Groundbreaking set for Mozingo youth course
CITY OF MARYVILLE IMAGE
This image shows the proposed layout of the junior golf course at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park. Design services for the nine-hole course were donated by golfing legend Tom Watson.
After months of fundraising and planning, the work of actually constructing a much-anticipated nine-hole youth golf course at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park is set to begin following a ceremonial groundbreaking scheduled for next week.
Dr. Bruce Twaddle, a Maryville dentist, is leading the way for the project, which has attracted a lot of attention at all levels of the golf community.
Twaddle said construction is set to begin shortly after the June 19 groundbreaking on the so-called “junior” course that will consist of nine holes and a large practice green north of the existing 18-hole Mozingo Lake Golf Course. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
Assisting with design of the course is one of the sport’s legends, Tom Watson, who in the 1970s and ’80s was one of the leading players in the world, winning eight major championships and heading the PGA Tour money list five times.
Last week, Watson attended an annual meeting of golf course architects in Tulsa, Okla., and the proposed Maryville course loomed large as a topic of conversation.
“This course was the buzz of the meeting,” Twaddle said. “Everybody was talking about it. I think that in the entire industry, people are interested in seeing this take place because they feel like the future of golf is dependent on these short courses.”
Twaddle believes the industry is heading toward shorter, par-three courses, which ensure quicker games and lure novice players. Shorter courses also require less upkeep and irrigation.
Plans call for the Maryville course to open in mid-May 2015 after a second grow-in seeding next spring.
Estimated cost is around $520,000, and Twaddle said fundraising efforts have reached the 90 percent mark.
“The scope of the project will stay within that $520,000 range,” he said. “It could go as high as $550,000, but we’re going to be very close., We’ve got somewhere around $60,000 to raise yet.”
The largest influx of cash came from the Wadsworth Golf Charities Foundation, which donated $250,000, and Twaddle is ecstatic about the project’s moving forward without the need for public funding.
“We’re confident that we’ll be able to raise the money without any problems and do it all privately,” Twaddle said. “We have a little bit of time because we won’t be realizing our costs until late this fall and early into the spring. … We’ll be heating up on the fundraising campaign, hoping that we can finish that in the next 30 to 60 days.”
It’s still unclear if Watson will be able to attend the groundbreaking.
Twaddle said he sees a lot of potential benefits that will grow out of Maryville having a junior course, and he believes community excitement will continue to build as opening day draws nearer.
“I think it’s becoming a lot bigger thing than we ever envisioned,” Twaddle said. “I don’t think when our group set out looking at this that we saw all the potential that was there. … The great part about it is it’ll serve all ages, from ages 5 or 6 years old up to 96 years old.”
