Tag: Municipal Courses

This Donald Ross-designed Florida municipal golf course is re-opening (and residents are getting a bigger discount)

The complex will have an 18-hole course, a 9-hole short course and a practice facility.

The Sarasota-owned Bobby Jones Golf Club will host a grand reopening celebration on Dec. 15 from 9 a.m. to noon with the first tee times starting the next day.

Online reservations can be made starting Dec. 2 by visiting bobbyjonesgolfclub.com, according to the city news release.

City residents will now also receive a 40% discount to golf at the 18-hole Donald Ross-designed course instead of a 10% discount discussed by the City Commission when officials set the facilities prices in October.

Following the October fee schedule presentation by Indigo Sports LLC, the private company that will manage the facilities at Bobby Jones, city staff “asked Indigo to review the fee schedule for a deeper discount for residents.”

“We’re pleased to share that city of Sarasota residents will receive a 40% discount on the Donald Ross Course,” Jan Thornburg, the city’s communications general manager, said.

That fee schedule will implement dynamic pricing at Bobby Jones.

An updated fee schedule that set prices at the soon to open to the public Bobby Jones Golf Course. The facility will open to the public on Dec. 16.
Adult members of the public who are not city residents will pay a minimum of $69 and a maximum of $119 to golf and use a golf cart on the 18-hole course when it opens.

Golfers can also golf after 2 p.m. for steep discounts, according to the fee schedule. Walking the course instead of using a golf course will also see a significant reduction in the cost for a round of golf at Bobby Jones Golf Club.

The prices will increase on Dec. 22 through March 31, with the least expensive round of golf coming in at $84 and the most expensive costing $124 for an adult non-city resident who uses a golf cart on the facility.

The least expensive round of golf for a city resident will cost $37, if that resident has a tee time after 2 p.m. and they walk the course instead of drive.

City residents will receive a discount of 40% off the lowest rate offered at the time they purchase their round of golf.

The city of Sarasota reduced the number of holes in the golf complex from 45 to 27 and turned some of the property into a nature park. The complex will have an 18-hole course, a 9-hole short course and a practice facility.

The construction work began in February 2022, led by Richard Mandell, the project’s architect.

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This Tillinghast-designed Pennsylvania muni might be sold because city isn’t ‘equipped to be in the golf course business’

Designed in part by World Golf Hall of Famer A.W. Tillinghast, the course was established in 1921.

ERIE, Pa. — Citing a lack of financial resources, equipment and expertise, as well as the challenge of finding someone to operate it, Millcreek Township supervisors are attempting to sell the Erie Golf Club.

In a petition filed Oct. 20 in Erie County Common Pleas Court, the township is asking to sell the 18-hole course at 6050 Old Zuck Road to a private entity after the 2024 golf season.

“We’re not equipped to be in the golf course business,” Supervisor Kim Clear said. “We would like to sell the property so that we can invest that money into the already existing parks and recreation programs that we have.”

The township acquired the 160-acre course at 6050 Old Zuck Road in 2009 from the city of Erie as part of an agreement that allowed for the runway expansion of the Erie International Airport. In exchange for Erie Golf Club, the township gave up a portion of the now-six-hole Millcreek Golf & Learning Center at 3100 W. 17th St. A portion of the property was used to extend the airport’s runway.

But being in the golf-course business, Clear said, has not reaped many rewards. A private company can buy the course and run it properly, she said.

“Most municipalities in the commonwealth and throughout the nation have not found that they’re getting the return on the investment in it that they had hoped,” she said.

The petition was filed pursuant to a state law known as the Donated or Dedicated Property Act, which requires municipal governments to maintain the use of certain donated properties according to deed restrictions.

‘Continued viability’

Supervisors argue that the township is unable to meet the requirements of maintaining the property as a golf course and that it would be better served in the hands of a private company.

“The petitioners lack of knowledge and experience in operating and maintaining an 18-hole golf course — combined with the significant challenges it already has experienced and will continue to experience attempting to find an operator who would be willing to maintain and operate the golf course under a lease contract arrangement — threatens the continued use of the property as a golf course,” attorney Mark Shaw wrote in the petition. “A sale of Erie Golf Course would ensure the continued viability of the golf course in a manner consistent with the existing deed restrictions in place, but relieve (Millcreek Township) of the financial and administrative burdens that it has experienced since owning the golf course and eliminate the risk of failing to find a suitable operator for the golf course, which would impose more significant costs and burdens that petitioner is not equipped to assume.”

The township expects that it will incur at least $1.25 million in capital improvement costs at the course and another $1 million in equipment replacement costs over the next decade if the course is not sold. The course already operates at a loss for the township.

All the equipment used to maintain the course is provided by the operator. All of the equipment donated from the city to the township as part of the property swap in 2009 became unusable in 2019.

Supervisors also list the difficulty of finding a management company to operate the course, citing the previous operator’s decision not to renew its lease in 2019 and the township’s inability to attract more than one qualified course operator thereafter.

Designed in part by World Golf Hall of Famer A.W. Tillinghast, the Erie Golf Course was established in 1921. It is currently operated by 7637 Enterprises.

Clear said that if the township is permitted to sell the golf course it would then have the property appraised in order to set an asking price.

Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com.

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In pictures: See how this Donald Ross-designed municipal golf course has come back to life in North Carolina

The consensus during a 2022 tour detailed “steadily degrading conditions” over the last several years.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The 16th hole was the worst one.

That was the consensus during a 2022 tour of the Asheville Municipal Golf Course, which documented what the city called “steadily degrading conditions” over the last several years. At that point, the course had only spent a few weeks under a new management agreement with Commonwealth Golf Partners, which took over the course on Oct. 1, 2022. It had spent the 10 years prior with former operator Pope Golf.

Now, almost exactly a year later, Mike Bennett, one of the operators with Commonwealth, said that the same hole has gone from the worst condition to one of the best.

The 18-hole golf course, affectionately known as “Muni,” was designed by Hall of Fame golf architect Donald Ross and opened for play in 1927. It remains the last “affordable” public fee course in Asheville and is home to Skyview Golf Tournament, the longest-running professional tournament in the country owned and operated by Black residents, which held its 63rd annual tournament in July.

