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Airport golf proposal may fly Plan calls for two 9-hole courses By DAVID PRESZLER Construction is expected to begin this summer on a long-planned nine-hole golf course next to the Medford airport. Building permit requests will be submitted to the city next week and a driving range and baseball/softball hitting range could be open as early as this fall. "It's been delayed several times but it's alive and well," airport Director Bern Case said. The land is owned by the county airport authority and is being leased to Rogue Valley Sports Center, a corporation owned by Portland resident Roland Haertl. The golf course design has been revised from earlier proposals but has been completed. "We had to change the layout because it just didn't work," Haertl said. The revised layout will still feature a nine-hole, executive-style course. All the holes will be par 3s, with the longest approaching 200 yards. The complex also will feature a separate nine-hole, pitch-and-putt course and a pitching practice area so golfers can hone their short games. "We want to emphasize the youth market and starter market," Haertl said. The two courses aren't likely to open before the end of the year, but the driving range, a pitching practice area and the batting range could open sooner. "Hopefully, we will be opening something this fall," Haertl said. The batting range is a new addition to the plans, but one that Haertl expects to be a strong one. Unlike batting cages, the range will allow hitters to track the full flight of the ball. "Medford is such a great baseball and softball area that we thought we'd capture that," he said. The 30-year lease covers a 47-acre parcel with frontage on Corona and Whittle avenues about 600 feet south of Crater Lake Highway. The county approved the airport's plan to develop the land as a golf course in 1992 but the project has hit several snags. Haertl is the third developer to tackle it. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA