THORNTON — Thorncreek Golf Course officials who are creating a wants and needs list for the impending renovation of the city’s only golf course say the project likely will need to be done in phases over several years.
“Last year I thought we would start the remodel project this year, but the project itself got pretty big,” said Doug Fisher, Thorncreek Golf Course superintendent. “We’re getting more specific with our plans, and once we get them finalized we will need to come up with a plan for how to get this work done.”
. A Texas-based design company, Finger Dye and Spann, completed a $250,000 conceptual redesign back then, and course officials have spent the last year whittling out cost details and prioritizing phases.
Some desired fixes for the course include a new irrigation system, resurfacing the greens, redoing the bunkers, rerouting the cart paths, adding tee boxes on every hole, making landing areas wider to improve the pace of play and make it more user friendly overall.
Now Fisher said that $2 million will cover just the irrigation portion (including a weather station and pump station) of that list.
“We have this master plan, but we’re going to have to look at it and pick and choose what work needs to be done first,” he said. “We’re designing a new irrigation system that we hope to get down into the ground in the next few years with about 2,000 sprinkler heads because the existing system is about 23 years old and has a lot of coverage issues.”
Overall, he said that dream list estimate is closer to $10 million, but all of it probably won’t be addressed.
“That’s probably not in reality,” Fisher said. “We will likely try to spread this out over a few years, because the scope of work has increased … just putting in a new irrigation system alone is going to tear everything up.”
In the meantime, city staff on the course have instituted a number of changes to help stop the financial bleeding at the course, and to encourage more use from families in particular.
Thornton took over all operations of Thorncreek in 2012 after a course management company dropped the course for being too expensive to fix and maintain.
The city brought in Chris Swinhart with the Colorado Professional Golf Association to manage the 103-acre, 18-hole course last year.
“It was a great opportunity for me to get to start from scratch and install some of the things that I think are important in a golf facility,” Swinhart said. “We’ve completely done a 180 when it comes to customer service and course conditions. And when you start doing a better job with those two thing, that attendance piece begins to increase, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen happen.”
Since Swinhart took over managing the course for Thornton, he said overall revenue is close to 19 percent higher than it was in 2014.
He said play rounds have gone up, and participation has increased exponentially thanks in part to expanded programming and lessons.
“We’re adding junior programs, lesson programs for beginners, ladies and adults, and we’ve also switched the nines over, and we’re looking at putting foot golf in this month,” Swinhart said. “I’m trying to drive families here, more than anything, and that’s where the foot golf piece came in.”
Thorncreek will open a foot golf course in July along the northwest portion of the property. Foot golf is like soccer but with large, sunken holes instead of net goals. Swinhart believes the attraction will be a tournament and general curiosity draw. The total cost of supplies and rerouting is about $3,500.
“We will be letting players play after 4 p.m. on days we do not have events, and they can call and schedule a start time,” Swinhart said. “People can also schedule everything online now since we .”
Teresa Werner was course-side at Thorncreek recently, watching her granddaughter, Bentley Barent, 5, learn to drive a ball during a weeklong junior golf workshop offered for the first time this year. The lessons were at capacity every day last month, with about 60 students from ages 5 to 17 there all week.
“This is really the first golf lesson she’s done where all adults are supervising and actually trying to improve her (game),” Werner said. “It’s been great to watch her improvement just in this one week. It’s clearly important for the people who work here to do a good job and make it fun for the kids at the same time.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Mmitchelldp