“We like to say (the 16th hole) went from last to first,” Bennett said of the year’s transition.

It needed the full gambit of improvements — guided in part by a $25,000 master plan, prepared by golf architect Kris Spence, a “roadmap” for restoring the relevant Donald Ross features of the course, maintaining the integrity of a historic design.

A framed copy of the 2023 master plan hangs in the Muni’s clubhouse, which just saw its own interior upgrades. On Oct. 18, Bennett traced some of the map’s faint outlines, delineating the course’s current condition, bolder lines indicating the original edges of the design; abandoned bunkers to be restored or shifted, some buried now at the edge of the tree line or faded to faint impressions in the grass.

$3.5 million in renovations, herd of goats

It’s just one piece of the ongoing $3.5 million in planned course renovations. The city has secured $2.9 million in funding to dedicate to upgrades and repairs. About $850,000 has been spent, said Chris Corl, the city’s director of Community and Regional Entertainment Facilities, with a bulk of the funds reserved for incoming stormwater remediation projects, which carry a hefty price.

The stormwater project will be bid out in the next two weeks, with construction beginning in late November or December. It should address the sinkholes scarring areas of the course, and overhaul holes 10 and 11, which Bennett described as still “pretty rough.”

The 16th green was a prime example of the issues that plagued the 122-acre course in East Asheville. It was patchy in places. The sod was fraying to dirt at its edges. A makeshift path had formed where golf carts were cheating up the fairway and nuances of the original Donald Ross design blurred after years of shifting mowing patterns.

But a more recent visit to the course finds wooden posts discouraging forays from the asphalt cart path. A small staircase ascends to the green, and the newly laid bent grass — salvaged from a nearby local course — is resodded and whole.

It was in “terrible condition,” Lonnie Gilliam said of Hole 16. He plays at the Muni almost five days a week and has been golfing there since the 1960s. “Now it’s perfect … pristine is the word I describe it as.”

Before the Commonwealth takeover, Gilliam said conditions were “horrific.” There’s a term in golf, “dog track,” he said, slang for a poorly maintained course. “It had gotten to that level.”

“It is amazing what has happened since the changeover in management. Everything I have to say is positive about the conditions, what they’re doing, how they’ve done due diligence on just about everything that golfers complained about when they had their first meeting (with them),” he said.

In the months since Commonwealth’s contract with the city began, a partnership between Bennett and Peter Dejak, Corl said the “continued, ongoing” maintenance and efforts from new management is noticeable, from clearly defined fairways; rebuilt and sodded greens, tee boxes and fairways; bunker restoration; repaired cart paths and more. The removal of 111 trees, and pruning of more than 80 others, means improved sightlines and more sunlight for grass growth.

A herd of goats was brought in to eat away at underbrush and invasive species.

Golf fees, revenue increased

There’s a new fleet of golf carts on lease, plus a new rate structure, which saw increases across the board, but maintained discounts for city residents.

Rates vary on a number of factors — including resident status, time of day, weekday or weekend, and play with cart — but Corl said average facility revenue per round in 2022 was $23.16, up to $28.67 in 2023.

Considering the most expensive round (Saturday, for the full 18 holes), it was $45 for everyone in 2022. Now it’s $45 for residents, $65 for non-residents.

In past years, the course averaged 41,600 starts a year. This year, Corl said, they’re estimating 48,000 starts, but expect to grow to about 53,000 in 2024.

Rather than a traditional lease agreement, like the one the city had with Pope Golf, the licensing and management agreement shares loss and profit between Commonwealth and the city.

“We’re only a year into it, but it’s gone better than I could have ever expected,” Bennett said.

According to Bennett, revenue is up 24% for January through September when compared to last year.

“I think all of the locals who have been playing here for years are excited just to see growth and change, and good things happening,” said Pat Warren, the course’s general manager.

They haven’t seen anything like it, he said, in the last 20 years.

‘Money is being spent properly’

Paul Bonesteel has been playing at the Muni since 1997. He’s there about twice a week.

Bonesteel is the president of “Friends of Asheville Muni,” a new nonprofit and fundraising partner, and is the documentary filmmaker and director behind “Muni,” a “love letter to the game of golf,” which was released in 2020 and featured on Golf Channel and PBS.

On a weekday in October, he had plans to play nine holes. On foot, carrying his own bag, it will run him about $15. Another $15 if he decided to rent a cart.

“It’s just fantastic to have a golf course in the city limits of Asheville that’s convenient, that’s accessible, and I mean that both physically and economically, to people who live here,” he said.

But it’s more than affordability that keeps Bonesteel coming back. “It’s still the vibe,” he said. Everyone’s out there, from “scratch golfers to people just starting.” There’s plenty of people who are on the course almost every day, and users who have dedicated decades of play to the Muni, one of the oldest in Western North Carolina, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gilliam described a sense of “fellowship,” particularly for those who play almost daily, and have for decades. The Skyview tournament was long a “highlight” and gathering place for African American families, he said. At this most recent tournament, some players were “shocked” by the “tremendous” improvements, and were already making plans to return the next year.

In the last year, Bonesteel said the work has been noticeable, both “quality” and “efficient,” even with some of the most impactful stormwater improvements yet to come.

“People I play with and the folks that I talk to out there … see that the money is being spent properly. That really makes people feel good,” he said. “Looking at the original plans, and having that level of concern for the historical quality as well as the environmental quality, it’s noticeable and impressive.”

There’s always more to be done, Bonesteel added, and the course is “far from finished,” but there are open lines of communication between course users, management and the city that haven’t been there for years.

“I’ve never seen it so transparent,” he said. The old sense used to be, “someone is making a lot of money here and it’s not the golf course.”

“That’s gone now,” Bonesteel said. “People feel like they are getting what they paid for.”

City of Asheville v. Pope Golf

In the days after Commonwealth took over course operations, in October 2022, the city filed a lawsuit against Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city.

A year later, the litigation drags on. At its center are the significant stormwater drainage issues, which Pope said in September 2022 is the reason behind not only the course conditions but his termination of lease payments.

