New Greens, Pond Add To Golfing Challenge, Fun Liberty Lake Course Trying To Shake Image Of Being Too Easy

Some seem more impressed by the aesthetic improvements, others by the added challenge. But golfers seem to agree the changes at countyowned Liberty Lake Golf Course have made it more fun to play.

New greens were built at holes No. 2, 7 and 12 and new tees were installed at No. 10 and 13. A pond between holes No. 3, 4 and 7 was also constructed.

“The course is in better shape than I’ve ever seen it,” Lyle Anderson said, adding that he had been golfing at Liberty Lake for years.

Work on the course was completed last month.

County golf manager Mike Kingsley said the changes were aimed primarily at more experienced golfers. The county wanted to modernize the course and squelch the perception that Liberty Lake was a flat, easy course.

“You don’t want to build a bunch of hazards that get the average guy,” he said. “You want to build the hazards to challenge the better golfers.”

But Kingsley said the green improvements served a functional purpose as well.

“It allows us to cut the cups in different areas to spread the traffic around the green so that you are not wearing them out,” he said. “You need to have a larger area because you are cutting cups every day instead of every other day.”

Over 300 people now play Liberty Lake daily. That’s more than double the number when the course was built in 1958.

The changes have affected scores on individual holes, but have had little effect overall.

Hole No. 2, for example, is a little easier. The second shot is more likely to stay on the green now because the green slopes from back to front, said Darin Vaughn, who works in the pro shop.

By contrast, the seventh hole is a little harder. Although the green is bigger, golfers must contend with an 80,000-square-foot, amoeba-shaped lake to their left.

“I didn’t see it,” Bob Fox said good-naturedly after his tee shot off of No. 7 ended with a splash.

The 172-yard, par-3 hole is the one most effected by the water. Its narrow fairway runs the length of the lake.

“I like the water,” said Loy Maycock, who admitted losing a ball or two. “It gives (the hole) a real good dimension.”

Kingsley said the project ran $11,000 over its $160,000 budget. Frozen turf forced the county to spend $3,000 it had not planned excavating and re-filling the greens. An additional $8,000 was spent to build a berm around the lake to maintain the water level on the No. 7 side.

Further improvements are planned for the fall of 1996. Kingsley said additional green improvements and another lake between holes No. 1 and 9 are likely.

“We feel that when we are done with all of the improvements that Liberty Lake will be a course you come to Spokane to play,” Kingsley said.

, DataTimes