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Jack Nicklaus opened his 250th golf course recently when he officially unveiled Dismal River, a 400-acre golf resort in the Nebraska Sandhills. The first Nicklaus-designed course in Nebraska, the 18-hole links-style Dismal River course spans 7,600 yards from the championship tees and 6,700 yards from the member tees. The resort also includes a nine-hole short course, restaurant, spa, cabins and an 18,000-square-foot clubhouse with a lounge, four bowling lanes, hunting and golf simulators, card room, pool tables and a wine room. Rusty Fuller (Class A), a 10-year GCSAA member, is superintendent.
The turfgrass management program at the University of Missouri-Columbia has officially launched its fundraising campaign for a new research and teaching facility. Announced during the program’s annual Turfgrass and Ornamental Field Day, the campaign is aimed primarily to fund a 4,000-square-foot facility and also to propel the college’s turfgrass management program to national prominence. The facility, which will cost $550,000 to build, will include a turfgrass library, diagnostic lab, greenhouse and office space. The campaign was kicked off with a $40,000 donation from the Professional Lawn Care Association of Mid-America Foundation, which the university vowed to match.
Forty youth participated in the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Selected from a pool of 90 participants in the First Tee Participant Selection Process at Kansas State University and Colbert Hills GC, the golfers were paired with professionals and amateurs for the tournament, which is part of the Champions Tour. Held on Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte GC, the tournament was televised nationally on The Golf Channel and NBC.
The Carolinas GCSA has recognized golf writer Howard Ward with a presentation and a plaque to honor his 50-plus years serving as a golf and sports correspondent. Ward was recognized for his work with the The Pilot newspaper and the Fayetteville Observer.
GCSAA has a new online forum for members. Titled “Municipal Square,” the forum will cover topics specific to government-owned and -managed facilities. Members who work under city, county, state or other government structures will find discussions about topics they face.
Ernie Els made an appearance at a fundraising breakfast at Medinah Banquets, Addison, Ill., to benefit the Les Turner ALS Foundation. Els’ friend Ralph Russo, an avid golfer and director of marketing for the 2006 PGA Championship, has been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Though Russo isn’t physically able to enjoy the game of golf under his conditions, he has remained active in the community, volunteering for the tournament and at Medinah CC. Others in the golf community affected by ALS include the late Bruce Edwards, Tom Watson’s longtime caddy, and the late Jeff Julian, PGA golfer. Both died of the disease in 2004.
The last year of a six-year partnership between The Toro Co. and The K Club culminated recently at the 2006 Ryder Cup. Toro supplied its irrigation systems and turf equipment technologies to the Ireland club to help prepare it for the 36th annual Ryder Cup, the largest sporting event to have ever been witnessed in Ireland, Toro says. The company has lined up partnerships with European Ryder Cup courses over the next 10 years. In addition to its irrigation and turf equipment, Toro provided to The K Club irrigation system performance checks, mowers, bunker rakes and utility vehicles. Nine-year GCSAA member Gerry Byrne is resort superintendent.
In a partnership with Golf 20/20, the Virginia Golf Council is conducting an economic impact study on the state’s golf industry to be completed by the end of the year. Golf 20/20 has invested in a template for the study, and Virginia is the first state to utilize this service of the organization. The importance of the study was reinforced last year when golf courses affected by Hurricane Katrina were lumped into the same category as massage and tattoo parlors. Had Louisiana and Mississippi possessed credible documents that quantified the impact of golf on the states’ economies, the outcome may have been different, the organization states.
More than 140 golfers participated in Target Specialty Products’ 7th Annual Charity Golf Tournament, which raised $61,000 — the most ever in the tournament’s seven-year history — for the American Cancer Society. Held at Tustin (Calif.) Ranch GC, the event honors Malcolm Stack, the founder of Bell Laboratories Inc., as well as cancer survivors Chuck Dal Pozzo of Monterey Agricultural Products and Steven Stringer of Cleary Chemical Co.
A unique five-hole putting course sits atop a concrete loading deck next to a 19-story high-rise in Irving, Texas. Constructed of Synthetic Turf International’s NP50 nylon putting surface and Zoysia SoftLawn fringe, the 4,000-square-foot putting course was one of several renovations made to the building and surrounding property by Staffelbach Design Associates in Dallas for use by the building’s tenants.
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