The Home Stretch.....

For those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis, I apologize for the length of time it has been since my last post. As we head down the home stretch, plenty of things have been going on here at CommonGround as we prepare for Opening Day on Saturday, May 23rd.

With the great weather we have been having, construction on the starter clubhouse has been flying! The final touches are being put on the clubhouse, and with any luck, we should be ready for inspection in the next two weeks. But what is even more exciting, is that the old clubhouse and one of the out buildings have been torn down!!

The course is looking great! Tracy and Bobby fired up the irrigation system over a month ago and have had the opportunity to put a number of mows on all the greens and tees.....the "green" is already starting to show through the brown, dormant grass of winter. A few more degrees warmth in the soil temperatures, and the grass should really start popping. Additionally, all the sprinkler heads have been marked, fairway yardage plates have been installed, and the tee signs and water coolers have been placed on the golf course.

Our website is finally up and running. The website will be our main means of communication as we move forward, and can be viewed at www.commongroundgc.com. I will maintain a monthly "Message from The Director of Golf" on the blog for those who are interested.

Finally, I would like to update everyone with the additions to the key staff. First of all, we have hired David DiMartino as the Head Golf Professional. David brings with him a wealth of knowledge having run courses such as Fossil Trace and Amelia Island. Next, for our instructional team, we have hired Gary Davis and Elena King. Both instructors come to us most recently from the McGetrick Golf Academy and are looking forward to helping us with our mission of growing the game of golf in Colorado. Finally, we have added Randy Romano as our Food & Beverage Director. Randy is well known in Aurora and has been running his own restaurant, Romano's Cheesecakes, for the past several years. I know the team as just as excited as I am to begin meeting everyone and making CommonGround a special place for all to enjoy the game of golf.

I will get some pictures of the new clubhouse posted this week, but until then I hope everyone has a great week!

Women's Club......

For 2009, we are currently in the process of organizing two different Women’s Clubs. The first will be a Weekday 18 Hole League on Wednesday mornings. If you would like more information, or would like to join, please contact:

• Marti Alter-Cudlip email

The other league that is currently being organized is Weekend League. For more information, please contact:

• Robin Elbardawil email

In other news, construction on the starter clubhouse is moving right along. I will post a couple of pictures in the next few days so you can see the progress. As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Stay warm this week.....I know I will at the PGA Show in Orlando!

Annual Pass

Yes, I know today feels like sunset at the North Pole, but that does not mean it is too early to begin thinking about purchasing your 2009 Annual Pass from CommonGround Golf Course! At CommonGround, an Annual Pass is valid for 365 days from the date of purchase, is only available to CGA & CWGA members, and includes the following:

Unlimited rounds of golf on both the Championship Course, and the Par 3 Course
Access to our unlimited range ball program
Option to purchase an extra day of advanced tee time reservations
10% discount on select golf shop merchandise

Pricing for the Annual Pass is as follows:

Individual (Golf Only) $2,000
Spouse (Golf Only) $1,800

Individual (w/ Unlimited Range) $2,400
Spouse (w/ Unlimited Range) $2,100

Extra Day Advanced Tee Times (8 days) $350

EARLY PURCHASE INCENTIVES!!!!

Although CommonGround is not scheduled to open until May 23rd, we want you to make CommonGround your home course in 2009! In order to do so, we have created a couple of unbelievable preopening purchase incentives!

Purchase before March 31st and receive:

Access to play the golf course beginning May 1st
Unlimited range usage at no extra cost
10 Free cart rentals
CommonGround Hat
One Dozen Pro V1 Golf Balls
(Over $600 in value!!)

Purchase before April 30th and receive:

Access to play the golf course beginning May 1st
Unlimited range usage at no extra cost
CommonGround Hat
(Over $400 in value!!)

For more information, please call me at 303-340-1520 or email me at dtroyer@commongroundgc.com

We would love for you to make CommonGround your home course in what promises to be an outstanding inaugural year!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
&
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


Dave, Tracy, Kimmy, Bobby, John, and Felix

(Hole #18 on Dec. 22nd)

A Message From The CommonGround Men's Club...

The CommonGround Men's Club cordially invites you to join us for what promises to be a fantastic inaugural year at the new CommonGround Golf Course! We have created a website (http://commongroundgc.ghinclub.com) that will provide you with all of the information necessary regarding the club and how to join. Joining the club is easy, and can be done online. We are expecting a large turnout for the Club in 2009, so we encourage you to sign up sooner than later.

Our first event of the year will be a kickoff meeting on April 4th, 2009. The location for this meeting is yet to be determined, so watch our website for more information. Additionally, please make note that we will be playing the first few events of the year at Fitzsimmons Golf Course in Aurora, since CommonGround is currently scheduled to open for public play on May 23rd, 2009.

We thank you for your interest, and look forward to seeing everyone in the Spring! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of the Board members listed below:

Mike Mounts, President -- mikemounts@msn.com
Joe Kuntner, Vice President & Membership -- jkuntner@comcast.net
Dave Cooper, Treasurer -- coop_23@comcast.net
Andy Harwood, Tournament Director -- andyharwood@earthlink.net

How Long Is The Golf Course?

Well I finally have an answer for everyone. Earlier this month, Gerry Brown from the CGA and his crew were out to measure the course, and although we have a number of alternative tee locations to make the course longer or shorter when necessary, the official yardages will be as follows:

IN OUT TOTAL (My apologies for not knowing how to align this properly)
Black: 3596 3602 7198 yards
Blue: 3340 3379 6719 yards
White: 3153 3214 6367 yards
Red: 2748 2795 5543 yards

Now don't hold me to the color of the tees at this point, as they may change prior to opening. And although our plan is to set the course with 4 sets of tees on a daily basis, the versatility of the layout will allow us the ability to set the course appropriately for any given situation.....state championships, league play, etc.

In addition to the championship course, we also had the Kid's Course measured. The shortest hole came out at 62 yards, and the longest hole is 145 yards. The total yardage of the course is 840 yards.

Unfortunately, I do not have any new pictures I can post this week (although the site for the clubhouse is prepped, in my opinion pictures of dirt pads only are worthy of being posted one time -- see November 10th photos).

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and please feel free to contact me if you ever have any questions.

I was informed recently.....

that I had yet to post a picture of the new routing of the golf course. With as many times as I have been asked how the new layout compares to the old Mira Vista, you would think that I would have put something up by now. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of Mira Vista's routing, so those of you who had played before will just have to rely on your memory.

The photo to the right is a hand drawn rendering by Tom Doak of the new layout. The yardages shown were from the time of design and have most likely changed slightly due to the addition of a couple of tee boxes during construction. Gerry from the CGA will be out this Friday to do an accurate measurement of the golf course. Once he provides me with the results, I will post them.

Additionally this week, construction of the new starter clubhouse has commenced at full steam. Our contractor began the over excavation of the site today and should be in a position to pull the utilities later in the week. For the pictures of the sitework, click here: Big Pile of Dirt

Finally, as a reminder, the dates for next season are beginning to fill up quickly. If you are interested in hosting an event at CommonGround, be sure to contact me -- 303-340-1520 or dtroyer@commongroundgc.com

Have a great week, and try not to freeze!