NEW COURSES AND RENOVATIONS

By KEN MACLEOD

If Oklahoma is to successfully compete with surrounding states for tourism dollars, projects such as The Peninsula Resort & Club on Grand Lake and Pointe Vista at Lake Texoma will be the reasons why.

The two massive projects both hope to break ground this year. Both are counting on the Oklahoma Legislature to provide some tax relief in the form of credits, a prospect to be determined later this spring.

At The Peninsula, sales of condo units planned in the initial $160,000 million development have also begun. Owner Peter Boylan III has said the project must pre-sell 32 units at up to $1.5 million each before his development partner Presidian will commence building the 16-story condo and 150room hotel tower. Also in the initial project will be a 45,0000 square foot conference center, a restaurant, yacht club and marina including dry storage for smaller boats, spa, and possibly a wellness center.

Matt Benn, director of golf at Shangri-La, said there has been tremendous interest in the condo units since promotions began early in the year.

“What we’re finding is the Kansas City market is really fed up with the overcrowding at places like Lake of the Ozarks. Then on the corporate side you have a huge untapped market in northwest Arkansas. A lot of those folks didn’t even know that Grand Lake existed.”

Benn said numerous companies throughout Oklahoma that are now having meetings and conventions in Branson or Las Colinas, Texas, would return to Oklahoma if the facilities were there.

The Peninsula project, if completed, would go beyond the original grandeur of Shangri-La, which once attracted as many as 100,000 visitors a year. Those facilities were allowed to run down or were sold off piece meal by previous owners. The former lodge and guestrooms are being converted to a sales office in which potential condo buyers can step onto a faux balcony, flip a switch and see the lake view on a giant wall projector of any condo they may be considering.

Benn’s pro shop will also be housed there while the towers are being constructed. The hotel and condo towers are located where the former fitness facilities were, while the convention center location will remain the same.

From a golf standpoint, little will change during the initial phase. If all goes as planned, the Gold Course, currently wedged onto 80 acres, will be consolidated to nine new holes built around several mid-level condo towers. A second nine will be built on land to the north of the current maintenance barn. The consolidation and the new nine will be handled by Bland Pittman of Pittman-Poe @ Associates in Tulsa.

The Blue Course will remain the flagship course for the facility and recent upgrades in equipment and maintenance have the course in prime condition.

Benn said three factors are crucial to the development’s success. One is the presale of the 32 condo units and there has been great interest in that. The second is approval by the Federal Energy & Regulatory Commission on the resort’s request for an expanded marina. The third is the tax incentive plan.

Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, a staunch supporter of The Penisula, unsuccessfully tried to push through a $30 million tax incentive plan in 2006. This year he is waiting for legal teams for The Peninsula and Pointe Vista, the group that has purchased the Lake Texoma resort from the Commissioners of Land Office, to present a plan on how to pursue the tax credits in this legislative session, which concludes in May.

“It will probably go into the tax package bill that we look at in the last month,” Cox said. “At this point the legal people from each project are working with each other to come up with a plan to present to us.

“I would like to see both projects succeed. In this case, I think one plus one equals three for the state of Oklahoma.”

Randy Heckenkemper, architect of the Chickasaw Pointe course at Lake Texoma, said he is currently working on a redesign of the course to accommodate plans for the resort and condos at what will be called Pointe Vista Resort. He expects construction on the resort and re-routing of the golf course to commence in the fall of 2007.

One section project that has generated much curiosity and anticipation is the upscale Emerald Falls, located several miles east of Forest Ridge, which has long been recognized as the flagship of upscale daily fee courses in the section.

Can a similarly priced course (anticipated greens fees are $75 weekends, $65 weekdays including cart and range balls) within five miles generate the play necessary to pay bills and sell real estate, as more than 650 lots are available?

The Oklahoma-based ownership group is betting on it.

“We know we’ve got to provide something unique,” said Director of Golf Operations Billy Neal, who knows something about customer service having worked for the Landmark team at PGA West. “We’ve got a great layout, and our conditioning and customer service will set us apart.”

Some of those touches Neal mentioned will include greeters in the parking lot and bottled water provided on the carts. The course will be the first in Oklahoma to have the acclaimed Zorro zoysia, with an extremely fine blade, on the fairways, with

Meyer zoysia in the rough. The greens have been seeded with a blend of A-1 and A-4 bent grasses, the same grasses used at Southern Hills.

Superintendent Tim Schaefer, who previously was an assistant at Spring Creek Ranch in Memphis, said the grasses alone will help set Emerald Falls apart.

