state grants Cancel The title field is required!

1. McDonagh Patrick

   
   2/3/2014 9:02 AM

   Recently our Pro suggested that we apply for a Grant from our State's Department of Natural Resources to get our bunkers renovated. While he looks at it as an opportunity to get the improvement done on someone else's dime I have problems even considering this proposal. Now I know our bunkers need to be renovated but the idea of using state funds to pay for it seems crazy. The community that owns our golf course is very affluent and the Grant from the DNR is supposed to help parks and recreation facilities that have fallen on hard times and can't get funding for necessary improvements. They are not meant to bail out facilities that have been poorly managed the past ten years. Instead of trying to make our golfers pay for the necessary improvements he is looking to ride in on a white horse with funds from the DNR and be a hero.
   Lastly, financially our State is a mess and the idea of any money being used for something as petty as this just irks me to no end.
   Has anyone else had any experience with using grants like this?
   
   Pat McDonagh
   RedTail Golf Club

   
   
   
   
2. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   2/3/2014 10:02 AM

   I would question that a proposal like that would be taken seriously by the DNR. Under what benefit would it be to the state and natural resources?
   
   I could see possibly some water-way work or naturalized area, something like that, where the benefit is not only to the property but the surrounding community.
   
   While it sounds like the grant you mention does benefit the improvement in parks facilities, I believe it would be geared more to non revenue producing parks. Just my opinion and guess. Could there be any language in the DNR's application that states those facts?
   
   I applaud your ethics on the issue. On a similar and different topic, I wonder why municipal golf courses do receive funds from FEMA for clean up but other golf courses do not? I do think all golf courses should receive disaster funding just like almost any other business.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
3. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   6/26/2015 7:06 AM

   I also applaud your stance. Given the fact that golf has gotten slow lately I would welcome a state grant to improve my course but I am in a differnet situation then yourself. I am at a private member owned club who barely has enough income to pay our bills let alone make improvements. Since owning stock in this company is basically worthless except for voting, it is hard to try to charge our membership for any improvements because we generally would lose 10-20 members because of the assessment.
   
   The main reason I would not have an issue with getting the grant is because our course acts like a watershed for all of our subdivisions surrounding us. If we get 1" of rain our course will go about 25% under water from their runoff. when we get larger amounts we go anywhere from 25% to 35% under water and all of the weeds growing in the drainage canals for the subdivisions get sent right onto our property. It then takes anywhere from 6hours to 24hours for the water to drain back out of our course. I have had talks with our parish officials about keeping their canals sprayed and clean in order to keep all of the weeds from entering our course. As usual nothing gets done.

   
   
   
   
4. Keith Lamb

   

   3 posts
   
   6/26/2015 7:06 AM

   James Smith said: I also applaud your stance. Given the fact that golf has gotten slow lately I would welcome a state grant to improve my course but I am in a differnet situation then yourself. I am at a private member owned club who barely has enough income to pay our bills let alone make improvements. Since owning stock in this company is basically worthless except for voting, it is hard to try to charge our membership for any improvements because we generally would lose 10-20 members because of the assessment.
   
   The main reason I would not have an issue with getting the grant is because our course acts like a watershed for all of our subdivisions surrounding us. If we get 1" of rain our course will go about 25% under water from their runoff. when we get larger amounts we go anywhere from 25% to 35% under water and all of the weeds growing in the drainage canals for the subdivisions get sent right onto our property. It then takes anywhere from 6hours to 24hours for the water to drain back out of our course. I have had talks with our parish officials about keeping their canals sprayed and clean in order to keep all of the weeds from entering our course. As usual nothing gets done.

   
   
   
   We are in a similar situation where we bear the brunt of the drainage from the surrounding community. We have finally started to get some relief and it was based on a multi pronged approach.....basically the squeaky wheel approach. We started reaching out to our local county commissioner while having our members write/email and complain until they were forced to address the problem. We also have a couple of agencies that we utilized to further our cause...the county EPC(Environmental Protection Commission) and SWFWMD (Southwest Florida Water Management District). We were also lucky to have a friend who works for a local engineering firm who is utilized by the county for water mitigation issues and they confirmed the problem. Our owner also attended public hearings relating to the local watershed and complained there. Just waiting for the county to complete the permit and they are going to dredge and clean out a creek that runs through our course that most of the local area drains into. When we get over 1" rain we have one of our hole flood sometimes making it impossible for carts to get through and we have to close 9 holes until water recedes.
   
   Keep pressing and be a squeaky wheel!!

   
   
   
   
5. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   6/26/2015 8:06 AM

   I'm with the rest, if it was a water quality/drainage issue that is caused be surrounding area or off-site sources, you may have a chance. But, at the end of the day, golf courses don't need bunkers to be successful. You'd be sent to the bottom of the pile pretty quick.
   
   You'd be better off lobbying the community that owns the course to provide some funding from the general fund or other recreational dollars. A course here just approved rebuilding greens even though the course has lost money since it was renovated in 2009. The funding is coming from the City's general fund, and not recreational dollars.