A report compiled after county supervisors questioned a proposed $7.5 million upgrade to the Lakewood (Calif.) CC course recommended opening up some of the county’s 18 facilities to include a wider range of activities. “This is big open space, and I think there’s less and less people who are actually taking the time to spend the day golfing,” one supervisor said in assessing the usage and profit picture of the country’s largest golf system of its kind.
Hoping to drive a range of visitors toward the golf course of Los Angeles (Calif.) County, park and recreation officials have recommended opening up some of the 18 facilities to include yoga and Zumba classes, concerts and movie nights, as well as Frisbee games and campouts, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
The recommendations by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation were presented in a report to the Board of Supervisors and approved without discussion on October 31st, the Daily News reported.
The department compiled the report after Supervisor Janice Hahn expressed concern last month that the county’s golf courses, part of the largest golf system of its kind in the nation, were underutilized, the Daily News reported. Hahn specifically questioned why the county should spend $7.5 million to upgrade the Lakewood (Calif.) Country Club course near Long Beach, Calif.
“This is big open space, and I think there’s less and less people who are actually taking the time to spend the day golfing,” Hahn said at the Sept. 5th board meeting of the golf courses in her district.
Other supervisors expressed the same questions and concerns, the Daily News reported. While none of them want to wipe away golf courses, they wondered if the facilities, which are operated by outside contractors, were generating enough revenue and being inclusive enough to the community.
The Lakewood course, Hahn pointed out, was across the street from one of the county’s Department of Children and Family Services offices, the Daily News reported. “I think that we could look for opportunities to partner with children and family services, to expand these courses to give more access,” she said.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger agreed with Hahn’s concerns and both requested the report, the Daily News reported.
“I know in our district, we’ve got a golf course that’s losing money,” Barger said, referring to Eaton Canyon Golf Course in Pasadena, Calif. “The vendor can barely make payment.”
Officials with the Department of Parks and Recreation said in the report that there are a total of 1.6 million visitors to the county’s courses annually, the Daily News reported. The 18-hole Alondra Golf Course in Lawndale, Calif. logged the most visits, with more than 235,000 in the last fiscal year. The 9-hole Maggie Hathaway Golf Course in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles saw the least, with almost 12,500 visits for the same time period.
In total, officials said, there are 20 courses at 18 facilities across the county, the Daily News reported, with the system generating $15 million for the department. Of that, $12 million goes back to the county’s operating budget. “In the last 5 years, golf revenue has increased by 2 percent,” according to the report.
Expanding the use of golf courses is a good idea and was once more common, Craig Kessler, Director of Governmental Affairs at the 170,000-member Southern California Golf Association, told the Daily News. As part of the park system, he noted, county golf courses should be used by more people.
“It actually harkens back to a previous era, when the golf courses were better integrated in the communities in which they reside.” Kessler said.
The newly opened 9-hole, par 3 Don Knabe Golf Center and Junior Academy in Norwalk, Calif. will be the first to try out the new activities such as Footgolf and exercise classes, county officials said.
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