Local high school students have helped revitalize and renovate the renamed Wild Cat Course in Palestine, Texas, which is expected to open by late May or June.
Students will have a place to golf and sharpen their skills in business, hospitality, ag-science and other areas once plans to transform the former Meadowbrook Country Club into the state’s only school-sponsored golf course are complete, the Tyler (Texas) Morning Telegraph reported.
The renamed Wild Cat Course is expected to open by late May or June and will offer designated play times for students and the public, the Morning Telegraph reported.
Meadowbrook, which opened in 1921, was the only golf course in Palestine, Texas before it closed in 2009. The course had been the practice site for the Palestine High School golf team, which won state championships in 2005 and 2006. After its closure, the team members traveled 10 miles to a golf course in Elkhart and practiced on the high school lawn, baseball field and track, the Morning Telegraph reported.
Larissa Loveless, Palestine ISD director of public relations, said district officials desired a course where the golf team could practice and the district could introduce elementary and junior high students to golf, the Morning Telegraph reported.
An opportunity to fill the district’s need presented itself when Grace United Methodist Church bought Meadowbrook, began using the clubhouse as a meeting place and offered Palestine ISD a 30-year lease for the golf course for a dollar a year, the Morning Telegraph reported.
“This came about as a result of a conversation between our assistant superintendent, Suzanne Eiben, a member of that church, and Jason Marshall, our superintendent,” Loveless said.
But the golf course had rapidly declined after Meadowbrook closed and needed work, Loveless said. Grass and underbrush grew, trees fell and wild hogs rooted up the greens and fairways. The revitalization project began with cutting brush, clearing the greens and fairways and cleaning cart paths. A huge chore was trapping and relocating wild hogs. Staff and community members also contributed to mowing, removing brush and bulldozing, the Morning Telegraph reported.
High school career and technology students did much of the work to revitalize the golf course and remodel a 1940s house on school district property near the junior high and high school. It will be relocated to the golf course to serve as the new clubhouse. Students in the district’s building and trades classes will restore the house, which will feature men’s and women’s locker rooms, a concession stand staffed by hospitality students and possibly a pro shop. Ag-science students will contribute by maintaining the golf course turf and machinery, the Morning Telegraph reported.
“We were blessed with a donation of $30,000 from Buford Thompson that allowed us to put in a well, so we are able to self irrigate,” Loveless said. “Had we not been able to self irrigate, our water bill would have been $25,000 a month, and we simply couldn’t have done it.”
Business classes also will be involved in running the club, and hospitality classes will staff it. How to handle golf cart fees and membership fees is still being decided, the Morning Telegraph reported.
“It’s just been so rewarding to see so many different levels come together on the project and also to see the community focus in on this project as well.”
Loveless estimated total donations toward the project at approximately $50,000, the Morning Telegraph reported.
For students, the work has been task-oriented and tied to various in-class lessons. The golf course, which consists of nine holes, cart paths and a driving range, is being designed in a way that will prepare students to earn certification in golf course management from Texas State Technical College in Waco, the Morning Telegraph reported.
Even if they never go to a golf course again, the relationships formed in the project and knowing how to work together in the golf course experience will be beneficial to students, Loveless said. Such conversations among students have involved types of grasses, the lay of the land, helping with the irrigation system and piping and design and engineering, the Morning Telegraph reported.
Loveless estimated that more than 200 people came to a preview of the facility October 25, during the high school homecoming celebration. There was food and entertainment, tours of the golf course, driving range and tee offs. Culinary students served food, and business students greeted and interacted with visitors. Business students will develop a business plan for the course that will include determining membership fees, operational costs, staffing and scheduling tee times, the Morning Telegraph reported.
Using a grant, the district purchased computer-based software that can be used at the golf course in management and marketing to customers. Plans are to sell memberships, making the course self-sufficient and not a burden on taxpayers, Loveless said. She stressed that a large bulk of funding has come from donations, the Morning Telegraph reported.
“What we’ve made a commitment to do as a district is to not use any tax dollars for any permanent changes out there,” Loveless said. “We’ve been very wise and prudent about how we spend money.”
Money has been spent on items that the district could take with it if it decides at some point to discontinue the golf course project, the Morning Telegraph reported.
“The high school golf team is a very important part of the project. Equally important, if not more important, is that it really is a laboratory for career and education classes—business classes, the building trades classes, the ag-science classes,” Loveless said.
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