Dalhousie makes residential-course list

~ GolFweek lists the local golf-real estate venture among the bestin the country.

The most recent award earned by Cape Girardeau's Dalhousie Golf Club is about more than just golf.

It represents the wider vision that managing member Cord Dombrowski has for the Dalhousie complex.

Golfweek, in conjunction with The Wall Street Journal, recently listed the 100 best residential golf courses in the United States and another 21 courses of distinction. Dalhousie was among those on the courses of distinction and the only one in Missouri honored in either list.

"To the best of our knowledge, there are somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 golf courses that have a residential component to it, and for us to be recognized in the top 120 in all of those fabulous facilities -- in Florida and Texas and Palm Springs [Calif.] and Scottsdale [Ariz.] and the Carolinas -- is truly an honor," Dombrowski said Tuesday night at a reception to announce the award.

Dalhousie has a two-page spread mixing advertising and editorial in Golfweek's 2008 "Definitive Guide to the Golf Life," which includes the best residential and best resort courses in the nation. The 210-page magazine was delivered as an advertising supplement to Golfweek.

In addition to the golf course staff, Dombrowski credited Christey Heath, chief operating manager, and Aaron Dombrowski and Lee Smith, who are overseeing the development of the residential side of Dalhousie, for the most recent award.

Heath, who describes her job as a little bit of everything, has been working with Cord Dombrowski on the Dalhousie project since the beginning.

"I was intrigued by it because I had no knowledge at all of golf," she said, citing her background in county government. "By listening to his vision, it was very exciting to me because it was different. I had absolutely no clue it would turn out like it turned out."

Cord Dombrowski said about 40 to 50 homes have been built with about an equal number of sites sold and awaiting development, bringing the first phase of the community to about 70 percent of being sold out.

"I don't know the exact weighting of the golf in relation to the residential component, but I do know they have to blend," Dombrowski said of the Golfweek judging. "I'm sure it's a continuity and a master planning aspect.

"When the entire master plan starts to take effect, there will be 500 or 600 individual homes out here. To incorporate that with the golf course, we've taken the same landscaping theme and incorporated that into the real estate with walking trails and the community center that will come down the line when another 50 or 100 folks live here."

The reception at Dalhousie Manor, the course's clubhouse, on Tuesday included real estate agents, residents of the community and many who have played a role in the development. On hand to speak were Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson, who was the co-chair of the American Junior Golf Association tournament at Dalhousie earlier this year; John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce; and Bill Cole of Realty Executives.

"Think about the investment that the Dombrowskis have made," Knudtson said in his remarks. "Think about what it requires. That's probably why there are so many bankers here. Where I come from, we called it cahones.

"We are all winners for this."