Boulder Country Club to complete master plan

Boulder Country Club, located in the Gunbarrel Greens subdivision, is moving forward with plans to complete its master plan for renovation of the golf course, with attention to water usage and conservation.

The Club reports that water traps along the 18-hole golf course have been remediated to prevent leakage. The club owns water rights from the Boulder Farmers Ditch and Colorado-Big Thompson Water Project, but can draw upon those rights only from April through October each year. Water storage is a high priority for the club, and water security has now reportedly been achieved. In the face of a continuing drought in Colorado, the club believes it can manage water through the summer with its resources and preventative measures.

The club’s Golf Course Master Plan Committee and the club’s board of directors have both voted to move ahead with the next phases of the master plan with the goal of finishing the entire golf course by May 2026.

There has been extensive work over the past three months to devise a plan that minimizes disruption and hole closures as much as possible. Phase 1 and 2 are about complete.

Phase 1 included improvements to the putting, staging and circle drive areas and came in on budget.

Phase 2 addressed water security for the club. Two holes with water features, # 2 and # 7 were upgraded from 7.5 M gallons of unlined storage with significant leakage to 13.2M gallons of storage with 5.2 M gallons of lined ponds to prevent leakage. The upgrades allow management of four ponds for complete control.

Due to a scope change from 50 year flooding to accommodate drainage for a 150 year event, as required by Boulder County, an additional drainage creek on the right side of Hole 2, a new pond at hole 2 and more work was required adjacent to the left side of hole 16. Alongside inflationary impacts in 2021, the actual final cost increased by $1.4 M. Phases 1 and 2 are about complete.

Phase 3 of the plan is slated to begin in September 2024, and encompasses eight holes on the front nine, which will be worked on in a rolling manner, keeping the holes open for play to the extent possible.

The club notes that each hole will be closed completely when the green surrounds (including greenside bunkers) are done. The anticipated closure time per hole is about six weeks during the growing season.

Under the plan, the first outright hole closures for Phase 3 are scheduled to be #1, #3, and #9, followed by holes #4 and #8, assuming weather permits sodding in late fall. Longer-term closure of holes #5, #6 and #7, including the new tee work on #8, is scheduled for December 2024 through May 2025, due to sodding considerations. The club announced, “Throughout Phase 3, we expect to always have 12-15 holes open for play, and members will simply skip holes as they are closed.”

The entire front nine is expected to be completed by May 2025. The unexpected mandated drainage work and issues encountered in Phase 2 and resultant timeline delays have resulted in further costs for both Phase 3 and 4. Final cost for Phase 3 was $1.12 M above budget. Phase 4 will end with an estimated $0.93 M over budget. The project team has worked with discipline to limit project work to “must haves” in order to mitigate the added expense. In this manner, overall costs for the entire project are estimated to have been reduced by nearly $1.6M.

The plan calls for Phase 4, the eight holes on the back nine, to commence in a similar fashion in September 2025, with the entire course scheduled for completion by May 2026.