CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora opened five years ago this month, but just in the short period since 2009 it’s gone through plenty of ups and downs.
Only two months before its grand opening, a fire swept through about 130 acres of land just west of the course, but it burned itself out just left of CommonGround’s fifth hole.
Then last September, with more than 14 inches of rain falling in just six days, the Westerly Creek Dam that borders the course did its job — flood control — by protecting land and real estate in nearby areas of eastern Denver and northwestern Aurora. But in the process, it also collected the overflowing water from Westerly Creek on the golf course for weeks on end, killing a lot of grass in the process. At one point, nearly half the course was under water, at some points 6 feet deep of it.
It took nearly a month before the water drained off the course completely, and by then eight holes were damaged severely and the turf on five greens died.
But there have been plenty of positives at CommonGround as well. The Tom Doak-designed course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, has drawn accolades to the point that it served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur. And CommonGround became the home of the highly respected — and imitated — Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, as well as the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program and many community outreach programs that have benefited both youth in the area and the game of golf. Along the way, the course received a $175,000 USGA grant that helped the associations build the nine-hole Kids Course at CommonGround.
In the grand scheme of those ups and downs, suffice it to say that Thursday most certainly fell into the “up” category. After a concerted recovery effort following the flooding, $350,000 in repairs and $750,000-$850,000 in lost revenue, CommonGround held a grand reopening of all 18 holes of the championship course during the Colorado Golf Foundation golf tournament presented by Citywide Banks. (Note: The course will fully re-open to the general public on Sunday.) In addition, the new community putting green at CommonGround (left) was dedicated — in memory of David Herlinger, a golf lover and former Lowry Redevelopment Authority chairman. And the day raised money for Colorado Golf Foundation-supported programs at CommonGround, including the Solich Academy, the Hale Irwin Program, the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools Program, and CommonGround’s community partnerships.
To get the championship course back up to full speed after 8 1/2 months and so much work was gratifying to many of those in attendance.
“It’s exciting for me,” said Tom Lawrence, president of the CGA last year when the floods hit. “Since going out there in the fall, I had been holding off to really take a look. I’ve only played the nine hole (modified course) once or twice since then. I stayed away from looking at the damage. I was pointing to this day so when I got out there, I wanted to see it when it was all finished. So I’m really excited today.
“It’s like a rebirth. I think the whole community is pretty excited about it.”
Five greens — Nos. 5, 6, 11, 12 and 14 — on the west side of the course — were resodded this spring, using about 46,000 square feet of sod grown on a farm in Idaho. (The 11th green is pictured above on Thursday.) Other areas of the course affected were dormant seeded in the fall. All told, about 22 acres of the course required significant work post-flood.
“The resodded greens, you can’t believe how good they are,” said Will Nicholson, the former USGA president who serves as the manager of the CommonGround board. “The key to playing golf is the greens. There are some rough spots in the fairway, but people put up with that as long as the greens are good. And the grass has really popped in the last week now that it’s warmed up.”
CommonGround superintendent Bobby Martin has been roundly credited in helping get the course back fully on its feet, and CGA vice president Joe McCleary has been of considerable assistance given his professional background. McCleary is a former superintendent at Saddle Rock Golf Course and currently serves as a superintendent of stormwater operations for the City of Aurora. He’s also been on the CommonGround board of directors since it was formed.
“If you look at (CommonGround) every day like Bobby and the staff do, you don’t see the improvements as much,” McCleary noted. “If you come back and visit it every week — like I kind of have done — you’re pretty amazed. We’re just hoping the golfers feel the same way. You’ve got to understand it’s not going to be perfect (right away), but you had to open it sometime.”
Getting CommonGround back to operating fully after eight months of being curtailed has taken considerable effort from many individuals, including CommonGround, CGA and CWGA staff, and the CommonGround board of directors.
“Everybody put their shoulder to the wheel and it’s back where it is right now,” Nicholson said.
Lawrence remembers making multiple calls on a daily basis for a couple of months to deal with CommonGround-related matters in the wake of the flooding — to Nicholson, to CGA executive director Ed Mate, to other board members, to the CommonGround management staff.
“Will Nicholson and I got on the phone when it was raining, then I came out two days later because quite frankly you couldn’t get out here (at first),” Lawrence noted. “But once I got out here it was shock. It was just a giant lake. It was shock and it was sadness because the golf course had matured over the years it’s been open to become this gem. Then to see that happen …”
Added McCleary: “I never imagined what happened happening. It was one of those things I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. I’ve been all involved in planning of the golf course and we’d talked about the flood-control dam. (But) you never think it’s going to happen. Driving over and looking at it was pretty unbelievable.”
But, said Lawrence, “then you quickly transfer into a business mode. What do we do? How can we fix it and where do we go from here?”
That eventually brought CommonGround to the point it was on Thursday — reopening all 18 holes of the championship course five years to the month after initially opening.
As CommonGround director of golf Dave Troyer noted on Thursday, “After the first grand opening five years ago, I didn’t think we’d have to do this again.”
Besides getting the full golf course back, Thursday marked the dedication of the 21,700-square-foot community putting green, which was originally supposed to be dedicated last October.
The staff at CommonGround wasted no time utilizing the undulating putting surface. Just hours after local dignitaries and officials hit the first putts on the green toward a nine-inch-wide hole (pictured above), Big Brothers and Big Sisters were stroking putts there (pictured at left). And for good measure, Ping donated 15 putters for use on the new green.
