My column this week, to be found in the Smyrna AM at the end
of your drive, is about the Smyrna golf course. It just so happens that the
golf course and the Town Centre is the subject of FOX 17 Waste Watch.
The Waste Watch video is alright, but they do perform a
little sleight of hand trick and throw big numbers out by adding up several
years of budgeting. It is good to get a whole view of the subject, but it does
make an issue more monstrous for the viewer.
The problem is that I’m not sure how much a problem it
really is. I understand it loses money. I suspect that the town baseball
diamonds, and soccer fields also do not make enough to cover the cost of
running them in tip-top condition. Do we look at the town greenways and wonder
if we should make them the first ‘toll’ walkways in Tennessee? I see little
$.05 automated security bars scattered about that will not rise unless you drop
in a nickel.
Right now a lot of people are suffering tunnel vision as the
budget season approaches, and due to that nothing looks more horrible than the
golf course. It is an easy target. As
the town manager said in the video “The town manager also points out the city
gives breaks to civic groups, non profits, and military members at the town
centre and doesn't charge school teams and other kid organizations to use the
golf course. He says they'd all be priced out of private
facilities.”
I’ll admit that if Smyrna had another golf course my tune
would be different. I would view it as unfair competition against a private
business…but we don’t. Because of the lower prices we can have at the golf
course many activities that would be prohibited due to cost at other sites.
One item that the Waste Watch did not do, that is a GIANT
oversight in my opinion. The Waste Watch people did have a balance of views on,
but they did not show a balance of prices. It would have been simple to find
out the prices of a round of weekend golf at the Hollingshead run golf course
for a mid week and a week end and compare the prices side by side.
So I went and checked out the prices and compared them for
you.
Weekday rates
18 Holes (walking)
$26 Cedar Crest Golf Course
$25 Smyrna Golf course ($25 Green Fee)
18 Holes plus golf
cart
$34 Cedar Crest Golf Course
$37 Smyrna Golf Course ($25 Green Fee/$12 Cart Fee)
During a weekday trip Smyrna has a dollar savings if you walk,
but the rental of the golf cart puts Cedar Quest slightly ahead with a 3 dollar
savings.
Weekend rates
18 Holes (walking)
$32 Cedar Crest Golf Course
$28 Smyrna Golf Course ($28 Green Fee)
18 Holes plus golf
cart
$40 Cedar Crest Golf Course
$40 Smyrna Golf Course ($28 Green Fee/$12 Cart Fee)
Smyrna seems the place to go if you wish to stretch your
legs as you save $4 for 18 holes. The prices are the same for ones that need
carts.
I did not take the time to break down the discounts offered
by Smyrna to seniors and it “doesn't charge school teams and other kid
organizations”. I have to admit that I had a niece on one such kid organization
and she enjoyed it greatly, and likely would not have been able to participate
if the prices were higher. I actually just remembered that fact as I was
writing this column.
So what does the prices between a public funded and a public
golf course say. Not sure. No one price blows the other out of the water, so
unless you plan on running up prices, you have to make big cuts elsewhere.
The golf course issue is NOT going away, but the answers are
not easily to see.
