This is another installment in a weekly Tee To Green feature in which we check in with Central Oregon golf facilities for an offseason update. This week we contacted Todd Sickles, general manager at Quail Run Golf Course in La Pine.

Sickles came to Central Oregon in 2007 as Quail Run’s head pro and became the course’s general manager in 2010. A pro since 1989, Sickles had this to say about the current business of golf and about Quail Run, La Pine’s only golf course:

Q: How was business in 2014?

A: We were a little up from the previous year. These last couple years have been strange as far as the peaks and valleys. But we were a little up, and we had some really good times and some times that were down, inexplicably on both sides.

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

A: Last year we did just more clearing of trees, continuing the program we started the last few years of just making it more playable through golf-course tree management to improve sunlight and turf health.

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

A: The program will continue with the trees. But also the par-3 10th hole, we are going to completely rebuild that left-front bucker that has been built up too high and too big. We are going to make it smaller and move the cart path farther left and add some irrigation to make that hole a lot more player-friendly and better to look at.

On one other note, we just ordered 55 brand-new golf carts that are going to be delivered in March. That’s a big investment and I increased from 48 carts to 55, because the 48 weren’t quite enough.

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 think you have to have the right type of facility to expand to certain initiatives. Like FootGolf, you are seeing that at a golf course that might have an extra nine-hole course or they are in an area that can support that. Quail Run is not the right type of facility, seeing as we have a short season. To grow the game in our area and at our golf course, you need to do more programs to just bring in more real golfers, whether it’s juniors or family golf or better fees for seniors on certain days. Find and get creative on access to my facility when it is open on downtimes to make it more appealing to different types of golfers.

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

A: We are doing this big thing where it is $200 a year for a junior to play my facility, unlimited. I kind of started at the end of last year but I didn’t push it hard to start with. But it’s important for me in the La Pine area, where kids don’t have much to do. To offer $200 a year you could bring people in that hardly play golf at all. That might help bring their families into it and give them motivation to learn golf, and bring golf more into a (more affordable) area.

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