Colbert Hills?

[Johnny Wichita]

Anyone played recently?  How are the fairways?  I have heard they are having some trouble.  Need info please. 

Thanks,

JW

[get_HIT]

Played the par 3 a couple times in the last week, not much fairway on that though....

[wetwillie]

Was there for a wedding last weekend and went out on the front, other than a few small spots in the fairways the course looks great.   

['taterblast]

course is okay. a couple of the fairways are sub-par (pun intended), especially #15 comes to mind (they moved up the tees a couple weeks ago so the first fairway wasn't even in play), but it doesn't really take away from the round too much. the bunkers are all white sand now and legit.

overall, not the best shape it's ever been in, but it's still colbert hills.

[Ghost of Stan Parrish]

the bunkers are all white sand now and legit.

Good.  I played there last fall (with another goEMAW poster!) and half of the bunkers seemed to be dirt and rocks dredged from Tuttle Creek.  

It really cut into my elite golf skills.

['taterblast]

yeah the bunkers were pretty much crap last summer. but now they're all AEAP (as elite as possible). doesn't matter to me though because i never hit into the sand.

[Kat Kid]

heard that place is losing money hand over fist.

[Johnny Wichita]

heard that place is losing money hand over fist.

Kind of why i asked.  They are offering some cheap deal if you bring a group of eight.  There were a bunch of us in the office going to go up but we heard the fairways were pretty bad.  Being a Manhatriot and all, I should probably support them and play even if the fairways are bad. 

[j rake]

Don't act like you hit the fairways.

[Johnny Wichita]

Don't act like you hit the fairways.

Great rough ridin' point rake.  I should be worried about the condition of the greens. 

Does anyone know the condition of the greens at Colbert?  TIA 

[kso_FAN]

The fairways aren't bad.  There are some dead spots b/c the snow did a number on the zoysia fairways, but Colbert is still in better condition than 95% of the courses in the state.  And with the deals you can get there now, its tough to beat as a golf value if you like playing tougher/nicer courses.

The greens are in great shape.

[j rake]

Don't act like you hit the fairways.

Great fracking point rake.  I should be worried about the condition of the greens. 

Does anyone know the condition of the greens at Colbert?  TIA 

Last time I played  there, I had just one three putt.

Greens are great!

 

[waks]

heard that place is losing money hand over fist.

Curious... what happens if they go bankrupt? I mean, is there much else you can do with the area other than have the course?

[jtksu]

If it' that bad, some other company would just buy the course.  Several of the Wichita area courses have changed hands recently, with basically no noticable changes to golfers.

[Johnny Wichita]

The fairways aren't bad.  There are some dead spots b/c the snow did a number on the zoysia fairways, but Colbert is still in better condition than 95% of the courses in the state.  And with the deals you can get there now, its tough to beat as a golf value if you like playing tougher/nicer courses.

The greens are in great shape.

Thanks for the info _FAN. 

I'm in the process of converting my back yard to zoysia.  Pretty excited about it.  About as excited as you can get for changing what kind of grass your yard is. 

[Johnny Wichita]

If it' that bad, some other company would just buy the course.  Several of the Wichita area courses have changed hands recently, with basically no noticable changes to golfers.

Which ones?  Echo Hills?  What else? 

[jtksu]

Willowbend.

[DILLIGAF]

   New a number of guys who worked the turf crew at Prairie Dunes who went up to get their degree at KSU and hired on at Colbert, they all to a man came back to PDunes for their summer work because the way they took care of (was around '01) Colbert was a joke.

[kso_FAN]

   New a number of guys who worked the turf crew at Prairie Dunes who went up to get their degree at KSU and hired on at Colbert, they all to a man came back to PDunes for their summer work because the way they took care of (was around '01) Colbert was a joke.

There is a big reason Prairie Dunes is the top course in the state.  I'm sure being private and having a much bigger budget doesn't hurt what they can do compared to Colbert.  Prairie Dunes should be in much better condition and it is.

[jtksu]

My folks live on Auburn Hills and you can certainly tell its managed by the city.  It was in great shape for the first few years but it's gradually gone downhill.  Still a very nice munie course but nowhere near what it used to be.

[DILLIGAF]

   New a number of guys who worked the turf crew at Prairie Dunes who went up to get their degree at KSU and hired on at Colbert, they all to a man came back to PDunes for their summer work because the way they took care of (was around '01) Colbert was a joke.

There is a big reason Prairie Dunes is the top course in the state.  I'm sure being private and having a much bigger budget doesn't hurt what they can do compared to Colbert.  Prairie Dunes should be in much better condition and it is.

Not so sure on that _FAN, I worked on the Pd crew for a year, they used two retired guys to mow the rough and fairway surrounds, and 6 of us full-timers for the rest.  I'm guessing, but I presume Colbert has many more available.  The Super at Pd simply knows his hullabaloo and doesn't accept shoddy work or slacking.  We very seldom used chemicals for anything outside of a little iron now and again to green it up.  Again guessing, but I imagine Colbert spends much more in this regard.   May have been attributable to just starting out, or whomever was in charge at that time (if it has changed) but don't believe money was the diff. 

[kso_FAN]

   New a number of guys who worked the turf crew at Prairie Dunes who went up to get their degree at KSU and hired on at Colbert, they all to a man came back to PDunes for their summer work because the way they took care of (was around '01) Colbert was a joke.

There is a big reason Prairie Dunes is the top course in the state.  I'm sure being private and having a much bigger budget doesn't hurt what they can do compared to Colbert.  Prairie Dunes should be in much better condition and it is.

Not so sure on that _FAN, I worked on the Pd crew for a year, they used two retired guys to mow the rough and fairway surrounds, and 6 of us full-timers for the rest.  I'm guessing, but I presume Colbert has many more available.  The Super at Pd simply knows his hullabaloo and doesn't accept shoddy work or slacking.  We very seldom used chemicals for anything outside of a little iron now and again to green it up.  Again guessing, but I imagine Colbert spends much more in this regard.   May have been attributable to just starting out, or whomever was in charge at that time (if it has changed) but don't believe money was the diff. 

Fair points.  Just an educated guess on the budgets, but I doubt Praire Dunes is running on a bare bones budget.  It is the best course in the state for a reason.  Would love to play it someday.

[stunz]

zoysia is more difficult to keep green (fun fact)

['taterblast]

 saw a pretty legit    out there recently.  was pretty excited about that. not a knock-off katpak head cover, an exact replica.

[CrushNasty]

Not every bunker is all white sand... about half I would guess... Played there Sunday.

The ones that are all white sand are great, but half are rock/ horrible dirt.



Someone that works there said only about 20% revenue was going to course maintenance, which was pretty low (I agree  )