Birds, bees, butterflies and turtles

Harold Ammons, superintendent of Flat Creek Country Club in Peachtree City, Georgia, has spent 37 years working at the Joe Lee-designed course. After the Invited club was encouraged by ownership to achieve Audubon International certification in 2017, Ammons’ passion for the environment skyrocketed.  

As an Audubon-certified course, introducing new projects frequently is highly encouraged. Here are five things Ammons and his team are doing to promote environmentalism. 

Bluebird boxes  

Throughout the 27-hole facility, golfers will find bluebird houses placed strategically, not facing the West to prevent overheating. With the help of a member, Charlene Dekock, the boxes are monitored weekly.  

“She is my bluebird whisperer, that's for sure, and she loves to take care of my bluebirds,” Ammons says. Eggs, babies, fledglings and full-grown birds are counted. After eggs are hatched and the birds depart from the nest, each box needs to be cleaned as bluebirds will not reuse nests. The course helps fledge 80 to 100 bluebirds each year. 

Monarch butterflies 

As part of Audubon’s Monarchs in the Rough program, Ammons and his crew planted milkweed and wildflowers throughout the course, providing a stop for the Monarch butterflies. Although the course is not in the direct path of migration for the creatures, a few will visit each year. Ammons says the number varies, some years bringing 25 to 30, others only four or five.  

“One year, we had a whole flock in here, they were fluttering around everywhere for about two weeks,” Ammons says.

The course’s first monarch caterpillars were discovered last September.

Turtle habitat protection 

The course is doing its part to save the turtles. On the ninth hole, a sandbar on the creek hosts a common egg-hatching spot for soft shell aquatic turtles. Once the eggs have been laid, the area is staked off, preventing disruption. The eggs take approximately 60 days to hatch. Once hatched, their trails can be seen in the sand and bunkers. Occasionally, a baby turtle will find itself stuck in a hole cup.

Honeybee boxes 

The course’s most recent project was adding honeybee hives last March. Ammons, who had little experience managing bees, found a member, Andrey Nikitenko, to assist with the project. “My dad had them when I was younger, but when you’re younger, you’re not too concerned with stuff like that,” Ammons says.  

Honeybees are known to be sensitive to the environment, so for a golf course, they can be a telltale sign of your course’s conditions and the impact of plant protectants. “With honeybees, if you are spraying stuff out that you shouldn’t be or anything that you shouldn’t be doing, honeybees can be affected very quickly with that,” Ammons adds.  

The boxes must be checked frequently. Occasionally, a new box will need to be added to prevent two queen bees from taking over one box. The bees are fed with sugar water every two to three weeks when flowers are not in bloom, typically late fall to spring. Honey was first harvested in June 2024, with almost two gallons retrieved. Ammons fills jars and presents them to members as gifts. 

Purple Martin bird feeders 

The golf course plans to add Purple Martin bird feeders to the property this year. Ammons enjoys driving down the course and seeing the birds swoop in and catching bugs.  

“We need to take care of our 160 acres and try to make an impact on the environment, and we can get along and have a place of enjoyment for golf, and at the same time we can be good to the environment,” he adds. Ammons received the Georgia Environmental Leadership Award in recognition of his efforts and plans to create new projects each year to better the land around him.