Practice facility by Poco Creek getting lots of use, attention
A youth golf project is already paying dividends and drawing attention far beyond Aurora’s Poco Creek Golf Course, thanks to a visionary plan and generous local donors.
Aurora boys golf coach Craig Badura joined local leaders to announce plans in January for building a putting and chipping practice facility adjacent to the new Aurora Community Clubhouse. That plan, at the time, was contingent on local donors supporting the cause, which they did in spades, paving the way for installation of a dynamic new facility that is already getting a lot of use.
Badura was joined by volunteers and members of the Poco Creek Golf Course, Hamilton Recreation and the Hamilton Community Foundation who teamed up to raise more than $285,000 to get the project teed up and off the ground.
A work crew from Go Turf, based in Castle Pines, Colo., installed 11,000 sq. ft. of turf in mid-April, creating a practice area that features two large putting greens, a simulated sand bunker and approach areas, all designed to help golfers of all ages and ability learn and fine-tune the all-important short game. The facility is open to anyone, not just Poco Creek members and Aurora High School golfers.
“I can’t thank all of you enough for your generosity,” Badura told a group of donors invited to a recent thank you reception. “It’s just amazing that we have a facility like this here in Aurora, Nebraska.”
Initial vision
Badura shared with the group that the project began with a brainstorming session back in June, when he met with community members who shared a passion for golf and wanted to find a way to utilize a large space adjacent to both the golf course and the new clubhouse. The end result features a practice area complete with lights which can be used after dark, as well as a surface that is playable both earlier and later than a typical golf season in Nebraska since the turf is ready to use once it’s cleared, no matter the month or temperature outside.
“I can’t thank all of you enough for your generosity and what this is going to do for our program and for our youth in town,” Badura said. “I love driving by here and seeing kids out using it. It’s been a good experience for me as a dad watching my kids grow up on a golf course, so I wanted to give a little bit back. Hopefully, we’ll get some kids really actively engaged in the game.”
Badura said having such a quality practice facility is a coach’s dream, adding that in the final weeks of the boys golf season, he saw immediate results with the Aurora boys team, as scores started to drop based on improved short-game play.
“One of the other coaches was telling me that our kids are so good around the green and I told him they are out here four or five hours a night,” he said. “I can’t wait to reap the benefits two, three years down the road when these kids coming in have been using it.”
Along that same line, Badura announced that a Wednesday morning junior youth league (for kids going into the fourth through eighth grades) will be offered beginning May 31 at 10 a.m. running through July.
“We’ll also be having open turf, so anybody can come out,” he added. “I’ll be doing some stuff for adults, too, so stay tuned.”
While it’s go time for the golf season now, Badura said one of the added benefits of having a synthetic surface available is the extended season of use, especially in Nebraska.
“I just love the fact that we’ll be able to come out here on March 1 when practice starts and we’ve got a facility that’s ready to go,” he said. “I’ve got coaches texting me saying, ‘How did you make that happen?’ They would love to have something like this. Caleb’s golf coach at Nebraska is going to be coming out here because he saw it on Twitter and said, ‘What did you guys do there and how did you do this?’”
In the first few weeks of use, Badura said the new practice facility has drawn a lot of attention, especially from youth who will spend hours chipping and putting well into the evening hours. He also reported that the putting surface itself will continue to improve with time, noting that heat was needed to flatten the turf a bit and that rolling it regularly is helping to smooth out the surface and in effect let golf balls roll more consistently. In golfing lingo, he said the greens are now putting at a speed of 10.5 to 11 on the Stimpmeter.
He also noted that a variety of games can be played on the new facility. In addition to basic putting and chipping contests, a “Fierce 15” course has been set up, challenging participants to chart their scores getting up and down on 15 different holes.
“Dylan Danielson has the course record of 35,” he reported as of two weeks ago. “The course is fierce and it makes you mad, but it’s also a lot of fun and it can really help improve your short game.”
Go Turf
As for the final design and unique surface itself, that was left up to Go Turf, a Colorado-based company which has a connection to the area through one of its employees.
“Specialized putting greens has kind of grown into our niche,” said Ryan Hartman, a native of Grand Island who helped install the project in Aurora. “There are a lot of things that come into play when doing a putting green correctly, trying to make it as realistic as possible.”
Once the design was finalized, Hartman said the crew removed all of the existing grass, leveled the surface and shaped the design to feature various slopes, both on the putting surface and surrounding approach areas. A layer of crushed limestone was then installed, followed by a five-millimeter pad, then the turf itself.
“This is where we kind of do things differently than anybody else in that we put five to six pounds of sand on top of the turf,” Hartman explained. “Then you roll it again and again, which is where you really get the perfect smooth roll on the putting green. What it does is actually bend the tip of the fiber over like a real tiny green.
“So what we try to do is create the same process with a synthetic green as you would see on a real green,” he continued. “That’s our goal. The end product is superior to the short-pile turf, in our opinion, as far as playability and trying to match a real green.”
Hartman said Go Turf has installed a number of practice greens in the Denver metro area, as well as at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The Aurora project was the first for his company in Nebraska.
“It was a little unique and we’re so grateful to get the call and get the job and for everybody to be happy,” he added. “This is starting to spread pretty much all over the United States because a lot of people want a green in their backyard, but you can’t really grow or maintain real grass because you need proper tools to do that. This is a great option and we can really do this anywhere.”
The surface is projected to last 12 to 15 years if not longer.