By Lisa Morton
In a recent meeting of the Van Horn City Council, Mountain View Golf Course Manager, Raul Rodriguez requested approval to hold the annual golf tournament on August 16th through 18th. Rodriguez and his team have produced highly successful and eagerly anticipated tournaments for the last 20 years. However, this year Rodriguez must contend with promoting the event while having to contend with less than optimal conditions at the popular course.
The Town of Van Horn was recently forced to address water issues and non-compliance with TCEQ at the golf course, resulting in shutting down irrigation pumps and draining water reservoirs. For the last couple of months, the fairways have been watered using a water truck and sprayer. This short-term solution has kept the course and hope alive and preventing widespread drought damage that may be hard to recover from.
Rodriguez said the negative impact on local golfers is a concern. Golfers were driving carts through the drained ponds leaving the course even more unattractive and causing more damage. The City recently published a public notice to golfers that abuse of the course will result in players being banned by the manager.
When Rodriguez presented the standard tournament flyer requesting approval and authorization to advertise the event, alderman Karolyne Carloss recommended changing the advertisement and rebranding the event this year to “Play to Save our Desert Course”. The event is open to the public and spectators are encouraged to support local golfers and golfers traveling hundreds of miles to compete. A full menu of concession stand items will be on sale during the day.
Van Horn’s 2019 DUST UP Golf Tournament at Mountain View Golf Course, sponsored by Budweiser, is now posted and is a two-man scramble event to be held August 16th through 18th with a deadline for golfers to enter of August 12. Entry fee is $155 per person and includes carts, mulligans for Saturday and Sunday and 5 raffle tickets. There will be a Hole-in-one $10,000 cash prize and Hole #3, closest to the pin prize is a golf bag and putter. Golfers in top places are eligible for a $2,000 per flight payout, $1,000 for 1st place, $600 for 2nd place, and $400 for 3rd place. Call Mountain View Golf Course in Van Horn at 432-283-2628 to register or for additional information, or call Raul at 432-284-1959 or Rafael at 432-284-1380.
