We, Landscapes Unlimited, built the Brad Benz designed Northgate probably 20-25 years ago. It actually was a very unique course to build with very tough, rocky conditions. There are major ravines on the site as well, but when it was maintained properly it had a great look. The water came from the irrigation ditches but this water was not available all of the time, so the biggest problem that this course had was lack of water. The rural water folks would just cut off the water supply and their only option at that time was to haul water to the greens with water trucks and hand water the greens only. The rest of the course would go dormant or die. This happened almost every year, so the conditions were terrible at times.
I remember taking a client out to the the course to show him some of our great work and I was very embarassed about the course conditions. I remember purchasing a brand new trencher at that time which was one of the biggest I had seen. We couldn't wait to see what it could do with its "rock teeth", and we were very surprised that it would not even go into the ground. Most of the irrigation was installed with large caterpillar track backhoes, something that us mid-westerners were not use to.
It's sad to hear that it is closing because at one time, it was the best course that we had built, and undoubtedly the most difficult.