This article appears in the fall edition of Memphis Crossroads, the Greater Memphis Chamber's quarterly magazine, available free throughout the city including Schnuck's markets.

They thought of everything — even the tiny metal shavings left from the sharpening of mower blades — in creating one of the world’s most environment-friendly golf courses.

Using self-contained, see-through enclosures, workers capture the tiny metal residue for recycling. Absorbent material soaks up any oil and transmission fluid that might drip from spigots. Lotus plants, stocked in the ponds and rocks placed in the creeks, naturally filter and aerate water. Walnut extract spread on the lakes retards mosquito reproduction. New native trees need fewer energy resources, and management designated multiple areas as no-pesticide zones.

Mirimichi — Chickasaw for “a place of happy retreat” — has been undergoing an environmental transformation since singer/actor Justin Timberlake acquired it 2 ½ years ago at the suggestion of his stepfather, Paul Harless. Timberlake directed employees to make Mirimichi — where he learned to play golf near his hometown of Millington — as environmentally friendly as possible. 

The course, which reopened on September 4 after an eight-month renovation, was designed by Timberlake to make everyone welcome to enjoy the high-end experience at Mirimichi — for the course to be a place for beginners and pros. It’s hoped that Mirimichi will “grow the game of golf” by getting more people interested in the game by improving play instruction.

“It’s a special golf course,” said Memphian Tommy Farnsworth, who took his sons to play at Mirimichi earlier this year. “If you’re from these parts, you’re not familiar with playing that experience here. I’m really looking forward to getting back.”

The course was known as “Big Creek” when Timberlake and his team took over in December 2007. From the beginning, course officials say, he wanted to build the best of golf courses while drastically reducing the “carbon footprint.” 

Under this governing idea, every seemingly little thing made a cumulative difference — and it shows. Now less than 90 acres of the sprawling 350 acres are mowed, down from 200. The rest are rough areas designed to challenge golfers, and natural areas designed for pure scenic enjoyment.

Rich and Deb Peterson, a husband and wife team, left jobs with First Tennessee Bank in sales development, business development and marketing to fulfill Timberlake’s vision for the course. 

“You look around and you feel like you’re in nature,” said Rich, sitting on a patio deck overlooking the ninth and 18th holes. “You step into Mother Nature, and it embraces you. We have foxes. We have flocks of turkey. We have two herds of deer. We’ve even seen bobcat prints out here.”

Added Deb, “You’re 15 minutes out of Memphis, [but] you could be on the other side of the United States.”

In May, Mirimichi was awarded coveted Golf Environmental Organization certification – the first golf course in America to be certified by GEO, and only the ninth worldwide. Last year, Audubon International, a non-profit environmental education organization, gave Mirimichi the new Audubon Classic Sanctuary designation.

“One thing that’s a little unique about Mirimichi is they’ve done it so comprehensively,” said J. Russell Bodie, chief technical officer with Audubon Environmental Inc., a green consulting agency that worked with course officials. “It’s amazing. Even the water they use to rinse off the mowers is captured … and goes through sand filtration like a treatment plant.”

Publicity from the environmental recognition has triggered inquiries from as far away as Panama and Spain about green initiatives, Deb Peterson said. 

While Timberlake’s environmental vision is solidifying, his directive to grow the game of golf is just coming into view. It is embodied by a new, 10,200-square-foot structure called the Mirimichi Performance and Learning Center. Inside, cameras and pressure-sensitive flooring will capture the movement of student players seeking to improve their game.

Flooding that struck areas of Millington in May covered about two acres of Mirimichi, but recovery was reasonably quick. Workers went on to plant sprigs of Bermuda, add landscaping, create a new short-game complex and fabricate a putting course designed for “everyone whether you play golf or not,” Peterson said. 

The latest renovations were sparked by a Timberlake visit. He wanted to see a major tournament at Mirimichi soon, the Petersons said. Mirimichi officials envision the golf course complex being used for convention and visitors bureaus, for corporation team-building exercises and for more tournaments. Since Timberlake has taken over, $25 million has been put into the site for renovations — which the Petersons say Timberlake and his family consider a public service.

Turning a corner of Shelby County into an environmentally friendly space has been fulfilling, she said, but influencing others to do the same is proving even more worthwhile.

"It’s incredible to me,” Deb Peterson said. “We want to take that celebrity to heart … and make the world a prettier place.”