In late May, five years to the week after opening to the general public, CommonGround Golf Course will do an encore of sorts.
It certainly isn’t something course officials ever envisioned in their wildest dreams, but they’re simply playing the hand they’ve been dealt and making the best of it.
CommonGround, the Aurora-based course that’s owned and run by the CGA and CWGA, has been operating as a nine-hole facility — in addition to a nine-hole Kids Course — since flooding took a severe toll last September. But after mulling recovery options in the ensuing months, officials overseeing the Tom Doak-designed layout have set a May 29 target date for a “grand re-opening” of the 18-hole course.
Though CommonGround’s championship course has been limited to nine holes since the flooding, it still has gotten considerable play when weather permits.
“We’ve been absolutely delighted and flattered at the loyalty we’ve had from our players,” said Will Nicholson Jr., the former USGA president who serves as the manager of the CommonGround board of directors. “It’s unbelievable. We had the Saturday and Sunday tee sheets full (in advance for one weekend in February), which is great.”
As a way to reward that loyalty, the management at CommonGround is rolling out a limited number of extended-play offerings in conjunction with the re-opening of the 18-hole course. Among them is a lifetime extended-play option which features unlimited play on the courses and use of the practice facilities, with carts included, and three monthly accompanied guest passes for weekday play. There’s also similar 10-year and 5-year programs. In addition, there will be a corporate offering, which includes four weekly unaccompanied guest passes for weekday play. For more details and information on all these extended-play possibilities, contact CommonGround at 303-340-1520.
“That’s our way to say ‘thank you’ to our players for their loyalty,” Nicholson said.
The May 29 event will be held in conjunction with the Colorado Golf Foundation’s annual fundraiser for junior golf, as well as the dedication and official opening of CommonGround’s community putting green. The Colorado Golf Foundation is a funding arm for youth development programs.
“This has been very interesting,” director of golf Dave Troyer said of all the happenings at CommonGround in the last half-year. “It’s been new and challenging. I thought I was done (with grand openings).”
CommonGround, the last new golf course to open in Colorado (2009), had eight holes severely damaged by water — sometimes more than 6-feet deep of it — covering the turf for weeks before draining completely. The eight affected holes are on the west side of the property: Nos. 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.
The turf on five greens died: 5, 6, 11, 12 and 14.
(Several flood-related photos are shown, including an aerial shot of CommonGround at bottom.)
In all, repairs alone will cost about $350,000, Troyer said. And that doesn’t include lost revenue, which undoubtedly will exceed that figure.
Last September, the 23-year-old Westerly Creek Dam that borders the course did its job — flood control — by protecting land and real estate in nearby areas of eastern Denver and northwestern Aurora. But in the process, it also collected the overflowing water from Westerly Creek on the golf course for more than a week. After that time span under water, grass will no longer recover.
With more than 14 inches of rain falling in a six-day period, and water running down from higher areas of Aurora and accumulating at the base of the dam and on CommonGround, the course didn’t drain off all its excess water until early October, nearly a month after the deluge started.
Since then, the CommonGround board has been considering whether to seed the affected greens, or simply sod them. The latter option was chosen, even though it costs more in the short run — about $100,000 more, installation included, for the 46,000 square feet of sod needed. But it also gets CommonGround back up and running as an 18-hole facility a month or month and a half sooner than if seeding the greens was the path chosen.
“The thought process was real simple,” Nicholson said. “If we sod, May 29 the (entire) course would reopen. If we seeded, it would be July 1 or July 15, and even that was problematic, depending on the weather. By sodding, we’ll have first-class greens by the first day of June. If we have some problems on the fairways — and we may have, depending on the weather — there are ways of dealing with that.”
Added CGA executive director Ed Mate: “We don’t want to lose our momentum. We have great, loyal customers, and we owe it to them to get it up and going. Also, with nine holes we don’t serve the mission as well.”
Indeed, that played into the decision. Besides being a highly regarded public golf course — CommonGround served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur — it’s the home to many outreach programs that grow the game and help better the lives of youngsters in the community. That includes through the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, the 9-hole Kids Course, many junior development programs, and partnerships with local organizations and schools.
With the May 29 date targeted for re-opening 18 holes, all those programs should be full-go by the time most schools let out for the summer.
The September flooding not only severely damaged the eight holes and five greens at CommonGround, it ruined all the pump-house equipment, doing roughly $150,000 in damage, and knocked out three bridges on the west side of the course. And because it wasn’t even the end of summer when the pump station was totaled, temporary re-routing had to be done to get the rest of the course irrigated before the season ended.
But now, the pump house is up and running again and dormant seeding was done in the fall to get the regrowing process started on the affected holes. Depending on the soil temperature, CommonGround officials hope to sod the five greens the week of March 31.
With the May 29 grand re-opening on the books, CommonGround won’t lose one of its busiest months of the year, which is a relief to Troyer.
“It’s great (to have a set date) because now I can actually book a bunch of things,” he said. “All of June is a big tournament month for us. (If the re-opening had been set for July), I was going to be offering either nine holes (possibly played twice) or have them move to another course.”
