DATE: Wednesday, September 17, 1997         TAG: 9709170653

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   58 lines

STRANGE IMPRESSED WITH CITY PARK RENOVATION IMPROVEMENTS WILL INCLUDE NEW HOLES, 25 PRACTICE TEES WITH LIGHTS, 18 PUTTING GREENS.

Curtis Strange swung his 8-iron, the golf ball flew over a tip of water and landed softly on the green, maybe 15 feet from the flag. At that moment Tuesday, City Park became a golf course worthy of even the most accomplished player.

Seconds later, Portsmouth mayor James W. Holley III swung that same 8-iron and the ball jumped right and into the Elizabeth River. At that moment, City Park became a learning center even a high-handicapper could embrace.

About 60 days from now, City Park officially opens as both. Tuesday, the city gave the media and a couple hundred guests from all walks of life a sneak preview. Their reaction in a word: Wow.

``I think this is something we can all be excited about,'' said Strange, the Hampton Roads native and two-time U.S. Open champion who has been hired by the city as a consultant on City Park and the upcoming year-long restoration of neighboring Bide-A-Wee. ``When I was growing up in Virginia Beach, we didn't have anything like this. I first came here 30 years ago, when I was 14 and Chandler Harper was helping me hone my game. The last time I came back, it hadn't changed much from then. Now, it's changed a lot, and it's truly going to be a lot of fun to play - for all ages.''

Golf course architect Tom Clark led a group on a walking tour of the new course he and Strange have created from the existing layout that opened in 1920. Every hole is new - three par-4s and six par-3s. The old Bermuda grass greens, overseeded with rye and often little more than dirt piles when the rye died, will be replaced by spacious bent-grass greens that give the course superintendent a multitude of pin placements and green speeds from which to choose.

Along City Park Road, they've started building an 18-hole bent-grass putting green, which will be worked, shaped and groomed with the same care as the course.

There was a stage for Holley, Strange, Clark and other dignitaries on the land where 25 practice-tee boxes will sit, bathed in spotlights to accommodate night play. A few hundred yards behind the stage stood a new clubhouse.

``I've been coming here since 1928 and I'm amazed they had the room to do all this,'' Harper said. ``The only thing I'm worried about is what they do to the prices. If they keep them right, they'll get all the play they want out here. In the '20's, when I came up, golf was a rich man's game. I'd hate to see it get back to that here.''

Officials haven't decided yet how much to charge to play City Park, though it is expected to be in the neighborhood of $10.

The concensus was that that wouldn't be too much for Tuesday's guests. They represented just about every walk of life, from famous golf pros to politicians, yesterday's sports stars to businessmen, landscapers to laborers. All stood in a long line to get an autograph from Stange, then Harper. ILLUSTRATION: SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT IN PORTSMOUTH

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

PGA Tour star Curtis Strange is all smiles as he prepares to take

the ceremonial first shot Tuesday at the City Park golf media day.

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