As technological improvements to equipment have forced those who organize high-level golf tournaments to push the yardage limits of championship courses, a track at the University of Notre Dame is going through yet another downsizing.
According to a story at The Observer, a student-run publication, a pair of existing dorms are being torn down to make way for two larger buildings. In the process, one of the university’s two golf courses will shrink for the fourth time in its existence.
“At Notre Dame, residential life is an integral part of the undergraduate educational experience. Residence halls allow students to interact with an array of peers, learn from each other, build communities and form lifelong friendships,” University President Rev. John I. Jenkins said in a release. “These new halls, with enhanced community space, will ensure that we are able to provide current and future students with an appropriate living environment in a place they call home.”
The Burke Golf Course, which was originally built as an 18-hole course back in 1929, was shortened when a Knute Rockne Memorial was built in 1939, then became a 9-hole course in 1995 when a series of dorms were added to the campus. At the time of the reduction to nine holes, South Bend Tribune sportswriter and golf columnist John Fineran wrote: “There is no guarantee, of course, that those nine holes will remain for golfers. Future university needs may gobble that land up.”
According to a story on the university’s website, the course also had its share of controversy in its early years.
For the first four decades of The Burke’s existence, it was a men’s-only course … Soon after the course opened in 1929, women at Saint Mary’s College asked to use the new recreational facility. The University Council took up the matter and turned down the request.
The college also has the highly acclaimed Warren Golf Course, which hosted the 2019 U.S. Senior Open, but Burke has been a viable option for students and others in the community looking for an affordable and quicker option.
The new version of Burke will still have nine holes, but will become an executive par 32 course.
Here’s more from the Observer:
Already, the old starting house has been demolished. A mound of dirt along with some tubes have been placed on what was the ninth hole.
According to Marsh, the current Holy Cross Drive will remain open as the new road is constructed to the west, apart from a one or two-day closure early in the summer “to connect the new leg at its north and south ends to the rest of Holy Cross Drive.”
During construction, the practice putting green located adjacent to the Rockne Memorial Gym and Pangborn Hall will be demolished. A new practice green will be built near the new first tee of the course.
The road project will be completed “over the summer,” Marsh explained. The course will then be reopened “once the greenskeepers have determined that the realigned holes are ready for play.”
More: Warren Golf Course among Golfweek’s Best 40 campus courses