Call it bonus golf.
Hillcrest Golf Club announced this spring that, with renovations to tee areas and bunkers, only nine holes would be playable starting at the end of August.
But as the course was gearing up for its main event – this week’s Navajo Trail Open – came word that, not only will all 18 holes remain open two weeks longer than first expected, but after the renovations, all 18 holes will be open until the end of the season.
Originally, plans were to close the front nine for renovations immediately after the club championships, scheduled Aug. 22-23, according to club pro John Vickers and superintendent Ken Kirby. When that was completed, the front nine was to reopened and work would move to the back nine, which would close for the season.
Now, while work still will begin around Aug. 17, all 18 holes will remain open until the front nine is closed and major work begins Tuesday, Sept. 8 – the day after Labor Day – to accommodate that usually busy holiday weekend.
Then, according to Hillcrest, once work is completed on the front nine, it will be reopened and the back nine will be closed. Total time for the project is expected to be nine to 10 weeks, or about early November, after which the back nine would reopen, meaning golfers would have a month or so to enjoy the entire renovated course – last year, Hillcrest closed in early December.
The pushback in a start date for the project also will allow the course to aerify and ultimately rejuvinate the greens before – and during – renovation. Aerification of the greens is scheduled Aug. 24-25, after the club championships and at the same time the front nine originally was scheduled to close.
Overall, as many as 10 tee box complexes will be overhauled and all of the course’s bunkers redone – except for a few that will be eliminated.
Besides replenishing sand when needed and the usual grooming of the traps, the bunkers essentially are as they were when the first nine holes opened in 1969 and the second nine nearly 10 years later, as are the tee boxes, according to Vickers and Kirby.
The project is three years in the making, and Hillcrest announced specifics of the renovation plan in an April 16 email to members.
Vickers and Kirby said Aspen Golf out of West Virginia is spearheading the project and that total cost will be about $500,000.
bpeterson@durangoherald.com
