Ladera golf course is coming back to life

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Laderas director of golf, Sam Zimmerly, says there hasnt been this much grass on the course in decades. This photo, taken in July, shows the No. 6 hole. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. If you havent played Ladera Golf Course in recent weeks, then you havent played Ladera in many years.

Maybe ever.

After years of struggling to have much if any grass on the fairways, and after what appeared to be a botched $2 million renovation for a new sprinkler system in 2011-12, something very interesting has finally happened at Ladera.

Its turned into a golf course, and it is still improving daily.

I got here in June of 1995, and Ive never had this much grass here ever, said Sam Zimmerly, the courses director of golf. Even in the heydays of the late 80s, when I played here as a competitor at New Mexico Opens, there was not nearly this much grass.

Its the new watering system. They put the heads in the correct position to water where we needed to water, and we have the proper fairway lines and even rough lines where we never had them before. And even though we have so much more grass, the new system cut the water bill down by 25 percent.

As of today, the entire course has again opened.

For much of the year, only the front side was open while new cart paths were being completed on the back nine. But all 18 on the championship course, as well as the executive nine, are ready to roll.

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Ladera golf course is coming back to life