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Pebble Lake Golf Course Struggling
Published Friday, May 2, 2008
Pebble Lake Golf Club is facing tough times — and the city is prepared to help it out.
Much of what’s plaguing Pebble Lake are the same issues faced by courses around the country — increased competition and a shortened season, says Rick Odden, course superintendent.
It’s not that the number of golfers are down, but that a push to build golf courses in the past several years has backfired, Odden said.
“I think the same number of golfers are available but the golf dollars are stretched across more courses,” Odden said.
It doesn’t help that winter weather has impeded the golf season in recent years. Pebble Lake Golf Course was open only four days in April after opening for the season the first of the month.
“So when you lose out on the first month of revenue, it’s hard to make that up,” Odden said.
As a result, Pebble Lake has had to take out loans to cover its operating budget, and the purchase of equipment has been put on hold. The need for replacement equipment is now great enough that the Golf Board is asking for help.
“We’re trying to make it without funds from the city, but we’re just digging ourselves into a hole,” Pebble Lake Golf Club President Daryl Evavold told members of the Finance, Personnel and Development Committee Thursday.
So at Thursday’s meeting, Fergus Falls Finance Director Bill Sonmor introduced a proposal to get the club back on track. Developed by the Golf Board and city staff, the proposal establishes a loan agreement for the club’s equipment purchases. The city would provide the club with a loan to cover its equipment purchases, only to forgive the loan and incorporate the equipment cost into its budget over the next five years. A tentative estimate of the five-year total equipment cost is $138,200.
For its part, Pebble Lake Golf Club would need to establish a financial plan in an effort to achieve sustainability, establish an equipment reserve and fund capital improvements. Those capital improvements would be the subject of annual meetings between city staff and the Golf Board around budgeting time, when the two parties would need to agree on what projects to fund and how much each would pay.
“What we’re trying to do is help them get through a difficult time,” City Administrator Mark Sievert said at Thursday’s meeting.
The proposal was met with a positive response from committee chair Ben Schierer, among others.
“The golf course is an asset and an asset that we own,” he said.
“It’s an asset that we need to keep viable,” added committee member Hal Leland.
The course proposal will be up for approval at Monday’s city council meeting.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by Colt45 (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 12:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is good news (for a change)! Rick and crew have done an outstanding job with ancient equipment. Just think of what they can accomplish with good machinery as well as saving money in man hours in "downtime".
Good choice..I hope it happens.
Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 12:39 p.m.
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Posted by NeedMoreInfo (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 12:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Agreed. Are we sure a bail out from the city is what's needed here and now?
Posted by Newshound (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 12:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Pebble Lake Golf is a wonderful community asset. To let it fail would be a disgrace. The plan sounds reasonable to me and should be approved without delay.
There are some things a community just HAS to do.
Posted by Clara (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 12:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
rodentboy:
Let's just close the golf course and lay off the employees. Then you can help pay their unemployment. Closing the golf course would be another nail in the old Fergus Falls coffin.
Am I to assume that new management will be better able to 'manage' the weather? Maybe if God isn't busy, we could get him to work part-time at the course. I've heard he can do miraculous things with weather. Problem solved.
Posted by Lifehacker (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 12:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would agree that maybe the management needs to be looked at. I realize that it is an asset to the City, but shouldn't management be responsible to some extent. I would say that part of the problem might be that the rates are VERY high at the golf course. If the rates are lower they might get more members to sign up. Rather than charge a lot for a few individuals, charge less and allow many more people to use this City asset. It is time for the old boys club to be done away with. Also, from what I understand this wouldn't be added to the water bill as rodentboy noted, but it would come from the City's general operating budget which is supported through taxes.
Posted by NeedMoreInfo (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Newshound:
"There are some things a community just HAS to do."
Supporting our public schools is something this community HAS to do. Fixing our deteriorating roads is something this community HAS to do. Supporting our police and fire departments is something this community HAS to do.
Let's check our priorities...
Posted by thethinker (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 1:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If the course is owned by the city this is not a big issue. I agree the $$$ could maybe be spent to help out folks who are having tough times but honestly, how much help can $138K do? Divided into how many needy people? And who decides if they are needy? It's not a huge amount of money and perhaps it will help the club get back on track. As for management, I don't believe they can be at fault for losing the month of April due to weather(and the subsequent golf monies). If they CAN affect the weather, well, they need to get into a better line of work...like farming...heh-heh...
Posted by Flashbang (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
About 15 yrs ago I started playing golf and went to PLGC because it was local. I played once and felt like I was trespassing on holy ground because of the cold treatment I received from the Good-Old-Boys who seem to run the show. I blew it off and went again a week later,,,,,same response. For 10 years I had a memebership at Tipsinah before moving to the East Coast. The people out here are courteous and don't get in your face like at PLGC no matter what your level of golf may be. I doubt it has changed back there. If you got the big bucks and the fancy clubs, you 'belong.'