Pope Golf submitted an answer to the complaint in December, which denies almost all allegations and calls for the court to dismiss the complaint. The document reiterates Pope’s belief that issues, including the drainage problems, were within control of the city, and outside control of Pope Golf.

An order for a mediated settlement conference was filed with the court in March, with a deadline for completion of mediation of July 15. If the case is not settled out of court, the order names a tentative trial date of Nov. 13.

City Attorney Brad Branham said the parties are in the process of “moving the trial date to accommodate schedules.”

It has not yet been set, he told the Citizen Times in an Oct. 18 email, but will likely be in May of next year. A mediator has been selected, but no dates have been set. This will need to occur prior to trial.

Tree plantings and pollinators

While the news of planned tree removal was cause for some community distress, after action from area environmentalists and neighbors, plus conversations with the city and operators, the number of downed trees was reduced from 157 to 111. More than 80 others were pruned.

This number was already a decrease from initial U.S. Golf Association tree evaluation and report, which suggested 500-plus trees for removal. Removal was necessary for essential renovations to the course, improvements to golf play and longevity of existing trees, the city said.

As part of the process, and to ensure no net loss of total long-term tree canopy, Corl said they initiated a neighborhood tree replanting program, in partnership with area nonprofit Asheville GreenWorks, which offered trees at no cost to surrounding property owners, and assistance in planting.

Corl said deliveries started that week and that 55 trees would be replanted through the program.

The course is also working with GreenWorks on a new tree nursery program and has identified three sites throughout the course where the nonprofit will be able to cultivate trees on the property.

“Instead of planting permanent trees on the property, which in time will grow large and cause similar problems which caused for the removal of trees over the winter, the nursery program will result in trees being removed from the course when they reach proper planting size for their permanent homes,” according to the Muni website.

In total, it’s estimated that the sites will house over 200 trees to be made available to area nonprofits and government agencies for low or no cost.

“It’s definitely pretty unique for a golf course, and it makes sense,” Bennett said. “Most courses have spots like this that could be utilized.”

Friends of the Asheville Muni recently wrapped an over $4,000 fundraiser to bring pollinator plantings to the course, Bonesteel said. November volunteer days will be held for planting, bringing about two acres of pollinators to the property.

The new day-to-day

While outcomes of the capital project overhauls may be among the most noticeable changes, Bennett said it’s the day-to-day operations they are most invested in, “creating the ability to maintain the golf course like it’s supposed to be.”

That means new agronomy practices that are going to help “long term,” Bennett said, and tools, machinery and staffing that will “pay dividends for years.”

In the calendar year, Corl said they reduced water used from 12.5 million gallons used to 5.5 million, even before the larger planned stormwater projects, by eliminating leaks and installing a localized course weather station and water sensors inside all 18 greens.

“Visually, it looks stunning. It looks so much more like a real golf course and a traditional Donald Ross,” Bennett said. “It’s much more playable and more of how it was intended to be played.”

Muni by the numbers:

1927: Year built
122: Acres
18: Holes
$3.5 million: Capital project budget
111: Trees removed
10: Rebuilt bunkers
4 hours, 6 minutes: Average time to play 18-hole round
41,600: Starts a year
Source: City of Asheville

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

New Jersey’s first new municipal golf course in a decade has its soft opening

A soft opening for the driving range, putting green and miniature golf course took place on Thursday.

It had been more than a decade since a new municipal golf course has been built in the state of New Jersey, but the soft opening of the Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose-Lambertson, nicknamed “The Rose,” put an end to that drought on Thursday.

Old Bridge’s mayor, Owen Henry, was part of a contingent on hand this week for a ceremonial opening.

“This is a jewel, and this is going to be here for the current and the future residents and generations of Old Bridge,” Henry told our network partner, the Courier News.

Although a soft opening for the driving range, putting green and miniature golf course took place on Thursday, the 18-hole course won’t open until mid-October.

Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose-Lambertson, called “The Rose,” (Photo: Alexander Lewis/myCentralJersey.com)

Here’s more from MyCentralJersey.com.

The project is located on about 218 acres of township-owned property – the Rose and Lambertson Tract area – on the north and south side of Lambertson Road. In a series of transactions, the township used state Green Acres funds to purchase the property to maintain it as open space.

Designed by New Jersey golf architect Stephen Kay, the complex includes a par-71, 18-hole course, an illuminated 30-bay driving range and a miniature golf course with lighting, water features and rolling terrain.

There’s also a 6,000-square foot clubhouse with a pro shop, concession area, cart barn and restrooms, as well as a 5,000-square-foot maintenance building and 110 parking spaces. The rental electric carts will be equipped with GPS screens.

The routing of the 18-hole layout was driven by wetlands and the natural topography. Unlike most American golf courses, the 9th hole does not return to the clubhouse because of the property’s unique features.

The Rose is the centerpiece of a more than $35 million public-private partnership between 2020 Acquisitions and the township.

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Brandt Snedeker’s childhood municipal golf course is getting a $2 million upgrade

“It’s in dire need of an upgrade … We have a jewel here that has kind of been underserved the last 15 to 20 years.”

NASHVILLE — Brandt Snedeker pointed out Thursday that Shelby Golf Course, where he often played as a youth, is the least-played course in the Metro Parks system in this Tennessee city. But that might not be the case much longer.

Snedeker, a nine-time PGA Tour winner and the 2012 FedEx Cup champion, attended a media event at the golf course Thursday where Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced a $2 million renovation project that will begin at Shelby and VinnyLinks, also located in Shelby Park, in March.

The upgrades slated for Shelby include combining the winter and summer greens into one green complex on each hole; expansion of the practice putting green at the clubhouse to more than five times its current size; new irrigation; replacing and expanding six tee boxes; and work on the cart path.

The main scope at VinnyLinks will be an improvement of all nine tee boxes and tree work.

The renovations coincide with Shelby Golf Course’s 100th anniversary in 2024.

