Thunder Bay will have one less municipally run golf course but members of the golfing community aren’t worried about the impacts that has.
City council voted eight to three in favour of closing the Municipal Golf Course by the end of the season at the weekly meeting Monday.
Municipal was one of three golf courses run by the city and needed a subsidy of $100,000 to continue operating. Council moved to close the course to save taxpayers money.
By the end of the season, the city will have only nine golf courses left.
Centennial Golf Course owner Robert Polischuk said closing Municipal will help everyone in the long run.
“There’s an oversupply of golf courses and an undersupply of golfers,” Polischuk said. “The closure won’t make a big difference. Some people are more comfortable with a lower rate at some private courses then that’s what they are going to choose. Those members will go to other city courses where the difference will be made up because there has been a decrease in attendance all around.”
During the discussions of closing Municipal, the idea was throw out to close all three-city run golf courses.
While one golf course closing won’t make much of a difference, Polischuk said closing two would be another story.
“The other two courses are 18 holes courses that do contribute to the realm and will have major impact on the demographic of the golfers and other golf courses,” he said.
He added the liked that council decided to stop subsidizing golf in the city but thought it was a little too late since they were taking on a much larger subsidy with the waterfront project.
Mike Komar, owner of Dragon Hills Golf Course, shared some of Polischuk’s opinions and was glad to see Municipal closing. He said there are too many golf courses in the city already and he would be happy if council decided to close down not only Municipal but Chapples and Strathcona as well.
“They are losing $100,000 a year that they could put it elsewhere such as roads and sewers,” Komar said. “If they aren’t making a profit and not providing a service that’s already being provided by the private sector then what’s the point in being there. These people are saying keep these golf courses open for quality of life well there’s plenty of golf courses in the area.”
In the Mcintyre Ward where Dragon Hills is located there are four golf courses and he said everything in Thunder Bay is only 10 minutes away.
He added that he hoped closing Municipal would help increase membership at his golf course.
