Black Brook Golf Course Opens New Practice Center

A moment more than a year in the making has finally come -- the has opened its redesigned practice center.

The center opened Saturday and it features artificial and a 1.5-acre natural tee, an artificial tee that can be used during bad weather, target greens, an uneven lie area and even sand bunkers on which golfers can practice.

"It's great," Black Brook Manager and PGA Pro Tim Ausperk said. "We're getting a lot of people out there practicing and we've gotten a lot of good comments."

The city of Mentor has owned the golf course since 2005. It had hoped to open the center last spring but record levels of rain slowed the project.

"We had such a bad spring last year that it set us back a couple of months," Ausperk said.

The new center cost $150,000 but the city saved money by having most of the excavating work done by Mentor’s Public Works employees.

In turn, the city hopes the practice center makes Black Brook more attractive to golfers around the region.

Ausperk said the course draws about $55,000 in revenue annually. With the new practice center, Ausperk hopes that revenues jump to $80,000 to $100,000 per year.

The city of Mentor will celebrate the new practice center with a dedication and reopening to be held 10 a.m. May 5.

A closest-to-the-pin and putting contest will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and anybody can get a free 10-minute lesson with one of the course's golf pros.

All events are free but people will need to register in advance for their lesson by calling 440-951-0010.