“Being a Nashvillian, I grew up playing golf courses around here but Shelby is where I spent most of my time,” Snedeker said. “My dad would play here every day with the old chief of police Joe Casey. They had a 12 o’clock standing tee time and I’d come out here when I was 16, 17, 18 years old and play. It was awesome getting to spend time playing golf with my dad and to have this momentous day where we’re doing a redo of this course with Metro Parks wanting to bring it back to the way it was designed is a really special moment.”

Snedeker, who estimated he has played thousands of rounds at Shelby, also mentioned how unique the 18-hole course is with its location so close to downtown.

“The access that this course can provide to a lot of Nashvillians that have not been traditional golfers is huge,” he said. “But it’s in dire need of an upgrade . . . We have a jewel here that has kind of been underserved the last 15 to 20 years.”

Shelby, a 6,079-yard, par-72 course, has long been the least-played municipal golf course of the seven in the Metro Parks system. It had more than 39,000 nine-hole rounds played in the past fiscal year, compared to McCabe, which had the most at more than 122,000.

Whit Turnbow, president of the Tennessee Golf Foundation, which will oversee the renovations executed by architect Bruce Hepner and Hepner Golf Design LLC, expects the average rounds per year to double or even triple after the improvements. The foundation has a guarantee on cost overruns that might occur with the project.

Cooper said the improvements are part of those that began three years ago after a tornado caused severe damage to homes and businesses in East Nashville.

“The homes and businesses that have been rebuilt have been substantially repaired but now this is the last link to the tornado damage,” Cooper said. “The $2 million for the project is funded, it’s ready to go and work is going to start in March.”

Hepner recently finished similar renovations at Percy Warner Golf Course.

“What we’re trying to do here is upgrade the facility,” Hepner said. “It’s the least-played golf course (in Metro) and it might be because of conditions, it might be because we still have the old winter/summer greens. So we’re trying to improve the playing characteristics of the golf course so we can get this community involved here in playing golf.”

The renovations are expected to take a year to complete. Turnbow said Cooper, who is a golfer, would be invited back to tee off on the first hole when the project is done.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X, formerly Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.

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This former California municipal golf course will return to a greenspace under approved plan

In a unanimous vote, council members approved a master plan to bring a 192-acre park to the site of the former course. 

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A once-beloved municipal golf course in Stockton, California, finally has a direct path to becoming a working greenspace thanks to a plan approved recently by the city’s common council.

Van Buskirk Golf Course in south Stockton has been closed since before the pandemic, and a plan to bring the space back to a park was given full approval, even though it will take some time to implement. The course was shuttered when the city’s lease with a former operator expired in 2019, is located between Houston Avenue and the levees of the San Joaquin River and French Camp Slough.

The golf course, a longtime staple in the south Stockton community, was open to the public for six decades before it closed in 2019. This classic Larry Norstrom design was built in 1960. The 214-acre property has sat behind a chain-link fence since the Van Buskirk family decided to give it to the city, provided it was only used for recreation.

A multiple-acre grass fire rages at the former Van Buskirk golf course in south Stockton. The 214-acre property has been idle since 2019 when the city shuttered the course. Photo: Clifford Oto/Stockton Record/USA Today Network

Here’s more on the story from the Stockton Record, part of the USA Today Network:

In a unanimous vote at last week’s Stockton City Council meeting, council members approved a master plan to bring a 192-acre park to the site of the former municipal golf course.

City officials have planned for the site’s redevelopment, but several fires have ripped through the property, including a multi-acre grass fire in June. Now, it’s seeing a new chance at life.

“This is such a phenomenal opportunity and once it’s complete, I think it’s going to be one of the marquee parts of the area, if not the region,” said Steve Noll, a representative of Design Workshop, the firm hired to design the park.

The master plan comes after several community meetings where Stocktonians had the opportunity to view the proposed design of the park and provide their feedback. A preliminary master plan design was approved by council in January.

The master plan approved Tuesday includes an “adventure playground,” an event lawn, a BMX track and bike trail, a community garden, disc golf, a golf academy, a dog park, a skate park, splash pads, basketball and pickleball courts, as well as areas that can serve as potential flood control space. However, Noll said the master plan is an “evolving document” and is meant to be used as a framework plan for staff to secure funding.

“We can update it,” Noll said. “There’s opportunities if (ideas) come up in the future.”

District 4 Councilwoman Susan Lenz said she felt the city did a “very, very good job” of getting public input on the design of the park. According to a city report, there were six stakeholder meetings, two online surveys, 110 survey responses, nine staff meetings, and four in-person meetings with the community.

“Most of the people, I have to say, at a couple of meetings in the beginning, they were very happy that it was going to be this multi-use park with different things for children, different things for adults,” Lenz said. “I think it’s a good plan. I hope we can find the funding to do this.”

Vice Mayor Kimberly Warmsley said that she and council lobbied for federal funding during the San Joaquin One Voice trip to Washington D.C. in May. On the same trip, she and Mayor Kevin Lincoln met with the Biden Administration to discuss the project, according to the vice mayor.

“We have worked with our federal lobbyists time and time again. Every single year, we have been to D.C. for this Van Buskirk project,” Warmsley said. “I don’t want anyone in this audience or anyone who is listening to think this city is not putting this park as a priority. We are knocking, we are begging, we are pleading, we are taking people out for tacos … we’re trying to get this project funded.”

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Six months after flood, this California muni golf course’s future remains muddy

Some regulars are convinced the course will reopen. Others fret about projections they may not be able to tee it up until January.

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Six months after floodwaters buried Buenaventura Golf Course in mud and silt, the course likely will not reopen for at least another six months and its fate may hinge on still unknown final costs and hoped-for federal reimbursements, Ventura officials said.

“It’s just too early to tell,” city Parks and Recreation Director Nancy O’Connor said of targeting an opening date. “But I would say our goal, if all goes well, is the first of the year.”

Early January storms submerged the 91-year-old Ventura course located in a flood plain, damaging fairways, greens and everything in between. Water that rose 2 feet and higher also left muddy wounds in the pro shop and snack bar.

Roughly $3 million, all covered by insurance, has been used so far for repairs, O’Connor said. Tons of mud and silt were scraped off the city-owned course and piled into massive mounds alongside fairways. Work crews have now started hauling the mud and debris off the property.

