Standing right inside the entrance looking down the two rows of trees near the road
Every time I tour the Amazon Golf Course I’m impressed by the amount of manual labor it took to build. I’m proud of our hard working crew. Their dedication is marvelous. First I always think, “None of this would be possible without them.”
My favorite measuring stick, measuring the growth of this tree we planted two years ago.
All of us work too hard and don’t have enough time or energy left over to appreciate what we have accomplished here near Iquitos Peru. I hope you can come and appreciate it for us. Then the work will be worth while.
Palm Blossoms and fruit at the Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos Peru
To maintain these 24 acres with only 2 weed eaters and one push mower is literally impossible. But, we do the best we can, and that’s pretty darn good.
Marmelita and Margarita inspect the new cup and flag holder on the 9th green. It's 330 yards, par 4.
The Amazon Golf Course is practically a miracle. We had to over come a lot of obstacles, more than you can imagine. We did overcome them.
The view looking north-west, from the observation deck of the Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos Peru
This is part of what we are growing here.
The view of the lushness of the Amazon Golf Course from the second floor of the clubhouse.
The soil is not fertile. We make our own organic compost with a hand full of lime to sweeten the soil.
The view looking east from the top floor of the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse
There is a lovely grove of aguaje palms on the east side of the clubhouse where monkeys sometimes come to forage.
The view from the second story of the clubhouse looking west, over the 1st tee, past the driving range shelter to the first green 122 yards, par 3.
We have over 2,700 healthy, strong trees and blooming bushes growing fast, that we planted in the last couple of years, and we are still planting. Our carbon footprint is getting smaller. How about yours? Give us a hand!
View of the Amazon Golf Course from the ground.
I thought 2,000 trees and blooming bushes would be a difficult goal. From our present position, 3,000 looks easy. It’s not too late to help.
Wally Lloyd's oil plams lining the 1st fairway on the Amazon Golf Course.
The oil palms growing so vigorously along the 1st fairway have a special place in my heart. They were donated by Wally Lloyd, the architect of the Amazon Golf Course, and the clubhouse, and a good friend of those of us who knew him best. Wally has passed on, but his Oil Palms (once lost and abandoned), have been found, replanted, and some might say reincarnated. We baby them even more than the other trees and they like the extra attention.
This croton growing along the side of the 1st fairway on the Amazon Golf Course was 1 stem maybe 10 inches tall when we planted it. In two more years it will probably be 5 feet tall and spectacular.
We didn’t just plant these trees and bushes. We loved them with many applications of our own compost and a hand full of lime. We don’t have any equipment fancier than an old wheelbarrow, but the plants growing on the opposite side of the 24 acres from the compost pile get the same loving applications as the ones in front of the clubhouse. Sometimes the grass gets tall where we don’t want it to, but never around our precious plants. We are thinking long term. Be patient with us.
This croton looks like firworks exploding to me. Look in the background to get a better idea of what we are doing on the Amazon Golf Course.
Stay with me. We are going to take a little stroll around the Amazon Golf Course. I hope you like it.
Drainage on the Amazon Golf Course
Most golf courses in the world have to irrigate. Here in the Amazon Rainforest in the district of Loreto Peru, one of our biggest problems at the Amazon Golf Course is drainage. Drainage streams are another opportunity to plant our blooming bushes to attract birds and wildlife.
A water hazard on the Amazon Golf Course
Which means we can channel water and easily have our water hazards where ever we want. Aguaje palms love a water hazard near their roots.
Showing the new directional tee markers pointing to the 6th hole, 269 yards, par 4, on the Amazon Golf Course.
We continue making improvements such as the new tee markers showing the way around the Amazon Golf Course for those that would rather not be accompanied by a caddy.
Tee 3 with water hazard, 259 yards, par 4, Amazon Golf Course.
I hope you are liking what you see here. This has been a real challenge in every way. The amount of work it took to get from fourth growth jungle to fairly refined golf course without many modern labor saving tools is nearly unbelievable. It required an inspiration, a large amount of hard manual labor, a vision, an investment, passion, and a lot of tender loving care.
Hard manual labor is what makes the Amazon Golf Course possible.
When these 3,000 trees and bushes mature, and the birds and wildlife associated with them live on the property, the Amazon Golf Course will be one of the most popular destinations for tourists in Iquitos whether they are golfers or not.
Crotons have an amazing variety of colors and leaf shapes. There is a thriving croton planted in between each coconut palm tree that border the fairways on the Amazon Golf Course.
I love crotons! I raised them as house plants back in the northern hemisphere. They like their conditions much better here in the tropics.
A croton, a coconut palm, a croton, a coconut palm...that's the pattern defining the fairways on the Amazon Golf Course.
These crotons were less than a foot tall when we planted them. Now look…
Margarita beside one of the crotons she planted when it was one stem and a foot tall less than two years ago.
We love and appreciate Margarita and her family. Margarita is our on-site caretaker, in charge of the crew of workers, without whom the Amazon Golf Course would not be nearly as beautiful. I think maybe at first they were humoring the eccentric gringo in charge of the 2,000 tree planting project, but now they are completely on board. Her husband Rodrigo is our horticulturalist, (and Maestro of most everything) I admire him a lot. We are a team. Everyone is completely on board.
