NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With the announcement this week of Prairie Dunes Country Club hosting the 2029 U.S. Senior Open and the 2032 U.S. Senior Women's Open, LeAnn Cox with Visit Hutch knows that the planning for merchants and hotels needs to start now.
"It will be years worth of details and logistics," Cox said. "We have currently, about 700 hotel rooms. We're going to, by then, have over 800 hotel rooms and we can't just sell those to anybody picking up the phone calling. We have to take care of the USGA first and their staff and all of the vendors and all of those folks that come in. We really have to be methodical and careful with how and who we place. Our hotels will be sold out, probably for the better part of a two-week period. There's practice rounds that start on Monday, so there will be visitors coming in starting on Monday and then the competition doesn't start until Thursday. It's a lot of logistics. It is thousands of volunteers. In 2002 for the Women's Open, in 2006 for the Senior Open, if I recall correctly, we had about 2500 total volunteers from the community. It's a lot of people getting involved and kind of all pushing in the same direction, so it will be a heavy lift for everybody."
Cox understands that this could make this market attractive to additional hotel development.
"One of the first things I thought when we found out this was, for sure, coming was, this, actually both golf events that are coming in 2029 and 2032, that certainly helps us build a case for the demand for hotel inventory," Cox said. "We know personally, from what we do daily, that we need more hotel rooms, but we still have to show that 365 days a year, there is at least a 70% occupancy level, that a new developer coming in could take advantage of. The answer to your question is yes, this certainly helps us, but we need to continue booking events into the future, so we can help build that case and relay that story to developers."
Obviously, the course itself always comes first, but it's also important to note that a market like Hutchinson is better suited to a Senior event than a full-blown U.S. Open, just because of the number of spectators likely to attend.
"Outside of the golf course and what limitations it might have, we as a community also have some limitations. The infrastructure needed to host 170,000 spectators at the course, that would be a tall order."
The USGA does not publicly announce official attendance numbers for the U.S. Senior Open, but the crowds this year in Wisconsin were estimated between 50,000 and 75,000 prior to the tournament.
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