The efforts helped save about 75% of the course’s grass — exponentially more than what was expected, O’Connor said.

Opened in 1932, the municipal course is shorter and more forgiving than nearby venues in attributes that have brought a loyal following. Some regulars are convinced the course will reopen. Others fret about projections they may not be able to tee it up until January.

“At my age that doesn’t help at all,” said Judy Stafford, 82, of Camarillo, admitting to bigger fears. “I’m worried it won’t reopen.”

‘There’s a lot of unanswered questions:’ Flooding stokes angst about Ventura golf course

The path to resumed play remains long and partly unknown. Once the piles of dirt from the flood are removed, workers will be able to better assess the damage done to drainage and irrigation systems. Then a contracted golf course architect will map out the scope of the remaining needed work, allowing the city to better assess costs.

Work crews use dump trucks top to remove mounds of dirt at the Buenaventura Golf Course on Friday, July 7, 2023. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Right now, the bottom line remains unknown and so do details of the funding sources.

The city has gained initial approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but the level of reimbursements is expected to be determined by future inspections. The process has also slowed down the work as the city tries to stay within the federal agency’s many regulations, O’Connor said.

California sun cup flowers grow on the damaged eighth green at Buenaventura Golf Course in Ventura on Friday. The course was shut down in January after flooding. The reopening timetable remains unknown.
Once FEMA’s level of involvement is known and exact costs are more clear, a firm decision is expected on the remaining work and the course’s fate.

“Every intent is to open the course,” O’Connor said, noting the final decision will likely come from the Ventura City Council. “We just have to make sure that what we’re doing is economically feasible and stay within all of the guidelines. FEMA has a lot of rules.”

Several years ago, the sizable financial burden of operating Buenaventura and its sister course, Olivas Links, generated debate about the city’s golf operations. Ventura Mayor Joe Schroeder said the course rebounded and was generating money for the city.

Schroeder, a golfer, said he wants the course to reopen. But if the issue does come to the council, his vote will likely depend largely on FEMA’s payments.

“If it’s fully funded, I think it’s an easy decision.” he said. “If it’s not fully funded, it’s more and more difficult.”

Leaders of clubs that regularly golfed at Buenaventura expressed confidence the course will reopen. Hans Schomaker, 83, of Ventura, once hit a hole-in-one on the 17th hole. He is certain he’ll have a chance to do it again.

“It’s good income for the city.” he said of the course. “There’s no way they’re going to close it.”

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

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A Minnesota town bought an 18-hole course for $3.4M and is selling the remaining 9 holes for $426K

“To be operating a golf course and to be wasting the resources … it seems like a real struggle.”

SARTELL, Minnesota — Since tabling the proposal to sell the 9-hole, 81-acre Pine Ridge Golf Course, the city of Sartell is taking another look at its appraisal numbers and has put out a fact sheet before the expected vote May 22.

The City Council was prepared to approve the sale to Three Tees LLC for $426,000 during its May 8 meeting, but after questions were raised about the value of the property and the amount of information available to the public, the board voted to table the sale until its next meeting.

The city of Sartell is about 75 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis.

“This is massive — quite literally might be the largest decision I’ve been asked to make in seven years of sitting on the City Council,” Mayor Ryan Fitzthum said at the May 8 meeting.

Three Tees is owned by restauranteur Brandon Testa, who is the owner of House of Pizza and son of its founder, Bob Testa. House of Pizza first opened in 1964 in downtown St. Cloud and currently has two locations in Sartell and west St. Cloud.

Brandon Testa plans to build a new restaurant at the course, though he declined to give many details about its concept. He has no experience in operating a golf course, but said buying it seemed like an opportunity, “not to replace, but add to Sartell’s current restaurant portfolio.” He said the unnamed restaurant would be unique to the area and appealing to people who golf or don’t. He said he would continue to operate House of Pizza separately in Sartell.

Testa, a prominent business owner in the town, is acquaintances with several members of the council. Councilmember Jill Smith said her motivations for supporting the sale stem from her desire to keep Pine Cone Ridge an amenity for the city.

“I do not want this burden to fall on taxpayers and see an opportunity for a private buyer to make a real impact from an economic development standpoint,” she said.

Sartell would place a deed on the property, heavily regulating the buyer for 30 years — which is the maximum allowed by state law. The deed significantly devalues the land, requiring that the 9-hole course is maintained to U.S. Golf Association standards and requires that the buyer add improvements to the clubhouse, parking lot and irrigation system by 2025.

That’s why Sartell began exploring the sale last year, according to the city’s engagement director, Nikki Sweeter. Though equipment at the course is functional and doesn’t require immediate work, the parking lot could be replaced and the 40-year-old sprinkler system could be upgraded to one that is automatic and less labor intensive. The clubhouse is also aging.

Sweeter said Sartell expects to have to spend money on different projects at the course “in the next three to five years” and city Finance Director Rob Voshell voiced the potential for needing a greater tax levy in the future. The city deducted several hundred thousand dollars from the appraisal price to compensate for the ballparked price of the expenditures. The golf course was appraised in the summer of 2022 for $775,000.

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In the May 8 meeting, City Councilmember Alex Lewandowski said the sale had his support.

“What it comes down to for me personally is that this golf course right now — and it’s going to continue to go up in the coming years — is a liability to the city and we have the opportunity for a party to take control who is going to fix the problems and make it better along one of the main drags in our city,” Lewandowski said.

Sartell bought the then-18-hole course in 2008 for $3.425 million using funds from bond proceeds, the city’s cash reserve, and the regional half-cent sales tax that was originally passed by voters in 2003 to be used on roads, parks and trails and community buildings with regional significance. Pine Ridge Golf Course was split up since then, the city transforming the back nine holes into Pinecone Central Park and Central Park Boulevard. Sartell would keep those if a sale were to be approved.

Since the purchase, the city has leased the operations of Pine Ridge to Boulder Ridge, which also manages the 9-hole Boulder Ridge Golf Course in St. Cloud. The proceeds from the lease have been dedicated to helping the Sartell Youth Hockey Association pay off the Scheels Athletic Complex since 2020 and prior to that were transferred to Pinecone Central Park Association. The cost of that agreement was estimated to be about $482,384 at the time, according to SC Times archives.

