Renovation Comes To Avondale
Tim Morton, pro at Avondale Golf and Tennis Club, called the impending renovations at his club a “facelift.”
But once he starts describing it, it’s clear that this $1.7 million make-over is not just a little nose straightening and skin tightening.
The back nine is currently closed, and after Labor Day, only “five or six holes will be open,” Morton said.
The changes:
Cart paths from tee to greens.
Three new ponds and a waterfall.
Eight rebuilt greens and nine to 12 redone tee boxes.
Three new fairways with spruced-up traps.
A new irrigation system.
All of this started, Morton said, when the realization arose that the 30-year-old irrigation system at the semi-private course in Hayden, Idaho, had to be replaced.
“It all just kind of snowballed from there,” he said.
The bulk of the work should be finished by October, with a reopening tentatively scheduled for May.
“We think that when it’s done, it will make us one of the nicest courses in the area,” Morton said.
Still, it’s a daunting undertaking.
“I look at it and I think, holy smokes, there’s a lot of work to be done,” Morton said. “But when it’s over, it’s sure gonna be pretty.”
No Holts barred
Marcy and Britney Holt of Spokane drew national attention in the August edition of Golf Journal magazine.
Marcy, 41, and Britney, 16, were not only the lone mother-daughter tandem competing in the Women’s Public Links championship at Hominy Hill Golf Course in Colts Neck, New Jersey, but as far as research could extend, they were the first such pair in the event’s 19-year history.
Both missed the cut, however, with Britney carding an 84-77 and Marcy coming in at 86-87.
Britney, a junior at Mead High, has competed in junior tournaments from New Mexico to Massachusetts and from Florida to Southern California this summer.
Notes
Here’s yet another reason to keep the ball on the short stuff.
A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found a correlation between tick bites and golfers who spend considerable time in the rough.
A 1993 outbreak of the tick-borne disease ehrlichiosis at a retirement golf community in Tennessee showed that three of four victims were golfers.
“Although golf is generally viewed as a low-risk activity, less skilled golfers might be at an increased risk” because of exposure to ticks in the rough, the study reported.
Look for a half-hour recap of last year’s Senior Tour Pro Classic Sunday at 6:30 on KHQ-TV.
The Pullman Police Department’s D.A.R.E. program will benefit from Sunday’s golf tournament at the Washington State University course, sponsored by the Pullman Moose Lodge. Cost is $20 plus green fees. Call 509-332-0930.
A Labor Day couples tournament is set for Downriver on Sept. 2 and 3. Cost is $70 plus green fees and includes a Saturday night dinner. Call 327-5269.
The March of Dimes and MCI present the 11th annual Golf Classic Sept. 13 at The Creek at Qualchan.
Call 328-1920 for further information.
, DataTimes