The semi-private Valparaiso, Ind. course was recently acquired by the Aberdeen Property Owners’ Association. In other management-company news, the city of Sioux Falls, S.D. has opened its contract for three courses to proposals for the first time since 1994, and five firms, including the present operator, Dakota Golf Management, have submitted bids.
The Aberdeen Property Owners’ Association (POA) in Valparaiso, Ind., has selected Billy Casper Golf (BCG) to manage golf operations for The Course at Aberdeen, which was recently purchased by the POA.
Located an hour outside of Chicago, the semi-private Course at Aberdeen offers 18 holes in a links-style format playing to a par of 72, along with a practice facility, golf shop, snack bar and outdoor pavilion. The practice facility features a two-tiered driving range, a large practice putting green and a chipping green with two practice bunkers.
“The POA acquired The Course at Aberdeen to protect the value of the homeowner’s investments and integrity of the community,” said Denna Fyock, POA President. “We’re excited to work with BCG. We felt that their fresh, new and enthusiastic ideas for the course, along with the significant dollar investment we are making in improvements, would help us make it the best it can be.”
In addition to overseeing equipment and capital improvements at The Course at Aberdeen, BCG will also implement new programming and events for members and guests.
“The Course at Aberdeen offers great golf at an exceptional value,” said Bill Rehanek, BCG’s Senior Vice President of Operations. “We look forward to enhancing its programming and delivering an exceptional guest experience.”
In other management-company news, The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D. reported that several firms have submitted bids to manage the city’s three municipal golf courses when Dakota Golf Management’s contract comes to an end in December.
Dakota and another Sioux Falls-based firm, GreatLife Management, submitted proposals by the August 31 deadline along with KemperSports (Chicago), Landscapes Management Company (Lincoln, Neb.) and Orion Management Solutions (Leawood, Kan.) to operate the courses and clubhouses at the city’s Elmwood, Kuehn and Prairie Green Golf Courses, The Argus Leader reported, after the Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Department asked for new proposals from companies in July.
If a switch from Dakota Golf Management is made, The Argus Leader reported, it would mark the first management change for the three courses in more than two decades.
The city’s Parks Director, Don Kearney, told The Argus Leader that the decision not to automatically renew another three-year contract with Dakota Golf Management, which has had the business since 1994, isn’t an indictment of how it has operated courses to this point. But an internal audit conducted by the city in 2014 recommended that the Parks Department periodically put the contract out through a competitive request-for-proposal (RFP) process, Kearney explained.
“That was recommended as a best practice, and it had been a while since we went through this process,” he said.
A selection team will score the submittals based on cost proposal, experience in the industry, industry references and other criteria, The Argus Leader reported. If necessary, interviews with the companies could also be conducted before a selection is made in the coming weeks.
Earlier this year, plans were announced for a new $13 million hotel/restaurant project at Elmwood GC (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2016/03/plans-revealed-13m-hotelrestaurant-project-elmwood-gc/).
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