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Written by Paul Raymore
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Monday, 14 August 2006 |
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 Age bestows many things — dignity, integrity and character among them. But beauty is rarely found on that list, especially if you’re talking about a golf course in the Sierra, where heavy snows and blazing sun take their toll on fairways, greens and tees over time.
But with a complete renovation of all 18 holes over the past four years, the Tahoe Donner Golf Course is looking better now, on the 30th anniversary of the opening of the course, than it ever has.
According to Bill Winfield, director of golf for the Tahoe Donner course, “I’ve been here for four years now, and when I first got here it was very obvious that there wasn’t a lot of topsoil to the turf — which would be all areas including fairways and rough areas. The tees were in bad repair. The bunkers were actually dangerous — there were rocks sticking out of them. It was just the fact that there hadn’t been any real maintenance done for almost 30 years.”
 But now, “Everything is finished. It’s beautiful. Each year the work seems to have gotten better, even though it’s been the same people doing it. This year I think the work has turned out the absolute best in the four years we’ve been doing it.”
That work included the renovation holes 1, 8, 10 and 18 in 2003, followed by holes 4, 5, 6 and 15 the next year. Year three brought holes 2, 7, 9, as well as the tees on holes 3 and 15 into repair, and this summer holes 11, 12, 13, 16, 17 and the tees on 14 were redone after the board of directors decided to allow the closure of the back-nine for the month of June, 2006.
“The idea and the goal was to maintain the integrity of the golf course — to keep the feel of it being carved out of the mountain forest,” Winfield said. “Every hole is tree lined and very tight. We tried to remove some of the trees that could be thinned while keeping up the forest health, and still give better playability as you progress.”
Playing a round
 While the course might feel carved out of a mountain forest, I often found myself hiking around in that mountain forest searching for the golf balls to be found at the end of my errant drives.
Though lined with homes, the designers of Tahoe Donner’s golf course did a good job using trees and the natural lay of the land to shield those houses from view, making it seem like you are actually in the forest, rather than the middle of a 6,000 home subdivision.
Though Winfield had said that the heavy rains of December 2005 had caused extensive turf damage to greens and fairways, I saw no evidence of it, and found the course to be challenging because of its layout rather than its condition.
Many holes, on the front nine at least (the thought of a cold beverage in the recently opened Lodge overwhelmed my desire to play the back nine), featured rises in the middle of the fairway that made seeing the pin from the tee box impossible. But the natural state of the forest surrounding the fairways did make finding my wayward shots fairly easy.
Refueling afterward
 Shutting down holes on a golf course with such a loyal local following as Tahoe Donner’s is never popular, but according to Winfield, after two years of construction both the regular players and the staff had just about had enough.
“But all things can be forgiven when you go out there and look at the golf course which has turned out absolutely magnificent,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve heard one bad comment about the changes that we’ve made.”
Those changes include the addition of The Lodge, which now houses the pro shop and a new restaurant with Chef Lew Orlady in the kitchen.
Overlooking the first tee, The Lodge features a menu that changes seasonally with entrées such as Roasted Alaskan Halibut, Turkey & Shiitake Meatloaf and Live Main Lobster priced between $16-$31.
A pub menu available in the bar offers smaller plates such as Pepper Seared Hawaiian Ahi Sashimi, Lodge Spring Rolls, and Gulf Prawn Dynamite for between $6-$15, with happy hour specials from 4-6 p.m. daily and from 4-9 p.m. on “Wild” Wednesdays.
Details:
Greens fees are $120 with cart for the public, $45 for Tahoe Donner members, with early morning and afternoon discounted rates as well.
Address: 12850 Northwoods Blvd., Truckee
Reservations: 530-587–9443 (public, call 12 days in advance), 530-587-9440 (members, call 14 days in advance).
Photos by Paul Raymore/Tahoe World
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Last Updated ( Monday, 14 August 2006 )
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