West Suffield Resident Breathing New Life Into Copper Hill Golf Club

The Cooper Hill Golf Club, a nine-hole course in East Granby which had largely gone to seed in the mid-2000s, is undergoing a tremendous revitalization by a West Suffield resident who purchased the property three years ago.

Paul Banks, a PGA professional since 1991, had created the nearby Copper Hill Golf Academy and Driving Range in 1994. "I built that from a cornfield," he said in a recent interview.

Banks has had close ties with the club for many years. His father-in-law, Vic Svenberg, operated the course for more than 20 years, starting in the late 1970s when he began leasing the land from course founder Alan Bisset.

In 1999, businesswoman Lisa Wilson-Foley purchased the land and business and renamed it Fox Run at Copper Hill. However, the course began falling into serious disrepair, giving Banks the opportunity to step in and save it from oblivion.

He leased the property from Wilson-Foley in 2009. "I did that my first year because I wanted to kick the tires a little bit and see how it all worked," Banks said. "I saw a lot of potential, so the next year I made an offer and bought it."

Upon taking total control of the entire operation, Banks immediately began addressing the most frequently heard complaint: the condition of the greens.

"The greens had a lot of disease in them and weren't really being treated," Banks said. "There was no organized program for fertilizer, and it's not a quick thing. When you get disease in the greens, it doesn't just pop out. It took three years before the ball wasn't bouncing all over the place. Finally, last year it was disease-free."

Another area of concern was the lack of drainage on certain holes, particularly the ninth, where the fairway slopes sharply from left to right, leaving large amounts of water on the right side.

"We did some drainage to catch the water and control the flow," Banks said.

A startling change took place on the seventh hole, where the back tee area was completely cleared and major work was done near the green.

"There was always a tee back there, but it was almost indistinguishable because it was all overgrown. We cleaned that all out and put in irrigation near the tee," Banks said. "We built a bridge near the green, but it got hit by a cart and ruined, so course superintendent Steve George re-built it. We also landscaped the front of the green area."

Other significant renovations include:

• Deepening and ecology-friendly treatment of the pond on 2;
  
• Rebuilding a collapsing tee box on 3;
• Removal of large trees in the center of the fourth fairway;
• Major overhauls in the restaurant and banquet facility.