Hutchinson ? Reno County is one of three places in Kansas where new golf course communities are planned.

The three Kansas projects, if they sell as well as their developers believe they will, could add more than 1,000 homes, more than 200 condominiums and town homes and millions of dollars of tax base for Reno, Harvey and Seward counties.

“Housing developers say there are two things that sell homes – water, such as lakes or oceans, and golf courses,” said Chad Ritterbusch a spokesman for the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

Lane Neville, a graduate of Hutchinson High School and designated broker with the Land Advisor Organization in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he knew the rolling sand hills east of Hutchinson would be an ideal location for a 600-acre planned golf course community.

But the land must be rezoned before the land development company can build 550 homes and 200 condominiums and town homes.

Five miles north of Liberal, developers plan to build the Yucca Ridge Golf Club, a 640-acre planned community that may include a private air strip.

The 500-acre Sand Creek golf course community, 11 miles west of Newton, plans to offer homes in the $140,000 to $160,000 range as a way to make quicker sales, said Wichita developer Jay Russell.