Touchet Valley Golf Club board sets a vision

DAYTON—The Touchet Valley Golf Club board has developed an aggressive five-year strategy, and is now working on implementation of one of its first priorities, which is to raise money for an underground irrigation system at the golf course.

Golf course concessionaire Bill Ayotte said the June 22 First Annual Gene Crothers Memorial Golf Tournament was hugely successful in raising money for the irrigation system.

“This is the first time there has been a project to benefit the club,” he said.

But it won’t be the last.

Ayotte said the tournament has helped to raise awareness about what the golf course needs to survive. The tournament will be repeated next year, but will be even bigger and better, he said.

“We have to show we have some skin in the game,” said Dayton Pharmacist Sean Thurston, who is leading the charge in getting seed money from stakeholders for the planning stages of the irrigation system.

Thurston has reached out to the Port of Columbia and the county commissioners for support.

He said the board has been in talks with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and Washington Water Trust (WWT) about how to provide water savings through flood plain restoration, for the Touchet River, in exchange for financial help with the irrigation system.

According to the strategic plan, WWT and CTUIR are looking at using effluent from the city’s new waste water treatment plant for irrigation, and for shallow aquifer recharge ponds to sub-irrigate the grass and trees at the course.

Thurston said he has applied for a $10,000 grant through Columbia REA for a water efficiency study. The water efficiency plan could be integrated into a larger course remodel design.

Thurston said initial discussions with CTIUR and WWT have shed light on other funding opportunities, including a $20,000 grant opportunity through the Wildhorse Foundation.

“If we move forward with floodplain restoration work, we hope to submit a pre-proposal to the Department of Ecology for the Floodplains by Design grant in the fall,” Thurston said.

In 2015, the County contracted with Greg Baer Design Group in Idaho, for an irrigation system renovation design. The price tag was over one million dollars.

The TVGC board will use that study as a template, but the board plans to explore ways to keep costs down.

“This is an exciting time for the golf course. We hope that over the next few years the community will notice a much-improved facility,” Thurston said,

The five-year strategic plan was created to further the board’s vision to attain sustainability and financial independence, which is a goal for the county commissioners, as well.

Planning and promoting is planned in Phase I, which will be devoted to building relationships with partners, such as the Friends of the Fairgrounds, and with the community. Phase I also calls for the ability to seek grants by establishing a nonprofit 501 (c) (3).

Exploring the possibility of remodeling and expanding the golf course, along with continued efforts to fund the irrigation system are also in Phase I.

Funding and Engineering is to take place in Phase II, which will be done in years two and three. In this phase the group hopes to roll out an aggressive marketing plan to increase golf participation. Continued fundraising for construction and engineering of the irrigation system, as well as remodeling and expanding the golf course are to be carried out in this phase.

Phase III, in years four and five, is the construction and completion phase.

In this phase TVGC will have achieved financial independence, and continued fundraising efforts will be made to help offset the cost of maintenance and operations.