Jan. 8, 2002

By Maxey Parrish. Reprinted with permission of Waco Today, Copyright 2002.

A sparkling new gem nestled along the South Bosque River west of Waco has given the Baylor golf teams a home rivaling any in collegiate athletics.

Though just recently opened, many golfers already call Bear Ridge Golf Course the top 18-hole layout between Dallas and Austin. And while the course with its varied terrain receives rave reviews, the teaching and practice facilities the golfing Bears now call home rank among the nation's best.

A major part of the U.S. Highway 84 corridor development, the course anchors the companion Villages at Twin Rivers home site development, a neighborhood offering unparalleled beauty and amenities for the Waco area.

"This will be the premier golf facility in this part of the country," said Baylor men's golf coach Tim Hobby, who led his Bears to the Big 12 Conference championship last season. "I was on the Dallas Morning News committee that selected the top courses in Texas recently, so I've seen all the best ones. The lay of the land we have here - the Bosque River, the open rolling country, the trees, the water, the sand, the wetlands - it makes for a lot of different types of holes.

"Sometimes you think you're playing in the Texas Hill Country, sometimes you think you're playing in North Carolina or Michigan and sometimes you think you're playing on a links course. This helps it stand out among courses in Texas."

Bear Ridge covers 280 acres of rolling, oak-studded land north of Highway 84, just after it crosses the South Bosque heading toward McGregor. Designers Peter Jacobsen, the PGA golfer, and Jim Hardy, his partner, took advantage of the sloping terrain to create a course featuring both tree-lined fairways typical of many Texas courses and wide-open spaces found on seaside links layouts.

Jacobsen and Hardy carefully preserved native wetlands, wildflowers and century-old trees while adding water hazards and sand and grass bunkers. Some holes require golfers to hit long, straight shots off the tee. Others call for excellent iron play and deft touch around the Bermuda grass greens. When the Village at Twin Rivers housing development becomes complete, exclusive homes will line some of the holes.

"I would describe it as being a two-thirds Hill Country course rolling through the trees and a one-third links course where the wind blows," Baylor women's coach Sylvia Ferdon said. "It's a thinking player's course because so many factors come into play. The most intriguing thing to me is the change in elevation. It's far from flat as it drops off from the top of a ridge down to the river. It's a fun course to play."

A set of six - that's right, six - uniquely placed tee boxes per hole creates a course to challenge every level of player from the beginner to touring professional.

Depending on which set of tees players choose - Big Jake (named after Jacobsen), Championship, Back, Middle, Regular or Forward - the course plays as short as 4,967 yards or stretches to a massive 7,484 paces. The par-5 No. 10 hole plays anywhere from 400 yards all the way out to a lengthy 611, a difference of 211 yards.

"It will be easy for any golfer to go out there and find a set of tees good for their game," said Baylor senior golfer Tara Bateman, winner of the Texas Open in July. "It's a very interesting course. One side is tucked back into the woods while the other is wide open and windy. You'll have to play different kinds of golf to score well. It's challenging.

"They actually took both the men's and women's teams out there (to the land where the course now sits) so we could hit balls and have our shots measured. They wanted to make sure they did everything right."

Bear Ridge has the look and feel of an exclusive country club, but play is open to the public. Depending on the day of week and time, green fees range from $30 to $40. Kemper Sports of Chicago, which manages 43 courses throughout the country, operates the facility for the owning partnership, Mission Equities, Inc.

The course features a two-story 8,500-square-foot clubhouse, pro shop, lighted driving range, separate putting and pitching greens, a swimming pool and an outdoor pavilion for special events. The Texas native stone architecture topped by a metal roof blends perfectly with the area's natural setting. First class details become obvious at every turn: Bear Ridge's golf carts come equipped with Global Positioning System distance finder units.

For all its majesty, the course shares the spotlight with the Bill and Roberta Bailey Baylor University Golf Center, the home of Bear golf. The Baileys, lifelong Wacoans, Baylor graduates and Baylor supporters, provided the center's funding.

The plush 5,500-foot building was designed by Waco architect Keith Bailey (no relation to Bill and Roberta) and built by Ken Cooper of Cooper and Horn Builders. It boasts a clubhouse and locker rooms for the men's and women's teams, coaches' offices, a large patio area overlooking the course and a team lounge equipped with a big-screen television.

The Baylor teams have their own exclusive putting and chipping greens as well as a driving range designed to allow players to hit balls in either of two directions, depending on the wind. To help teach their golfers the game's finer points, Hobby and Ferdon employ a special indoor hitting area equipped with some $30,000 worth of state-of-the-art, computer-enhanced video instructional equipment. For rainy days, large overhead doors roll up, allowing the Bears to hit from a protected area inside onto an open outdoor range. An indoor putting green completely eliminates lost practice days due to bad weather.

"I think that is one of the most unique aspects of the building," said Keith Bailey, the architect. "They can train year 'round, even in inclement weather. It's all state-of-the-art. The video equipment offers the latest technology for teaching and training. And they can do it in sunshine or rain. This facility is superlative.

"We designed it to be functional as well as beautiful. We used an eclectic Texas style with native stone, stucco, tapered columns and a green metal roof. It's the look you see at high-end golf facilities. The interior is full of natural, stained wood. It all fits well with the course and site. It has a real country club look to it. "

Jim Trego, Baylor's associate athletic director for men's sports and special projects, has overseen the construction of a number of the Bears' new athletic facilities. He supervised the recent Floyd Casey Stadium additions and another stellar riverfront project, the Turner Riverfront Complex, home of Baylor baseball, softball, soccer and men's and women's tennis. As outstanding as those venues are - Baylor Ballpark, for example, is rated among the top five college baseball facilities nationally - Trego thinks Bear Ridge might top them all.

"Every project that's come along seems like it's been better than the one before," the veteran athletic administrator said. "But I really believe this golf course and team facility is the crowning jewel. Everything is first class. It is absolutely the best."

"There are a lot of good golf courses around the Big 12," Hobby said. "But there's nothing to compare to the team facility we've got. When you look at the video equipment, indoor and outdoor hitting bays, the locker room and everything else, there's nothing as good as ours."

Ferdon added, "Tim and I sat in on meetings early in the design process and they told us to get the best of everything. We looked at the other schools and learned. Everything is there and everything is first class."

Keith Bailey agreed: "When we started, we looked at other major universities to see what they had done. We are on par, if you'll pardon the pun, with anybody, both from the standpoint of attractiveness and technology."

"This practice facility is awesome," Bateman said. "It's going to help us. When recruits come in for visits, it's going to be a great attraction. And it will help the team now. We have our own home."

Hobby saw firsthand what an impact such a facility can have on recruiting when he signed two national top 20 recruits, Derek Abel of Plano and Ryan Baca of Sugar Land.

"We're getting calls from top 50 (high school) players asking if they can come visit us. In the past we'd try to call these kids and they'd hang up on us. Now they're calling us. We're in the game with all the top kids," he noted.

Ferdon said she can see Baylor taking advantage of Bear Ridge to host NCAA regional or perhaps even national championship tournaments some day. "Tim and I want Baylor to be a golf powerhouse," she said, "and you can't do that without facilities. This is a home and source of pride. It's a championship golf course."