Articles
lack Bull Driving Range Opens Saturday
Black Bull driving range opens Saturday
By TIM DUMAS Chronicle Sports Writer
The collision of past and present line the entrance to Bozeman’s newest golf course.
On one side, grazing cows and horses are visible. On the other, backhoes. And whether the power is generated by feet or wheels, the former Angus ranch is rarely at rest.
Black Bull Golf Community, a private facility that is being built on nearly 500 acres on Love Lane, is set to open its driving range to members next Saturday. The following Friday, the par 72, 7,200-yard course will open, again, to members only.
“It’s very exciting,” head professional David Baucom said Friday from the clubhouse that was teeming with workers and yet-to-be arranged golf apparel. “It’s been a long time getting it up and running.”
Course designer Tom Weiskopf, a former member of the PGA Tour, will be on hand when the 16-acre practice facility, the largest in the Rocky Mountains, opens. The facility includes synthetic grass for early-season stroke work and Calloway Golf will set up a test center with a video device called TrackMan that measures swing speed, ball speed, spin rates and distances.
There are only 54 such machines in the country, according to Craig Bryant, one of Black Bull’s developers.
The golf course is just one phase of the club, which will include 378 homes, a swim and tennis center, walking trails, a fitness center, a restaurant and a fishing dock.
“What’s amazing is, is that it never ends,” Baucom said. “As Tom (Weiskopf) gets on the golf course and looks around, he looks at it so much that every time a new vision comes, we keep moving the needle. The inheritancy of the original design is there, but every day there’s little changes — new trees here, a new tee box there. It’s been fun to see it evolve.”
No one is yet living at Black Bull, but more than 70 lots have been purchased and people are expected to begin calling it home by November.
The golf course is not expected to host any professional tournaments, although one of Bryant’s creations — The Bridges in Rancho Sante Fe, Calif. — hosted “The Battle of the Bridges,” a made-for-television event that included Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson
“You never know. It could happen,” Bryant said. “It’s mainly for the enjoyment of the members.”
And, occasionally, for Bryant himself.
“To be able to build something like this here and have people enjoy it is a really nice feeling,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy it, too.”
Tim Dumas is at tdumas@ dailychronicle.com and 582-2651.