Double Black Diamond Opens Next Week
By Jim Gill

As one of the best ever ski seasons at Holiday Valley draws to a close, workers at Holiday Valley prepare to swap grooming machines for mowers preparing the Double Black Diamond course for the 2009 season and the many anxious golfers. And while avid skiers may be disappointed to see their season end, golfers at all ages and abilities are more than anxious to start swinging as indicated by the amount of people playing last Friday and Saturday at nearby Elkdale G&C. Their course has been open for several weeks, one of the earliest openings in many years.

Early this week I had the opportunity to meet with the Valley’s Director of Golf Steve Carney and assistant professional Kyle Benish as they were preparing to stock the Pro Shop. For 2009 they have brought in the Taylor Made line of clubs including the much talked about R9 driver, with the addition of Taylor Made, the shop now carries all four top of the line companies including Nike, Calloway and Ping.

According to Steve Carney, 2008 was a very good year as they completed 4 years of major renovations with the opening of the par 3, 9th hole bringing the Double Black Diamond course up to the District and State Championship level. Along with 24,000 visitors the course hosted the NYSGA Women’s Senior and Super Senior Amateur Championship, this year they will be hosting the Buffalo District Senior Men’s Net Championship, the one day event will be held on September 14th. The improvements have enhanced the reputation of the course creating the opportunity to draw major local and state tournaments. Carney mentioned the Women’s Senior Tournament may return and there is a chance of hosting the State Senior Men’s Championship.

After analyzing thousands of score cards from 2008, with the exception of the ladies blue tees, 4 sets of course ratings are in place as shown on the new scoring cards. The number one handicap hole is now the 3rd hole, ranked number 2 is the 11th, the 4th hole is ranked 3rd and the par 4, 16th is ranked as the 4th hardest. The picturesque 13th hole has been designated as the Signature Hole for Holiday Valley and may undergo one minor change that would extend the cart path to the upper Double Black Diamond tee. The cart path on 15th hole may also be relocated to the left side of the green area providing shorter access to the tees on the 16th hole.

Following 4 years of extensive renovations Carney feels it is time to let everything settle in and grow with valley crews focusing on conditioning of the course. In regard to conditioning, I asked Steve about the condition of the17th green that has drawn a number of complaints from players. According to Steve, when work was completed in July of 2006, two days later the course had 5 inches of rain washing out the entire green. At great expense the work crews were immediately called back to completely rebuild the green, however by the time this was completed it was late in the season and the grass never had enough time to grow prior to opening for play. Conditions are expected to improve over time.

While ground crews are focusing on the course for 2009, Steve stressed the importance of taking care of course members with an open door on suggestions for improvements and having more members participate in tournaments. In regard to club tournaments, Sheryl Schmidt will be in charge of the Ladies League and Tom Dirito will continue to run the Men’s League. The staff from the Pro Shop will be writing weekly articles for this publication updating readers on new club technology and golf tips on all aspects of the game.

The front nine is expected to be open for play by April 10th and the back side sometime later in the month depending on weather conditions, the driving range opened earlier this week. With all of the improvements during the past few years many of the members expected to see an increase in membership costs, Steve was pleased to announce there will be no increase for the 2009 season.