It's been a really fun time going through the whole planning stage and exciting to fully realize that Ballyneal is just gonna be way cool.
As always, the permitting process has taken longer than expected and we are still waiting on one key permit which seems to have stalled on someone's desk in Denver for far too long--and not because of any resistance. So we had to evaluate our schedule a bit and revert back to a previous more sensible thought of getting a few things started this year and moving forward in a bigger way early next year to meet a stronger grassing window.
In the mean time we are working out our issues with irrigation design and reveg and all the stuff that I like to hyperfocus on. I'd rather not rush just to be first, but rather carry along in a possible manner. With this site we can't expose a bunch of stuff that doesn't have the chance of getting grassed and having a good inital seeding catch. We are happy Tom has allowed some flexibility in his schedule to flow with this.
Answers to a couple of questions:
Ballyneal will be private. We are working out the details of some limited unaccompanied guest day tickets to make sure that those who want to see and play the place will have that chance. Membership sales are happening. We are looking for that group of initial members that see the potential right now. Talk is cheap, so the initial offering is going to be very good to those stepping up to the plate in the early stages. If you are interested Rupert O'Neal's contact info is on the website...I'm the grass guy
Travel time to Sand Hills is about 3 hours. Travel time from the Denver Airport is 2:14 (that's from personal experience and is based on getting a 1 point ticket doing it---which did transfer to my california driver's licence). Really more like the 2:30 range.