Golfers work the greens, show support for municipal golf courses

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There are 52 bunkers at Boomerang Links. Normally, golfers will go to extreme measures to avoid them.

But that wasn't the case Tuesday as some 40 or so members of the Highland Hills Senior Men's Golf Association and a few women spent the morning working in most of those bunkers, using spades and shovels instead of sand wedges, to get them in shape for the fast approaching golf season at the city-owned golf course in west Greeley.

The volunteer work day at Boomerang was organized by the association to show the city of Greeley the importance of the city's two golf courses and to help the staff, which has seen cutbacks made by the city in the number of people needed to maintain the courses, said Jerry Toler, this year's association president.

He was pleased with Tuesday's turnout.

"It's a really, really good thing," he said. "It's part of the camaraderie these guys have for each other playing golf together and what they feel about our courses. These courses are important to them and the city. They are beautiful and get a lot of play from around the region. A lot of guys come up from Denver to play, so we want them to look nice."

The bunch gathered around the practice green in front of the clubhouse prior to heading out on the course and got their instructions from Eric Gustafson, Boomerang superintendent. For their efforts, each participant got a free round of golf at the course, Gustafson told them.

The goal for the morning, Gustafson said, was to get the bunkers edged and cleaned of any grass and/or weeds. His staff had prepared them by lining areas that needed to be trimmed -- leaving a 2-inch lip closest to the greens and smoothing them out toward the fairways. The staff, he said, had marked each of the bunkers that needed work with a white line, giving indications where each needed to be trimmed.

"We appreciate the help," Gustafson said. "It's been difficult with the cutbacks that have been made for us to make the golf course better."

Don Wamboldt said working in the bunker in front of the 18th green was a little different.

"I've been in about every one of them (bunkers) at one point or another, but this is the first time I've been in one with a shovel in my hands," he said with a laugh.

Barb Whinery, Penny Wilson and Doy Hampton were cleaning dead plant life and other material out of the bushes along the No. 10 tee box. Whinery is a member of the city's golf advisory board.

"We're here to help keep the golf course nice. All of us play here a lot and this is a way for us to show the city the course is important to us," Whinery said.

TO VOLUNTEER The Highland Hills Senior Men's Golf Association will conduct a workday at the Highland Hills Municipal Golf Course later this spring, once the course superintendent makes a decision on what type of work is needed.