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LaFortune Park’s par 3 golf course reopens Friday after being closed for a six-month renovation. The $3 million update includes a slight reconfiguration to keep balls from going into Yale Avenue traffic.
Tulsa County Parks Director Richard Bales said you’ll also notice cart paths there for the first time ever.
"Which has been a deterrent initially. But now the cart path is here. So, you’ll be able to ride the cart go on all the time on the par 3, which will be a big, big plus for sure for those golfers," Bales said.
Bales said the county pushed to get the course done in time for the new Bermuda grass to take hold. There are also new tee boxes and sand traps.
LaFortune Park Golf Director Pat McCrate said he’s happiest about the new lights, which are at least four times better than the old ones based on foot candle readings.
"Playing before, you’d hit a ball and it would disappear from sight, then it would reappear in the lights — if you were good. You know, it might not reappear if you hit it crooked," McCrate said. "Now, you hit a shot, you can follow it all the way through the sky and down to the ground."
Bales said the 52-year-old course has a reputation as where golfers learn before moving to the championship course.
"That’s really not what it’s about now. I mean, it is a quality golf facility now for the avid golfer to the person who just decides, after hearing this or something, 'I’m going to learn to play,'" Bales said.
The course is now taking tee times. McCrate said the lights will stay on through October, weather permitting.
