Upon Further Review: We need a public golf course here
It’s Wednesday, and I’m on my way to the golf course.
But the problem is, I have to travel out of town to hit the links.
Over the past several weeks I have been playing golf with my dad and several of his buddies. We usually go to Old Stone Fort in Manchester on Mondays, then hit the road again on Wednesday for “pick your course” day, when we may hit Fall Creek Falls, River Watch, Willow Brook, Mt. Airy or any golf course within an hour’s drive.
I have always been one to play as much golf as time and money would allow, but I never realized how many people from Warren County spent so much money playing golf at courses outside of McMinnville.
Granted, us weekday or weekend hackers have little choice in the matter — since there is no public course inside the county lines. Some choose to join the Country Club, and that’s great. But some — especially senior citizens — just can’t make that type of financial commitment for a whole year.
Over the course of the last two months, on the average I run into at least 10 to 12 people from Warren County on the two days a week I’m playing golf, and that’s not counting the foursome I’m playing with. So with so many people playing, why hasn’t someone put in a public course in McMinnville?
While we’re at it, what ever happened to the state course to be built at Rock Island? Rock Island, they say, fell through due to budget cuts by the state. But why some other company hasn’t come in here and built a course is beyond me.
We can’t use the excuse that a local course wouldn’t make it. Just look at the number of courses that have been built over the past five years within 50 miles of Warren County. They’re all doing well.
Now the state has several fine courses, such as Fall Creek Falls, Henry Horton, Montgomery Bell and Old Stone Fort, among others. And with a few phone calls, it seems each one of these courses are doing all the business they can handle. On the average, a round of golf — 18 holes and a cart — will cost $29.50 during the week while on the weekend it will cost you $32.12 to play at one of our fine state golf courses.
Old Stone Fort will average 75 golfers per day during the week. It costs $25 to play at Manchester during the week, so that’s $1,875 per day. Multiply that by four days and you have $7,500 a week — and that’s not counting weekend golfers.
Granted, you’re not going to have this for 52 weeks during the year. But if you go by their peak times it comes out to 31 weeks, multiply that by $7,500 and you come up with $232,500. And that’s just the amount they take in during the week.
Could there be a conspiracy to keep public courses out of McMinnville? Probably not. Is it not profitable enough? How could it not be?
But still, for whatever the reason, golfers in Warren County need a public course, and surely someone out there can hear my plea. Just look at all that money going to other counties with public courses. Something is just not right, and someone is missing the boat.
Now we don’t have to have an 18-hole course. It would be nice, but all we need is a nine-hole course something like Manchester has. Everybody would be happy and someone could be making a decent living. If you build it they will come!