There’s concern that the hole won’t be ready in time for April tournaments

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Friday, March 6 (4:00 p.m.): What began as grudging acknowledgement that the 18^th green on Dollar Ranch Golf Course would be compromised for several weeks has evolved into concern that the hole may not be fully playable by the time the first scheduled formal tournaments of 2026 are supposed to be played in April.

The issue is the chain-link fencing sections set up around underground irrigation line relocation work being done as part of the pickleball building project near Dollar House and the Event Center. That irrigation line reached under the 18^th green, and the area has been fenced off, in varying specific areas, ever since the relocation work began last October.

Several people spoke up about their concerns at the Feb. 20 meeting of the Golf Advisory Committee.

“As it is right now, we’re playing with 17 holes,” said Burke Ferrari, the committee’s chairman. “Are we going to have our guests play on 17 holes? This is a problem for the golf community.”

About the pickleball-related pipe relocation work, Mark Heptig, RWC’s director of golf, said, “The impact, I think we all can agree, is much larger than we assumed at the very beginning.

“There will be a problem with these tournaments, and this will be a problem with the men’s and women’s (golf) clubs,” said Heptig, adding that he sees the 18^th hole not currently qualifying as a “green” but instead as a “temporary surface.” The exact nature of what those problems involving tournament contracts could be was not made clear at this committee meeting ‒ “We haven’t crossed that bridge with any of them yet,” Heptig said.

Ann Mottola, RWC’s director of community services, told the committee that contractor Huff Construction Co. is doing everything it can to keep the project moving along as quickly as possible, and that weather-related causes, to be expected for almost any construction project during the winter months, have legitimately driven some of the delay. None of the delays thus far, Mottola said, qualify as a “failure to perform” that could make them liable for any damages. And predicting when winter projects like this will be finished, especially given the weather, is almost impossible, she said.

Some committee members at this Feb. 20 meeting asked whether the contractor could meet with the committee over these concerns, but Mottola said Huff officials are well aware of the importance of moving forward in as safe a way as possible. She also noted that the irrigation line work was delayed until last October so as not to interfere with tournaments last year.

“There’s really no good time to do the construction in this location – there was going to be disruption at some level.”

Mottola said she will continue to work with Huff representatives.

“They’re doing everything they can to minimize” the interruptions, she added. “We have to let the project play out; it’s really that simple.”

Nevertheless, she said she recognizes there’s a “loop of frustration” regarding the state of the 18th hole. Ferrari agreed on that point.

“The people that play on the 18^th hole are upset,” he said.