Fairways has a new look

The competitors in this year’s 45th annual Lilac Invitational are encountering some new looks and different challenges as they work their way around The Fairways at West Terrace golf course. The new looks are, in most cases, dreamlike, resembling the landscape of some far-distant planet. But the challenges are as absolute and real as they are substantial. “We’ve changed things a lot,” said John Durgan, the director of golf operations at The Fairways and the tournament director of the region’s only 72-hole golf event, currently playing out on the once-friendly 6,459-yard layout. What current course lease-holder Dan Clark and Durgan have changed are the lengths, likenesses and complexities of three holes on the back nine. And they’ve done it all at little or no cost, thanks to a recent swell of home-building activity in the area. According to Durgan, a group headed by Buster and Bob Heitman purchased the north end of The Fairways development from Charles Klar with the intention of building more than 100 new homes. In laying the rough-cut infrastructure – streets, sidewalks, sewers, etc. – for the their housing project, the Heitmans filled in several large areas of wetlands surrounding the golf course and were, by law, required to re-establish 1½ times as much wetlands area as they had dozed over. They decided to construct those new, expanded wetlands within the confines of the course, resulting in a series of ponds that will eventually add to the beauty and difficulty of holes 12 through 15. In addition, the dirt from the holes that were dug for the ponds was used to build a long, 10-foot high berm that snakes between the tee box on the par-3 13th hole and the front of the fairway on the double-dogleg, par-5 14th. The new ponds, which have yet to be lined and filled, are roughed in to the left of the fairway on the 552-yard, par-5 12th hole that already plays around a small lake, and between the snake-like fairway and green on the 493-yard 14th in an area that used to be nothing but mounds, a dry pond and hardpan. The mounds on No. 14 were leveled and replaced by a pond that forces players trying to reach the green in two to carry an extended stretch of water. “In the past, you could scuff your second shot and run it through the hardpan all the way to the green,” Durgan said of the newly designed 14th. “It used to be pretty much a pitch-and-putt par-5, but now we’ve taken what was kind of a cheesy hole and made it into a pretty darn good par-5.” Big hitters can still get home easily in two, but they must decide how much of the berm to cut off without running through the fairway and into the hazard, which extends all the way past the 14th green to the new tee box on No. 15. No. 12 now features a similar challenge, thanks to a new tee box that extends the hole an additional 15 yards, making it even more difficult to pick the proper line needed to carry over the lake. The better play off the tee now, it seems, is to hit a fairway metal or long iron left of the lake and short of the hazard beyond the fairway, lay up to 100 yards and try to knock your third shot close and make birdie. “They’re both good holes now,” said Canadian PGA Tour regular Todd Pence, who grew up in Cheney and is currently tied for 10th in the Lilac’s pro division. “There’s risk and reward on both of them, and if take the risk and miss, you pay.” Along with the changes to 12 and 14, a new tee box was also added on the par-4 15th, which has been extended some 20 yards and now played about 410 into the prevailing wind. And Durgan said he is considering the construction of two new tee boxes atop the berm that will serve the already difficult 13th, which plays to a wildly sloping peninsula green. From the berm, the hole could eventually play as long as 210 yards. Durgan said about 40,000 cubic yards of dirt were moved to implement the changes at The Fairways. For the time being, most of that dirt sits stark and barren as part of the moonscape-like berm between the 13th and 14th holes and the new tee boxes on No. 12 and No. 15. Eventually, the new tee boxes will be seeded, the berm will be covered with native grasses and the four new ponds will be lined, filled and landscaped to resemble the reed-lined lake that defines the inside boundary of the 12th fairway and nearly encircles the 13th green. Durgan said he became involved in the changes early because he had a vision of how the additional wetlands areas could enhance both the beauty and playability of the golf course. “I found myself suddenly becoming a bit of a golf course architect,” he said, “and it was fun.” Durgan is especially proud of the berm that protects the 14th fairway and kicks any drive that doesn’t clear it backwards and past the in-course out-of-bound stakes protecting the 13th tee box. “When they first started digging the holes for the ponds, they asked me if I had any need for some extra dirt,” Durgan explained. “And I said, ‘Come to think of it, I do.’ ” “It was kind of a win-win situation where the developer had some waste to get rid of it and we had a place for it,” said Clark, who took the course’s lease over from the Durgan family last year. “It’s really helped us improve the course, both for the Lilac competitors and the people who play it on a regular basis.” And come Sunday afternoon – with the Lilac Invitational championship and a $5,000 first-place check hanging in the balance – it should be fascinating to see how the tournament leaders deal with the new looks and difference challenges presented by the once-timid par-5s on The Fairway’s back nine.