After the findings of a consultant’s $100,000-plus study of the city’s four golf courses were released, suggesting that their total of 528 acres could be rebalanced with other recreational options or affordable housing, a larger-than-expected Save Seattle Golf group quickly mobilized. There are no other public options for golf in the city, advocates note, and Seattle has fewer municipals than other, smaller Northwest cities.
What should Seattle, Wash. do with its four public golf courses and the 528 acres of mostly green space that they occupy?
That’s a question being asked by the city, which commissioned a study looking at the future of the municipal courses, which offer the only option for public play to the city’s residents, The Seattle Times reported..
It’s a question that has not been answered, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan insisted. But, Durkin added, “It would be a breach of our duty to the people of Seattle not to be really looking at what is best use of those golf courses—from everything to continuing as golf courses, to finding a way to use part of them as parks, to use part of them for affordable housing.”
No one is suggesting, yet, that Seattle ditch one or more of its courses, The Times reported. But the fact that it’s even a topic of conversation has golfers worriedly making the case for their sport.
Seattle has been in the golf business since 1915, when Jefferson Park Golf Course opened in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, The Times reported. The other public courses are Jackson Park in North Seattle, West Seattle Golf Course and the Interbay golf center, with a nine-hole par-3 course designed by Jack Nicklaus, a miniature course and driving range that opened in 1997 and was purchased by the city in 2001.
Margaret Anthony, retired after a long career with the Seattle Parks and Recreation department, became concerned after reading the 131-page study that was released in April, and talking with Cheryl Fraser, a manager with the Parks and Recreation department, The Times reported.
“Cheryl told me, ‘We haven’t heard from any golfers,’” said Anthony, a member of the West Seattle Golf Course women’s club. “That’s because they didn’t know [about the study]. That’s when I started contacting people and getting motivated to start a citizen effort.”
Anthony put together a Save Seattle Golf meeting at Jefferson Park Golf Club late in May, The Times reported, publicizing it with a few signs at city golf courses.
She expected maybe 50 people. Instead, there were a few hundred, with the crowd spilling outside, The Times reporteed
“I was blown away by the turnout and the support that demonstrated for how many people want to keep our golf courses,” Anthony said.
According to the study, which the city paid just over $104,000 to Lund Consulting to conduct, an average of 238,189 people per year played rounds of golf at the courses (including the par-3 short courses at Jefferson Park and Jackson Park) between 2009 and 2017, The Times reported. And in 2017, there also were 449,531 driving-range sessions.
The city courses use dynamic pricing, meaning rates vary by demand, but generally top out at $37 for the 18-hole courses, The Times reported. Juniors (ages 6-18) can play the courses for $5 during most times; there are reduced rates for seniors and military; and the courses are also used by high schools and the nonprofit First Tee youth program.
The country clubs in Seattle, bv contrast, have initiation fees, often quite costly, and monthly dues that make them much more expensive, The Times noted.
Premier Golf Centers manages the four city-owned courses, The Times reported. “These are not played by people who belong to private golf courses, and it’s a very diverse people population,” said Bill Schickler, Premier’s founder and President. “You’ve got grandparents playing with grandkids and kids, and you’ve got women and men of all ethnicities playing these courses, [which] are very much in need as a resource for sport and recreation in the community.”
Still, The Times noted, the courses take up big chunks of land, and the city has a lot of other needs for space. The total acreage of the courses is nearly as big as Seattle’s massive Discovery Park, or nearly 8 times the size of the Seattle Center.
“I think it’s time to take the next step and do an analysis of other ways we can meet the demands of people who want to be outdoors and golfing, and what other functions those golf courses might do for the city of Seattle and the city in the future,” Durkan said.
Much of the study focused on the financial health and sustainability of the golf courses, The Times reported. From 2013-17, the courses combined to have a net profit in operating income each year. But factoring in the 5 percent the courses give back to the Seattle Parks fund, plus debt service on improvements made at the courses, put them $1.8 million in the red.
In 2017, The Times reported, the courses had $10.2 million in revenue and $9.8 in expenses, not including the payment to the parks or the debt-service payment.
However, Schickler noted, “2017 was very poor weather year, whereas 2018 was a stellar year.
“In 2018,”he added, “[the courses] achieved record revenues in virtually every category. Our revenue was almost $1 million better than budget, and in 2019, we are running already a half a million dollars ahead of budget revenue for 2019 [as of the end of May].”
All of the Seattle courses could use significant repairs and improvements, The Times reported, with the Parks and Recreation department identifying a total of $35.6 million in capital improvement projects. And if any of those improvements are made, it would add to the debt service the courses are already paying.
The study looked at four different scenarios for 2027, The Times reported, with projected losses (including non-operating expense) ranging from $4.1 million to $8.4 million, with much of it coming from anticipated debt service.
Schickler said that’s not a fair assessment, when compared to other recreation opportunities in the city.
“Pools and other recreation [facilities] aren’t asked to pay for their costs of construction,” he told The Times. “The courses themselves make money, but it’s other overhead [that puts them in the red]. The Parks fund pulls money out of [the courses] for other programs, and now they are paying for the interest on the debt. It’s only after those items are included that there is any deficit.”
The study made 30 overall recommendations, The Times reported, with the first being to “commit to golf as a recreational program offered by the City on par with other recreational offerings.”
But the other offerings, such as tennis and swimming, don’t take up the same amount of potentially valuable land, The Times noted. The green space, everyone seems to agree, is important.
“We are unbelievably fortunate that we have this resource in the city of Seattle, and the study confirmed my belief that having that kind of open green space is something valued, whether you golf or don’t golf, and that there is a benefit to all of Seattle from having this resource,” Durkan said.
Golf boosters say Seattle is already underserved when compared to public golf availability in other, smaller Northwest cities, The Times noted. Portland, Ore. for example, has eight 18-hole courses inside the city, with six of them being municipals. Spokane, Wash. has seven 18-hole public courses, including five municipals.
“Of all the cities in the Northwest, [Seattle] has the smallest number,” Schickler said. “It would be really tough for the golfers, as crowded as it is, [if any existing courses are closed or changed]. There are going to be people who can’t play.”
The next step, Durkan said, is “a lot of public engagement—and we also need to do analysis of some long-term models, to see whether that is the highest and best use for those lands.”
Anthony is already fully engaged, The Times noted. But will her group be able to make a difference?
“I hope so; that’s my goal,” she said. “We are a huge city, and four courses is barely enough. There is no reason why Seattle can’t support four golf courses.”
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