Source: Tulsa (Okla.) World
Officials at Owasso's Bailey Ranch Golf Club hope improvements to the course and services will bring back golfers.
KC Golf Management started working with the Owasso Golf Authority and staff at the club, 10105 Larkin Bailey Blvd., on July 1.
The first thing they did was to create a business plan to decide what they wanted for the facility, services and how they wanted to market the club.
"The primary reason the city got us involved was to have a little bit more expertise than what they could provide," said Ken Campbell, owner of KC Golf Management.
Based in Tulsa, KC Golf Management is contracted for management and/or marketing for four golf courses in California. The business does not work with any other Oklahoma golf course, Campbell said.
"The city's expertise is not running golf courses. It's running cities, and they do a great job of that. But for them to be able to support this golf course is very challenging," he said.
The company provides resources to city officials and to Bailey Ranch Golf Club Director of Golf Corey Burd to help them make decisions about how best to operate the club, Campbell said.
Opened in 1992, Bailey Ranch Golf Club includes an 18-hole course built on 200 acres of land donated by the Larkin Bailey Foundation. Designed by Bland Pittman, president of Pittman, Poe & Associates of Broken Arrow, the links-style layout features creeks, small lakes, trees, thickets and native grassland.
The club also has a golf shop, an eatery called the Bailey Grille, and banquet and meeting facilities.
Last year, the Owasso Public Golf Authority passed an operating budget of $1.45 million for the fiscal year 2004-05. Sales of food, beverage and merchandise accounted for some of the anticipated revenues, but green fees and cart rentals were expected to produce more than half, states the 2004-05 budget.
The city-owned course has seen a decline in the number of rounds of golf played year-to-year since the fiscal year 1998-99, according to a memo dated July 2, 2004, from Owasso City Manager Rodney Ray to the golf authority.
Approximately 35,000 rounds were played at the course the year before last, Burd said.
"It's down to about 25,000 last year. It steadily declined to that point. I think it just got to a point where we needed a change, but it's not necessarily to do with the conditions here," Burd said.
Competition and the economy have had a hand in the decline, he said.
The Tulsa metropolitan area has at least 10 other public facilities vying for golfers' attention and dollars, including LaFortune Park, Page Belcher and Mohawk Park in Tulsa; Cherokee Hills in Catoosa; Battle Creek in Broken Arrow; Heritage Golf Course in Claremore; and South Lakes in Jenks.
Another course is under construction in Verdigris.
Burd was made interim golf director at Bailey Ranch in March 2004, and was named as the permanent director last summer.
Campbell and his associate, Tim Lampton, previously worked at Bailey Ranch under the first director, Warren Lehr.
In the months since the contract became effective, "Our primary focus has been just evaluation of what the club's strengths and weaknesses were, what kind of things needed to be addressed," Campbell said.
That evaluation revealed a need for a few changes and improvements, he said.
"I think the golf course was in good condition. We just wanted to go to that next level of greatness with a little more attention to detail," he said. "We focused a lot of our attention on the greens because it's the most critical area of a golf course. ... The greens were good, but not as consistent as we wanted them to be."
In 2003, a year before KC Management was hired, Ray noticed some of the greens had deteriorated, the July 2 memo states.
"The condition was 'underreported' but certainly not unnoticed by golfers. As determinations and recommendations were being developed, the Director of Golf (before Burd) resigned," the memo states.
The problems were dealt with, and the new staff has concentrated on other areas of concern.
A few holes had air-circulation problems, which left the holes in less-than-perfect shape. Campbell said the problems have been repaired.
"You now have a small network of individuals who've been in the business for quite some time, who can identify some problems and come up with solutions, where previously that relationship wasn't there," Campbell said.
Burd said he and management also are looking at customer service differently, making employees understand how the course competes for dollars not only with other courses, but also with other forms of entertainment, Campbell said.
"It's not about having the best food or the best golf course. It's about making people feel really welcome," Campbell said.
The course also is looking to buy a new fleet of golf carts.
"I would say the industry has changed, and we changed with it," Burd said. "It wasn't that it was sub-par. It was just that we're going to that higher level."
Campbell said management will unveil a new marketing plan soon that will include a new pricing structure and new membership opportunities.
"We anticipate this summer will really be the big turning point," Campbell said. "We're coming up on a new fiscal year, and in that fiscal year, from our projections, we're going to have a 15 percent increase in our rounds of play."
