WSU plots its course for 18-hole golf layout
PULLMAN – Washington State University has started the fund-raising process for an expansion of the school’s golf course that is intended to bring a championship-level layout to Pullman.
WSU’s timetable has construction beginning in April 2006 with work completed in about a year.
WSU Director of Special Projects Mel Taylor has estimated the construction costs at $8.4 million, but the school is getting a significant boost from a group of donors that has banded together to help find the necessary money.
Eight people up and down the West Coast have each pledged to raise $1 million each. If successful, they would establish almost all the needed financing to see the project through.
“Talk is cheap, so we’ll see. But we’re in the process,” said Mike Jones, the unofficial leader of the eight donors. “I don’t know if we’ll raise the money and have it in hand by next spring, but we’ll get it raised.”
Jones is a 1964 graduate of WSU and a former member of the golf team. The president and CEO of Banner Bank in Walla Walla, Jones is a longtime supporter of the expansion from nine to 18 holes.
“We always used to have to go down to Clarkston Country Club to play our matches and practice and so forth,” Jones said, recalling his collegiate career.
“They’re a wonderful group down there and did a nice job, but it would have been a lot easier to have a golf course right on campus. And frankly it’ll be a nice draw for people coming to Washington State.”
Jones said his group of donors plans to do the bulk of the work in the fall, when more people are around campus and many of the university’s bigger contributors come to Pullman for football games.
The project has also enjoyed strong support from the office of WSU President V. Lane Rawlins, which Jones credited as a major reason for the project making it this far.
Taylor said WSU plans to steam ahead with the project as scheduled even if Jones’ group doesn’t quite reach its goal, but added that the current climate indicates there will be few speed bumps in the fund-raising process.
“I think we’re in good shape,” Taylor said. “Every indication is that there’s a whole lot of interest in this project. I don’t anticipate any problems with the fund-raising.”
In May, the WSU Board of Regents approved some changes to the plan made because of environmental concerns. Originally approved by the board in October 2004, the course construction was once planned for April of this year before delays pushed the schedule back 12 months.
The 18-hole course has been mapped out by John Harbottle Design in Tacoma. After the course construction is complete, Taylor said WSU also plans to build a $4 million clubhouse facility that will include meeting space for non-golf-related uses.