City officials had been weighing multiple proposals to manage the defunct golf course that it is buying and renaming but found them all to have faults. After the city suggested that some of the firms making bids form a partnership, a deal was struck through which K&J Course Management will manage the maintenance and operation of the course, while PGA pro and manager Bill Rendell will focus on course marketing, player relations, outings, events and other customer-focused aspects.
To be blunt, the city of Henderson, Ky. was in a bind. In the rough, you might say.
Officials weren’t completely happy with any of the three proposals they received to operate the defunct and formerly private, 18-hole Players Club golf course the city is in the process of buying, reported the The Gleaner of Henderson
One of them was rejected outright.
The other two proposals—one from K&J Course Management and one from PGA pro and golf manager Bill Rendell—each had their obvious pluses, but also clear minuses, reported The Gleaner.
K&J is acknowledged as being an expert on the physical and agronomic aspects of golf — building and maintaining a good, healthy course. But the firm operated the Players Club in its previous life, and didn’t do a great job working the clientele, The Gleaner reported.
Rendell, on the other hand, has shown himself to be good at working with golfers and customers, but was felt by the city to not really have resources to rehab or maintain a course properly, The Gleaner reported.
So as the clock was ticking on fixing up and launching the new (and to-be-renamed) Players Club, which has been closed for almost three years—with the city wanting to complete its purchase of the formerly private golf course and open it to the public next summer—officials got creative in fashioning a solution, reported The Gleaner.
Members of the city’s golf course committee—specifically Project Manager Dylan Ward and University of Kentucky Horticulture Extension Agent Andy Rideout—sat down with both K&J and Rendell and suggested strongly that they look at some type of partnership, The Gleaner reported.
Hours later, a deal had been struck. Through the arrangement, K&J will officially run the city of Henderson’s new 18-hole course and focus on getting it rehabbed and maintained, as the firm does for Arrowhead Golf Club near Mayfield, Ky.
And Rendell is signing on as a staffer with K&J and to focus on course marketing, player relations, outings, events and other customer-focused aspects at the club, reported The Gleaner.
At the September 25th regular city commission meeting, City Manager Buzzy Newman hailed it as the best of both worlds, The Gleaner reported.
“I’ve never been in such a predicament, in dealing with such a complex issue,” Newman admitted after the meeting.
But Newman noted that the Wolf Hills community around the Players Club property, the city’s golf course committee, and others are making it come together, The Gleaner reported.
At a recent community meeting led by Wolf Hills resident Dave Chrisman—who isn’t even a golfer—neighbors of the course pledged $270,000 in financial support in return for golf passes once the course reopens,
That money will be used to help support the new operator in a variety of ways, with input from the neighbors and golfers, reported The Gleaner. Many of those neighbors have decried the loss of both the golf course and the resulting drop in their property values since the Players Club closed.
Meanwhile, the city is paying $750,000 to purchase the abandoned golf course from owner Danny McQueen. It isn’t footing the bill alone, though, The Gleaner reported.
Area resident Jim Marshall has gifted the city $500,000 for the project, with $50,000 to go toward purchase of the land and $450,000 to go in a fund for restoring the course to its former glory, The Gleaner reported.
With that money in hand, buying the Players Club and bringing it back for public use will cost the city $700,000, according to officials.
But if that works out, the plan is to close the cramped 9-hole course that the city operates, which loses roughly $200,000 a year.
Within the space of three years, the city of Henderson believes it will be on the positive side of things financially—with an 18-hole course costing little or nothing annually, instead of a cramped 9-hole facility costing them $200,000 to operate and staff, reported The Gleaner.
Newman, Mayor Steve Austin and city commissioners have called it a win-win.
The city, with a population of just under 30,000 and part of the greater Evansville, Ind. metropolitan area, would add a golf course to its community arsenal of amenities, but wouldn’t have to operate it as a day-to-day, going concern.
The operator gets a great course, but isn’t crushed—as K&J was before at the old Players Club, according to Newman, trying to make a profit while paying off a large mortgage, The Gleaner reported. In this case, the operator will keep any profits from the operation.
“They’re getting keys to the car, with a full tank of gas, and all they have to do is the maintenance and keep gas in the car to keep it going,” said Newman.
But meanwhile, while the deal is on the green, the ball still isn’t in the hole, The Gleaner reported.
On September 25th, Newman said that an attorney who specializes in golf course arrangements is hammering out a contract for the parties involved. And the city hopes to call a special meeting by the end of the first week of October to consider the contract and make it final.
Meanwhile, confidence is apparently very high. K&J has arranged with McQueen to lease the property on a short-term basis to go ahead and start working immediately on improvements, The Gleaner reported.
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