It was encouraging to see how the city officials behind the ambitious new municipal golf course properties in Laredo, Texas and Hobbs, N.M., have found a way to see a bigger picture.
In our daily search for industry-related items to include in our daily e-newsletter and the news section of our monthly magazine, we inevitably come across reports of local-government meetings where city managers and administrators have been grilled about the performance (or lack thereof) of their town’s municipal golf courses. And when we post news items about these situations on our website, we inevitably get comments from someone who wants to know, after reading the item, why municipalities should be spending time, effort and taxpayer dollars on a recreational activity (golf) for which interest among the general public is waning.
That’s why it was refreshing to visit the two properties that are featured in the November issue’s cover story (“Golf’s New Public Face”)—and even more refreshing to meet and talk with the city officials who have been behind their ambitious development, and who have clearly found a way to see a bigger picture.
Make no mistake, these officials are no different than any other public managers—they’re under more pressure and scrutiny than ever before to do more with less, and to avoid any hint of wasting even a dollar of public funds.
But it was encouraging to see, and hear, how they have expanded and balanced their views of what “doing more” entails, and of what does, and does not, constitute a waste.
“My goal is certainly to be able to turn a profit for the city, and I think we can get there over the next five to ten years,” says Horacio De Leon, Jr., Assistant City Manager for Laredo, Texas, in discussing the long-term outlook for the Max A. Mandel Municipal Golf Course.
“At the same time,” De Leon adds, “we realize that while municipal courses might not always make money, it’s about the overall impact they can have, which can include generating interest in developing hotels and other attractions, improving property values, and establishing the city as a destination.”
In Hobbs, N.M., City Manager J.J. Murphy expresses a similar desire for Rockwind Community Links to be “self-sustaining” within five years of last year’s opening. And he, like De Leon, thinks “we’ll get there.”
But Murphy also doesn’t measure the ROI for what Hobbs has created solely on Rockwind’s balance sheet. “At our old course, we’d maybe see 100 kids come out to play golf during the summer,” he says. “Already, we’ve seen 5,000 come through The First Tee and other programs we’ve set up [at Rockwind].
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to have 5,000 new golfers,” Murphy adds. “But it does mean we’ve created more awareness about the game and the traits it helps to promote, and that we’ve given those kids a better chance to take advantage of opportunities that may come up for them later in life.”
Perhaps the best thing that both De Leon and Murphy reported was that the rest of the country has clearly taken note of their new approaches; both said they’ve had many calls from other city managers throughout the country, wanting to know how they were able to bring such ambitious projects to life. “There’s a lot of interest in our little crown jewel in the middle of the desert,” says Murphy. “Everyone wants to know if it’s really true that we created a place that’s equally attractive to golfers and non-golfers alike.”
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