The Thousand Hills Golf Resort Redesign Completion Grand Opening
2020 Golf Experience Today
In 2009 we obtained a master plan from our architect.
In 2010 we asked our customers, “What would enhance your golf experience?”
In 2011 and 2012 we combined the architects plans with your comments and made the changes
In 2013 we are unveiling the finished product, the “2020 Golf Experience”
So, what is the 2020 golf experience? As we collected and analyzed information from all of the sources we reached out to, it became quite evident what the most important factor that we needed to address was our customer’s most valuable asset–their time. And as we began to dig deeper into the equation not only did we need to take time into consideration but we also needed to look at the quality of our customer’s time on the course. The golf course is always in great condition and the level of customer service that we provided was second to none so how did we implement a plan that was directed by the customer’s quality of time? We thought about what we were doing and it did not take us long to figure out that although we were not terribly far off of our goal of increasing quality of time, there were definite areas that we could improve on and certain processes we could change to align ourselves with the golfer of today and tomorrow, the 2020 golfer. From that came our final implementation plan that centered on our interpretation of where our customer’s values would lie by the year 2020. The final product, the “2020 Golf Experience Today.”
What was changed at Thousand Hills to enhance the customers time and quality? Thousand Hills is located in the center of the theater district in Branson Missouri and has a unique layout that incorporates golf with the beauty of the Ozarks Mountains so no changes were needed there. Changes were addressed in most other areas of the golf operation. Some of the changes were subtle but some involved major construction or equipment purchases to obtain the final goal of providing the “2020 Golf Experience.” Here’s a list of the main changes that were made at Thousand Hills, broken down into three categories, maintenance, accessibility and speed of play.
Maintenance:
–A specialized mower was purchased with a contour deck to allow lowering the height of rough by close to an inch to aid ball locating and increase the percentage of quality shots.
–The same mower was found to be significantly faster than initial mowing methods and allow for the rough to be cut twice as often keeping the rough at the desired height longer.
Accessibility:
–An innovative new flag accessibility system was implemented to allow greater access to the golf course for senior players. Instead of a single handicap flag, an additional flag, “senior flag,” was added to allow seniors to drive on fairways at times when normal traffic is prohibited.
–A cart path was rerouted on an intensely hilly green approach to allow a shorter walking distance and close to zero degree entrance to the twelfth green.
–With the same project the distance was also shortened and a near zero degree entrance to the thirteenth tee was created.
–A round about was added behind the sixth green to shorten the length of walking travel to the green and add a nearly level access point.
Speed of Play:
–The final leg of the process was to reroute the course. This change stems from several factors. First, the easiest (2) and hardest (3) holes occurred back to back and very early in the round. It was decided to change the routing of the course to move the hardest hole later in the round when the golfer is warmed up and more able to attack one of the toughest par 4’s in Missouri. Second, the course will flow better with shorter distances between holes and a more intuitive route.
A fourth category called fluff could be added to the list. A new fleet of Yamaha golf cars was added in 2011 and with all of the changes that were made it didn’t make much sense to use carts that were not new. Over the winter Thousand Hills Golf Resort staff negotiated intensively with Yamaha and was able to put a fleet of new 2013 golf cars in place to be the “icing on the cake” of the 2020 Golf Experience.
When totaled, Thousand Hills Golf Resort ownership committed more than $250,000 above normal yearly operating expenses to complete the project. Over the first week of April 2013 Thousand Hills will be introducing the finished project with a huge event. There will be golf specials that have never been offered before to thank customers for their patience and to celebrate the dawning of a new golf age.
Celebrate and experience the future of golf today with these specials the first week of April 2013
–4/2 Tuesday: 2 for 1 all day
–4/3 Wednesday: Ladies play for cart fee +tax ($18.00 +tax) after 11:00 A.M.
–4/4 Thursday: Seniors (over 55) pay only cart fee +tax for 18 holes of golf ($18.00 +tax)
–4/5 Friday: Four for the price of three
–4/6 Saturday: Everyone pays only cart Fee +tax for 18 holes of golf ($18.00 +tax)
Play with Shoji foursome event
$2,500 hole in one on 17
Pancake breakfast with your tee time before 8:00A.M.
Closest to the hole prizes
–4/7 Sunday: $25.00 includes 18 holes of golf and power cart + tax
