Courses Need Time To Mend After Water, Drips

The uncontrollable forces of Mother Nature, combined with the imbecilic forces of human nature, made this a difficult winter on area golf courses.

The flooding damage at Hangman Valley and The Creek at Qualchan could hardly be avoided, but vandalism and senseless destruction once again plagued Esmeralda, and buildings at Downriver were defaced with spray-painted graffiti.

Repairs to the estimated $240,000 in flood damage at Hangman are proceeding ahead of schedule, club pro Steve Nelke said Friday.

“The bridges are coming along really well,” Nelke said, adding that golfers might expect the back nine to open near the end of March and the full 18 to be ready for play at the end of April.

“For a while, we’ll ferry people from 18 across the bridge at 10 and they can just keep playing the back nine,” Nelke said. “It’s funny, but what wasn’t damaged with the flood is in really great shape.”

Downstream, Qualchan had the creek bank near the 18th green collapse, leaving the bridge largely unusable.

“About 40 feet of the bank disappeared,” said Mike Stone, city golf manager. “For the time being, we’ll be shuttling golfers from the 18th fairway to the green.”

Filing papers and receiving permits from various regulatory agencies could cause the repair project to extend to up to 30 days, Stone said.

Qualchan pro Mark Gardner had a more creative idea for dealing with the impediment.

“We’re going to set up an Evel Knievel jump across the canyon and give people a free round of golf if they make it across,” Gardner said.

So, start attaching the rockets to your golf cart.

At Esmeralda, a segment of the population (Deviate Division) continues to cause problems.

Stone reported the course has been victimized by four break-ins in the past two weeks, in which vandals climb in carts and drive on the frost-covered greens.

The damaged greens are still puttable, but are discolored from the frost burns.

A band of intellects also struck Downriver a few weeks ago, spraying graffiti across the clubhouse, maintenance shed and benches.

No, it wasn’t a plea for lower green fees or shorter rough. Just random, senseless scrawlings.

Chip shots

The Fairways is trying something completely new and different - rolling back green fees. After a good 1994 season, Fairways administrators bumped the fees to $18 per round.

“We were kidding ourselves,” John Durgan said. “This is truly a discount- or coupon-oriented community we live in.”

Durgan decided to charge a lower off-season rate ($11 for 18 holes). That rises to $12 through the end of March, but that rate will be in effect before 8 a.m. and after 4 p.m. on weekdays the rest of the season.

All other fees will be $15 except June-September weekends before 2 p.m., which will remain at $18.

Also at The Fairways, the Lilac Open has swapped weekends with the Rosauers Open. Traditionally, the Lilac has occupied the second weekend of July, with the Rosauers being contested the following week.

But when the PGA section asked to move the Rosauers up a week, the Lilac bumped back to July 18-21.

In the wake of the controversial decision to limit the reserved weekend dates of men’s clubs at Spokane County courses, city officials were asked what the policy was at their courses.

There is no policy.

“We never block off weekend times,” Stone said. “So we have not had a problem of that nature.”

Stone said some women’s clubs have times blocked off during the week, and the city had offered to reserve weekday times for men’s clubs, but no interest was shown.

Officials at The Highlands in Post Falls want to remind golfers the course is open to the public.

Last fall, an announcement was made that the Spokane Club would purchase all this year’s tee times, effectively making it a private course.

That, however, fell through.

Also, The Highlands has a new head pro - Tony Cuchessi, who formerly served at Hidden Lakes near Sandpoint.

The Washington Trust Pro-Am series gets going next week with a round Monday at Quail Ridge and Tuesday at Clarkston Country Club.

Also, The Fairways Best-Ball is set for March 30-31 with a fee of $70 per team, plus $12 green fees.

The 1996 Kick-Off Tournament at Esmeralda is also scheduled for March 30-31, with an entry fee of $25 plus green fees.

, DataTimes