Colbert Hills Visit

This past Wednesday September the 17^th our Hort. 517 Golf Operations class visited Colbert Hills golf course in Manhattan, Kansas. I was very familiar with this course due to the fact I interned there this past summer. The course is located approximately 10 minutes west of K-State’s campus; it sits in the middle of a community of homes named Grand Mere. The course is PGA rated and is the #1 daily greens fee course in the entire state of Kansas. Also Colbert Hills includes a beautiful restaurant, 9-hole Par 3 course, 18-hole PGA Championship course, Chipping green, putting green, and newly renovated driving range. Colbert was designed by renowned Pro golfer Jim Colbert and Jeffrey Brauer. Jim Colbert played on the PGA Tour for decades and is now on the Senior Tour still sinking birdies and winning trophies to add to his personal collection out at Colbert Hills.

During our visit to Colbert Hills we met with my boss and Superintendent Matt Gourlay. Matt discussed the many additions and renovations to the course this past season. He also described his background and where he came to where he is now, he said he is very fortunate to be in the position he is and that he comes from a long line of the golf course industry within his family. Something that stood out to me the most that Mr. Gourlay talked about was the expansion of holes 8 and 9 on the Par 3 course. The Par 3 course is mostly used for the Kansas State Golf Team to practice for upcoming events; the golf team has its own driving range as well as the Par 3. In terms of holes 8 and 9 the Golf coach talked to Matt Gourlay about expanded a few of the fairways on those selected holes. He wanted this so that his golf team can practice longer and tougher shots at the green. Holes 8 and 9 can play very difficult if not played correctly due to the numerous hills that line the fairways. So our golf coach suspects that with tougher more difficult shots around those holes that his team will get better and improve those wedge shots.

I particularly enjoyed our trip to Colbert even though I am there almost every day early in the morning. Matt Gourlay is an amazing superintendent and one of the youngest to earn his certifications’ in the nation. He knows his stuff and knows exactly what it takes to make it in the golf industry, he says he is still always learning and reading everything he can even though he is out of school, he believes the more knowledge of turf and golf he has the better prepared he can be for certain situations that can arise at an instant. He has been a great mentor to me and even better friend; I owe him a lot for teaching me the skills I will keep with me for the rest of my professional career.