Once completed, local golfers will find updated clubhouses with new televisions, furniture, restroom improvements, and free wi-fi as well as new beverage carts at both courses at a cost of $35,000 at Twin Run and $15,000 at Potter Park, according to city records.
The cost of the improvements, along with other updates, are being covered through a sale of bonds not to exceed $475,750 to acquire the golf course maintenance equipment, golf carts and clubhouse improvements. That five-year capital improvement bond sale was approved Feb. 13 as an emergency ordinance by Hamilton City Council.
In addition, there will be 75 new golf carts at Twin Run and the city will be assuming the remaining two years of a lease for the 65 golf carts at Potter Park at $79,342 a year, according to city records.
A new fairway mower will be purchased for Potter Park, while a new sprayer will be purchased for Twin Run. Both pieces of equipment will cost $42,500 each, said Adam Helms, who will be overseeing the operations of both golf courses.
While golfers will see those changes quite easily before they tee up, many changes are behind the scenes as the city begins to take over all operations of the golf courses April 1.
“This is more of an effort to streamline everything at the golf course,” Helms said. “Council has said that it wants the golf courses to run more like a business.”
New greens fees are being developed based on time of use of the courses, Helms said. For example, while the weekends will almost always command premium fees, there are other times during the week where fees will be inexpensive.
“Based on demand, we may lower prices on a slow day,” he said.
While there will be some modest increases, the courses will be competitively priced with other area golf courses, he said.
New computer software will also be used to manage the courses and collect data on its operations, Helms said.
City Manager Joshua Smith said Hamilton “ultimately wants to reinvest more money into the golf courses.”
“We want golf courses to generate enough revenue that will sustain its operations,” he said.
Once a contract with pro shop employee Sally Small expires March 31,the city’s golf course fund will receive all revenues from greens fees, cart rentals and pro shop merchandise sales.
For the past 25 years, John and Sally Small have been under a golf pro contract to staff and operate portions of the golf courses, which included managing the courses, staffing and merchandising the pro shops, provide golf carts, provide the rangers to monitor activities on the courses, provide a promotion plan and to rent golf equipment and pull carts.
The city is now responsible for staffing the golf courses and all of its operations.
The city’s golf fund is projecting its revenues for 2013 at $2.05 million, which is up $769,047 from 2012, according to city budget records. This is due to the elimination of the golf pro contract.
However, expenditures are projected for a $17,785 deficit in 2013, due to the capital improvement bonds being sold.
Smith said the city explored privatizing the golf courses, but decided it would be better to take the operations in-house.
“At the end of the day, we hope to see better customer service with better food experiences and rounds of golf; driving up volume of play by using incentives to get players to play other days of the week; and having better facilities,” Smith said.
Those financial advantages will trickle down to non-golfers, too, he said.
The courses will fully sustain themselves for the operational and capital costs and avoid using General Fund or capital and debt revenues to cover those costs, Smith said.
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