"Who's going to drive the future of Colorado Golf Club?"
/In a world where you have clubs that would kill to host a major, then there's Colorado Golf Club.
It's kind of an amazing thing to read Anthony Cotton's story on CGC's shaky status and realize that the PGA of America sees it as a potential host site for future majors and yet, the place seems to have debt and a corporate ownership situation that may doom the course.
Steranka admitted the uncertainty was a distraction for the tournament, but the problems are also an ongoing concern. One way to wed the club and the PGA of America, for example, would be for the latter to take over at CGC. The PGA wants to establish a stronghold in the West for its major championships.
The organization already owns and operates Valhalla, the Kentucky site that hosted the 1996 and 2000 PGA Championships and the 2008 Ryder Cup. That course is kept in major championship condition, and it wouldn't be hard for the same to be done at Colorado Golf Club, which would see an influx of working capital and clinch a spot in the PGA's major rotation.
It was revealed last week that such conversations have taken place. Mike McGetrick, the founding partner of CGC, said that while the club would be interested, he admitted that now it "isn't a good fit" as far as the PGA is concerned.
Steranka concurred.
"It's people who drive successful clubs, and that still has to be determined. Who's going to drive the future of Colorado Golf Club?"
"The talks were never serious, in part because of the uncertainty of what's going on here," he said. "Valhalla is still a Kentucky-run private club; while the PGA owns it, we're very hands-off in the management. In my mind, corporate-run clubs lose their individuality, the personal culture.
"It's people who drive successful clubs, and that still has to be determined. Who's going to drive the future of Colorado Golf Club?"