I say let them pay the bill, they're the ones using it all the time.
Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 1:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
flashbang, you got it USERFEES.
Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 1:46 p.m.
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Posted by Clara (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 1:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't like the direction the City is going? Put your money where your mouth is and run for public office. Elections are coming up this fall. Quit complaining and make a difference.
Posted by tippy98c (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 1:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm poor...and I play there all the time. Everyone seems friendly enough.
Posted by drknow (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If I remember correctly, the city own the land but the golf club runs the course. So it is not a cut and dried situation like some would like it to be. I would rather have the city spend money on getting water pressure on their owned system. But I also understand the need to protect their assets.
Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 2:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
clara, i can tell that you are a member there and want others to pay for your recreation.
Posted by Clara (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
rodentboy:
I am not a member of any golf club and I have played the Pebble Lake course only twice and that was several years ago.
I can tell you are a natural-born complainer who would rather stand back and criticize rather than do any heavy lifting.
Posted by yepUbetchya (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
when I give myself a loan, do I really have to pay it back? no. When the City gives a city owned entity a loan, is it going to get paid. no. Lets see, I will take this dollar from my left pocket and put it in my right pocket.
Why not do like the golf courses that are not politically manipulated do, and tax the crap out of the adjoining homeowners. Then we could help out rodentboy with more social services.
Posted by donnyguinness (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 3:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am all for helping the golf course, yes the April weather has not helped one bit. However, I do think the problem is way more than the late snow. There isn't another golf course within 15 miles of Pebble yet it struggles. Pebble needs to give people a reason to go there and spend their money, make it an experience. Look at the towns around us. Alexandria has 3 golf courses, DL has 3, Park Rapids has 2, Perham has 27 holes. Pebble needs to be able to figure out a way to attract people.
Posted by chipmunk (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 4:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This issue reminds me of the Monty Python movie “The meaning of life” (the meaning of war, tigers), wherein the enlisted men have sustained about one hundred and thirty casualties in the first Zulu war. Which is perfectly acceptable to the officer class, but the world must stop and take notice when one officer looses a leg to what he originally believes is a mosquito bite.
Can you imagine the laughter and derision if an average citizen had asked the city council for $138,200.00 to repair the street in front of his house, or the same amount to rid the city of malaria infected mosquitoes?
That poor citizen would have been given a stern lecture about “sound fiscal policy” and “runaway spending” and the need to prioritize the spending of tax payer dollars.
While I do not play golf, I know many who do, and generally they tend to be the free enterprise, laissez-faire proponents who prance around the club house in ridiculous looking shorts sipping their “Tom Collins” while complaining about welfare mothers, socialized medicine and taxes. Until of course, their “sport” needs a financial shot in the capitalist arm. All of a sudden these free traders become fanatical adherents of Karl Marx. Not for themselves of course, but for the community, after all we are just one big happy family.
Never before in history has so much space been wasted on the enjoyment of so few as on a public golf course. BTY, a loan that does not require repayment is not a loan, it is a gift.
Posted by steve1955 (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 5:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Doesn’t the same weather affect the nearby golf courses the same as the pebble lake course?
Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on May 2, 2008 at 7:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Chipmunk for mayor
Posted by java (anonymous) on May 3, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
RODENTBOY................GET A LIFE. YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE SUCH NEGATIVE REMARKS ON HERE. IS THIS ALL YOU DO??
Posted by toad3 (anonymous) on May 3, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I called the city about 3 years ago and asked about cleaning the streets in my neighborhood on the west side of town. I was told it cost a lot to replace the brushes on the street cleaner so according to his records the street had been cleaned once that summer. Later that day I drove by a ball park and there were city men grooming the field. Sports is #1, We can spend dollars on golf, but not on cleaning up this town!
Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on May 3, 2008 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
java i am glad you are keeping track of me, but all my comments are not what you consider negative.
any comment posted here is just a opinion and it is my opinionthat if you are in a management or leadership position and getting paid for and getting the benefits as such you should also be held accountable and responsible.
i also know i don't have a money tree in the back yard and i expect that i should get services i pay for in a fast friendly manner.
Posted by tink (anonymous) on May 3, 2008 at 2:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We should be able to help finance the golf course. With all that money we saved on having the rinks closed and the beach closed. Why not have something for the older citizens to do besides complaining about the young kids at the skate park. Something they raised money for themselves, not whined to the city council until they payed for it.
Posted by toad3 (anonymous) on May 3, 2008 at 4:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We blew that on the $87,000 garbage cans
Posted by andy34106 (anonymous) on May 5, 2008 at 10:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I understand what the course is going through, i own a local business and we are going through very hard times, along with many other businesses in the area. You don't see the city bailing us out. We have a nonexistent mall and dieing downtown that could use that money more than the golf course. Golf is for the most part an elitest sport for the upper crust, and as usual the government is helping them out. Again i feel for the owners, but bailing them out in not the answer.
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