For now, Schaefer and his crew have their work cut out getting all those grasses –fairways, roughs, tees, greens, as well as fescue waste areas that were not planted by late March, in shape for a July 1 opening.

“Yes, there’s a lot left to be done,” said Neal, who pointed out that the snow and ice that limited rounds at other courses also hurt them as far as construction days. “We need some rain and some warm nights and everything will start filling in.”

The fairways and roughs were sodded, mostly last summer and fall. After a few heavy rains, it became apparent that some drainage channels had to change and more bridge work was needed.

Extensive practice facilities and a driving range are also under construction near the area where the future clubhouse will be built. For now, the pro shop and sales offices are combined in a tasteful remake of what was the clubhouse for Deer Run, the previous 36-hole facility which was bulldozed to make way for Emerald Falls.

Jerry Slack, who designed the course, has said it is his best work. At first glance, it looks to be quite a test of golf, with smallish greens in some difficult and scenic settings. The five holes built on land to the west that was purchased and includes more trees and elevation change have a chance to be spectacular if set up fairly, although a few more trees may have to be judiciously removed.

For more information on Emerald Falls, call 918-266-2600 or visit emeraldfalls.com.

Mel Root

An extensive renovation is ongoing this spring at Willow Creek Country Club in Oklahoma City, including redoing nine greens, 12 tee boxes and the irrigation system.

The renovation includes stretching two of the course’s par-4s into par-5s and expanding the average green size by nearly 2,000 square feet. The greens will still average between 3,500 and 4,000 square feet, small by contemporary standards, but much roomier than those to which the members were accustomed.

Willow Creek, which opened in 1952, was built on just 110 acres. The course was a par-70 at just over 6,400 yards, it will now be a par-72 at more than 6,600 yards.

Some of the changes being made by golf architect Mark Hayes involve: • No 3, formerly a par-4, will now tee off from the old No. 2 tee, stretching the hole by 90 yards. A new position for the green adds a few more yards and to the difficulty. • No. 17, formerly a long north-south par4 at about 440 yards, is now a risk-reward par-5 of 500 yards. • On the 385-yard par-4 11th hole, the fairway has been turned more to the south and west, making for a sharper dogleg. The green has tripled in size and water has been brought into play in front.

The changes include four greens on the front nine and five on the back. Shaping, being done by Chambers Construction, should be done in early April and the green seeded with a planned reopening in the middle of June.

The expansion of the other nine greens will take place within five years. Willow Creek expanded its clubhouse and golf shop last year, a project which was completed in June.

The Jimmie Austin University of Oklahoma course has a new leader and will soon have a new look as well.

Rodney Young, former general manager of the Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert, Calif., is the director of golf, replacing Stan Ball, who is now the head professional at Topeka Country Club

Young, a native of Enid who played golf at Cameron from 1987-90, was an assistant pro at Oakwood Country Club in Enid for less than three years. He has spent the past 13 years in California, including stops at Rancho LaQuinta and Mission Hills as well as Desert Willow.

Although he was content on the West Coast, with two children ages 9 and 13 in

HUTCHINSON -- Cottonwood Hills Golf Club is two months away from a June grand opening. The Zoysia fairways and Crenshaw bentgrass greens are greening up quite nicely for nine holes in play and nine holes to be opened to the public June 23.

Cottonwood Hills, a public fee public course, is eight miles from Hutchinson and 35 miles from Wichita.

Superintendent Ron Lewis said he’s investing most of his time preparing the new holes for play. Several tees have to be reseeded on the new nine holes.

He said most of the land needs more time for all the various grasses to mature. The greens, fairways and grassy areas near the fairways and greens require different maintainance.

“Zoysia depends on the right temperatures, but with a little bit of rain, everything should work out great,” said Lewis, who came from Stone Mountain Golf Course in Georgia. “We’re putting fertilizer down. It will require quite a bit of work. It’s one of those projects where you’re never really ever completely finished with a new golf course. There is a lot of maturing with a new golf course.”

Lewis said first reviews of the greens have been positive. He can’t get the greens too fast because of the undulations. He’s working with a crew of six people that should double by midsummer.

“The condition of the greens don’t concern me because they will be in pure condition,” he said. “As the course matures, you will be true putting surfaces. I’m really excited about how the course is coming along.”

Nine holes that were in close proximity to the course’s irrigation lake and pump station were opened last fall. Jeff McCormick, director of golf, said the initial response has been positive. The links-style terrain offers changes in elevation and gently rolling sand dunes that reminds players of seaside courses.

“It is terrain that is exactly like Prairie Dunes with a much more modern design,” McCormick said. “Prairie Dunes is a classic,

school, he became interested in applying for the position (which attracted more than 80 applicants nationwide) after friends urged him to throw his hat in the ring.

