Municipal Golf Investment in Short and Putting Courses

[V_Halyard]

Quick public golf hero alert.
Received a press announcement from Paul Miller about an interesting investment in municipal golf. With the support from the city,  18hole Municipal Palmer Hills in Bettendorf Iowa is in the process of building both an 18-hole Putting Course and a Short Course.  This will be on par with some of the better private and resort short and putting courses. The facility will support both the community and junior golf. More from Paul to follow.
Note, it is 2 miles from I-80 so if you are planning a COVID cross country drive, keep your putter and some wedges in the back seat. 
See Richard Humphries' GolfCourseArchitecture write up here:
https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/paul-miller-completes-new-putting-course-for-palmer-hills

Here is an additional graphic from Paul. Big shout out to Bettendorf. Set to open May 2021

Photo Provided by Paul Miller

[Jeff Schley]

Wow, talk about visionary. Kudos to them for being leader and oddly the first of it's kind I can think of for a municipal 18 hole putting course. No mention of the short course in the article and hope this is either in the works or maybe in danger of being cut considering budgets for government entities during this covid time.
BTW for those that haven't been through the Quad cities there are tons of stuff to do. Casinos, Mississippi River activities and views, and my personal favorite is visiting Mike Wolfe's of "American Pickers" fame shop just north of Davenport CC on 67 in LeClarie. My mom loves the show and was thrilled to actually see Mike who was around the shop that day.

[Thomas Dai]

More short courses and putting courses would be splendid. Great places to learn to game and have fun, often family fun.
If clubs have space available, build one.

Atb

[Mark Smolens]

Wow, talk about visionary. Kudos to them for being leader and oddly the first of it's kind I can think of for a municipal 18 hole putting course. No mention of the short course in the article and hope this is either in the works or maybe in danger of being cut considering budgets for government entities during this covid time.
BTW for those that haven't been through the Quad cities there are tons of stuff to do. Casinos, Mississippi River activities and views, and my personal favorite is visiting Mike Wolfe's of "American Pickers" fame shop just north of Davenport CC on 67 in LeClarie. My mom loves the show and was thrilled to actually see Mike who was around the shop that day.

What about dinner at Duck City? Shrimp cocktail and french fries hit the spot after a day on the links.

[Tom_Doak]

I hope this works out.


A short course or par-4 course is a good addition to a municipal facility as it is only marginally more expensive to maintain, and a revenue generator.


Putting courses are a tougher deal; they rarely generate fees and if they're not well used they start to seem like an unnecessary expense.  They will only do well in high traffic locations or at facilities with multiple courses to feed them.

[Garland Bayley]

Kudos to the city. Let's hope they can fill the place up with up and coming golfers.

[Sean_A]

One of the cool things about a putting green is the demographic is everybody. Which means the green height can be kept much higher than the norm and have much wilder undulations than the norm. Non golfers don't know any better and most golfers will accept the situation as a bit of fun. Not everything about a golf facility needs to be geared toward improving the game. I know watching folks from the street playing the Hims would sooner get a club in my hand than by watching folks getting lessons or pounding balls on the range.

Ciao

[Duncan Cheslett]

The Ladies Putting Course (Himalayas) at St Andrews is the obvious template for this and is busy from dawn til dusk. I challenge anyone to have more fun on a golf course. It is enjoyed by three year olds and ninety three year olds.


How feasible would it be to create something similar in a suburban park setting?

[Troy Miller]

As part of the Charleston Municipal Renovation, we have added a 3 hole short course/short game area and a 9 hole putting course. It's not quite the Himalayas, maybe more like the Appalachians.  The idea behind the short course is that it can be played forward and backward, to round out a six hole short course with holes from 50 to 120 yards long.  It will take some organization of the chaos, but most importantly represents a significant increase in the area for junior programs to take place. We have a robust First Tee and US Kids Golf program that services over 400 kids a year; I think that number may double next year.  Here's a quick peak at it (at 2:58)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c39ZrqCuLTg


I'll try to take some decent pictures of it and post as well; we have been having Sunday Walk in The Park events throughout September, in the Spirit of the Old Course allowing people to just come and walk the course during grow-in, before it is open for play. 


There will be no charge for either of these elements, but rather just an additional place to grow the game and take some pressure off the 18 hole course by giving the junior classes a place to play without trying to squeeze into the busy afternoon timeslots.

[Steve Sayre]

Awesome to watch the Charleston Muni video.

The National Links Trust plan for Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC includes a new 9 hole 1,205 yard par 3 course designed pro bono by Hanse Golf Course Design. (9 of the original 18 holes William Flynn course will also be renovated by Hanse). The NLT plans also call for an 18 hole putting course. The pivot from an 18 hole restoration is logical not only because of forest encroachment at today's Rock Creek Park course, but also because this plan will offer appealing golf options to a broad segment of the local community.

The renovation plan for Langston Golf Course property also includes an 18 hole putting course. Beau Welling is donating his time pro bono to rehabilitate the Langston site.

Renaissance Golf Design is taking the design reins at the East Potomac Park golf courses. This pro bono work will kick-start a complete restoration of Walter Travis' reversible 18 hole Blue Course, a complete rebuild of the "executive length" White Course, and renovation of the par 3 Red Course. The NLT plan also calls for an 18 hole putting course on this site.

The National Links Trust is a 501(c)(3).  The pace of improvements at these three historic courses will be determined by the degree of success in securing financial support from donors interested in supporting affordable, accessible and architecturally interesting public golf.