Pine Ridge has been profitable for several years and manager Pat Schreifels expects it to be again this summer, he said. He said membership is on par with previous years, despite the late spring.

Boulder Ridge holds the lease for another 10 years, and Sartell would have to buy its operator out, costing $60,000. Boulder Ridge would then cease operations in November and the sale would close in January 2024. Testa said he has had some preliminary conversations with Boulder Ridge about continuing operations under his ownership, but didn’t rule out other options.

City Administrator Anna Gruber said city staff brought the idea to sell Pine Ridge to the city in August 2022 in an effort to limit debt and build and develop a plan for capital improvement funds.

“It just kind of an option that staff thought that the council might be interested in, to just sell now and let the next phase of this golf course come to light sooner,” Sweeter said.

In City Council meetings last September 19 the council heard a presentation from Testa on a concept and vision for the course and instructed city staff to design a public sale process. On October 10 the council approved the process, requesting qualifications within a month. The council reviewed four letters of intent and three proposals, including one from Boulder Ridge, and selected the highest bid from Three Tees LLC on January 9. Since then, city staff have been finalizing a purchase agreement.

In the May 8 meeting, City Councilmember Jed Meyer argued that the property could be worth a much higher appraised value if developed as residential or commercial, saying that the city shouldn’t devalue its land while trying to sell it. Meyer, who has previously been president of the Sartell Baseball Association and vice president of the Pinecone Park Association and said his opposition to the sale has nothing to do with Testa or his restaurant proposal, “just not at this price.”

“What is the sense of urgency?” he asked, suggesting the city explore other options such as selling just enough land for a restaurant and continuing operations of the course.

“We are a city that should be running city business,” Councilmember Tim Elness said. “To be operating a golf course and to be wasting the resources we need to be using for other public amenities and our public works, it seems like a real struggle to keep that moving forward in a positive light. If we were to have some sort of major mechanical issue at the course, where would we get the funding for that right now?”

Smith expressed her displeasure with the lack of planning for the cost of maintenance and operations and said she felt the sale value is “appropriate.”

There has been some outcry from members of the community, including from former city leaders like mayors Sarah Jane Nicoll (2015-2018) and Joe Perske (2011-2014) who penned a letter to the city opposing the sale, along with former council members Steve Hennes and Pat Lynch. Lynch, who was on the board for one term from 2015-2018, is an administrator of a Facebook group with currently has over 300 members called “Sartell—Stop the Fire Sale.”

There has also been frustration about the sale process, specifically that decisions have been made in workshops rather than in meetings. Workshops are open to the public, but their agendas are less detailed than regular meetings and during regular meetings, members of the public aren’t allowed to speak on agenda items.

City officials have pushed back, saying people have had seven workshops or meetings since December when the sale wasn’t on the agenda and anyone could have spoken on any topic. The city has followed the regular process over several months and has issued multiple press releases.

Lewandowski and Smith voted to approve of the sale, with the three other voters dissenting. Elness said he was prepared to vote in favor, but after accusations that the process hasn’t been transparent, agreed to table to sale while city staff re-evaluate the value of the business and other aspects of the sale. It is expected to be voted on again in the May 22 meeting.

“No matter how this goes, we’ve got a lot of pride and passion in our community,” Meyer said. “Once the decision is made, my intention is to support whatever that decision is 100%. I think that’s important though this process, that we come back together as a community and support whatever that decions is and make it the best option that it can be.”

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North Carolina city with Donald Ross municipal course that’s ‘overrun’ and ‘overgrown’ files $340K suit against management company

The city has filed a lawsuit, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in lease payments.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The city has filed a lawsuit against historic Municipal Golf Course’s former operator Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city.

The complaint was filed with Buncombe County Superior Court on Oct. 4, over three months after the city attorney’s office sent a letter to Keith Pope, CEO of Pope Golf, based in Sarasota, Florida, advising that the city intended to initiate litigation over the past due lease payments, some of which have been accumulating since 2016.

Chris Corl, the city’s director of Community and Regional Entertainment Facilities, said the decision to file was made in the course’s first week with new operators, Commonwealth Golf Partners II — Asheville LLC, as “conversations kind of died” between the city and Pope golf. It is the first time in 10 years the property has had new operators.

As the historic Municipal Golf Course changes hands, under the leadership of new operators for the first time in 10 years, the city has filed a lawsuit against former operator Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city.

Until the filing, Corl had hoped to settle the matter outside of court.

“It got to the point that they stopped communicating, so we decided they weren’t planning to negotiate anymore,” Corl said.

Pope did not immediately respond to requests for comment. No legal response was filed by Pope as of Oct. 20.

The course itself has seen “steadily degrading conditions” over the last several years, according to the city, and at its center are significant stormwater drainage issues, which Pope said in September is the reason behind not only the course conditions but his termination of lease payments.

The 18-hole golf course was designed by Hall of Fame golf architect Donald Ross and opened for play in 1927. It is home to the longest-running Black-owned and operated professional tournament in the country.

The city’s management and lease agreement with Pope Golf began Oct. 1, 2012, and expired Sept. 30.

As the historic Municipal Golf Course changes hands, under the leadership of new operators for the first time in 10 years, the city has filed a lawsuit against former operator Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city. (Photo by Angela Wilhelm/Asheville Citizen Times)

The lawsuit filing

The lawsuit filed by the city attorney’s office lays out a number of “unacceptable conditions,” what the filing says “developed as a result of Pope’s Asheville’s failure to meet its minimum maintenance obligations as set forth in Articles 8 and 9 of the Lease.”

These conditions include:

• Severe deterioration of all Bermuda grass fairways.
• The complete destruction of a chipping/practice area that had existed near the 8th hole at the time Pope Asheville assumed management of the course.
• The destruction of fencing along Swannanoa River Road.
• An overgrowth of vegetation throughout the virtual entirety of the course, including over the clubhouse.

