The Mack and Jonnie Day Golf Practice Facility at the southern tip of the Cherokee Farm was dedicated November 12, 2010. It was constructed in association with the Greg Norman Design Group. A substantial portion of the area is within a TVA easement and is not usable as building sites, and a portion is located on public land. The facility is along a new greenway projected to run from the Naval and Marine Park to the Blount County line.
The completed first phase of the project included three practice holes: the M. C. James Driving Range and pitching and putting areas. Phase II plans include the Furrow-Blackburn Clubhouse, which features offices for both teams, heated hitting bays for year-round practice, video training space, and locker rooms.
The facility, which covers 28 acres, also serves as UT’s Turfgrass Research Center. The three holes are Par 4, 3, and 4. The putting green is 1,100 square feet; the chipping and pitching green is 10,600 square feet; and the practice tee is 100 yards by 50 yards. Grass initially installed was 419 Bermuda for fairways and A-1 Bentgrass for greens, with three of the newest varieties of A-1 Bentgrass. The sand initially used was the same type Augusta National Golf Club used in its bunkers.
The facility is named for former Knoxvillians Mack and Jonnie Day, in recognition of their generous contribution to the effort. They had befriended UT’s golf coach (1954–67) Lloyd Foree at the Deane Hill Country Club and pledged to support such an effort. The M. C. James Driving Range and golf practice fields were relocated from the grounds of Lakeshore, in West Knoxville, making good on an agreement to vacate the land for other development.
In 2004 UT archaeologists discovered two Native American sites beneath land set aside for the golf facilities. The artifacts discovered were from the period AD 130–1600 and indicative of the Dallas people, a late prehistoric group that inhabited East Tennessee. Planners of the facility worked around the archaeologically significant sites.