NATCHEZ — City Engineer David Gardner says Hole No. 8 at Duncan Park Golf Course was designed to fail 81 years ago, but it’s nothing that can’t be corrected today.

“You couldn’t design a better fail,” Gardner said. “The green is right next to a tree, so that’s the first strike against it. There is a sand trap right between the green and the creek, which is another strike. (The sand trap) collects water and keeps the soil saturated there. When the soil is saturated, it tends to slough a lot easier.

“And to make matters worse, you have a ditch that runs beside the green and the sand trap that goes to the creek that has been filled in years ago with trees and dirt. It’s been just enough time since the course was built for all those trees to decompose, and now you’re seeing a lot of sinkholes develop leaving voids in the ground. At the end of the ditch, it’s a big blowout.”

Gardner said the decision by golf course builders in 1928 to fill in the creek with trees and dirt not only leads to erosion and sinkholes, but also prevents natural vegetation from growing.

The city engineering department is working with Golf Course Superintendent Greg Brooking to correct the problem, and the city public works department has already begun to remove decomposing trees, limbs and other matter from the gaping hole.

“This is something we all inherited, and it’s something we can fix,” Gardner said. “We’re not going to let it get to a point where it will threaten the green. We can’t neglect it. We have to take care of it.”

Short-term plans include encapsulating the hole with fabric bag and filling the hole with sand.

“The (bag) should slow (erosion) down a lot and gently allow the water to go through the bag and drain down to the ditch without taking any soil with it,” Gardner said.

Alderman Dan Dillard, chairman of the city’s recreation committee, said during this week’s meeting a long-term erosion plan will be drafted by early next year.

“People don’t come to play 17 holes of golf, they come to play 18 holes of golf,” Dillard said.