The phrase “I played lousy, but I love your course” is music to Ted Anderson’s ears.
The golf professional at Callippe Preserve Golf Course said he hears the sentiment often, and it’s a sign that the championship course, which celebrated its first anniversary last month, will have a bright future for many years to come.
Whether it was a good or bad day for golfers, no one is complaining. Many, in fact, rave about the course’s picturesque setting in Happy Valley, nestled between rolling hillsides in southwestern Pleasanton, Anderson said.
Another asset Callippe has over some other courses is how it holds up to weather conditions, according to Jim Wolfe, director of parks and community services for the city.
“The golf course drains very well even after it rains, so that’s good for business,” Wolfe said.
“It’s definitely got all the bells and whistles,” Anderson said. “People love paying municipal greens fees to play on a resort-style course.”
By the numbers
Greens fees at Callippe are intentionally set lower than a competitive market might allow because of competition from other public and private courses in the Tri-Valley area.Pleasanton residents get a 15 percent discount: $36 on weekdays and $51 on weekends. Resident senior rates for 60 and above are just $26 on weekdays. Non-residents pay $42 on weekdays and $60 on weekends and holidays and $30 for seniors. Cart fees are $13 across the board.
It’s for that reason that the golf course is having no trouble booking tee times and has plans to host championship tournaments in the near future. A number of groups already play tournaments at the course and that list is ever-expanding. Anderson said part of the reason the course gets booked so fast is due to the convenience for players to schedule a tee time online up to 15 days in advance at www.playcallippe.com.
A total of 73,000 rounds of golf were played from November 2005 to this past November, Anderson said. That’s much more than what city officials had initially anticipated. Their estimate was between 55,000 and 58,000 rounds, according to Dave Iremonger, city revenue services manager.
“That’s a lot of rounds in this market at this time,” Wolfe said.
But Iremonger cautioned that the above par numbers could be due to interest in the new course.
“That could have been the effect of opening a brand new course and people wanting to play it for the first time,” he said. “Some people, with a new course, want to come out just one time to see what it’s like, so we need at least a year or two of 12-month operations to (assess the course’s viability).”
The $34.5 million facility has generated $4.4 million in revenue in the first year, Iremonger said. From the total cost of the course, $22-23 million is being financed through bonds.
“We have to pay $1.6 million a year for the next 25 years to pay off those bonds,” he said.
With operating costs this past year pinned at $3.2 million, the net income so far is $1.2 million. Despite coming about $400,000 short of the first year’s bond payment, Iremonger said the city only anticipated earning between $300,000 and $400,000 in profit to pay toward the bond.
“We told the City Council that it would take us probably between 12 to 14 years we would project before we would break even, meaning paying for all of the golf operating expenses and pay for the $1.6 million debt service per year,” Iremonger said.
Recognition
This past year, Callippe not only received praise from area golfers from Tri-Valley and as far as Fremont and San Jose, but also from GolfWeek magazine, which included Callippe on its list of America’s Best Courses. In a rating of top 10 public-access courses across California, Callippe ranked sixth, behind Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach, Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz, Rustic Canyon in Moorpark and Barona Creek in Lakeside.Callippe General Manager John Renslow just found out that another trade magazine, Golf Digest, ranked Callippe ninth on its list of best new courses in the country. Renslow said he received a call from the magazine Tuesday and was told the list would be published in its January issue.
“It’s great,” he said. “Golf Digest is a well-known national publication that is read by average players and advanced players alike and it’s great to get the word out, just one more source. We know we’ve got a great golf course, but it’s nice to see that other people recognize it as well.”
Perhaps a lot of credit for Callippe coming to fruition goes to Randy Lum, the city’s public works director who lobbied for the course over the years and was instrumental in convincing the city to fund and construct it.
Lum never got to see Callippe in all its glory when it opened. He died in July 2002 after having a seizure on one of the greens at Willow Park Golf Course. A room in the clubhouse is now dedicated to him.
Vandalism
The first year hasn’t come without its obstacles. Just two weeks after the golf course opened, a driver did doughnuts with his car on the course, carving circles into the 16th green and causing $30,000 in damage. And even before the course construction got under way, a fire that officials believe was intentionally set caused $15,000 in damage to the clubhouse, which was being built, in July 2004.What’s in a name?
Callippe Preserve got its name from the Callippe Silverspot Butterfly, a species that is seen across the Bay Area. After an open call for name suggestions, city officials received 287 monikers–some of the more commonplace including Alisal, Amador Valley, Bernal, Happy Valley and Hopyard–and some more outlandish names that still elicit chuckles from city staff: About Time, Chicken Run, Choo Choo Gorge, Four Sticks, Lend-A-Hand Landing and Joe DiMaggio Yankee Clipper Golf Course.Wide open spaces
The “preserve” in the Callippe Preserve Golf Course name refers to a vast 280 acres of land that is preserved as permanent open space surrounding the golf course. It includes 173 acres that is city-owned and 107 acres of the Koopmann Ranch that is permanently protected by a conservation easement. A public trail system, which is under construction, will provide hikers and equestrians a place to go to take in the scenic surroundings. Work crews are currently building a retaining wall along the west side of the 15th hole, Wolfe said. The trail goes along the 15th green to the intersection of Alisal and Happy Valley Road and travels up Westbridge Lane to the water tank that overlooks the golf course. About 3 miles of trail has been completed so far, Wolfe said. The remaining portion of the trail will be completed by Don Babbitt as part of a home building project around the course, and will make the trail a full loop. That work is expected to be done sometime next spring or summer.City officials received 287 name suggestions for the Callippe Preserve Golf Course, including some unusual ones that still crack city staff up:
*About Time Golf Course
*Broken Arrow
*Burning Tree
*Calle Del Pollo
*Chicken Run
*Choo Choo Gorge
*Dairyland Hills
*Four Sticks Golf Links
*Green Acres
*Gulley Jumpers
*Happy Holes
*Joe DiMaggio Yankee Clipper
*Lend-A-Hand
*Little Wing
*Mashie Meadows
*Mustard Ridge
*Old Devil Moon
*Red Tiger
*Sleepy Hollow
*The Turning Wheel
