As busy as a golf pro can be without a course
Despite appearances to the contrary, Kit DeAndre insists his is not a head golf professional without a golf course.
“I’ve still got a golf course,” he said recently with a chuckle. “It’s just a little dirty, that’s all.”
Just a little dirty? How about “just dirt?”
That would seem to be a more fitting description of Liberty Lake Golf Course, which is in the throes of a major $4.5 million makeover that will keep the 50-year-old county owned layout out of commission until at least May 2010.
With it grassless, rolling terrain resembling a moonscape of sorts, LLGC is barely recognizable these days. And the 49-year-old DeAndre, Liberty Lake’s long-time head professional, is doing whatever he can to stay busy during what is normally his busiest time of the year.
“It seems kind of strange,” said DeAndre, who underwent hip-replacement surgery last winter in anticipation of his golf course being mothballed for nearly 21 months. “But I’m finding ways to occupy my time.”
Golf, however, is not one of them – mainly because of the extended rehabilitation period that follows most hip replacements.
DeAndre went under the knife on Jan. 16 to replace an arthritic hip that has been deteriorating since he broke a femur and cracked his pelvis in a motorcycle accident 24 years ago. Although the surgery was performed in as non-invasive a manner as possible, the pain has yet to fully subside.
“I’ve actually been swinging a club again the last few days,” DeAndre said, “and I’m not ready yet, I can tell you that.”
So DeAndre splits his clubhouse time checking phone messages, trying to line up financing for the new fleet of riding carts he plans to have on hand when his golf course reopens and coordinating with the company hired to do the interior renovation.
As part of a financial package he worked out with the county to survive almost two years’ worth of lost revenues from cart rentals and clubhouse, restaurant and driving range sales, he also spends time surveying the construction work going on just outside the clubhouse window, helping whenever possible and learning all he can about the renovation process.
“I try to be here at least five days a week to keep tabs on what’s going on,” DeAndre said. “That way, when somebody calls with questions about the progress being made on the course, I hope to have the answer rather than just saying, ‘It’s coming along.’ ”
As a result of his interaction with architect Rick Phelps of the Colorado-based firm that is handling the massive redesign, irrigations specialist Rick Robinson, construction superintendent Jim Carroll and Liberty Lake superintendent Todd Harper, DeAndre is gaining a new and deeper appreciation for what goes into a golf course makeover.
Phelps is starting to make more frequent visits to Spokane to more closely monitor the project, and DeAndre is often at his side.
“I make it a point to find time in my schedule so I can walk around with him and listen to what he sees, what his plans are, what his vision is and just what’s going on in general,” DeAndre said.
Last week, for instance, Phelps was laying out the lateral lines for where different kinds of grass seed will be used on each hole for the seeding process that began on the driving range and several holes on the front nine this week.
“I have really been enlightened on how it all works,” DeAndre said of the redesign process. “I don’t know if I’m ready to take up golf course design yet, but from now on, any time I play a course – especially this one, I’m going to view things a little differently.
“I’m going to actually know what lateral lines are.”
But until then, DeAndre will continue doing what he can to help push along the renovation project in hopes of getting his golf course back by next spring.
“Things are going great right now,” he said. “I’m really excited about the golf course, and I’m excited to get out and starting swinging a club in earnest so I can get back to playing golf again.
“There’s a lot left to do, but I’m actually starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.”