“You don’t want to rock a smooth sailing ship, but the more I thought about the quality of life, the opportunity to come back and be around friends and family and to be involved in the University and the quality of life, I thought it was the right move,” Young said.

Young did attend OU for one year before transferring to Cameron. He will be now be fully immersed as Jimmie Austin is where the Sooners practice and play. It also boasts one of the nation’s larger junior programs.

“I’m getting a grip on all the different programs we run here,” he said. “Stan did an excellent job with the whole facility. I’m following where he’s taken it and seeing what areas can improve.”

One area that can improve is the course, which will shut down Aug. 14 for a renovation that will include all new greens, which will be expanded back to their original size from the Bob Cupp renovation 11 years ago. The greens had suffered in recent years from a severe Poa Annua infestation and the course has instituted a strong pre-emergent program to combat the poa.

Bunker improvements, creek and bridge work and some other minor improvements will be made while the course is shut down until late November or early December. The course will then have more than a year to get in top form before it hosts the 2009 U.S. Public Links Championship.

A sale to a developer who plans to turn this 105-acres Robert Trent Jones redesign into a housing development has some property owners and members at North Hills in an uproar.

Protests have been flooding into city hall and various plans to have the city or other groups purchase the club have been proposed since it was announced in early March that the new owners planned to sell the land to developers.

Ron Campbell, one of the new owners, told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal that he would allow the city to make an offer, but that other groups are ready to begin development of frontage property.

If it closes, North Hills would be the second golf course in Pulaski County to be redeveloped. Western Hills Country Club in southwest Little Rock was recently purchased by a group called Western Hills Properties, LLC, for $825,000 and the group plans to use the land for development. The golf course has already been closed.

North Hills was redesigned by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1980.

By TIM LANDES

The opening of Links Golf & Athletic Club as the fifth 18-hole course in a metro area of more than 40,000 – but about half of them college students -- has sent ripples of concern spreading to its competitors in the Stillwater, Okla., market.

OK, they’re not sweating at Karsten Creek, which sets its green fees ($275) in order to ward off excess play. The others – Lakeside Memorial Golf Course, Stillwater Country Club and Cimarron Trails in nearby Perkins – have felt the effects of the newest course, which expanded to 18 holes on July 1 of 2006.

Depending on their ecomomic health, cities of 40,000 in this region have successfully supported two courses, but often struggled with the third. Examples are in Enid, where Pheasant Run is still struggling to catch on as the third wheel to Meadowbrook (public) and Oakwood Country Club. In Hutchinson, Kan., Prairie Dunes (private) and Carey Park (public) have done great, while a third course has changed names and owners numerous times. Now, with Cottonwood Hills, a fourth is being added to that market as well.

When Links opened in Sept. 2005, there were only nine holes and the course was available to the public. Since the addition of the other nine holes last summer, the course became private, making it only available to apartment dwellers, members, anyone living more than 20 miles away from Stillwater and residents of other Lindsey golf courses, which is now 32 courses in eight states.

Annual membership fees are $1,250 plus tax, but Links also offers a monthly membership fee of $125 plus tax.

“We’re doing really well. We’ve picked up a lot of players from the other courses,” said Links director of golf Blake Dergan. “We now have 250 members. The amount of rounds are down, but we’re making a profit.

“I’m pleased with it. We’ll see at the end of summer compared to last summer, since it will be a year since we expanded to 18 holes, but I think it will be a good year.”

Lakeside Memorial has noticed the addition of Links due in large part to the courses’ proximity to each other. Lakeside is located less than a mile north of Links.

While the course met its average of 30,000 rounds last year, head professional Fred Forbes said the course has lost many of its “members,” which are those that pay annual green fees and cart memberships to play the public course at their convenience. They start at $788 a person, but Forbes said there are many memberships, which include five-day passes, and memberships for families of two, three and four.

“Stillwater is definitely oversaturated,” Forbes said. “It’s been steady and rounds were increasing until the winter, but the Links affected us more than anything by taking our memberships.”

While Lakeside has been heavily impacted, Stillwater Country Club head professional Dan Pryor said his course has not been hurt as much when it comes to losing memberships, but from gaining new members. Initiation to Stillwater CC is $2,500 and dues are $250 a month.

“They’ve had some affect on our memberships, but not greatly,” Pryor said. “We’ve stayed pretty much at 24,000 rounds the last couple of years, but our problem is we’re not getting any growth.

“Just a few years ago, we were averaging right at 32,000 a year.”

