By Dan DeWitt, Times Columnist
Thursday, September 23, 2010
My son played tennis on Tuesday at Bud McKethan Park in Brooksville, next to the Quarry Golf Course.
I had an hour to kill and my running shoes in the car. Though I knew venturing onto the course wasn't something that normally would be allowed, I also knew the Quarry had been closed since May. So what would be the harm in a quick jog?
The Quarry is always pretty — steep grassy slopes, the rocky mining pits that give it its name, big sweet gums and oaks scattered over its nine holes. Also, the break from the golfing traffic had done it some good. On Tuesday, the fairways looked lush. The few perennially bald greens had mostly grown in.
But I remembered that when the course had closed, the plan had been to rebuild the greens. I saw a few stumps — suggesting trees had been removed to let in more sun — but no new soil or turf. The manufactured home that had served as the clubhouse was gone, and I wondered how the course could hope to reopen in November as planned. Overall, there was the feeling that the city of Brooksville, which owns the Quarry, might be giving up on it.
It hasn't quite come to that point, but it's closer than I realized.
Last week, Brooksville Realtor Robert Buckner wrote the city, requesting that it reduce its property tax rate and identifying the Quarry as a major drain. From 2003 to the end of the coming budget year, he wrote, the real and forecast losses at the Quarry will come to $788,000. There's no guarantee that will be the final number, but … Wow!
Buckner's figures were brought up at the City Council's final budget hearing Wednesday night, "the 11th-and-half-hour,'' Mayor Lara Bradburn said. Council members were right not to do anything drastic, such as close the course.
They instead agreed to hold a workshop, a standard ploy for putting off tough decisions, which in this case was justified. The Quarry really does deserve more discussion. It's an "unpolished gem,'' Bradburn said, a great place to learn golf. Children under 13 play free, as they should at a public course. It's also perfect for retirees, said Joe Johansen, 79, a volunteer at the Quarry. And as a recreational facility, this is the Quarry's purpose — giving folks a chance to learn a game and have a good time.
It doesn't need to make money, in other words, but everybody would like to see it lose a lot less.
As the only par-3 course in the county, it might find a market niche with better promotion, said council member Joe Johnston III. But it's also true that, nationally, fewer golfers are playing fewer rounds of golf every year. And Hernando has a huge glut of golf holes, 390, the equivalent of more than 21 18-hole courses. Even premiere clubs such as World Woods have been offering rounds at rock-bottom prices. Still, Bradburn said the city has been contacted by a golf consultant who wants to study the idea of leasing the course to a private company. The consultant said the course might benefit from changing the location of its greens — one reason the city put off replacing them.
A previous lease deal didn't work out, so I'm not sure why this one would. But I hope it does, or that the city comes up with some other idea to keep the Quarry open. Because what I remember from my run is the sensation of having the entire place to myself.
Good for a runner, bad for a golf course, especially one the public has to support.