City explores course management option

Source: The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)

A November attempt by managers of Crimson Creek Golf Course to opt out of an operational agreement has golf course trustees exploring management alternatives.

The dispute centers on a letter from Millennium Golf to the city’s recreational authority expressing the company’s desire to stop operating the city-owned course. Millennium Golf reversed its decision in a December letter, but authority counsel Mark Henricksen said the damage was done.

The breach, he said, stems from Millennium Golf’s statement in the letter that it wouldn’t have the resources to properly maintain the course.

A contract provision calls for notification by letter in the case of a suspected breach. The authority acted at a special Thursday night meeting to authorize Henricksen to draft a breach-of-contract letter to Millennium Golf, which then must spell out its plans to address the alleged breach.

“If the authority is not satisfied with the response, they would declare the lease terminated after notice,” Henricksen said.

The authority’s next step might be exploring other management options, authority Vice Chairman Susan Schwarz said.

Crimson Creek Golf Club member Les Ellis said the course suffers from cash starvation. “I don’t know Millennium’s approach has been bad, but the course could be maintained better than what it is,” Ellis said.

Millennium Director of Golf Andy McCormick said the nature of the short-term lease will not permit his company to make major course improvements.

McCormick told trustees the course was about 3,000 rounds shy of the anticipated 25,000 18-hole rounds of golf.

Millennium Golf budgeted $582,000 for course operations, but annual revenue was just $451,000, he said.

Avid golfer and former authority adviser Fletcher Handley Jr. said he thinks trustees have treated Millennium officials like adversaries rather than partners. Handley also cautioned the authority against terminating the contract.

“Turning it over to city employees or local people with no experience other than teeing it up will be disastrous and ensure failure,” Handley wrote in an e-mail to trustees this week.