Sunday, September 23, 2007
Keep buildings off Tech's fairways
Christian Trejbal
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From the RoundTable blog
Virginia Tech students, staff and faculty have a recreation option enjoyed at few other schools -- a golf course in the middle of campus. At least they do for now. University planners entertain distant dreams of construction on that valuable land.
The Tech course once had 18 holes, but the school bulldozed the front nine a few years ago to make room for the new alumni center and The Inn at Virginia Tech.
The surviving holes between the Duck Pond and Prices Fork Road provide enjoyable, walkable sport with requisite golf frustration. The course would never host a major championship, but it offers plenty of challenges for most golfers.
Whenever I drive by, I peek through the trees to see if anyone is on the fourth green, and for a moment wish I were there.
Jay Hardwick, Tech's director of golf operations, predicts golfers will play 15,700 rounds on the course this year, and the majority will be students.
People affiliated with the school, especially students, pay reduced greens fees. The course is also open to the public.
A golf course is certainly not a campus necessity, but it is an amenity worth preserving and a sales point to prospective freshmen.
Tech spokesman Larry Hincker, himself a golfer, enjoys having the course nearby.
"The golf course is a wonderful recreation facility for our students and has served them well over the years," he said. "I love seeing a student shouldering a golf bag and walking out of a dorm toward the course."
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These days some of those students head for their cars so they can drive out to The River Course in Fairlawn. The Tech foundation acquired that course a few years ago and brought in renowned golf course architect Pete Dye to overhaul it.
"It was an opportunity to get a world-class, championship venue for the Virginia Tech community -- faculty, staff, students and alumni -- and to give the Tech golf team a championship course as a home, which we had never had," Hardwick said.
As word about the course spreads, it will provide an economic boost, too. A premiere golf course in the New River Valley will attract players to the region.
Hardwick coaches the golf team, and he gushes about the team's new home. They have a new facility as well as a reserved driving range and practice areas.
I finally made it out to The River Course a couple weeks ago to play a round. It's spectacular. The course meanders along the New River and will challenge even top golfers. I cursed Pete Dye every time my ball rolled into a runoff area around an undulating green.
The difficulty, inaccessibility and cost, however, keep student numbers down. Hardwick expects the course to host about 17,000 rounds this year, but students will be in the minority.
The two Tech courses serve different golfers
The campus course is perfect for students seeking a convenient, affordable round after class. It is home to a club team that competes in the ACC.
The River Course is ideal for alumni, friends of the university and the golf team. It could hold an ACC championship.
Someday, though, students might lose their campus option.
The university's long-term master plan shows buildings and a road where the campus golf course is.
Hincker points out that any plans for development on the course are years out. "This is technically the 10-year master plan, but it's really meant to look long term," he explained.
That could mean 10, 20 even 30 years before the remaining nine give way to dorms, classrooms or research facilities.
"We need to ask the larger question: As the campus continues to grow and needs its land, can we have a golf course?" he said.
Fair enough. Let's have that conversation when the time comes.
The danger is including buildings on the course in today's long-term master plan. That could provide cover for future administrators ready to remove something precious.
"Look," they will say, "we've been planning to build on the course for decades. What's all the fuss? Everyone knew this was coming. The time to complain was back then."
Consider this a complaint back then. The course is a rare amenity that future Tech officials should not be able to bulldoze just because the master plan said it was all right.
Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times based in the New River Valley bureau in Christiansburg.