Cimmaron Trails head professional Please see STILLWATER,Page 32

The back nine holes at DeGray Lake Resort State Park will be closed May 14 for a project that includes coring out and rebuilding all nine greens. The new greens will have Tif-Eagle Bermuda grass surfaces. The new greens are projected to open Aug. 1, according to Director of Golf Chris Snodgrass. Work on the cart paths should be completed by early November. The greens on the front nine will be closed for renovation in mid-February and should reopen in late April, 2008.

Snodgrass said the course will also be renovating the practice green and expanding the driving range. The interior of the pro shop will be remodeled.

Work on the Village Creek State Park

project along Crowley’s Ridge near Wynne in eastern Arkansas continues, with a projected soft opening in the fall and official grand opening in the spring of 2008.

The course will be sprigged with 419 Bermuda fairways this spring, while the greens will be seeded with Miniverde Bermuda.

Brant Enderle, the managing partner in Village Creek Resorts, the entity which is leasing the course from the state of Arkansas and will be providing management services and building the facilities, detailed the plans, which have been scaled back. Plans now are to build 17 villas along three holes on the course, each of which will have two units of approximately 550 square feet. A conference center will not have any lodging, but will contain the pro shop, meeting space, a restaurant and small spa.

“We’ve scaled it back to a level the financial markets were comfortable with,” Enderle said.

Village Creek Resorts, through the assistance of the Cross County Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Corp., was able to secure a loan of approimately $7 million for the scaled-back plans after failing to secure the $15 million to build the facility as originally planned.

The course, designed by Andy Dye, son of Roy Dye and nephew of Pete Dye, is reported to be dramatic, with sweeping elevation changes along the ridge and all the Dye family flair and use of natural contours golfers would expect.

“It’s going to be a beautiful course, but hard from the back tees at about 7,400 yards,” Enderle said. “We have five sets of tees and you’ll want to play it from the right set for your game.”

Oliphant Golf Construction is building the course. Greg McDaniel, former superintendent at Sage Meadows Golf Course in Jonesboro, has been hired as the course superintendent.

The course will be priced at between $75 and $95 per round, with the villas expected to rent from between $225 to $275 per night. The course should draw well from Memphis, but will also be marketed throughout Arkansas and the region.

The state park itself offers camping, rental cabins, tennis courts, horse trails, hiking trails and two lakes for fishing and swimming.

PGA professional Rory Bradley and a group of private investors that owned Tannenbaum Golf Course in Drasco, Ark., have purchased Mountain Ranch Golf Course in Fairfield Bay, thereby bringing into the fold what was once their main competitor for rounds on Greers Ferry Lake.

Bradley, now director of golf and general manager at Mountain Ranch, said that though his group does not own any lodging at Mountain Ranch, he has access to cabins and condos on the lake. He hopes golfers will come to the region and play both courses. Fairfield Bay Country Club also has lodging available.

Bradley said Mountain Ranch was in good shape when purchased from Links Corp., for whom he previously had worked for three years.

“Dickie Tynes, the superintendent, does a fantastic job, but his hands have been tied the past two or three years,” Bradley said “We plan on pumping some major dollars into the course.”

That will begin with a green renovation project set to start in September. The new greens will be seeded with SR 10-20, which holds up better in the heat than the existing grass.

Bradley said he hopes to attract visitors from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. For more information on Mountain Ranch, call 501-884-3400.

Terradyne Country Club is well along in its reincarnation. The luxurious structure on the east edge of Andover, a Wichita suburb, no longer bills itself as a resort and country club. The building, which originally contained some 40 hotel rooms, is being remodeled as upscale office space.

According to Craig Smith, CS Ventures LLC manager, 8,000 square feet of the 20,000 square feet available has been leased, even though the conversion started in earnest only last fall.

Although there are no bedrooms in the Terradyne clubhouse, the club has packages which allow golf privileges with three Wichita Marriott facilities, the Courtyard in Old Town, Residence Inn and Towne Place Suites on the east side of Wichita.

A new practice area, with three holes, pitching greens and driving range are being completed and will open sometime this summer. The practice area will be surrounded by 42 townhouses. When the new area is opened, the old driving range will be the site of 22 new homes, whose owners will be offered club privileges, along with the townhouse residents.

Smith said part of the enormous building is also being converted to a world-class spa, with exercise and massage facilities, a dance studio and retail space for clothing and equipment. The club restaurant was remodeled and reopened March 13 with a bar and dining room, which are open to the public.

There were no changes on the club’s links style golf course, a demanding layout with a par of 71 and a course raing of 75.1. It was designed by Don Secrest and opened in 1985.

Mal Elliott contributed to this report.