AURORA — It took a while for leadership of the Colorado Golf Association and the Colorado Women’s Golf Association to agree when it came to naming their new course.
Then they reached common ground. Or should we say, CommonGround?
The golf associations received roughly 300 name suggestions for the former Mira Vista Golf Course, which is being totally redesigned and is expected to open next spring on the site of the former Lowry Air Force Base. None of those names fit the bill.
What did, in the minds of the CGA and CWGA, was CommonGround Golf Course, which was the name announced Friday at the course site.
CGA president Bill Fowler indicated that leadership wanted the name to reflect the purpose of the course: a shared facility that keeps everyone’s needs in mind.
“This is a very exciting day for us, giving this place a new identity,” Fowler said Friday.
The name was unveiled in conjunction with a formal announcement of a previously reported grant by the U.S. Golf Association to the state golf associations. A total of $175,000 -- the largest amount ever given by the USGA to a state or regional golf association -- will go toward the construction of two short courses for juniors on the CommonGround site.
“This facility will change lives,” said Christie Austin, a Colorado-based USGA executive committee member.
The two kids’ courses -- the southeast one with four or five greens that can be made into various short-hole configurations, and the northern one with three longer holes -- can be played free of charge by any junior player who participates in one of the CGA/CWGA’s junior golf programs, according to CGA executive director Ed Mate.
The regular course was designed by Tom Doak and his Renaissance Golf Design group at a highly
CGA, CWGA Hit Upon CommonGround
Associations announce the name of their course on site for former Lowry base
By Gary Baines
Colorado Golf Journal, Friday, May 23, 2008
“People are going to rediscover what a neat piece of property this is,” said Eric Iverson, an associate for Renaissance Golf Design.
Iverson said the course will be “big, wide and very accessible,” but with some formidable trouble spots. “One thing that will be striking as you stand on the tees is the wide variety of choices -- and some of the scary things that you want to avoid. … I don‘t think there will be anything like it in Colorado.”
Dave Troyer, who formerly worked at Boulder Country Club, the Omni and at courses in Tucson and Minnesota, recently came on board as the director of golf operations for CommonGround.
“When I saw that Tom Doak was designing this course, I thought, ‘That’s awesome,’” Troyer said.
Dave Troyer was recently
hired as director of golf operations at CommonGround.
discounted rate, with the caveat that affordable green fees be maintained. Those green fees haven’t been set, but Mate said the median green fee in the Denver metro area is about $35, and CommonGround “will be in that vicinity.”
All told, construction on the CommonGround course is expected to cost about $4.8 million, according to Mate.
They are already well into the seeding process at the course. Mate said about 2½ holes have already been done, and the whole process will likely be completed in early August. Then it’s up to Mother Nature when the course will be ready to open next spring.
CommonGround will be a par-71 layout, with a length expected to range from 5,227 to 7,173 yards. The course is located on a large expanse of land with unobstructed views of the mountains.
