Casper Municipal Golf Course May Get Revamp

The city of Casper expects to start the new year moving forward an a plan to resurrect competitiveness at the city's municipal golf course.

Listen here,

After loosing traffic to Paradise Valley and Three Crowns the Casper municipal golf course has slipped into the red -averaging over $225,000 a year in losses- but Casper City Manager, John Patterson says they have a plan.

"From all indication and analysis that we've done,  it would be best to have a market niche that could be served by an executive Par 3 and then a regulation 18 hole course. With that we have a combination providing virtually every golfer with something they can enjoy."

Two converging events, Patterson says, makes this the right time to move.

"One is losing eight acres on the north side, which will cut off the ends of three holes. The other is $800,000 budgeted to irrigation work for the watering system at the course. We ought to look at those dollars coming into the course and determine what would be best long term."

The loss of eight acres is actually a sale to the Natrona County School District which will bring in about $1.7 million to put toward what Patterson and city council members anticipate could be a $5 million dollar project.

Not all council members see the golf course as the best use of funds, siting social needs as also pressing, but Patterson says bringing the facility back to profitability in the long run benefits all.

"For anybody concerned about city coffers and the desired to do other things with city money, stopping the bleeding should be a proposal that would be attractive."

The Casper Municipal Golf Course still sees the most games played in town in part because it provides affordable access to the game. Patterson says they'll initiate a Request for proposal plus hold a public hearing on the idea early in the new year.