman Orchards adjacent to the Apple Barrel market.

Crafted by the Lyman family, BCG and Mark Mungeam of Mungeam Cornish Golf Design, the project calls for the addition of a comprehensive learning center with nine-hole executive course, the only new golf-course construction slated for 2011 in Connecticut. The par-29 course will measure 1,600 yards with bentgrass greens and built to USGA specifications. Holes will range between 115 and 315 yards in length.

Also planned is a 40-stall combination grass and artificial turf driving range with target greens and sand traps, short-game practice area and 2,000-square-foot clubhouse. The Golf Center at Lyman Orchards is scheduled to open in late spring 2012.

"The Golf Center reinforces the Lyman family's forward-thinking commitment to promote the game of golf and attract a new and broader demographic," says Steve Ciskowski, President and CEO of Lyman Farms, Inc. "This cross-over facility will complement our two existing courses and represents a bold advance, distancing Lyman Orchards from the current landscape."

Lyman Orchards Golf Club is also dedicated to eco-friendliness.  It has been designated a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary" by Audubon International for its high standards protecting the environment and preserving the natural heritage of golf. Following Audubon-approved steps protects the wildlife habitat while reducing the use of energy, water, pesticides and fertilizer.

The par-72, 7,011-yard Robert Trent Jones, Sr. course opened in 1969 - and underwent a major renovation in 2009. It features rolling hills on the front nine and varying doglegs on the back. Meandering through acres of woodlands, wetlands and grasslands, "The Jones Course" offers four sets of tees on each hole and its more than 50 bunkers provide unique challenges to golfers of all abilities.  On the back nine, water comes into play on seven holes, and undulating greens rankle nerves of novices and scratch players alike.

In 1994, PGA Hall of Fame golfer and course designer Gary Player opened Lyman Orchards' second course, a par-71, 6,725-yard gem.  "The Player Course" is sprinkled with deciduous trees and classic white pines.  The routing takes players through apple orchards and features ample elevation changes throughout.  On holes No. 11 and 13 especially, golfers are treated to 360-degree views of southern Connecticut's picturesque landscape.

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