VVH has a five-year contract with the city,
with three, five-year options. The new managers said at the outset that their
priority is to make the course more user-friendly, particularly making changes
to facilitate faster play.
That shed and a second one will be callaway diablo edge irons moved to
Rock Springs to
contain maintenance equipment. Garden Girls Landscaping did the plantings.
Trees and tall scrub on the hill that had
blocked the view from No. 1 tee are gone, the resulting bare areas sowed with
grass seed and covered with protective hay. The deck has a fresh coat of paint,
new wood lattice around its base, newly planted perennials surrounded by mulch,
table umbrellas for calm days and new steps to the platform.
Crews all over the course are cutting off
dead branches, felling trees, taking out weeds and tall brush, planting flowers
inside circles of day lilies and generally cleaning up.
With the trees gone below the first tee,
avid golfer Springman said the view from the hill is more panoramic and players
can see where they hit their balls.
Under new management since May 1, the
city-owned course got a new superintendent Saturday. He is Brian McKinney of
Jerseyville.
"They would search and search; it took
too long," he said. "Now, the rough is such that they can drive up
and see the balls. We don't want to penalize people so they can't play the
game. We want people to have fun. We are going to make it a nice golf
course."
"We mowed all of our greens shorter so
the Ping G20 irons balls will move faster," he said. "Everybody is loving
this."
Rick Springman, 63, of Godfrey, who works
for Van Hoy at Nautilus Fitness Center
in Alton as
maintenance manager, also is supervising the course. Van Hoy is majority owner
of Nautilus.
"It made everything look so narrow and
close in, it felt claustrophobic," Springman said about tree and other
plant overgrowth in the No. 7 fairway and throughout the course during a tour
Tuesday.
The surface in the No. 9 fairway is in poor
condition. Workers were cutting narrow strips in the dirt Tuesday and
installing hardy Bermuda grass sod that will spread over the current grass and
bare dirt throughout the fairway. Crews also will smooth bumps in the dirt
surface.
Throughout the course, workers have trimmed
down the grass in roughs that were so tall, golfers had difficulty finding
their balls, which was aggravating and slowed play, Springman said.
McKinney is easy for golfers to spot. He brings to work his faithful
sidekick, Maggie, a mixed-breed dog that lopes alongside discount golf clubs his golf cart as he
makes his rounds on the course.
"In the fall, we will move some tees
forward" to shorten distance between holes, making some greens larger and
cutting fairways wider, Springman said.
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