HOOVER, Ala. (WIAT) – The Ross Bridge Golf Course is just under three weeks out from its reopening after a chemical mix-up and renovations caused the grounds to close for a little over a year.

SunBelt Golf says it started as normal course maintenance, aerating the greens heading into fall, but a bag of fertilizer with weed killer was accidentally spread instead of sand, killing much of the greens.

This mishap moved up the course’s renovation timeline as SunBelt Golf says it was expecting to redo the greens in 2024 or 2025. New Bermuda grass was planted in May and SunBelt Golf says golfers will be able to enjoy other renovations as well like redesigned bunkers and closer cart paths.

“Pulling this out, we’ve had a great year on [the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail] three years in a row,” says Mike Beverly, president of SunBelt Golf. “We had another record-breaking year without [the Ross Bridge Golf Course] and we hope next year will be our fourth record-breaking year when you put this back into the mix.”

SunBelt Golf says what happened on the Ross Bridge Golf Course last fall was unfortunate, but they’re excited to be able to offer golfers an improved course to play on.

“We didn’t plan on this renovation immediately when I was doing the budgets last year but because we only had one down, we still had a record year for rounds and profits on The Trail,” Beverly said.

Beverly says the last three years have been record-breaking for the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (The Trail), even with the closure of the Ross Bridge course the last year.

“This just gives another opportunity to bring more people to the state of Alabama which is the mission of The Trail, right? To get people to come to Alabama and spend tourism dollars and spend multiple days here and this will go right in with that,” Beverly said.

For golfers like William Walker III, the Ross Bridge Golf Course was a regular place to tee off. Golfers are ready to get out there and see how the improved course will play.

“I don’t know exactly all of what they’re doing but I know the greens and complexions are going to be good and it’s going to be a great course to play once it’s finished,” Walker said. “It’s a long course, you’ve got to keep it in the fairways, even if they’re a little wide, if you miss it outside the fairway, it’s a tough par to make. But it’s a great course, always fun to play.”

The Ross Bridge Golf Course is scheduled to reopen on Oct. 13.