photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The driving range and clubhouse at Twin Oaks Golf are shown in May 2021.

At one point, the future of the golf course and driving range along Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence was a bit like many of my golf balls: difficult to see and slightly treacherous to reach.

But now the Twin Oaks Golf Course and driving range has a new owner and has reopened for the season, which is something that the last owner wasn’t sure would happen.

“I saw a lot of potential here,” said new owner Brandon Yates.

If you remember, the short, par-3 golf course and practice facility — at the interchange of K-10 and County Road 1057 between Lawrence and Eudora — was slated to be the site of a new high-tech driving range resembling the Top Golf facility in Johnson County.

But that project fell apart when the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission balked at giving the necessary approvals needed to construct a new building that would have housed the high-tech driving range bays and a restaurant. Planning commissioners expressed a number of concerns, including that they didn’t want to encourage commercial development at that interchange along one of the busier roads in all of Douglas County. There was concern that approving the necessary zoning to allow construction of the building could prompt others to try to develop the farm fields that currently line the highway.

Eventually, planning commissioners and county commissioners did approve a revised zoning application for the property, but by that time the group that was proposing the high-tech driving range pulled out of the contract to buy the property.

At that point, the longtime managing partner of the golf course, Jeff Burey, wasn’t sure what would happen next. He closed the course for the winter season. He began telling customers that he didn’t think he would reopen when the weather turned. While he had a new zoning designation that would allow a scaled-back version of the high-tech driving range, he didn’t have an interested buyer for the property.

Then, along came Yates. Unlike Burey — who is the former head pro at the famed Pinehurst Country Club and recently was inducted into the Kansas Golf Hall of Fame — Yates is not a big name in the local golf industry. He’s the president of an electrical construction business in the Kansas City area, but he was familiar with Twin Oaks from some of its golfing programs for kids.

“My kids are getting into golf, and that has allowed me to get back into it,” Yates said.

He said “knowing the culture that was there and all the good things they do with kids” was a big part of what spurred his interest in buying the facility. He said the complex would continue to be the home to the First Tee program for youth golfers, and also would offer other youth golfing classes and programs. It also will continue to host several high school golf programs that use the course as their practice facility. While Burey is stepping down from management of the complex, he has agreed to stay with Twin Oaks to lead the youth programming.

“I like to say that we have him doing the stuff that he loves to do, which is to teach and promote,” Yates said.

Jeff Burey, proprietor of Twin Oaks Golf Course, helps fourth-grader Javier Romero with his golf swing in this June 2014 file photo.

But what about the idea of new development at the golf course site? Yates wasn’t ruling out a revival of the idea of a high-tech driving range and golf business on the site, but he stopped short of saying he was prepared to move forward with the idea.

“We hope to do some really neat things at some point, but we don’t have definite plans at this time,” he said. “It will take some time to get it all put together.”

If you aren’t familiar with the idea of what I’m calling a high-tech driving range, it largely involves an open-faced building that houses driving range bays full of cameras and computer equipment. They track your swing, measure the flight of your ball and open up all types of opportunities for competitions based on your distance, accuracy and other factors.

Usually, such businesses also include a bar and restaurant. That seems to be a pretty important part of most of the business plans. My understanding is the new zoning for the property — a rural tourism designation — would allow for the high-tech driving range but wouldn’t accommodate a full restaurant. Instead, it might allow for a snack bar.

We’ll see if such a development takes shape along K-10, as golf seemingly is growing in popularity as more people tried the sport during the pandemic.

In the meantime, Yates said he was focusing on improving the condition of the par-3 course and the traditional driving range that exists on the site. That includes getting the greens and fairways into better shape. The course and driving range, though, will remain open while improvements are made, Yates said.

“We really want to restore it to its full potential and have a nice-looking facility,” Yates said. “From there, we’ll see what doors open up in terms of other development.”