CommonGround Clubhouse Re-Opens

By Jim Bebbington

The clubhouse at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora may not look all that different, but it’s a world of improvements from the older building.

For the past year staff at CommonGround have been operating out of trailers off to the side of the parking lot while the course’s clubhouse was renovated.

The work finished up this spring, and the building now gives staff more room to make the operation run well. Before the pros, pro-shop staff, merchandise and concessions were housed in space that essentially occupied the entirety of the clubhouse. There were few offices and little storage, and the concessions operations were limited by the lack of cooler space. So when regular patrons return to the building this spring, they may not notice all the changes. The public spaces – check-in counter, concessions counter and tables are all pretty much the same.

But the merchandise no longer fits with space with the customers who just want a post-round hotdog – it has its own area now. Storage now lets them keep stock inside and not chained in a storage shed in the parking lot. The teaching staff has offices to meet with students, and the concessions area has a restaurant-quality walk-in refrigerated cooler.

Ben Pennymon, CommonGround’s director of golf, said everything previously was fighting in and out of the front doors – staff, customers, supplies.

“Not the best way to operate,” he said. In 2023 CommonGround had 42,000 rounds. Next up the complex is building a new range building and dispensing machine. “The same high volume we experience on our golf course we experience on our driving range,” Pennymon said. “Many times throughout the summer it’s standing-room-only.”