BY MICHAEL BOOTH
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER | Posted: Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:00 am
Corvallis' only 18-hole public course rolls back to 1988 prices while observing its 20th anniversary this week
Golfers are typically a hardy lot, willing to keep any tee time in almost any weather just for the possibility of hitting that one drive, putt or chip of their life.
But late on a rainy Monday afternoon at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis, it was clear that something else was bringing them out in unusually high numbers.
"The weather is not deterring people," Trysting Tree staff member and Crescent Valley High School boys golf coach Jason Laughery said. "People don't care what the weather is like if the price is right."
Trysting Tree is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its opening this week by rolling prices back to what they were in 1988 - $15 for 18 holes, or $10 for Oregon State students - through Thursday. For nine holes, the prices are $8, or $5 for students. Those are down from the regular prices of $37 for 18 holes and $20 for nine holes. University student prices are normally $19 to play 18 holes and $10 for nine holes.
Trysting Tree is the only 18-hole public course in Corvallis. Laughery said course managers are expecting to surpass 300 golfers per day this week for the first time in four or five years.
"Usually, a really good day is about 225 people," Laughery said.
The course was booked solid for Monday by 2 p.m. At the rate people were calling for tee times, it was a near certainty the course will fill up quickly through Thursday.
A foursome from Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon waited three groups back at 5 p.m. just to get onto the first tee. Even as their mini umbrellas came out with the steady rain, they weren't complaining about the weather.
"I thought the sun was still out with those white legs of yours, Jim," Norm McCullough of Corvallis chided his shorts-wearing friend, Jim Adamson.
McCullough and his son, Matt, Adamson and Les Humphrey were lured away from their home course, the Golf Club of Oregon in Albany, where they are members, by the low prices. Adamson said he hadn't played at Trysting Tree in 11 or 12 years.
"I loved the course," Ron Pitts of Lebanon said as he stepped off the front nine to rush back home for an appointment. "It's really kept up nicely. It's a good, challenging course."
Pitts said a group from his church in Lebanon had heard about this week's special prices and called him up to round out their foursome.
Trysting Tree is the home course for Oregon State's golf teams and was founded to help generate funds to benefit the university, OSU spokeswoman Sara Zaske said.
The course contributes approximately $40,000 annually for the university's turf management program. Over the past 20 years, it has contributed more than $2.5 million to a various university programs and projects.