Tierra Rejada “Advanced Player Program” offers junior athletes valuable lessons on and off the course
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – Designed to appeal to recreational, senior and young players learning the game, “The Players Course” at the Tierra Rejada Golf Club, which opened earlier this summer, is a confirmed success, hosting more than a thousand rounds in the month of August alone. With strategically placed new Green Tee boxes, wide landing areas and a liberal set of local rules that speed up the game and make it more fun, the 5,600-yard layout is essentially a shortened version of the challenging Bob Cupp design. The first golf club in a major market to offer this type of alternative, Tierra Rejada’s “Players Course” is on the leading edge of an idea that’s become a crucial topic for the golf industry.
According to the National Golf Foundation, the game gained some 3.6 million new players in 2010, but also lost about 4.6 million in the same period. The inherent difficulty of the game, courses designed primarily to test the more skilled golfers, and the length of time needed to navigate such layouts are the leading reasons for the game’s popularity decline. Without building a new facility, Tierra Rejada has taken its existing, well-maintained and scenic track – which plays at more than 7,000 yards from the tips – and fashioned a “course-within-a-course,” perhaps one of the first of its type that addresses the industry’s most perplexing issue.
“We want to do our part to keep people in the game, and to encourage others to take up the game for the first time,” said Ted Kruger, developer and co-owner of Tierra Rejada Golf Club. “We already offer unparalleled customer service, great food and a spectacular setting. With ‘The Players Course’ we offer something that people will want to return to over and over, and at a great value.”
For an annual fee of $125, golfers can join “The Players Club” at Tierra Rejada, which allows members to play “The Players” Course with a $49 greens fee (with cart included) Monday through Friday, and $80 greens fee – cart also included – on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays. There is also twilight fee of $60, all rates are much lower than daily-fee courses of the same caliber in the area, some of which charge upwards of $200 per round.
Fewer Penalties and Lower Scores Equals More Fun
According to a May 21, 2011 article by John Paul Newport in the Wall Street Journal, a recently completed study commissioned by the PGA of America determined there are 90 million former golfers in the U.S. Of those, the study estimates, about 60 million have at least moderate interest in taking up the game again-if it can be more palatable. “That is an enormous latent market,” said Joe Steranka, the PGA of America’s chief executive in the Wall Street Journal story.
“The Players Course” clearly epitomizes the aspirations of a national movement called Tee it Forward, which is a personal passion of Barney Adams, the founder of Adams Golf. His efforts are supported by the USGA, the PGA of America and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, all of which encourage the vast majority of golfers to move up a tee box or two. By branding the shorter course and offering local rules, Tierra Rejada put additional substance to the concept.
“We’re simply beating everyone in the area to the punch,” added Kruger. “And we think that what we’re doing with ‘The Players Course’ will be a model for golf courses everywhere, not only for making the game more fun, but also as a way to speed up play and increase business.”
Originally opened in 1999, Tierra Rejada is well known for its natural beauty, with stunning views of the Reagan Presidential Library. Architect Cupp – who also designed Pumpkin Ridge, Crosswater and Liberty National among other modern classics – made the layout a stout test for low-handicap golfers, with long shots over ravines and lakes. Those are the same shots that intimidate and frustrate average players.
“We accept the fact that a large number of those who play our Championship Course come away feeling a bit beat up,” Kruger explained. “Golf is experiencing less frequency from average golfers and is losing older players because of difficulty. Who the heck ever said that golf shouldn’t be fun?”
By creating new Green Tees and establishing “The Players Course” as a distinct and different option from The Champion’s Course, Tierra Rejada has taken those forced carries over lakes and ravines out of play. The new local rules also enhance playability, scoring and pace-of-play. For example, should a golfer hit an errant shot into an unplayable area, penalty strokes will be minimized and drop areas have been designed to make this possible. While players are not obligated to use these rules, they are in the spirit of keeping the game fun, added Kruger. “It’s frustrating enough if you’ve just lost a golf ball in a water hazard or natural area. Why penalize a beginning or senior golfer two strokes? Golf should be fun and scores should be lower, which is what ‘The Players Course’ is all about.”
Attracting The Next Generation of Golfers: TRAPP Program
Tierra Rejada has also started an invitation-only program for junior student-athletes, called the Tierra Rejada Advanced Players Program, or TRAPP for short. In exchange for access to the course, TRAPP members must work alongside Tierra Rejada employees on the day-to-day tasks of running a golf course. This could mean working in the pro shop, on the driving range or with a grounds crew. What’s more, to test and sharpen their course-management and decision-making skills, members are also required to complete what’s known as “The Players Course Challenge.”
Before they’re allowed to play from longer Tierra Rejada tees, TRAPP participants must register a cumulative 50 under par on “The Players Course,” no matter how long it may take. Then, the TRAPP players will graduate to the white tees, where again they must register a cumulative 50 under par before moving back to the blue tees. Much like earning a new belt color in martial arts, the achievement instills a sense of pride in reaching that goal.
Tierra Rejada Golf Club is nestled in the foothills of eastern Ventura County, in the Tierra Rejada Valley and at the mid-point between three cities – Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark – at the Tierra Rejada exit of the 23 Freeway, just a 10-minute drive from Westlake Village. The club features the finest grass practice range in the area, a pitching green surrounded by sand bunkers and two top-rate practice greens for chipping and putting.
TJ’s Grille, the club restaurant and bar, presents first-class food and drink in a relaxed atmosphere where dining can be enjoyed inside by the warmth of a stone fireplace or on the outside patio with a spectacular view of the 10th hole, 18th green and the Reagan Library. With its picturesque setting, Tierra Rejada is frequently selected as a location for the filming of golf infomercials. The course was also featured on several episodes of Golf Channel’s hit series Pipe Dreams.
For more information and to reserve a tee time, call (805) 531-9300 or visit www.tierrarejadagolf.com.
Contact:
Mike Hoye
Mike Hoye Public Relations
(310) 544-8800
mike@mikehoyepr.com
