Last May, with less than three months to go before its scheduled opening, the Tournament Players Club at Wakefield Plantation near Raleigh, NC – known as TPC Wakefield – hit a snag. The golf course was getting the finishing touches when Course Superintendent Todd Lawrence noticed a growing erosion problem at a stream bend. Increasing upstream development in this rapidly growing area was causing higher stream velocities, which were decimating a section of streambank. The first solution Lawrence considered was to stabilize the bank with riprap. The appearance, however, would have been unattractive and at odds with the rest of the course: Designer Hale Irwin had emphasized natural landscaping to blend in with the surrounding open meadows, hills, and wooded areas. Designed to take advantage of the rolling terrain, the course is adjacent to an 11-ac. natural lake and has seven holes in which existing creeks or streams come into play. Besides the riprap’s appearance, another concern was that the dump trucks and other heavy equipment needed to haul in the riprap and install it would have to cross the newly completed fairway – tearing up the ground and possibly damaging the irrigation system. Searching for a more practical and natural-looking alternative, Lawrence called in a team of erosion control experts. Working with ACF Environmental, headquartered in Richmond, VA, and Eco Turf Erosion Control of Raleigh, TPC Wakefield came up with a plan to stabilize the streambank with turf reinforcement mats and coir logs in place of riprap. The bank first needed to be excavated to create a 2:1 slope. Sheets of plywood were placed across the fairway, and a lightweight excavator carefully traversed the area, causing no damage to the course. Next, the bank was hand-raked and seeded with a native-blend seed mixture. After the area was seeded, a heavy-duty turf reinforcement mat, Landlok 450 from Synthetic Industries, was installed over the slope and staked in place at the top. The mat contains a dense web of polyolefin fiber – nonbiodegradable and UV-stabilized – to provide long-term protection while still allowing vegetation to grow through. Finally, 20-in. Biologs were installed over the mat at the toe of the slope and pinned in place. The dense coir logs act as a buffer against fluctuations in the stream flow and allow vegetation to grow to the water’s edge. Because they were fairly lightweight, the mat, coir logs, and seed were hand-carried to the bank to avoid vehicle damage to the course. Less than a week after the installation, a heavy rainstorm put the 11th-hour fix to the test. “The stream had a bankfull of water,” recalls Frank Milchuck of ACF Environmental. “The system withstood the test.” Within three months the bank was fully vegetated. The 18-hole, 7,200-yd. course, owned and operated by the PGA Tour, opened in July.