City's golf courses face financial challenges under latest budget cuts

Public course golf operations in Columbus face a tremendous financial challenge this fiscal year under the budget passed in June by Columbus Council.

The 36-hole Bull Creek Golf Course, wholly owned by the city, failed to bring in enough money to meet its 2014-15 budget, falling $175,000 short of the $1.482 million it was allotted.

Council's response: Slash the course's budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 by 15 percent, or $233,250.

Oxbow Creek, the city's nine-hole public course on South Lumpkin Road, cost the city more than $250,000 to operate during the 2014-15 budget year.

Council's response: Cut Oxbow's budget by more than $40,000 to $490,500, a 7.8 percent reduction.

That's the budget dilemma facing Director of Golf John Milam, who oversees operations at Bull Creek and Oxbow. He has to find a way to maintain the 45-hole opera

tion to at least the same standard as last year with almost $270,000 less money.

It's not going to be easy, if it's possible at all, Milam said.

"My budget request, basically, was the same as last year's except for labor and health increases," he said. "We've had no capital outlay at Oxbow since 1999 and only one piece of equipment -- a debris blower -- at Bull Creek since 1999.

"All our other capital improvements come from the scrap yard. We've got one 1988 tractor and a 1989 tractor that both get their parts from the salvage yard. We lease our greens mowers and have fixed monthly payments for them and for our golf carts.

"We're barely maintaining this course as it is," Milam said.

Bull Creek and Oxbow Creek operate under the auspices of an authority composed of members appointed by Columbus Council. Bull Creek Golf Authority oversees the operations of the course, with day-to-day management in the hands of Milam and the grounds and greens directed by Superintendent Steve Brown. Independent of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, Milam drafts a budget which is approved by the authority and submitted to the mayor and council for approval and inclusion in the city's overall budget.

After undergoing a more than $4 million improvement project in 2003, it would be a tragedy for the course to be allowed to deteriorate " until it's just another cow pasture," he said.

Milam said it's unrealistic to expect the golf courses to turn a profit or even to break even financially on a regular basis. Bull Creek has broken even only once and recorded a $30,000 profit once in the last 15 years. As for Oxbow, it's an automatic $150,000 or more cost every year and, as a nine-hole course, cannot break even, he said.

Milam said he can't increase playing fees and remain competitive with the many public golf courses in the immediate area vying for golfers' dollars. That includes a much-improved Lakewood Golf Course in Phenix City, Callaway Gardens' 36-hole facility in Pine Mountain, Maple Ridge in Columbus and Fort Benning's 27-hole course.

On Aug. 1, Milam will increase the cart fee at Bull Creek and Oxbow from $19 for 18 holes to $20. Snack bar prices also face increases.

Beyond that, the courses' financial outcome is pretty much at the mercy of the weather, he said.

This year, Bull Creek recorded 58 non-revenue days -- days the course had the expense of being open, but had no revenue coming in due to weather preventing play.

"We're totally dependent on the weather. It is an outdoor sport," he said. "If the weather stays good for 12 months, we'll be close (to making budget).

"But I'm going to maintain this golf course until they make me unable to do it -- until they cut my funds off," said Milam.

"I'm not going to just let the golf course go."

The question the city must face is whether it wants to continue to put forth a quality golf course, or have it deteriorate, he said.

"Right now, we've got people coming here from just about everywhere -- from Macon, Atlanta, Birmingham -- just to play golf at Bull Creek," he said. "We know we've generated over 250 overnight stays at local hotels last year and this is a good recruiting tool for the city. People who are looking at coming to Columbus are looking at all aspects of its recreation offerings -- including public golf courses.

"We're just another piece of the puzzle -- and I think we're a good piece of that puzzle."

Columbus Councilor Skip Henderson, who chaired the council's budget-crafting operations, said that despite its presence in Columbus for more than 42 years, Bull Creek Golf Course is "a well-kept secret" for many.

"This course, operating with a skeleton crew and prison labor, is more than a surprise for those who visit it," Henderson said. "It's a jewel."

"I love this course and I love what it means to Columbus," said the councilor who once chaired the Bull Creek Golf Authority. "It seems we accept the responsibility to provide all these other recreational facilities in the city but for some reason, we don't lump Bull Creek into that genre."

Henderson said the city allocates millions of dollars for parks, recreation facilities, swimming pools, tennis, marinas and a very nice, expensive natatorium. But Bull Creek generates well over a million dollars toward its upkeep every year and should be considered a recreation asset as much as any other in the city's operations, he said.

Henderson said his fear is that if the course is neglected, it will deteriorate to a level from which it will never be able to recover.

If the weather doesn't prove good enough to boost the cash flow at Bull Creek, " We'll just have to come up with the money," he said. "If not, it would be devastating to the golf course."

There simply wasn't a source of money to support more for golf operations in the "painful" city budget approved in June, Henderson said. It's his intention, as a councilor and as budget panel chairman, to have council review funding for Bull Creek at mid-term of the fiscal year, he said.

"Personally, I don't see any way this city would let that golf course shut down for two months and then suffer the consequences of doing that," Henderson said.

As for Oxbow Creek Golf Course, there's no easy answer to that, he said. The course was built with the city aware it would never be financially solvent and would always be subsidized.

At some point, councilors must conclude they will support it financially sufficient to maintain its quality, or find another way of addressing the problem.

"I don't know of any other city our size that has two separate public golf facilities, and one of them a nine-hole course at a separate location," Henderson said.

The Oxbow question is one that should soon be considered, said Henderson.

This story was originally published July 18, 2015 at 4:29 PM.