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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFeasibility Study Meridian Golf Course .f! .- ... ~ . .~ .• ~' ~ ~• FEASIBILITY STUDY Meridian Golf Course ' ~ Meridian, Idaho There is a fascination in .golf that is difficult to define. Perhaps one of the best attempts to define golf can be found to Arnold Palmer's following quotation; "Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. A child a can play it and a grown man,can never master it. Any single round is full of unexpected triumphs and iseemingly perfect shots that end in disaster. It is almost a science, yet it is a puzzle without an answer. It is gratifying and tantalizing, precise and unpredictable; it requires complete concentration and total relaxation. It satisfies the soul and frustrates the ,intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening and it is without a doubt the ~ ~ , greatest game mankind has invented". The following excerpts are taken from "the Golf Course Organizers Hand- book", pu'bliehed in 1975 by the~National Golf Foundation, Inc., Chicago, I11. "' " and was first published in 1931. It and its successors served>~as.the'~"Bible" "of golf course construction for hundreds of courses over the years. Its material has stood the teat of time and has been changed and updated several times to meet new standards and.conditione. ~ It was put together with the help of a multitude of club officials golf course and clubhouse architects, superintendents, engineers, golf professionals. and manufacturers who collaborated in the preparation of the book. The National Golf Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to . the advancement of golf. Their services are available nationwide to any individual or group desiring authoritative information on any phase of golf facility planning, development, acquisition or operation. It took 71 years for~the,nation to produce 4,400,000 golfers and lees _. than eight years to double that figure. Since 1960 the number of active golfers in the United Staten has doubled while the number of courses has only increased by 50x. The shortages of golf courses has been and will continue to be most critical among those facilities open to the public. ,For example, private clubs make up 45~ of the country's golf courses, but only 16~ of the golfers use them. The remaining 84~ must play elsewhere. 39~ of them use the aemi- private courses which comprise 42~ of the total number of courses. But 45x of the nation's golfers must utilize the 13~ of, the courses which are municipal. The overwhelming majority of new courses being planned are either semi-private or municipal because it is there that shortages and overcrowding are most critical. Kaving a municipal course boils down to practical politics and economics; Land costa and operating expenses, including rising taxes, make it increas- ~ . ... .-ingly difficult 'for membership- cl~sbs ,and private daily fee~..courses to f finan- cially survive. Mors financial resources -- municipal bonds, Federal grants., private development with leaseback, public or ,commercial donations, and in combination -- are available than for other types of golf facilities. Other advantages for a municipal.couYee are: A welcome stretch of main- tamed open space, making the community more attractive to citizens and visitors alike; A financial base for a larger recreation complex and program, since a golf course's profits can pay for operation of swimming pools, play- grounds,. ball fields, etc.; An asset to aurrou~iding property, creating a more r pleasing envirotuDent, pride of ownership and higher tax values.; A center of school-connected amd summer youth activity programs, both social and recreation; A location for civic events including tournaments, but also picnics, public ' meeting places, etc.; A tourist attraction, bringing more conventions snd ,I meetings, longer visits for family and friends, more professional and busi- neaspersons as new residents, and more dollars to the local economy; Anew local business, employing several persons in season, with an operating budget of .several thousands of dollars; A popular pastime for senior citizens need- ing mental and physical activity in retirement. Arguments against a golf course usually fall under two generalizations:, 1. A golf course only benefits an affluent small group of citizens. 2. It is too expensive to develop, both in acres of land needed and construction costs. The first argument may have once been true for private courses, but is hardly valid for today's municipal course. Golf is one of the countrye most popular outdoor sports. Over .12,000,000 people, of all ages, all incomes -- play .golf. Yet the cost is sometimes lees than $100 per year. The investment in dollars must. be judged against long-range value. No other facility provides so much beauty and pleasure for so long as a;;golf course. It ie often the only municipal recreation facility that can amortize itself and make money. Golf ere pay the bill with green fees. A fine golf course can last l00 years without major change or replacement. Whether in theory or in facts., there really is no valid argument against a municipal .golf course, assuming there is enough population to keep it busy. A community's.size, location, climate, population, economic base, growth potential and recreational assets are all-important in establishing the feasi- bility of a new golf course. In planning a municipal - daily fee - type. operation the market for potential users can be largely determined by current information on the following items; • 1. The total population in the immediate area and the population within a 5, 10, and 20 mile radius of the proposed course if the course is to be in an urban community. 2. Number of other available dail_gfee golf courses in the immediate area and within a 5, 10, and 20 mile radius. An acceptable yard stick for daily fee courses is one 18 hole operation for every 25,000 persona. 3. What has been the pattern of population growth for the AREA? The estimated ,population of Greater Meridian is 25,000 people or enough to support one daily fee 18 hole golf course. There are none. The estimated population of Ada and Canyon County is 250,000 people or enough tq support 10 daily fee 18 hole golf courses. There are 4~ daily fee 18 hole courses. ' The overall growth pattern for Ada County for the year 1976 amounted to 18x or enough growth, to support one new daily fee 18 hole golf course per ' year. The growth of Meridian has been even greater than the county's and will expand rapidly with the ,addition of the new water/sewer completion. " To again quote from The National Golf Foundation, "90~ of all municipal operated golf courses make enough money to completely pay for themselves plus revenues for other recreation facilities that are not aimed at returning all coats and charges". At this writing, Emmett, Idaho is the only club to respond with a financial report of their"operation. With a 9 hole course and a population of 4,000 with a 10,000 trade area population the Emmett course shows a small profit. They have the lowest fees in the area. Little is known to this committee about the actual conditions of deeding of this property to the City of Meridian. It is our understanding that the property deeded will be a completed 9 hole course, with anyautomated under- ground ,sprinkler system and with the grass mowed twice and ready for play. It is also understood that a well will be "provided for the sprinkler system. That it can/will be expanded to 18 holes in the future. ". J It is therefore. our recommendation that the Meridian City Council reconsider and accept this most generous gift. We would also make the following recommendations based on its accep- tance: 1. That the mobil home Dick Williams had set aside in eastern Idaho be fully accessed~as a possible "club house". 2. That the leasing of equipment and machinery be explored for maintaining the course. 3. Income. sources beyond admission charges need to be fully explored, since this. is producing income necessary for improvements. 4. Every effort must be made to maintain high quality management since this has a direct relationship to the pleasure of golfer visits and the resulting expansion of business. S. A consistent annual improvement program should be maintained such as landscaping, turf improvements, quality of sand traps, and so forth. Improvements should be made based on the ability to maintain. ~6. Improvement projects should be established in the park system - in order that the course can provide a general community benefit. • . y - _._ - _. _ - _ - ~„ 7. Provide for future expansion sad/or neM facilities as they are .~,K needed.