Director of golf Dave Troyer understandably took it as a positive sign that the lone negative comment he heard during the first weekend CommonGround Golf Course was open came from a man who followed up his criticism by asking how he could make preferential tee times in the future.
“The feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive,” Troyer said Monday morning. “The one negative thing I heard was from a guy who said it wasn’t worth the daily fee because it didn’t have ball washers on every hole and it wasn’t a big enough clubhouse. Then he asked how he could become a CGA member so he could make seven-day advance (tee-time) reservations. So I didn’t put much stock in (the complaint).”
CommonGround, the Aurora course owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, opened to the public on Saturday. And, not surprisingly, prime-time tee times were hard to come by on the first weekend. Troyer said 465 rounds were booked for Saturday and Sunday combined, and another 250 were scheduled for Memorial Day.
Still, the weather wasn’t particularly cooperative the first couple of days. Troyer said two inches of rain fell in the two days — mainly in the mid- to late afternoon — and the showers were often accompanied by lightning. Play was interrupted both Saturday and Sunday, and some rain checks were issued.
“We had just about everything thrown at us,” Troyer said. “But we handled it well.”
The first weekend of public-access play capped a week in which the grand opening was held, followed on Friday by a fundraising tournament for junior golf. Dustin Jensen, director of youth programs for the CGA, said the event raised between $12,500 and $15,000 for junior development programs at CommonGround. Among the beneficiaries are Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Special Olympics, LPGA-USGA Girls Golf of Aurora and Open Fairways.
A total of 108 players participated in the junior fundraiser.
“It was fun,” Jensen said. “It was a chance for people to get out to see the big course and the Kids Course, and to help junior golf. It all went great.”
One thing that was nearly universal last week was an appreciation for the new Tom Doak-designed course at CommonGround. Chuck Babb, a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame selection board, was representative of those who gave the course a very positive review after playing it for the first time.
“I was totally impressed,” said Babb, a member at Cherry Hills Country Club. “I had thought of it as a flat piece of ground, but I was astonished that they created what they did with slight elevation changes, bunkering and things like that. I like what I saw. It was in great condition. I think it’s going to be a terrific success; it seems like a great alternative to the private courses around. Denver is very fortunate to have the quality of public courses it has, and this is a really nice course in the city. I’m a big fan of Tom Doak; he’s one of the foremost (course architects) in the country. To get (Doak and his team) for a public course such as this is a big coup.”
