As the snow blanketed the city below, the U’s golf course was silent Monday, as if saying goodbye to the valley over which it has kept watch for the past 85 years.
The golf course, which has hosted students, faculty, amateurs and professionals since 1923, will be torn up early next year to make room for a massive construction project that includes four new research buildings, intramural fields and health science buildings.
“We’re just not going to have another place like this. They just don’t exist anymore,” said Mike Nickas, the assistant golf professional employed at the course. “It’s for everyone8212;it’s the kind of place where you can go with the money you find in your couch cushions.”
Although the golf course has decreased in size during the years, it has had moments of international recognition.
In 1945, Lord Byron Nelson had been victorious in his previous 11 PGA tour events, a record that is unrivaled in golf and still stands today. As Nelson entered the Utah Open to earn a 12th straight victory, he underestimated both his opponents and the course. It was at the U’s course, known then as the Fort Douglas Country Club, that a player named Emery Zimmerman defeated Nelson to end his streak.
With so much history, many golfing enthusiasts are reluctant to bid the course a final adieu.
“I play at other places sometimes, but this golf course is my backyard, it’s my comfort zone,” said Tim Herrick, a regular at the course. “I’ve met all walks of life there8212;doctors, college kids, everyone. It’s sad that it’s going. It’s meant a lot to me.”
The U is exploring options to save part of the course. Mary
Bohlig, director of campus recreation, said there are ideas to create a “golf learning center” on the east side of golf course, near the Eccles Broadcast Center. The center could include a practice area, a scaled-down driving range and other services that would allow for camps and clinics to still be held on the U campus.
“We’ll sit down and evaluate the funding to see if it’s something that’s going to be worthwhile or not,” Bohlig said.
But for a round of golf, local golfers are going to have to go elsewhere beginning in late spring, the tentative date for the groundbreaking of the new James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building.
The new building will house research done under the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative, a program created by the Utah Legislature to promote world-class research and facilities in a plan to increase the innovation of the sciences throughout the state.
“This is a very complex project,” said Michael O’Malley, marketing and communications director for USTAR. “There are a lot of dependencies that could change the schedule. We are hopeful that the groundbreaking can happen in late spring of next year.”
The building will be the first of four that will make up an “interdisciplinary quadrangle” that will be constructed on the land that the golf course now occupies.
Administrators and USTAR officials are confident that the building will be an important addition to the U campus, both for researchers and students. U students will be given the opportunity to work along with the researchers, offering unique experiences not found anywhere else.
“We anticipate that the building will also serve as an industry magnet, attracting industry-sponsored projects,” O’Malley said. “Students will be able to work side by side with industry experts, which will provide them with real business experience that they can take outside the university when they pursue their careers.”
The $130 million project is being funded by the Legislature, a $15 million donation from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation and other private donations.
The new complex will serve as a link between the different sections of the U campus.
“I’ve heard people on campus, professors and leading researchers describe the building as having the potential to be a literal and figurative bridge between the upper and lower campus,” O’Malley said.
USTAR is committed to not only bringing a valuable research aspect to the U, but also to developing a precedent for the advancement of future researchers.
“Besides pursuing their own projects, the USTAR researchers are also interested in training the next generation of researchers and innovators,” O’Malley said. “I think it’s going to be a terrific opportunity for students to experience a collaborative environment in the life sciences. The building has a dual purpose: innovative research and contributing to the development of Utah’s future workforce.”
The project, in addition to the buildings, will also include various athletic fields and tracks to be used directly by students, which will substantially bump up the U’s 25 acres of fields already being utilized.
Thien SokU student Josh Bluth putting the 9 hole at the U Golf Course on a weekday afternoon.
Lennie MahlerBrigham Sikora sinks a putt as John Balzotti watches on the green of the fifth hole of the University Golf Course. The course has incredible history but is going to be removed to make a place for new buildings on campus.