According to the filing, at the conclusion of the lease’s term, Pope had failed to address and remediate any of the conditions noted by city staff in a Sept. 8 email.

Further, at the conclusion of the lease’s term, the filing alleged Pope had failed to make mandatory lease payments totaling $340,830. This amount is an almost $16,000 increase from the outstanding lease payment amount named in a June 29 letter from the city attorney’s office to Pope.

Corl said this increase resulted from additional accrued interest since the initial letter sent at the end of June. Prior to the filing of the complaint in court, finance updated the figures to reflect the current accrued interest as of the end of September.

The filing requests a jury trial, a judgement for compensatory damages, and an order declaring transfers of assets between Pope Asheville and Pope Golf, which led Pope Asheville unable to satisfy to city’s claims against it, to be void.

‘It’s a process’

Commonwealth Golf Partners, owned by Peter Dejak and Michael Bennett, immediately took over the course Oct. 1 in a seven-year license and management agreement, a new model of partnership with the city.

Despite being only three weeks into the transition, some golfers say they already notice a difference. On Oct. 20, a sub-freezing morning meant the clubhouse was all but empty at 8:30 a.m., but C.Y. Young was hard at work, more than game to take a golf cart out on the course.

He was old hat at navigating the crumbling cart path and sinkhole-pitted fairway, pointing out areas cleanup has already started, remarking on the most damaged holes along the back nine, where torn turf gives way to dirt and tree boughs overhang the course, stunting grass growth and impairing golfer vision.

The 122-acre course weaves through the East Asheville neighborhood of Beverly Hills. Early morning, the fairway was limned with frost, red, orange and golden foliage skirting the cart paths and rolling greens.

Young said the course is heading in a better direction, though there is much work left to be done.

He noticed the decline of conditions over the last two or three years since Pope Golf stopped making payments and the worst of the stormwater issues began.

“Pope knew they were going to lose out,” Young said. He’s been involved with the course for more than 20 years. He plays there four days a week and works as a starter and course ranger for another three.

Already, the new operators have made changes on the green − aerating the grass, roping off areas so turf can regrow and staking off the worst of the holes that pockmark the course, in some places 6 feet deep chasms, exposing antiquated metal piping.

“It’s a process,” he said of the repairs. “But the golf course is doing better, it really is. They’re working on it.”

Corl agreed that change is coming for the better after “years of neglect.” He said Commonwealth Golf is getting started with smaller, day-to-day changes while they finalize the capital budget, what will determine the timeline and blueprint for changes to come.

The city is embarking on a $3.5 million project to initiate capital improvements and is seeking grant funding from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, along with other sources.

The requested funding would cover stormwater infrastructure, water collection, tee box upgrades, and green and sand trap improvements.

‘Friends of the Muni’

As well as new leadership at the course, both from Commonwealth Golf Partners and Corl, whose department only took over the course from Asheville Parks and Recreation Jan. 1, outside community efforts are also rallying around the beloved course.

Donna Bailey, an area golfer and chair of the Civic Center Commission, has been working for over a year to prepare a “Friends of the Muni” campaign, which would fundraise for the course’s rehabilitation and open up volunteer and program opportunities at the course.

She described the course as “overrun” and “overgrown,” a broken water system creating gullies, lifting the cart path and creating dangerous conditions.

“(It’s) a great piece of property, a Donald Ross course, that just needs somebody to care,” she said.

Like Young, Bailey said she can see positive change already under the new operators.

“They know their business and they care about their business,” Bailey said. “I don’t know if Pope knew their business or not. I have no way to judge it. But these guys have a track record of caring, and I’ve seen it just in the little things.”

Other state municipal golf courses, such as Charleston and Wilmington, have “friends of the muni” groups that have helped turn their courses around, said Corl. He hopes for the same in Asheville.

Bailey said Asheville’s muni is an “everyman’s” course, a place that is affordable, accessible and welcoming, home to a historic tournament whose players have been sounding the alarm for years.

“I care because it opens the door for so many people. I know what golf does, I know what it did for me. It opened so many doors,” Bailey said. “It opens the doors to friendships and opportunities, right there on the golf course. So I want to make it accessible to everyone.”

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.

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This treasured Oklahoma municipal golf complex just turned 100 years old, and is busier than ever

For 100 years, people have been making memories at this two-course golf complex on the city’s northeast side.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — For 100 years, people have been making memories at Lincoln Park, a now two-course golf complex on the city’s northeast side.

“I think (Lincoln Park) means a great deal to a lot of people around here,” said Aaron Kristopeit, just the course’s fourth head pro and golf director in a century. “It was the first public golf course to open in the state, and so I think it has generated a lot of interest in the game. It’s where so many people started playing.”

Before joining Lincoln Park’s pro staff, Kristopeit worked at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club and the Quail Creek Golf & Country Club. He sees some of those familiar faces from the private clubs at Lincoln Park at times. Many of them played golf for the first time at Lincoln Park, he said.

“It’s amazing to me how many members of those places I know that will come through Lincoln once a year for a tournament, and they will recognize me and stop and say ‘Hi’ and say ‘I remember playing here when I was 16,’ or something like that.

“I think (Lincoln Park) also means a great deal to the African American community who plays golf, especially because of the area of the city it is located in, the northeast quadrant.”

Lincoln Park turned 100 this year. Generations of families have gathered there over the years to play a few rounds and swap stories. It’s been a second home for many.

The beginning

In 1922, a small band of outdoor sportsmen launched a golf course that Oklahoma historian Bob Blackburn said “quickly entered the pantheon of public places in Oklahoma City.”

In 1909, Oklahoma City voters had approved a bond issue to establish four regional parks and a circular raceway connecting them. The raceway was called Grand Boulevard, and the four parks became Lincoln, Will Rogers, Woodson and Trosper.

Lincoln Park was the largest, but for the first decade was simply open space for picnics and exercise. In 1921, a local citizens’ club proposed building a public golf course in the park.

Art Jackson, the Scottish-born head golf pro in Tulsa who built a course in McAlester and the Marland course in Ponca City, was hired as the architect and construction supervisor for Lincoln Park. He became secretary/treasurer for the Lincoln Park Golf Club, a private group which would manage the course for 40 years.

