Sometimes you have to stop doing business in order to improve business.

That’s the philosophy behind the decision to close the public side of Alvamar’s golf course for six months in order to refurbish the greens.

“It’s definitely a business decision,” said Brad Demo, head pro of Alvamar’s public side. “We think it’s the right decision.”

Alvamar will close its course Oct. 4, basically in order to keep up with the Joneses.

“We’ve been having a great year so far,” Demo said, “but the competition is extremely fierce.”

Eagle Bend, the city’s municipal course, has cut into Alvamar’s revenue, but Alvamar also has felt an impact from the proliferation of courses in the Kansas City Metro area.

The greens on the Jayhawk and Quail Creek nines on Alvamar’s public side are the originals. The course opened in May of 1968, so those greens have been in place for more than 36 years.

Demo stressed they aren’t worn out, just technologically inferior.

“Our greens are high-maintenance. They need tender-loving care every day to make sure they’re not burning,” Demo said. “And they’re extremely soft. The ball marks on them are very obvious.”

About 10 years ago, the greens at adjacent Alvamar Country Club were replaced with a Crenshaw bent grass.

“Basically, there’s a new generation of Crenshaw we hope to use on the public side,” said Kent Morgison, Alvamar public’s course superintendent.

In early October, Morgison and his staff will cover the greens, gas them with methyl bromide to kill the existing grass, wait for two days, remove the covers, let them air for two days, then plant the new seed.

“We’ve looked at doing this for two or three years,” Demo said. “The timing was right for us because we’ll be doing work on the driving range, too.”

In conjunction with Kansas University, Alvamar will expand the Jayhawk Training Center on the course by removing targets from the driving range and installing greens that can be reached from both the north and the south. The Jayhawk Training Center currently consists of a short-game practice area featuring a 15,000-square-foot, three-tiered green.

According to the Kansas Golf Assn., two other state courses — Lake Quivira CC in Kansas City and Salina CC — currently are undergoing greens overhauls.

“Wichita Country Club is also undergoing a huge upgrade,” said Nick Underwood of the KGA, “but they’ve been doing it two or three holes at a time.”

Often courses opt to close nine holes and leave nine open in order to minimize revenue loss. That was the strategy at Alvamar CC a decade or so ago.

“We talked about that,” Demo said, “but we decided to go ahead with all 18 holes because the driving range would be closed, too.”

While the course will be closed to the public from October through next April, it will be available to college and high school teams for practice.

“We’ll put a cup and a flagstick in front of the greens,” Morgison said, “but the greens won’t be puttable.”

Prior to the reopening, Alvamar officials plan to launch a marketing campaign to call attention to the new, improved course and to the upgraded practice facility.

“Next spring, the course will be fabulous,” Demo said, “and I think our practice facility will be second to none.”

The public’s last chance to play on the old greens will be Oct. 1 when Demo stages what has been dubbed the “Gas and Regrass Open.” It’s a four-person scramble open to the first 36 teams. The course is booked for private tournaments Oct. 2-3.

“Anytime you close a facility and don’t generate any revenue, it hurts,” Demo said. “But we’ll do the best we can.”

During the six months Alvamar’s public side is closed, Alvamar Country Club’s course will be available to the public, but only when members don’t have tee times.

A spokesperson for Alvamar Development Corp. said the company would not divulge the cost of the project.