The Tri-Cities Branch of the Association of General Contractors of Tennessee awarded the 2004 Construction Project of the Year to the scenic Warren-Greene Golf Center located just off campus.
The Warren-Greene Golf Center, which opened in April 2004, offers both the men and women players state of the art technologies, a well-groomed practice range and lots of privacy.
ETSU men’s golf coach Fred Warren, who oversaw construction and lobbied for the facility’s funds, believes that the both the men’s and women’s teams have benefited from the center’s advantages.
“I think it has helped in two ways; the first is recruiting,” Warren said. “Prospective athletes can come in and see that they will have a place to practice. Secondly, once an athlete is here and a member of the team, they can use the facility to work on their games as much as they want.”
The entire facility sits on 14 acres and includes a 400-yard practice range.
The range is complete with six target greens, three tee areas, a short game green, wedge tee and green, and a putting green.
The range is complemented by a 3,000-square-foot, two -story building containing the coaches offices, meeting rooms, the Hal Morrison Hall of Fame Room, players lounge, two indoor hitting bays and an observation deck.
Sophomore sensation Rhys Davies cites the facility was one of his main reasons for coming to ETSU.
“When I first saw the facility I knew this was a place where I could routinely work on my game,” Davies said. “I knew there wasn’t another place like this in the country.”
The facility also offers Buc golfers a chance to improve their game via computer analysis.
Located in the breezeway, this part of the facility captures the individual golfer’s swing on camera and downloads it into a computer program. The coach, trainers and players can then depict the swing and improve on every aspect of it.
The Warren-Greene Golf Center was selected from nine nominated projects in the Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia by the AGC.
The panel was made up of contractors, architects and engineers. They visited the campus about eight weeks ago and then compared the selected projects that were nominated and selected a winner.
The $2.4 million facility employed the talents of Johnson City’s Ken Ross Architects and Burleson Construction Co. Inc. World-renowned golf course architect Tom Fazio designed the range layout that overlooks the ETSU campus.
Funding for the center was achieved mainly through private donations. The biggest contributor was William Greene, chairman of Bank of Tennessee and Carter County Bank. Greene was also on the committee that hired head coach Fred Warren in 1986.
“This was truly a project that required partnerships,” ETSU President Dr. Paul Stanton Jr. told reporters. “I especially appreciate the involvement of several community leaders in making this a reality. It’s an example of what can be accomplished when the university and the local community work together.

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