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PDF versionOGDEN -- Mayor Matthew Godfrey and the City Council teed off another round of discussion about the future of Mt. Ogden Golf Course this week.
The talk, as always, centered on hitting more greens: the cold, hard U.S. currency needed to operate a course the administration estimates loses $250,000 per year.
The session ended with Godfrey and the council agreeing to meet again after seeking proposals on a less-expensive, possibly phased renovation of the course to compare to a costlier complete reconstruction.
How to pay for improvements to bring the course up to par remains the issue.
Godfrey offered two options for funding a redesign: 1) asking voters for a bond to fund improvements or 2) revisiting the city's strategy in the 1980s to build the course by selling a part of the property to developers.
In either case, a redesign of Mt. Ogden is expected to begin with an estimated $2 million upgrade to its outdated irrigation system. Other amenities that could improve the viability of the course include a driving range and a new clubhouse to attract more tournaments and possibly the Weber State University golf team.
Godfrey said incremental improvements have not provided the expected turnaround to the course's financial difficulty.
"Our belief has been for a long time that there were changes we could make that were fairly inexpensive that could fix the problem. Our experience has been that it hasn't changed it," Godfrey said.
Consultants have told the city the course itself is the problem, that it's not a "golf course for the masses," playable enough to draw the numbers required to make it profitable because the average golfer is not going to enjoy the experience, Godfrey said.
"That was the theme that was recurring," he said.
Ogden Golf Course division manager Todd Brenkman said the ongoing discussion of what's wrong with Mount Ogden doesn't help perception.
Brenkman looks forward to a decision on the course, whatever it may be, because "the ongoing media campaign, the uncertainty, being on the front page of the paper a lot, that old saying that 'bad press can be good press,' I'm here to tell you, that's not true," he said. "I still get as many as five to six calls per week asking 'Are you still open for business?' "
In this economy, the only golf courses making money provide "quality, affordable, municipal golf," Brenkman said.
Godfrey suggested asking Jon Garner of Nicklaus Design to revisit his proposal. Garner previously worked with the mayor's Mount Ogden Golf Course committee and offered an overhaul of the course estimated to cost $6 million to $8 million.
Brenkman said he had received another offer for a proposal from the designer of golf courses in Fillmore and Richfield and the expansion of the Ferron course. Kris Abegglen, director of golf for Richfield's Cove View Golf Course, is listed as the designer of those courses. Abegglen is the son of former Weber State basketball coach Ron Abegglen.
"Challenging but playable"
It looks like the Mayor doesn't read the Ogden City website.
"Mount Ogden Golf Course
Mount Ogden Golf Course is an 18-hole golf course that sits high on
the east bench of Ogden overlooking the valley below. It is a very
challenging but playable layout that has views that are second to none.
It has been listed in Golf Digest’s “Best Places to play†publication
several times."
It looks like the Mayor
It looks like the Mayor doesn't read the Ogden City website.
"Mount Ogden Golf Course
Mount Ogden Golf Course is an 18-hole golf course that sits high on
the east bench of Ogden overlooking the valley below. It is a very
challenging but playable layout that has views that are second to none.
It has been listed in Golf Digest’s “Best Places to play†publication
several times."
Article recounts damage Mayor does
Interesting that the article recounts, in no uncertain terms, the damage the Mayor has done to business at the golf course by his repeated insistence, to the press, that it is "unplayable" and in need of drastic changes. Can't help but wonder how Mt. Ogden would be doing if Ogden had a mayor, like most towns do, who spent time promoting the city's recreational attractions, instead of running them down in order to justify selling them to his real estate developer cronies. [Let us recall that the Mayor did not discover what he called the "unplayable" nature of MOGC until, some years ago, he was seeking a reason to sell off the city's largest park, which includes the golf course, so that up to 400 vacation villas could be built in the park. He wanted the sale to raise money to pay for at least part of the $35 million dollar flatland gondola he wanted to build.
The manager of Ogden's two golf courses made no bones about how damaging the Mayor's constant criticism of the course has been for business there:
Ogden Golf Course division manager Todd Brenkman said the ongoing
discussion of what's wrong with Mount Ogden doesn't help perception. Brenkman looks forward to a decision on the course, whatever it may
be, because "the ongoing media campaign, the uncertainty, being on the
front page of the paper a lot, that old saying that 'bad press can be
good press,' I'm here to tell you, that's not true," he said. "I still
get as many as five to six calls per week asking 'Are you still open
for business?' "
Meanwhile
Meanwhile, the airport loses $1M a year and the Junction -- well, the Mayor won't tell us how much the Junction loses, but you can bet it's in the seven figures. But since Friends of Matt are profiting from those taxpayer-subsidized projects, we don't need to do anything about them.