Young trees and bushes growing on the backside of the Amazon Golf Course
Ok, use your imagination. What will these 2,700 trees and blooming bushes look like in 5 years. Some people are concerned about the economy, wars, religions, the end of the world, saving the world. I’m a simple man. I like to stand here and watch the plants grow. I want to stand here with you in the shade in 2016 listening to the birds singing, and the frogs croaking, enjoying the humming birds slurping nectar from the blooming bushes while we slurp the coconut milk, fresh from the nut. We will have park benches with thatch roofs in strategic locations. We’ll sit there and talk about the old days. Life is good.
Oil palms growing in the rough near the west border of the Amazon Golf Course
But enough day dreaming. There is a lot of work to be done between now and 2016. The baby crawls before it walks.
Martin Green's bridge on the Amazon Golf Course.
I also have a vision for how this bridge could be designed before 2016, but we have other more pressing problems to solve first. For now, this is a big improvement from when Martin Green made fun of our “Hogan’s Bridge” in his article Augusta in the Amazon.
Green number 3, 259 yards, par 4, at the Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos Peru
I’m also pleased by the improvement in our greens over the last two years. The greens can still be greatly improved by the use of a $7,000 green mower, but for now, we use what we have, a small push mower.
Green number 4, a mesa, surrounded by a moat stocked with piranhas. It's a par 3, a difficult 110 yards.
The award for most improved green in the last two years is green number 4. Two years ago it was unplayable, unless you are Joe Boatright, who solved that problem by getting the only hole-in-one on the Amazon Golf Course on number 4.
This is the best green number 4 has ever played, and we are working to make it better.
Green number 4 is the farthest from the clubhouse and work area. Sand is carried in bags on strong backs or in a wheelbarrow and spread and raked and then rolled and rolled. The grass comes through and the green gets firmer and flatter each time. Because green number 4 was farthest from the sand pile, it got less attention. We have corrected that problem.
This tree has lots of wonderful new growth.
This land is nutrient poor but we are getting around that problem with regular homemade compost mulches, a hand full of lime to sweeten the ph of the soil, foliar feeding the plants, and a hand full of balanced fertilizer per plant once a year.
The tee off to green number 5 on the Amazon Golf Course. It's 243 yards, par 4.
As we walk around the Amazon Golf Course you will notice the peace and quiet. A pleasure after the hustle and bustle of Iquitos.
dangerous green number 6, surrounded by piranha infested water, 269 yards, par 4, on the Amazon Golf Course.
The Amazon Golf Course is beautiful now and will be more beautiful as these plants grow and when we acquire a riding mower and a special greens mower.
Look at the incredible growth on this croton since it was planted at the Amazon Golf Course.
The Amazon Golf Course will become famous. I guarantee it. We will promote Iquitos and increase high end tourism. Golfers, telling the same old stories, playing the same holes, at the same old golf courses in Myrtle Beach, Indianapolis, and around the world will learn about this adventure golf destination. They will come here to play it them selves. They will stay in the best hotels, take the best tours and eat at the best restaurants. This tourism trend is inevitable. Get behind it.
One of the crew working with a weed-eater near green number 8 on the Amazon Golf Course.
The Amazon Golf Course will be positioned to provide that adventure golf tourism. Nearly every golfer that ever played here wanted their picture taken with the machete that is issued with every bag of golf clubs. Every one of those adventure golfers have a new story to tell their friends and family back home.
I am so proud of our crew. They work hard and do the best job possible with what they have to work with. I can not brag enough about them. Our crew works with the goal of making the Amazon Golf Course a beautiful place to play golf.
It would be a mistake to attempt to turn Iquitos into Indianapolis, and it would be a mistake to take the adventure out of adventure golf. There should always be piranhas in the water hazards, caimans sunning in the sand traps, and boas constricting in the rough. There should always be a machete issued with the golf clubs, even in 2015. Lets not lose sight of what makes us unique.
More improvement at the Amazon Golf Course thanks to Martin Greens suggestions.
We keep making improvements. We can’t do everything all at once. First the baby crawls, then it takes it’s first wobbly steps…
My personal favorite, green number 8, 388 yards, par 4, Amazon Golf Course.
Then it runs…
The rough on the east boundary of the Amazon Golf Course.
Then it gets old and creaky like me and starts getting tired right about now in our walk around the Amazon Golf Course. I hope you enjoyed our tour. Only a little farther to go.
We are still planting. Here is a nice little ficus tree with a good start at the Amazon Golf Course.
We are well on our way from 2,700 plants, at last official count, to 3,000 trees and blooming bushes. Our new goal. It’s an undertaking we can all be proud of.
Crotons, the closest to fall colors we can have on the Amazon Golf Course, but we have them all year long:)
The crotons are the closest we can come to New England or Brown County fall colors. We are lucky to have them all year. They don’t lose all their leaves at once. The only green leaves are the new growth.
A croton, a coconut palm, a croton, a coconut palm; the pattern at the Amazon Golf Course.
I love crotons in case you haven’t guessed…
Wow, oohhh, ahhhh, better than fall colors; on your Amazon Golf Course.
There are lots, more plants to photograph, these are just a few of the ones we walked near enough that they called out to get our attention. You get the picture. The next tour we will walk a different path and photograph other plants and greens.
This scene will be spectacular in a couple of years. It's a pretty scene today.
I wish all of you could be here with with us and watch the trees grow, and the bushes bloom.
Green number 7, 505 yards, par 5, Amazon Golf Course.
This concludes our pictorial tour of the Amazon Golf Course located in Iquitos Peru. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Come play a round or two, and watch the trees grow with me.
A tour Of The Amazon Golf Course, In Iquitos Peru
Bill Grimes is the manager of the Amazon Golf Course, and is reporting from Iquitos Peru. Stay tuned as the trees grow…
