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Last year, the story was Chambers Bay and, to a lesser extent, White Horse on the Kitsap Peninsula. Later this year, August 29th specifically, attention will turn to the John Harbottle-designed Palouse Ridge, Washington State University's new 18-hole course built at a cost of $12.3million, not one cent of which came from public coffers.
Palouse Ridge has been a dream of the university for getting on three decades. Until now, an 85-year-old, nine-hole course on 92 acres with only two full-time employees accommodated PE students and those wanting to thrash a ball about between classes. It was also where PGA Tour star Kirk Triplett first learned the game. But it was totally inadequate for the Cougar golf team which had to travel daily to Clarkston (65 mile round trip) just to practice and Walla Walla Country Club (230 miles round trip) or Moscow, just across the state line, in order to host other schools and play collegiate tournaments.
Once funding for the new course was in place - those contributing included alumni, private businesses and various foundations (several donations were also accepted including $250,000 worth of grass seed from Boise-based Jacklin Seed Co.) - work began on selecting a designer. Five major design firms, including those headed by Gary Player and Arnold Palmer, bid for the job, but Tacoma's Harbottle got the nod - ironic given he is a former Husky.
 John Harbottle
Harbottle began walking the site and picturing the holes after being hired in October 2005. He estimates he was on-site 100 days before and during construction which began in spring 2006. To define the fairways and rough, he would walk the entire 315-acre property numerous times sticking little flags into the ground every 30 yards. One day last summer, he walked the extremely undulating 630-yard 10th hole half a dozen times in 100 degrees, in order to position his little flags just so.
Another reason for hiring Harbottle, says Taylor, was the former Pete Dye employee's reputation for being easy to work with. 'He obviously worked extremely hard to create the course he wanted,' says Taylor, 'but he was so easy to get along with. The whole thing really went incredibly smoothly; there were no dysfunctional relationships between him and any of the staff.'
That staff included Todd Lupkes, a 1992 graduate of the highly acclaimed turf-management program at WSU, who was appointed head superintendent in May of last year, and the course's general manager Bruce Perisho who's been at Palouse Ridge since April. Perisho works for CourseCo, a golf course management company based in Petaluma, CA, which, like Harbottle, earned its contract after beating out a number of other higher-profile competitors. Again, it was an appreciation for the potential impact of the course on the local environment and how best to minimize it that attracted Taylor. 'CourseCo's sensitivity to the environment matched that of Harbottle's and was one of the deciding factors in our decision to hire them,' he says.
In today's world, large-scale golf courses which, in some cases, consume hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day have many detractors, and WSU's new golf course certainly had its share. Among them were a group of local environmentalists and a private citizen who filed a suit against the university in July for what it called irresponsible use of water.
Rachel Paschal Osborn, a lecturer at Gonzaga University and the Spokane-based lawyer hired by the environmentalists to represent them had this to say to Oregon Public Broadcasting in June; 'The issue is that water levels {in the ancient Grande Ronde aquifer beneath the Palouse} are dropping by a foot and a half a year and that the water - 20,000 year old water by the way, what we call fossil waters - is not being recharged.' Osborn, who founded the Center for Environmental Law & Policy, and also the Washington Water Trust, keeps a keen eye on all major water issues in the Columbia River Basin and indeed the rest of Washington state and is obviously very concerned with WSU's water consumption. 'The water coming out of the aquifer is not being replaced,' she said. 'We're just mining it.'
Taylor and Lupkes are quick to stress, however, the golf course will not be the reckless consumer Osborn assumes it will be and that her fears are actually misplaced. 'Water-use has been our number one concern since the day we started,' says Lupkes. 'It's why we installed a $2million irrigation system called Site-Pro. There is not a better water user in the region than us. In fact, WSU uses the same amount of water as it did 20 years ago.'
Site-Pro, developed by Minnesota-headquartered landscape machinery manufacturer Toro, is an extremely sophisticated product that allows Lupkes to monitor the output of 2,000 carefully-positioned sprinkler heads around the course. He can also measure levels of moisture in the ground from his office and, using that information, program each head to come on at specific times and how long each one should be in use. 'With this system we will use only the water we need,' says Lupkes. 'We will have a green, well-conditioned course without wasting any water.'
