Bunker Hills Golf Course is open for play

by Peter Bodley
Managing editor

The Bunker Hills Golf Course opened for its 41st season this past weekend.

And Golf Director Dick Tollette is hoping the weather will cooperate more than it did last year.

In 2008, a late spring and early winter meant that the golf course opened late - in April - and shut down early - before the end of October.

The early omens for 2009 are better. The executive nine-hole course and the driving range opened March 20 and the 27-hole championship course was scheduled to open Wednesday.

And warm, spring-like weather over the weekend drew large numbers of winter-weary golfers to the executive nine-hole course.

“It was a wonderful weekend,” said Tollette, who has been Bunker Hills’ golf director/professional since the course opened in 1968.

According to Tollette, the executive nine was sold out Saturday and after church was over Sunday, there was a one-hour wait to get on the nine-hole course the rest of the day.

“We have got a jump start on the last two years,” Tollette said.

The snow cover on the course for much of the winter should have helped the course survive the winter in good shape, he said.

“But the key is warmer weather,” Tollette said.

Indeed, in 2008 cool weather in both April and May not only hampered golf course preparations by the grounds crew, but also severely restricted the number of rounds that were played in those months.

However, when the weather did cooperate, golfers flocked to play Bunker Hills, notably in August when a new record was set for the number of rounds played that month.

“People were playing catch-up and word got out that Bunker Hills was in great condition,” Tollette said.

“Golfers knew where they could find the best bang for their buck.”

Tollette hopes the same will be true this year - both in terms of the condition of the course and the number of golfers on the course, he said.

The signs are good. Corporate and charity outing bookings are at their highest level since 9/11, according to Tollette.

But the state of the economy might determine who actually shows up to play in those outings, Tollette said.

Despite the slumping economy, the number of patron cards sold grew 20 percent from 2007 to 2008 and Tollette is hoping for similar growth this year, he said.

“We are well positioned,” Tollette said. “We give the public a real experience with classic conditions at a very moderate price.”

Many other public courses in the Twin Cities area are a lot more costly, he said.

“I am looking forward to a good season,” Tollette said. “I am very optimistic, despite the economy.

And Bunker Hills enters the 2009 season as one of the very few public courses in the state to have earned 4 1/2 out of 5 stars from the national Golf Digest magazine, a designation that was announced late last fall, according to Tollette.

Course condition, general appearance and ambience were three of the criteria Golf Digest used in determining its star rankings, Tollette said.

“We were very pleased, you bet,” he said of the 4 1/2 star ranking.

In addition, Bunker Hills was a top 10 category winner in playability in the 2009 Hacker’s Favorite Course Award from Aspen Golf Enterprises.

“Bunker Hills is a great facility, the service and people are friendly and helpful and you will see they take pride in their course the moment you get there,” the Hacker’s Guide states.

To determine the ratings, Hacker’s Guide sent several golfers to play all the public courses in the Twin Cities area, Tollette said.

The course will continue to host a number of tournaments again this year, including the class AA boys’ and girls’ state high school golf tournaments.

Missing from the Bunker Hills schedule this year is the Minnesota State Open, which has been hosted by the course every year since 1980.

The Minnesota Section of the PGA, which has its headquarters at Bunker Hills Golf Course, has decided to take the state open on the road to different parts of the state every other year, according to Tollette.

That means the 2009 tournament will be played in Hastings, but the 2010 event will be back at Bunker Hills, Tollette said.

There is a benefit to Bunker Hills. The course won’t have to be shut down to the general public during a long weekend in July, traditionally one of the busiest golfing months of the season, he said.

The week of the PGA Championship at Hazeltine in August, Bunker Hills had been scheduled to host the PGA of America Junior Tournament, one of seven stops for the event in the Midwest, Tollette said.

But Tollette got a phone call Monday from the national PGA office stating that the Bunker Hills date and the tournament that was to follow had been canceled because of budget cuts.

“We will miss the tournament, but we will move on,” Tollette said.

One of the reasons Bunker Hills had been chosen for the tournament was Tollette’s longtime, active involvement on the National PGA Junior Committee, which runs the tour.

Indeed, Tollette has placed a emphasis on growing junior golf at Bunker Hills since day one - with its junior pass program and junior golf camps.

Last year there were 180 youngsters in the junior instructional program.

“We have always provided youth with good instruction and free if needed,” Tollette said.

“We always make it clear that we want them here. A lot of places put dollars first.”

“We have a responsibility to grow the game.”

Indeed, there have been many youth who have grown up playing golf at Bunker Hills and have also worked part-time at the course while in high school and college, Tollette said.

The men’s, ladies’ and senior leagues are currently organizing for the year.

New in 2009 is a Friday morning senior league in additional to the traditional Wednesday morning league. There will be an informational meeting at the clubhouse Wednesday, April 8, 8 a.m.

Patron cards and junior golf passes are on sale at the golf course clubhouse. For more information call 763-767-4141.

Peter Bodley is at peter.bodley@ecm-inc.com

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