To their credit, the six Wichita City Council members who voted Tuesday to raise golf course fees clearly hated to do it. The sizable hikes in season tickets (for all but students) will be especially hard for many golfers to shrug off starting Oct. 1. But an affordable new “super senior” pass will help the most dedicated players 70 and up, and the extra $1 for regular green fees and cart rentals will add up for the city — and allow better maintenance of the five courses. It was telling that a new roof recently was deferred at the hail-damaged MacDonald clubhouse until the substructure could be rebuilt. Council members made a commitment to try to stave off more increases proposed for 2012, perhaps through selling driving range passes. Vice Mayor Jim Skelton said: “I cannot stand more deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance, to me, is lack of maintenance, and pretty soon everything starts falling apart and you get a pile of junk, and I don’t want that to happen to our city golf courses.”
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20 Comments
So who was ever against a Sin Tax?
MacDonald Park is such a great track. It needs to have a decent clubhouse.
We are fortunate to have a number of fine golf courses in the Wichita area. Green fees are on the City courses are very reasonable, even with the new increases. It is a no brainer that the City courses need to bring in enough revenue to cover the proper maintenance of the grounds and buildings. They are an asset to the community and contribute to the quality of life.
So get out there and take advantage of the great weather. And don’t worry that you aren’t that good. Remember, “golf” spelled backwards is “flog”.
Those are, you know, SOCIALIZED!!!! golf courses.
Why should my tax dollars subsidize others’ silly obsession with golf?!
It’s SOCIALISM!!!! dammit!
Make enough money to build your own damned country club.
Loser.
outlander
Posted September 3, 2009 at 7:57 am | Permalink
So get out there and take advantage of the great weather. And don’t worry that you aren’t that good. Remember, “golf” spelled backwards is “flog”.
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Outlander, obviously you don’t know what it’s like to be a truly cr appy golfer. I played for a few years…never developed the skill for it. I remember my first game. I spent $125 for a used set of clubs. I asked JM Walker which club I should use as I stepped up to the tee box. He asked me if I’d ever played before and I said “No”. He told me that it didn’t matter which club I used, LOL!
Golf fees in Wichita are pretty reasonable. I played a course in Denver for $55 with my bro in law. I thought that was terrible, but he said it was one of the most reasonable prices in town.
XXX- Personally, I’ve found it really doesn’t make much of a difference which end of any club is used.
XXX could hit the ball a country mile. And they all would have been awesome shots if they hadn’t showed where the hole was :-)
JM- Was the hole caused by the ball or the club? With me , it’s usually too close to call.
JMWalker
Posted September 3, 2009 at 8:37 am | Permalink
XXX could hit the ball a country mile. And they all would have been awesome shots if they hadn’t showed where the hole was :-)
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And I’ll give Walker a lot of credit. He tried to show me how. He’s a true golfer…I was probably his greatest failure.
I can hit a ball a country mile. It’s just always waaaaay to the right. I used to try to correct for that. I remember playing the 18th hole at Echo Hills. I fired out of the tee box at about 45 degrees aim left. It went straight as a gunshot out onto I 135. I still wake up in a sweat sometimes….squealing tires, etc.
And there was that incident at that little 9 hole course north of Newton. I was on the driving range trying a new recovery wood. I fired a screamer. About 60 degrees to the right. I hit the old guy parking carts right in the small of the back. I thought I’d killed him.
Funny thing….he never did accept my appoligy.
When I play, they quit calling them Divots. When I tear up a piece of ground, they call it an astroid.
XXX would be like a gorilla playing golf. It can drive a ball over 500 yards.
The problem is, that it also putts in the same manner. :)
XXX- Have you ever thought about trying to weaponize golf? You might have something there.
Regular
Posted September 3, 2009 at 9:21 am | Permalink
XXX would be like a gorilla playing golf. It can drive a ball over 500 yards.
The problem is, that it also putts in the same manner. :)
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Reg, let’s not go overboard. Actually, I can putt. It’s just getting to the green….
The problem for me is getting to the RIGHT green.
Marketing efforts to actually increase the number of rounds played would go alot farther. But that’s politicians for you.
SOCIALIZED!!!! golf!
Let’s subsidize putting clinics.
Free buckets of balls on driving ranges!
Cash for Clunkers is a bad idea, but Cash for Golf Carts! Bring it on!
Early on this thread, “outlander” whined about having no decent club house on a public golf course.
Hello?
You want a club house? Join a friggin’ CLUB!
Fee hikes, like increased taxes, can only be a Good Thing.
Why is this a news story?
As long as the poor are not playing Golf, who cares?
#
Monkeyhawk
Posted September 3, 2009 at 2:44 pm | Permalink
SOCIALIZED!!!! golf!
Let’s subsidize putting clinics.
Free buckets of balls on driving ranges!
Cash for Clunkers is a bad idea, but Cash for Golf Carts! Bring it on!
Early on this thread, “outlander” whined about having no decent club house on a public golf course.
Hello?
You want a club house? Join a friggin’ CLUB!
———
I do belong to a club, dumbazz. Your point?
And don’t you live in Iola or somewhere like that? Being an out of county non-golfer commenting on Wichita golf makes your comments, … well about as qualified as they usually are.
So “outlander” belongs to a chi-chi country club but still demands the public option of SOCIALIZED!!!! golf.
Damned Marxist.
Golf is a game for the rich and the bored.
But those courses DO provide some valuable green space in an urban setting. In my younger days, there was no better place than a well groomed green or sandtrap for some…late night outdoor. Sim Park, Pawnee Prairie, Clapp….ahhhhh memories…..