If that doesn't solace Osborn, even a little bit, perhaps the use of geothermal water to heat the clubhouse (where you'll find Frank Maryott's Banyan's Restaurant) might. 'On the left side of the 3rd hole is an area into which we have cut six 9ft-deep trenches that are 6ft apart and 400ft long,' says Lupkes. 'Using geothermal water will, of course, cut down considerably the amount of electricity we use.'
Everywhere you look at Palouse Ridge, in fact, electricity or water saving devices are in operation. Perisho recently purchased a fleet of new carts but only after having the E-Z-GO salesman demonstrate their power-saving abilities. 'Our carts actually creates electricity when you're going downhill and your foot is off the pedal,' he says. 'In May, I drove 36 holes with the salesman and afterwards he measured how much electricity the cart had used. The reading was so low, he was convinced his machine was faulty. So he made sure it was working correctly and we went out and did it again. Sure enough the cart had only used 30% of its total charge.'
Local golfers are, not surprisingly, excited about the course, none more so than Cougar golf coach Walt Williams who has been waiting for it 11 years. 'I know there have been four or five failed attempts to get the golf course project going in the last 25 or 30 years,' he says. 'When I started here in 1997, Mel assured me we'd have an 18-hole course one day. And now it's here.' Recruiting potential golf team members should now prove a great deal easier for Williams than it was in the days of the nine-hole course, especially as he sees the new layout as a potential venue for Pac-10 and even NCAA championships. 'For the last two years, I've taken every kid who is thinking about coming to WSU and playing on the golf team out to have a look,' he says. 'They have all been totally shocked and amazed by what they've seen.'
But it's not only Williams and his team that stand to benefit. Palouse Ridge will be the equivalent of a 315-acre lab for turf-management students many of whom have already worked on Lupkes's staff of 35. 'We've had 11 of our turf-management students on the team already,' he says. 'Plus we will be able to recruit far more students into the class. There are 15-20 in it now, but I expect that class to have 50 students or more within two to three years.'
Taylor points out that those taking biology, landscaping, hydraulics, agricultural and engineering classes, among many others, will also be able to use the course as a vital educational resource. 'This is going to be a huge part of the university,' he says. 'It is absolutely not just about the golf team. Obviously it will generate revenue for the university, but a lot of students stand to benefit. It is going to be huge for the Palouse, Pullman and, of course, the university.' So does WSU now have a course to be proud of and one that might not only help Williams recruit golfers but which might also host regional/national collegiate championships and even a US Mid-Amateur?
In a word; absolutely. You might think a vast expanse of gently rolling, wheat-yielding plains wouldn't necessarily be the ideal location for a golf course. But there is ample interest in this corner of the region to have allowed a visionary like Harbottle to create a course that could soon be considered world-class and which might appear on most serious golfers' list of top five courses in Washington before the year is out. 1st; 471 yards into the wind
Back tees are invariably set below and to the side of the slightly elevated forward tees. College players get restricted views, awkward angles and a lot of uphill tee shots while visitors get a great look at each hole.
It's a safe bet that when you visit, you will encounter a fairly stiff breeze. Most days it will blow from the west making the 471-yard 1st (be sure to aim at Bryan Clock Tower in the distance) an absolute brute from the Crimsons, and the 593-yard 5th even harder. The longest hole on the course; the 630-yard 10th, will be manageable however and you can take a rip at the downhill 350-yard 15th, making sure to somehow avoid the three diagonal fairway bunkers in full view from the tee.
 The superb Par 5 17th Crimson 7,335 yards - 75.9 rating
Blue 6,738 yards - 72.9
Gray 6,216 yards - 70.2
Black 5,591 yards - 72.1 (for ladies)
Green 5,113 yards - 69.4
(All Par 72) Tel: 509-335-4342
www.palouseridge.com |
