Reno-Tahoe: East Side Story

by Vic Williams

With a New Owner and Winning Attitude, It's D'Andrea's Turn to Shine

Yes, the upscale home construction continues on its perimeter, just as it does at dozens of courses around the West. But that, too, shall pass, as have all the other hurdles facing D’Andrea Golf Club. And when it does — when the bulldozers are gone and the community settles into place in the not-too-distant future — this underrated high-desert lass will finally be ready for its close-up.

Before then, even. By the time you read this, in fact.

D’Andrea Golf Club is on a long-overdue and much-anticipated roll. Winding through treeless high-desert hills in Sparks — with one-of-a-kind views of the Truckee Meadows, Reno skyline and imposing Carson Range to the west and south, stark red Pah Range to the east, plus a tricky-tough, quick-to-grow-on-you Keith Foster layout underfoot (where the antelope still play on occasion, alongside loyal golfers), this is a 6-year-old whose identity has finally come into focus.
It wasn’t always this way. Back in 2000 when it opened with nothing but rocks and sagebrush around it, then-D’Andrea Country Club’s owners had designs on taking it private. A few dozen members signed up even though the clubhouse was but a twinkle in an architect’s eye — a show of faith oft-duplicated in the halcyon construction boom days of the late 1990s. Then 9/11 hit and the going got rough. To their credit, the owners found the financing to get the clubhouse built, though it was downsized from the original plan. The course continued to mature and gain favor among locals and visitors alike for its conditioning, especially the pure greens. A management company came on for a couple of years, improving conditions even further. But still there was an air of uncertainty about the place, a sense of potential unmet.

That’s all history now. Thanks to a California-based developer named Will Gustafson, a staff of true believers and a strong core of local players, D’Andrea has come out of its infancy with a pure plan for long-term success and a stronger reading on Reno’s resort golf radar screen. It’s public, it’s heading rapidly toward the upscale resort category, it’s Northern Nevada’s only chartered First Tee site and, by this time next year, it’ll have pushed itself to an even higher plane of resort resplendence.

First, however, Gustafson and General Manager Michael Jory are concentrating on two things: First impressions and better all-around facilities.

“We’re working on some different things, some curb appeal, wow factor when they arrive — more like the upscale clubs in the desert,” says Jory, who came to D’Andrea from several head and assistant pro stints in Southern California, including Coronado Golf Course in San Diego. “It’ll have more of a resort feel. We’re trying to improve the experience from the time guests arrive until they leave seven hours later.”

Most of those hours are spent under the warm Northern Nevada sun, on a course that, for the most part, is squarely in the resort mode with wide, driver-friendly fairways, except on a couple of short 4-pars that slyly beg you to pull out the dog but bite even harder if it’s just a skosh off-line. Foster — a Northern Californian who also counts award-winning DarkHorse near Auburn, Calif., to his credit, along with a reworking of Oklahoma’s storied Southern Hills for the U.S. Open a few years back — let the lay of the land dictate the rhythm and resonance of D’Andrea’s billygoat-friendly routing. He scours U-shaped fairways out of the box canyons; teeters big, multi-tiered greens hard against slopes or blankets them over dry washes, then surrounds them with broad bunkers or enough bailout collar and rough to keep all but the wildest, wind-blown shots in play. The front nine is tougher, more extreme in its topography, with one large water feature defining two holes — the signature par-3 No. 6 and uphill par-5 No. 7. The back nine serves up several amphitheater 4-pars, at least one of them drivable if the zephyrs are quiet and the driver is dialed. No. 18 puts a rocky stamp on the round, forcing players to make a choice: Lay up to the left with a beastly long-iron or hybrid approach to an elevated green, or rip it over a volcanic outcropping and pray for a fortuitous bounce to glory? It all adds up to a brand of resort-style golf that has no peer in Northern Nevada. Nearby Wildcreek is similar but can’t compete in conditioning or stem-to-stern views of the valley and mountains, and that’s why the locals, and plenty of out-of-towners, love D’Andrea. That, and its value — $70 to $80 for locals and under a C-note for weekend visitors.

“We’ll always keep our rates in that comfortable range,” Jory says. “As for locals, our Players Club program has worked out well. They get a variety of choices for a better rate, $50 during the week. Everybody’s done it, so it’s not a new program, but it helps create loyalty. They play 10 times and it pays for itself.”

So the course gets plenty of play despite the ongoing home construction and occasional distraction. Most of the front nine is built out, and that’s good news, and even as lot-clearing continues on the course’s upper reaches, builders such as Lennar Homes are putting their good neighbor’s foot forward. “They’re putting pavers on golf cart crossings, adding attractive rock work and pilasters [in transition areas], and a water feature is on the way,” Jory says.

