.

Colbert Hills staff moves into long-awaited new digs
    Cats, golfers to benefit from ‘permanent housing’

   Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan has long been home to the Kansas State Wildcat golf teams, an outstanding golf course and several key Kansas Golf Association events. But now

the squads and those that work, play and even eat at the leading central Kansas facility have a permanent home.
   Club staff moved into the new club house last month – but bringing with them many memories from those “temporary” buildings they called home for 10 years.
   “We don’t have any of those stories here in this building yet – it’s like walking into a brand new house,” says David Gourlay, CGCS, CCM, who joined the facility as golf course superintendent/general manager back in 1999 and now has traded the superintendent part of his title for that of COO. “I don’t think we all feel very comfortable in it yet. We’re still all trying to figure out how everything is going to flow and how we’re going to get everything done because we’re a much larger operation. People are going to have higher expectations of the facility and I’m sure we’re going to rise to the occasion as we normally do.”
   One thing is for sure, the new facility will enhance the Colbert Hills experience for the most important people – the golfers.
   “This is the next step in the rankings, because I think we’ve always been held back by the temporary club house,” Gourlay says. “Playing all around the country it’s hard to think of a more outstanding golf course. But we’ve always had lower rankings for the amenities that are provided with the golf course. Now with those amenities, we should go right up.”

Designed to function
   Gourlay says several key Colbert Hills staff members worked in the design of the new 14,000-square foot club house, including himself, Jim Colbert, K-State Foundation Executive Director Bernie Haney and longtime PGA professional Chad Myers.

   “The reality is we laid it all out,” says Gourlay, whose golf experience includes stops at several leading Canadian clubs. “…I might have had a little bit more (responsibility) than others because I’m in operations, so they kind of gave me a little bit more leeway on it. That’s really the reason it’s laid out the way it is – the size of the pro shop, it’s the size it is because that’s what I wanted it to be.”
   Gourlay says the design was based on how the staff does business at Colbert Hills.
   “The offices by the front door on both sides so we’re all very visible and we can keep our staff at a minimalist-ic level and we can see whoever comes in and you can go out there,” he says. “We’ve always wanted to remain very visible. The kitchen…I laid that out too.”
   Ground was broken for the new club house in July of 2008 and construction began in August of that year. Crews were still working on exterior details like painting late last month as Mother Nature permitted. Landscaping around the club house was underway and will include a large artificial putting green with a southern exposure that Kansas State golf teams can utilize during the winter months.
   The new club house includes offices for KSU men’s golf coach Tim Norris and women’s coach Kristi Knight and locker room facilities for the teams. The teams have an indoor/outdoor practice facility at the course that was opened in October 2007.

The color purple
   When you walk into the Colbert Hills club house there will be little doubt you are in the home of Kansas State golf and former PGA Tour and Champions Tour standout Jim Colbert. The atrium features four panels that include Colbert memorabilia, current K-State men’s and

women’s golf team profiles and trophies that the squads have earned, a list of all the Wildcat golf team members from the past and many of the trophies the players have earned down through the years.
Turn to the left and you can check in for a round of golf in the pro shop. As you might expect, purple is a featured color adorning the hangers in the new shop. But you can find shirts, jackets and gear of various colors in the new facility – and a wide variety of golf items to make your time at the course more enjoyable.
If you didn’t take a turn to the pro shop or head right, into the administrative offices and home to CFO and Tournament Coordinator Michelle Neilson, straight ahead is Colbert’s, the new restaurant/bar & grill/banquet area with room for more than 200 guests. The facility offers everything from standard bar & grill fare to upscale evening dining (Wednesday through Saturday) and can host large groups for big tournaments and weddings. Kansas State’s men’s basketball team spent Selection Sunday there awaiting its draw in the NCAA tourney and the

facility has already booked 16 weddings for 2010-11, according to Gourlay.
   “We have a restaurant that is kind of like a sports bar – we have 10 55-inch TVs with 10-foot screen that drops down so it’s very much going to be a sports atmosphere when you first go in there,” he says. “To the right is going to be more of our banquet room and tournament dinners, so that kind of separates in half there.”
   With its large windows and the southern exposure, the view out over the Colbert Hills course is stunning from Colbert’s and the adjoining Founder’s Club room.
   “You should see it at night – the lighting and you oversee the city – it’s spectacular,” Gourlay says.
   And to keep in-tune with our drive-thru mentality, Colbert Hills’ club house has its own drive-thru window. Golfers can call their orders ahead by intercom and pick them up as the cruise by the club house at the turn, never even having to leave their golf cart.
   “We’re actually going to have three menus…we have a drive-thru window so you can drive right up at the turn and get your hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, six packs, whatever there – that’s one menu,” Gourlay says. “Then we have a lunch menu at Colbert’s; it’s got a variety of chicken wraps, (upscale) hamburgers – a little nicer food. Then we go to the dinner menu.”

Establishing reputation for golf first
   Gourlay says the process of building a club house at Colbert Hills has taken a back seat because the longtime tour pro always put priority on the facility’s key feature – the golf course.
   “We always wanted to have a world class golf course and a world class facility so all of the funds went into the golf course to make that happen,” Gourlay says. “They operated with the

funds they were able to generate from donations and all of it went into the golf course with a little bit left over that went to the cart facility because Jim Colbert felt the cart facility was as important as the golf course to make sure we stored the golf carts properly. The club house wasn’t a big priority, because at that time, he felt (we should) focus on the golf course, set our reputation that way.”
   Gourlay says the staff operated under a yellow and white tent behind the first tee the first year, before a “kind-hearted” donor offered up some temporary buildings. Those were set up so well and served the staff’s needs so well for so long they were almost difficult to leave, Gourlay admits.
   “We knew we would probably be in the temporary club house three to five years, that’s what the initial goal was,” Gourlay recalls. “But once we got it all put together, with the décor and how nice we made it there was no pressing need for us to jump into a club house. In reality, we were kind of sad to leave because we were there for 10 years.”
   Through the struggles of building business at a new course in a volatile golf industry, Colbert hills has grown to host more than 100 tournaments a year, Gourlay says. And with support from the Kansas State Foundation, the debt on the golf course was retired and the focus turned to building a permanent club house.
   “We began to do some design work and the Foundation began to go out and test the waters to see if there was support for the new club house and what they found out was there was a lot of support for it,” Gourlay says. “They started getting pledges from K-State supporters, or K-State fans or Colbert Hills fans and (as) they were able to generate enough interest and funding the reality of the club house became apparent.”