Jackson let the terrain of the land dictate the design of his first holes. With a budget of $600, Jackson mowed the prairie grass for the fairways, drilled two wells for watering, installed sand tee boxes and built sand greens that averaged 50 feet in diameter.

The first official day of play on the new nine-hole course was July 4, 1922. The Oklahoman reported that every golf player in town, along with hundreds of curious people, flocked to the park for the opening.

Lincoln Park’s first golf tournament was held the following month. Three years later the course was expanded to 18 holes.

Keep improving

Over the next few years, the Lincoln Park Golf Club invested in more improvements. A stone clubhouse was built with locker rooms for men and women and a small pro shop and caddy shack.

The greens were planted with Bermuda grass, which turned green in early summer and went dormant during droughts and after the first freeze.

At Lincoln Park, Jackson had built one of the finest municipal golf courses in the country from the wilderness of blackjacks and the rocky sand hills in northeast Oklahoma City.

In January 1931, the Oklahoma City Parks Commission voted to add three new 18-hole courses at city parks in partnership with private management clubs, including a second 18 holes at Lincoln, creating a north and south course. Jackson would design all three new courses.

The second pro

Jackson retired a head pro in 1952 after 30 years and U.C. Ferguson replaced him. Ferguson already had worked at Lincoln Park since 1928, starting as a 15-year-old caddy and taking other jobs before eventually becoming an assistant pro.

In 1959, the Lincoln Park Golf Club announced a plan to sell $500,000 in municipal bonds for improvements under the management of a new Lincoln Golf Course Trust.

Six months later, the old club that had operated the courses since 1922 no longer existed and Ferguson and the rest of the golf staff became city employees.

A new clubhouse was built, and the two 18-hole courses were reconfigured. The new layout created a west and east course instead of north and south.

In 1965, Lincoln Park got a makeover again as the Oklahoma City Golf Trust allocated $875,000 in bonds and cash for improvements. The west course was closed during the renovations as a new parking lot, driving range and automated watering system was added. Tee boxes were enlarged, and the greens were replanted with Pencross Bentgrass.

At the end of his career, Ferguson considered the new clubhouse, rerouting the courses to east and west, and the improvements on Lincoln West as some of his greatest achievements.

Ferguson would retire as head pro in 1984 after 47 years on the job.

Susie Maxwell Berning (Oklahoma City University Archives)

The star from OKC

Over the years, Lincoln Park has hosted a wide range of tournaments, including high school state championships, collegiate championships, state amateur qualifiers, city championships and others.

A three-time state high school champion from Northeast was a familiar face at Lincoln Park. Susie Maxwell-Berning learned to play golf at Lincoln Park under the tutelage of Ferguson.

Maxwell-Berning would be the first woman to receive a golf scholarship from Oklahoma City University, where she played on the men’s team. She joined the pro tour in 1964 and would go on to win the U.S. Women’s Open in 1968, 1972 and 1973.

In 1978, during an anniversary celebration for Ferguson as Lincoln Park’s golf pro, Maxwell-Berning lauded her teacher for the help he had given her and other junior golfers in Oklahoma City during his career.

In this Sept. 9, 1960 photo, President Dwight Eisenhower, right, enjoys a laugh with Arnold Palmer before they played a round a golf together at the Gettysburg County Club in Gettysburg, Penn. Palmer would play Gary Player in a head to head match at the Lincoln Park Golf Course in Oklahoma City in 1961. (Associated Press)

Palmer vs. Player

Lincoln Park was on the international stage in 1961 when it hosted a match between two of the biggest stars in golf at the time: Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.

Player had won the the Masters that year while Palmer had just won the British Open. The previous year, Palmer won the Masters, and Player won the Open.

Player and Palmer were playing 25 head-to-head matches in six different countries to support youth golf. Tickets were sold to raise money for college scholarships for junior golfers.

Palmer won the match at Lincoln Park by seven strokes over Player.

The third and fourth pros

Steve Carson would become Lincoln Park’s third head pro and director of golf in 1990. Carson had grown up in Midwest City and previously was the head pro at Trosper.

During the 1990s, fewer golfers played at Lincoln Park as new courses were opened in the area. At the time, Lincoln Park also was dealing with a failing infrastructure as the greens and bunkers were old and declining.

Carson hired a golf course architect to develop a master plan to improve the golf courses and in 1998, the Oklahoma City Council authorized a $6.2 million bond package for renovations.

The west course was closed and every green was replaced, every bunker renovated, a new irrigation system was added and new paved golf cart paths were built. The course, remaining true to the historic layout of holes, reopened in the fall of 1999 to rave reviews.

Eight years later, with increased revenue from the west course, the Oklahoma City Council approved spending another $1.6 million to renovate the east course.

In 2012, the council approved an $8 million bond issue for a new and larger clubhouse. The 32,000-square-foot facility opened in 2015 and Lincoln Park became a popular place again.

Carson retired in 2021 after 31 years as the head pro. Kristopeit, who was the the assistant pro at Lincoln Park at the time, was hired to succeed him.

The future of Lincoln Park

Last year, 98,000 rounds of golf were played at Lincoln Park, the most since the 1980s.

“We’ve been the busiest course in the state over the last two years,” Kristopeit said. “It’s a product of COVID making golf very popular again, kind of driving people outside, and some of the other golf courses being closed around the vicinity.”

Some of those closed golf courses are about to reopen, and keeping Lincoln Park competitive among the best public courses will be a challenge in the future, Kristopeit said.

Kickingbird Golf Course in Edmond will unveil a new clubhouse next year. Earlywine and Lake Hefner courses also have plans for new clubhouses.

All of a sudden we are not going to be the new show in town anymore, so we need to make sure we do what we can to stay relevant,” Kristopeit said.

Will Lincoln Park be around for another 100 years?

“I would like to think so,” Kristopeit said. “Obviously time will tell. You never know what is going to happen. You don’t know what kind of new sports are going to be around that might take people’s interest, but I think if there is one course in Oklahoma City that would survive, I think Lincoln would be at the top of that list.”

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