| NEWS Alabama proposes $26.8 million golf complex with massive clubhouse - AL.com

[Bama News]

Alabama proposes $26.8 million golf complex, huge clubhouse

A new basketball arena was not the only facility upgrade proposed for Alabama athletics.

www.al.com

Almost lost in the wake of Alabama’s proposed new basketball arena, athletics director Greg Byrne had another major construction announcement Thursday.

A $26.8 million golf complex and practice course was also proposed at the UA System Board of Trustees physical properties committee meeting.

The project would include a massive clubhouse, a practice course and an additional nine-hole course, according to the proposal presented to the committee. It received an initial approval from the committee before moving onto the full board in Friday’s meeting on the UAB campus.

Funding would come from the Crimson Standard drive and future general revenue bonds. The fundraising effort aiming for a $600 million goal in 10 years was launched in 2018 to improve Alabama athletics facilities. The first phase was a $109.4 million renovation of Bryant-Denny Stadium with Phase 2 moving on to include the arena and golf projects.

The golf facility would be located south of Jack Warner Parkway alongside Kicker Road in Tuscaloosa.

Of the proposed budget, $16.4 million would go toward the clubhouse and practice course with another $5.5 allocated for the 9-hole course.

The clubhouse would have a Georgian Revival look with a brick veneer and limestone detailing.

“The proposed project will give the university one of the top golf facilities in the Southeastern Conference and among Division I schools across the nation,” the proposal to the board reads.

The Crimson Tide men’s program won national championships in 2013 and 2014, a year after the women claimed the 2012 NCAA crown.

The Alabama men haven’t qualified for the NCAA championships since 2018 and finished 13th at the NCAA Stillwater Regional last year.

The Crimson Tide women were 24th at last year’s NCAA championships. Its last top-10 finish came in 2014 when Alabama was ninth to end a string of five straight top 10s.

 

[BamaFan334]

I would like to see the team get back to being an even middle of the road team before I invest that much in them. We were rolling VERY nice for a bit there and have fallen off big time the last number of years. I believe we placed 14th in the SEC Championship this year. Been almost ten years since we've seen a very competitive team.

 

[TerryP]

I would like to see the team get back to being an even middle of the road team before I invest that much in them.

They just lost out on hosting the regionals due to the course conditions at Ol' Colony. Granted, a lot was due to inclement weather, but it's high time for improvement.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

They just lost out on hosting the regionals due to the course conditions at Ol' Colony. Granted, a lot was due to inclement weather, but it's high time for improvement.

I wonder it they'll just hand over their facility there to the city.

 

[TerryP]

I wonder it they'll just hand over their facility there to the city.

It's already managed by PARA along with Bama Theatre and the like.

 

[BamaFan334]

They just lost out on hosting the regionals due to the course conditions at Ol' Colony. Granted, a lot was due to inclement weather, but it's high time for improvement.

I'm not worried about hosting a Regional. I want to see results for the program. That's a lot of money when you look at our current trajectory. >$20M ain't making us better golfers. Everything will look nice, but it's not going to win us any tournament.

We can't just keep throwing money at everything, atleast that's my two cents. Also, wasn't golf getting something with the new basketball arena or am I just making stuff up?

 

[TerryP]

$20M ain't making us better golfers.

Think about this a little more. A better practice facility doesn't lead to better golfers? That's akin to saying better clubs don't lead to better scores.

Also, wasn't golf getting something with the new basketball arena or am I just making stuff up?

It's a part of the same phase, I believe. It's a part of the same meeting.

 

[RollllTide!]

Just saying it could help recruiting better players

 

[BamaFan334]

Think about this a little more. A better practice facility doesn't lead to better golfers? That's akin to saying better clubs don't lead to better scores.

It's a part of the same phase, I believe. It's a part of the same meeting.

It's not the arrows here, it's the indians. Justin Thomas, Tiger, Phil, Rahm, Morikawa, any of the other tour players would smoke us if they played with our clubs and we got to use ours. It makes a difference as far as level playing field, but I can't see $27M fixing our issues. We won back to back Natty's without it.

NOW, I'm not saying the program doesn't deserve something like the other programs have, but to me that's a ton of money.

 

[TerryP]

It's not the arrows here, it's the indians. Justin Thomas, Tiger, Phil, Rahm, Morikawa, any of the other tour players would smoke us if they played with our clubs

Come on, dude. You know that's not what I was saying: JT unrelated in the farthest manner.

You can't tell me an amateur won't play better with a upper line club versus something in the Top Flight category. It's simply not true. Too much technology going into the Mizuno type lines: larger sweet spot, batter balance, finer tuned shafts, and the like.

If their practice course isn't up to par for a Regional, there's some leeway there because of what's mentioned. When I see drainage being one of the issues that's not good. It means their practice facilities aren't up to par.

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Back to championship golf for a minute.

Pepperdine won the title last year. OU was the runner up. Oklahoma won the title in '17 and when you go back year to year you won't find them in this century.

Oklahoma State is the program. Alabama was the runner up in the last title match they won, 2018. Six times this century you'll find OSU as the winner, or runner -up. The rest of those seasons you're not going to find teams doing better than Alabama.

LSU won it the year after Bama's back to back. First appearance in the finals this century and haven't been back.

Tricky sport with roster management. These kids can leave in the middle of the season for the tour. Some have.

There's a lot more parity than most realize. Next year will mark the 10 year anniversary for Bama's first. In that light, they've been in the championship three times this decade.

 

[BamaFan334]

Come on, dude. You know that's not what I was saying: JT unrelated in the farthest manner.

You can't tell me an amateur won't play better with a upper line club versus something in the Top Flight category. It's simply not true. Too much technology going into the Mizuno type lines: larger sweet spot, batter balance, finer tuned shafts, and the like.

If their practice course isn't up to par for a Regional, there's some leeway there because of what's mentioned. When I see drainage being one of the issues that's not good. It means their practice facilities aren't up to par.

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Back to championship golf for a minute.

Pepperdine won the title last year. OU was the runner up. Oklahoma won the title in '17 and when you go back year to year you won't find them in this century.

Oklahoma State is the program. Alabama was the runner up in the last title match they won, 2018. Six times this century you'll find OSU as the winner, or runner -up. The rest of those seasons you're not going to find teams doing better than Alabama.

LSU won it the year after Bama's back to back. First appearance in the finals this century and haven't been back.

Tricky sport with roster management. These kids can leave in the middle of the season for the tour. Some have.

There's a lot more parity than most realize. Next year will mark the 10 year anniversary for Bama's first. In that light, they've been in the championship three times this decade.

Yeah, that whole leaving mid-season really throws me off. I know we've had a couple.

As far as equipment goes, yes, equipment makes a big difference, but just like hitting in baseball, it's more mechanics. I bought my son a $350 bat and he hits no better because of it. He's actually hitting the ball harder with a $100 bat. It was his mechanics that we had to work on. Golf is the toughest sport I've ever played. I've had success in every sport I've ever touched, except golf. I can play good, and when I play consistently I can get good, but I put a bat down for 15 years and picked one up the other day and hit a D-1 prospect in our area hitting 93. Golf, I'll fall off the wagon if I go three months without playing.