Starting Monday, local residents looking to reserve a choice tee time at the Municipal Golf Course will lose an early-morning advantage they've enjoyed for years.
The City Council this week voted 4-1 to eliminate the advantage that golf starters give San Clemente residents reserving tee times between 6 and 6:30 a.m. at the popular course.
The goal is to increase income at the golf course by making reservations easier for nonlocals, who pay high er rates than locals. Also, the City Council agreed to reduce the number of tee times available to walk-on players from three to two per hour to try to increase play by increasing available reservations.
These are part of a package of changes that the City Council approved this week to try to boost income at the golf course as the city also prepares to spend $4.3 million on a bigger new clubhouse.
Councilman Jim Dahl voted against eliminating the early-morning resident reservations advantage and reducing walk-on times.
During the public hearing Tuesday, veteran local golfer Jerry Gahan said the city needs to use caution changing the walk-on policy, since golfers depend on the availability of walk-on times. He pointed out that there is a lot of competition from other golf courses -- including brand-new ones -- offering discounts, and the city can't risk losing its regular players.
``They may not come back,'' he said.
Mike Quinn, another regular at the golf course, echoed that, even as golfers brace themselves for the possibility of higher greens fees in the future.
``Green fees may be raised,'' he said. ``If you do that, make sure you put some money back into maintenance of the golf course. You put $1.25 million into a renovation which aesthetically improved this golf course tremendously. But if we don't maintain it ... you have to have a product that people will come and play and say gee I'd like to go back to that course. In the meantime, don't forget the residents. You're still getting 60 percent of your rounds from the residents. Don't upset us too much.''
San Clemente's Golf Course Committee recommended that the city stop siphoning $425,000 per year from the golf course fund to help balance the city's budget. Council members wouldn't bite on that one but did make it a study topic this winter when the city drafts a long-term financial plan.
The council also approved a design for a 17,000-square-foot Spanish-style facility and, on a 5-0 vote, directed staff to advertise for construction bids. The existing Polynesian-style clubhouse, built in 1964 at a cost of $190,000, will be removed to make way for the new one.
Gus Nelson, golf course manager, warned that the clubhouse fund is $670,000 short of the $4.3 million needed, and in the current construction climate, costs could run higher than that. Gahan cautioned against spending $4 million on a clubhouse.
``That clubhouse is too big,'' he said. ``You ought to do something that fits the neighborhood and is in line with the kind of golf course that we have.''
The new clubhouse has supporters and detractors, dating back to 1995 when complaints about the existing clubhouse led to studies on whether to renovate or build from scratch. A series of studies and public workshops -- many of them loud and argumentative by people on both sides -- led to the current proposal.
Source: The Orange County Register (California)
