Joe Kline / The Bulletin Charlie Rice hits out of a bunker during this summer’s Mirror Pond Invitational at Bend Golf and Country Club. Rice recently shot a 68 at a Champions Tour Regional Qualifier.

This is another installment in a weekly Tee To Green feature in which we check in via email with Central Oregon golf facilities for an offseason update. This week we contacted Erik Nielsen, head professional at Bend Golf and Country Club.

Nielsen, a PGA pro since 1993, is in his 13th year as head pro at the private club in southeast Bend. This is what he had to say about the current business of golf and about Bend Golf and Country Club, Central Oregon’s oldest golf facility:

Q: How was business in 2014?

A: I’ve been extremely happy with the growth that we’ve had in the areas of junior golf participation (both our PGA Junior League team and summer junior program), friendly/casual golf events and tournament activities, and both golf and athletic memberships. Because of our array of food and beverage services, we’ve had significant increases in member fine dining and in outside banquet and party business.

Q: Were any changes of note made to the facility during the last year?

A: Our club has continued to work on aesthetics around our property, including visual improvements to our club entrance and parking lot, practice greens, and the interior of our multipurpose clubhouse and athletic facility. We also focused on some additional agronomy practices that we felt improved the conditioning of our fairways, greens and course bunkering. These paid off immensely because we were able to maintain our high conditioning standards during the hottest days of the summer.

Q: Are any changes and/or improvements to the facility scheduled for 2015?

A: We have selected Dan Hixson Golf Design to develop a master plan concept for the future of our prime amenity, our highly regarded golf course. Mr. Hixson’s goal is to provide a road map that will outline the primary design modifications that will improve our course in a time frame that our membership is comfortable in defining. We expect the master plan to increase strategy and playability for our members and guests. It will also address issues of fairway widths, tree management, placement, size and strategy of bunkers, variety of tee box placements, and mowing patterns. This process is similar to what Mr. Hixson has done for other prime courses in the Pacific Northwest, including Portland Golf Club and Tualatin Country Club.

Q: Much has been made about new initiatives to grow the game (FootGolf, 15-inch holes, Speedgolf, etc.). What, if any, of those initiatives would you consider the most promising?

A: I believe that all of these ideas are promising, but the success of any program depends on what clientele you currently have at your facility and what additional players you want to attract. For our tradition-oriented club, we’ve emphasized programs that grow the game for junior golfers and beginners, and we’ve highlighted “Play It Forward” tee settings and “Play Nine” initiatives.

Q: Has your club either started to offer or does it plan to implement any of those initiatives?

A: Despite our club’s 90-year history, we won’t remain stagnant. We’ve implemented several programs in the past 24 months. These include the formation of our PGA Junior League team and league, the introduction of our Fall Junior Cup, and our complimentary Get Golf Ready lessons and clinic series that focuses on both female beginning golfers and others looking to improve. Our club also has strongly encouraged Play It Forward by focusing on the enjoyment of moving up to a new tee box, and we also implemented a casual-play course that is shorter than 5,000 yards. We utilize our practice holes as primary learning holes for young children, and we promote nine-hole and time-sensitive, four- or five-hole loops around the course during the afternoons and early evenings. We also will continue our family-fun golf activities like our Glow Ball Tournament, and look to add more ideas that our member families will enjoy and appreciate.

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, zhall@bendbulletin.com.