D’Andrea’s attraction ranges well beyond the golf product, however, and that’s bound to create loyalty on a larger, more regional scale. Now that Gustafson is on board with an influx of capital, the clubhouse will grow into a full-blown events facility with plenty of space for big groups, including max-out-Dad’s-credit weddings. It started this summer with an expanded patio in the back and a beautiful, much more inviting driveway and bag drop area in front, complete with waterfall and statue of a bighorn sheep, which is also incorporated into D’Andrea’s new logo. The stretching and upgrading will continue for the next couple of years.

“With the larger patio we can accommodate large tournament groups and still have the restaurant and bar available for golfers who want to hang out after their round,” Jory says. “And with the improved entryway, people feel like they’ve really arrived.”

Then comes a new addition — a covered porte cochere, 15,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space — starting next fall with one year of construction to follow. “That facility is going to be awesome. We’ll be able to accommodate 500 people and handle multiple functions. The kitchen will expand, we’ll have flex banquet space, a second huge terrace with a ceremony area and lanai doors leading indoors, so guests can come out of the sun or weather if they’d like.”
Spreading out the blueprints in D’Andrea’s foyer, Jory points to some favorite details. “Look at those new ironwork doors; they’re arched and have more of an upscale feel. You have the whole sense of quality, with granite service areas, state of the art technology (hi-def flat screens are already in place throughout the clubhouse). It’ll be perfect for corporate meetings that can include golf — meet, then tee it up to end the day.”

The plans also include amenities specifically designed for wedding groups — bride’s quarters with full-length locker room, multi-seat vanity, salon chair, even a courtyard. “It’s going to be the place for weddings because of the view and technology. We’ll be able to change lighting in the main room to match the wedding’s color schemes.”

Jory says the expansion’s price tag was $3 million in fall of 2005, “and it may go up from there. Our owner has a million and a half into it, and about half of that was in equipment for our superintendent. He just wrote a check, didn’t finance any of it. That tells me he’s committed. It’s nice to have an owner who’s in it for the long haul.”

In fact, D’Andrea is just one part of Gustafson’s burgeoning West Coast golf mini-empire. “He’d like to make it a 10-club portfolio,” Jory says. “He hopes to have four by the end of this year and pick one or two up each year.”

So far he’s bought the Auld Course in San Diego, which is now named Salt Creek and run by JC Resorts. He’s in talks to purchase Carlton Oaks in Santee, and getting ready to open the nine-hole course at the new Kiley Ranch development just over the hill in north Sparks, which was originally slated as a First Tee host before D’Andrea got the charter. Still, Jory views it as the perfect quick-round spot. “The niche for the nine-hole golf course is expanding because of the time it takes to play the game. For 18 holes you’re gone seven hours once you settle up in the bar or whatever. And it’s great for families.”

At D’Andrea, meanwhile, the emphasis is on appealing to everyone and laying out a stem-to-stern memorable experience once they’re there.

“We working hard to improve the appearance driving in, offer a better experience from the time you see the course until you arrive at the clubhouse,” Jory says. “If you haven’t been up here in a while, it’s time to check it out. Once you’re here, the greens are pure, the course is nice and the service is stellar.”

And the sky — that pure, cloudless late summer sky set against the tumbling emerald D’Andrea sheen — is definitely
the limit. FG

D’Andrea Golf Club

Sparks, Nev. |  775.331.6363 | www.dandreagolfclub.com

FIRST TEE, FINALLY
After years of stops and starts, D’Andrea owner Will Gustafson stepped up to the plate last year and worked with the local junior golf cognoscenti to gain First Tee accreditation from the PGA and Augusta National, the two bodies who created the First Tee Foundation several years ago to expose city youth to the game of golf. A big fundraising tournament every summer puts the local chapter in position to host clinics.

Par: 71
Yardage: 6,849 yards
Fees: $95-$105 guests, $75-$85 locals,
$50-$60 twilight
Standout Holes
No. 6, Par 3, 118-196 yards: The signature hole from way back, and the only tee shot over water to a Redan-style green that moves from left to right with a bunker guarding its backside. A bruiser into the afternoon wind, which kicks up around 1 p.m. in summer.
No. 9, Par 4, 340-420 yards: Slide a cut driver or 3-wood to the little tier on the left side of the fairway, and the green opens up quite a bit. That’s good, because if you come up short the ball’s heading all the way back down the hill, and the double-decker surface suddenly gets more slippery.
No. 16, Par 4, 271-330 yards: If it’s calm, a nutted 3-wood is all it will take to get home on this downhill-sidehill, well-bunkered hole. But don’t slice it or overcook it, or it’s an instant double. If the wind’s up, a utility metal down the middle and a little wedge will do the trick.
No. 18, Par 4, 361-475 yards: Definitely a conversation piece, a right-angle dogleg with a semi-blind layup tee shot for most people; big hitters can nuke one over the rock outcropping guarding the hole’s elbow, but if it’s mishit it’s lost. The most demanding approach on the course, and a rousing finisher.