Park District officials say no decision has yet been made on whether to close the Decatur, Ill. club. But the city of under 75,000 people is having difficulty sustaining three public courses and has only turned a small profit on their operation through staff cuts that have raised concern about keeping conditions acceptable in the long run.
A recent golf focus group meeting held recently at Scovill Golf Club in Decatur, Ill., the Decatur Herald & Review reported, wasn’t about the future of the facility, according to Decatur Park District Board President Bob Brilley II.
Golfers still remain concerned about the future of the course, the Herald & Review reported, and one golfer even asked if the course is permanently closed. But Brilley said no decision has been made on the future of the course, and won’t be until after the first of the year.
Scovill’s target-style course was first designed by Tom Bendelow, then redesigned in 1991 by Dick Nugent, the Herald & Review reported. The Park District faced questions about the future of the course in 2015, only to vote to keep it open for 2016. However, it did close early this year, on October 16.
The Herald & Review reported that the course was filling just 37 percent of its potential tee times, a figure that was 10 percent lower than the district’s other two courses, Hickory Point Golf Course in Forsyth, Ill., and Red Tail Run Golf Course in Decatur.
While the park district was in the back in the black for net operating expenses for the first time in more than a decade, bringing in $44,136 for 2016’s fiscal year, the Herald & Review reported, it has still lost an average of $202,563 a year over the last decade.
The reason for the improved performance wasn’t more rounds played, the Herald & Review reported, with the park district’s three courses down 7,413 rounds compared to last year. Cuts in staff led to the small profit, but Kurt Rogers, Manager of Golf for the district, told the Herald & Review he wasn’t sure those cuts were sustainable.
“We trended in the right direction with [net] revenue and I think we can probably maintain that, and the staff is sustainable for now,” Rogers said after the meeting. “But how long can we continue to trend in the right direction with rounds declining, and how long can we keep the courses in good shape with a full-time staff of eight?
“Maybe if we cut down to two courses and make some more money, you could put it into enhancing those facilities going forward,” Rogers added. While he told the Herald & Review he would like to continue with three courses, he said it probably isn’t a long-term option.
It’s hard to make a case for Decatur’s demographics continuing to support three courses, the Herald & Review reported, because not only has the city’s population (now just under 75,000) been declining, it’s also aging. By 2017, one-third of the population in Decatur, which is best known as the North American headquarters city for the agricultural conglomerate, Archer Daniels Midland, will be 65 or older. The city also has a high poverty rate and a lack of participation at the youth level.
The only way to save golf’s future in Decatur, Brilley told the Herald & Review, is to build up numbers at the youth level. However, junior golf had just 60 players at the city courses this year. In comparison, lacrosse, a first-year program, had 85. Youth baseball had 825 and MidState Soccer had 1,100.
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