Micheal
The source of capital must come from the municipality unless there is a community benevolent individual or group such as the one mentioned above in Phoenix. Unfortunately, most municipalities are crying poverty these days.
Here is an example of a recent project:
This course is listed in GD's Places to Play as 2stars. The architects listed are G. Pirkl/D. Brauer/E. Perret
By Robert Ingrassia
4/13/2005
Source: Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press
St. Paul spent more than $4 million renovating the Highland Park golf course, which opens for the first time since closing for construction in fall 2002. Whether the effort succeeds in reinvigorating the course depends on golfers like Mal and Bud.
A former regular, Mal Scanlan gave up on Highland Golf Course about 15 years ago. The greens were tiny, fairways stayed mushy for days after even modest rains and the whole place felt shabby.
Scanlan is back. He said he plans to be among the first to tee off at the renamed Highland National Golf Course.
"I stopped playing Highland because the place went into the tank," said Scanlan, a Highland Park resident who spends his days raising money for a private school. "Being from the neighborhood, it was frustrating watching them fix the courses at Como and Phalen. But they've made this a great golf course."
Bud Flanagan opposed the makeover. He said he thought the course he first played in the early 1930s was just fine. He didn't like having the course closed for two summers and he didn't like the idea of paying higher greens fees.
"When the fee jumps like that, it becomes too costly for seniors," said Flanagan, a retired airline manager and former Highland resident who now lives in downtown St. Paul.
The new weekend greens fee will be $39, up from $28 when the course closed. Despite the hike, city officials said they are confident there will be a lot more golfers with Mal's opinion than with Bud's. The project converted Highland, one of three 18-hole city courses, into a "premium" municipal course that will compete with newer suburban rivals.
Before the makeover, Highland's poor condition drove away golfers, said Bob Cotie, the course's head professional and manager since 1978. The number of rounds played at Highland eroded steadily from more than 50,000 per season in the early 1990s to about 38,000 in 2002, he said.
"We realized we had some serious problems out here," Cotie said. "The course just wouldn't drain, and it was getting worse."
The drainage problem was more than an annoyance. With holes 12, 13, 15 and others too wet to play after rains, Cotie often had to close the course or limit golfers to the front nine.
Small-scale attempts to fix the drainage issue failed. Five or six years ago, the effort to overhaul the course began in earnest. Ultimately, course designer Gill Miller Inc. of River Falls, Wis., settled on a plan to redo every hole.
The centerpiece of the plan was the creation of a 10-pond drainage system. The ponds are intended to not only keep the water off the fairways but also add new challenges to the course. For good measure, designers added a Snoopy-shaped bunker on the 15th hole in honor of "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz, who grew up in St. Paul and once caddied at Highland.
"The golfers are going to love it," Cotie said. "This is a first-class course."
If 50,000 golfers agree, the project will have succeeded. That's the number of rounds needed per season for the course to start making money, Cotie said.
The work cost $4.5 million. The city borrowed the money to pay for the project and will use greens fees and revenue from a new driving range that opened last year to repay the debt. The borrowing took the form of revenue bonds, which means no city property taxes are pledged to pay off the debt.
City Council Member Pat Harris, whose 3rd Ward includes Highland Park, said the project improved a public park without putting a financial burden on taxpayers.
"We needed to improve the product we offered the community," Harris said. "We could have done a smaller renovation, but full renovation provided a better product."
Although Highland celebrates a milestone Tuesday, the course's backers have another dream. Harris and others are working to secure about $4 million to renovate the clubhouse, a 76-year-old building. State lawmakers declined to include money for the project in this year's bonding bill. A committee of golfers, residents and community leaders is looking for other ways to get the project funded.