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  Carrie Rengers  

Willowbend golf course could get new owners

The owners of Echo Hills Golf Club in Park City are considering purchasing Willowbend Golf Club.

As Have You Heard? reported in April, Echo Hills owners Bert and Eloise Henderson are most likely selling their club so developer Mike Loveland can use the land for a new commercial project in Park City.

The Hendersons' daughter, Cheryl Greiving, now confirms that. She says the family still wants to be in the golf business, which is why it's considering Willowbend.

"Several weeks ago Bert was playing out there and just mentioned that he was looking to maybe buy another golf course," Greiving says. "They expressed an interest in selling, and so Bert said, 'Let's take a look at it.' "

Rick Nuckolls, who owns Willowbend with his brother, Rod, says, "We didn't have the course on the market.

"We enjoy Willowbend," he says. "It's not a have-to sell."

But he says, "We've got a good thing going, and Bert sees that, and he wants to continue what we started and built and have accomplished."

Greiving says her family has received some of Willowbend's financial information.

"We're just investigating at this point," she says.

"If we buy it, it would remain private. We have no plans to change anything."

The sale is contingent on what happens with Loveland's development.

"Bert is one of these people who likes to plan ahead," Greiving says. "We want to know what we're going to do next."

The Nuckolls brothers have owned Willowbend since 2000 and bought out partners Mike and Mark Marney in 2003.

"Like all golf courses, we're doing OK and paying bills," Rick Nuckolls says.

"Golf courses aren't large profit centers," he says. "Most golf courses... work to keep golf at a competitive price for the people of Wichita."

Nuckolls says if a sale happens, he'd most likely stay on through 2009, and he and his brother would remain members.

Rod Nuckolls was on the PGA tour from 1980 to 1985. He's now 51 and plays in Senior PGA events.

"I'd like to try to go play a little bit, too," says Rick Nuckolls, who is 55. "If the sale goes through, I think we're both going to try to play a little bit."

Tunnel of love

In other golfing news, Terradyne Country Club will build a tunnel under 159th Street to connect its golf course to its housing development, where three practice greens and a driving range are about to open.

"It's kind of unusual," says general manager Craig Smith.

The club is doing it for safety because Smith says he never wants to see a headline that says something like, "Two people killed in golf cart crossing 159th Street."

Smith says the driving range has been a bit behind schedule because the club had to change contractors part way through.

Eight of the 55 residential lots for sale have sold.

"They're really picking up nicely," Smith says of home sales. Four of the lots are in the Estates, which are houses that sell between $700,000 and $900,000. Four have sold in Dunning Hill, where $400,000 houses will surround the driving range.

The driving range and practice greens will open after the tunnel is completed, which will take two or three weeks.

"That's what they tell me," Smith says. But he adds, "If it's two or three weeks, that means it's six or eight weeks."

Competitive friends

Dan Miller of Miller's Dry Cleaners and Laundry is pretty frank when talking with his friend Russell Parker of Welch and Four Seasons Dry Cleaning and Laundry.

"It's like I tell Russell: I hate him as a competitor, but I like him as a friend," Miller says.

But Miller didn't let that competition keep him from stepping in to help out Parker, his brother John Parker II and their father John Parker after a June 2 fire at their production plant.

"I was really surprised and really ecstatic," John Parker II says.

Miller called in College Hill Cleaners, Elite Cleaners and Royal Cleaners to help, too.

You might say Miller was simply returning the favor. When one of his stores had a fire in 2004, several competitors immediately stepped up to help him.

John Parker II says it's significant that competitors helped complete customers' orders because he "didn't want to go out of business."

You don't say

"It doesn't look like it belongs in Wichita."

--Wichita resident Lynne Tinker on the new Coach store that opened in Towne East Square last week

Got a hot tip or quirky story? Call Carrie Rengers at 316-268-6340 or e-mail crengers@wichitaeagle.com.