Preps: Local High School golf teams scramble to to find a place to play

Their bags may say "Wildcats" but these days the Las Vegas High boys golf team might more accurately be described as the "Nomads."

Since losing their home course of 35 years -- the Las Vegas Country Club -- at the end of the 1998 season, the 'Cats have been a group perpetually on the move.

Unable to find another course in town willing to take on their full schedule, the Las Vegas golfers will have played their eight "home" matches on six different courses at season's end -- hardly a home-course advantage by anyone's standards.

Much worse, the squad has been without a practice course all year. While their peers at other schools play nine- or 18-hole practice rounds, the Wildcats try to better their games at a local driving range.

By next year, it's possible Las Vegas High won't be the only school without a course to call home. Several other schools in town have reported similar difficulties in lining up courses for the upcoming girls golf season, which begins in August.

Although more courses are going in around town, many of the new facilities are passing on prep golf. And that trend is beginning to scare local coaches and administrators.

"Local courses need to start supporting high school golf soon," said Jane Schlosser, executive director for the Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association. "If we don't do something in the next five years, high school golf will be non-existent here soon."

Ultimately, the issue is a financial one for the courses. Why turn away paying customers in favor of students playing for free?

To that, local high schools respond by asking whether area courses, particularly those available to the public, should not have both a responsibility to the sport's future and a vested interest in its future paying customers.

Road sweet home

On Tuesday, the Las Vegas High golfers arrived at Desert Willow Golf Course in a familiar situation -- listed as the home team in a match against Silverado, but with far less experience on the course than their opponents.

Most of the Skyhawks, who play their home matches at nearby Wildhorse Country Club, were knowledgeable of Desert Willow's layout, having played the course several times before. The Wildcats, on the other hand, had visited there just once.

"Green Valley knows every inch of the Legacy (the Gators' home course)," Las Vegas senior Kyle Walton said. "When we play, we're never comfortable out there."

Earlier this season, two of the Wildcats' better players missed a match when they drove to the wrong course. Who could blame them, with a schedule that has changed almost daily throughout the spring?

"I think it's been frustrating for them," first-year coach David Daniels said. "But they've tried to make the best of it and go out there and have fun."

Daniels' squad got into its current predicament long before he joined it. Las Vegas Country Club informed Las Vegas High it would no longer host its boys team last August.

"Our demands on the golf course are so great because of membership in the springtime, and the members do own the club," said Brett Bidwell, head golf pro at the Las Vegas County Club. "The unfortunate thing about the boys golf season is that it's the busiest time of the year for courses in Las Vegas."

Bidwell is quick to point out that his course continues to support local prep golf, serving as the practice course for both the Las Vegas and Bishop Gorman girls teams and home site for Las Vegas High's girls matches in the fall.

After exploring several options without success for the boys, the school's administration brought in Daniels, who quickly realized how tough a task lay ahead.

Golf beg

"I got on the phone and called everyone I could think of," Daniels said, estimating that he called close to 10 courses, both near and far from the school. "Essentially, I had to go out and beg."

In time, Daniels pieced together a schedule, with his squad playing twice at both Desert Rose and Desert Willow and once each at Desert Pines, Black Mountain, Angel Park and Legacy.

"Desert Willow and Desert Rose really went out of their way to give us two dates for our matches," Daniels said. "And most of the courses we're using already had high school teams there."

Finding an adequate practice site proved to be an even bigger challenge, as the Las Vegas coach quickly realized a local driving range would be his only option. The Wildcats now spend their afternoons at the International Golf Center. They have played a total of 12 practice holes this entire season.

"There's a big difference between hitting balls on a range and hitting on a fairway," Schlosser said.

"A kid said to me, 'I need to work on a bunker shot,' " Daniels said. "I said, 'Let's bring my son's sandbox in.' "

Added district athletic director Larry McKay: "It's not a great situation if you want a good golf team."

Two years ago, Rancho and Eldorado found themselves in similar straits, forced to find new home courses after being booted out of Nellis Air Force Base. The Rams and Sundevils eventually did find permanent sites, but not before both were turned away on several occasions.

And according to McKay, both Mojave and the soon-to-open Desert Pines High School are still without girls home courses for the fall.

Pining for help

Desert Pines athletic administrator Kim Grytdahl said he thought nearby Desert Pines Golf Course -- one of five courses owned by local entrepreneur Bill Walters -- would be a natural fit. But was told that the course would not be made available for the Jaguars' home matches. Since then, Grytdahl has encountered similar resistance elsewhere.

"It's not a real golf mecca here, but that shouldn't preclude us from starting a program," Grytdahl said.

Added Schlosser: "There are some people in town who profess to have city and public courses and they don't support the high schools."

Walters counters by pointing out that his courses provide free golf instruction to the public and a site for UNLV golf tournaments and that his Stallion Mountain Golf Course is home to the Chaparral boys and girls teams.

"As long as I'm in business, our facilities are going to be available at certain times to support the community if they are understanding of the fact that we're still a business here," Walters said. "We've got to pay our bills like any other business."

But Schlosser asks whether, like other businesses, courses shouldn't be cultivating relationships with their sport's younger generation.

"I know courses are tourist-driven, but there's a future of their business here," she said. "They have to realize that."

Some local courses, such as Legacy Golf Club, seem to have embraced that theory, knowing that goodwill toward young players can be a great way to gain a positive reputation in the community.

"We can help and we want to help," said Legacy head pro Tom Vold, whose club houses the Green Valley boys and girls teams. "We're run by professionals who understand the future of the game. You create those relationships that can grow throughout the lifetime of the game."

But as more schools are learning, that attitude is becoming less prevalent.

A decent proposal

"We're at the mercy of people we have no control over," McKay said. "It comes down to dollars and cents because they're playing in place of paying customers."

To combat the problem, McKay and Schlosser recently devised a new format for high school golf that would lessen the burden on participating courses.

Under their plan, local squads will play a series of 18-hole tournaments during the season, rather than two or three dual matches every week, as they do now.

This format, which already is used by Washoe County's Class 4A schools and by most of the state's smaller schools, would allow each course to be used just once over a two-year period, assuming enough courses agreed to participate.

Before the proposal could begin gaining momentum, however, it was shot down by local school principals, many of whom felt students would miss too much school.

The new format would require golfers to leave school around 11 a.m. on five or six days a season. Weekends, of course, would be out of the question since they are the busiest time for all courses.

"We were looking for alternatives, but the principals were pretty adamant about not missing school," McKay said. "It's hard to miss school for regular athletic events down here because we don't do it for any other sport."

Schlosser remains committed to the idea, insisting it isn't a dead issue yet.

"The principals need to understand that this may be the only way high school golf can work here," she said.

Forcing the issue

Bidwell suggested another possibility -- a Clark County-imposed policy of requiring local public courses to support at least one high school team.

"If I was the state, I would make it a part of getting zoned for a new course," Bidwell said. "I think each course should have a responsibility to one team."

Several high school coaches also suggested the school district could do more to help schools find adequate home courses. They said a coach has little clout when he or she walks into a pro shop to ask for help.

"They're passing the buck by not helping us out," one veteran coach said. "We need the district to throw its weight around a little."

McKay said his office is trying to put together a committee of school officials to help solve the problem.

But he admits a long-term solution may not present itself soon.

"I don't know what the answer is, short of building our own course, and that's certainly not going to happen," McKay said.

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