Muni's last stand?

It may be an historic opening day at one of the city’s oldest golf courses.

The tee boxes were packed Friday for what could be the final start to the season at the city-owned Municipal Golf Course, which city councillors later this month will debate whether or not to close next season and sell the property to private developers.

A report, scheduled to be presented to council on April 30, is expected to recommend the city shut down Municipal, one of three courses it owns, saving taxpayers about $96,000 a year in operating and capital expenses.

Golfers out for the start of the season on Friday had mixed emotions about the pending closure, though not surprisingly many city course members weren’t in favour of the idea.

John Harris, who plays Municipal at the start of each season, before switching to Chapples or Strathcona, said the Oliver Paipoonge tract has captured a niche market of seniors and juniors and the loss will be felt if it goes.

“A lot of seniors use this course and of course there would be more moving over to use Chapples and a few to Strath, so it will be busier there,” Harris said. “I’m not real happy about it.”

Being a golfer, he stands firmly behind the city’s decision to maintain three golf courses to date.

“Of course I do. They provide other services, like skating rinks and auditoriums and all that kind of stuff. Not everybody uses those,” he said.

Rob Grady, on the other hand, said if Friday was in fact the last opening day in Municipal’s 88-year history, it would be sad, but understandable.

“In this day and age, with the prices of things, certainly I’ll miss it if it goes, probably when it goes,” he said.

But Grady, like Harris, doesn’t necessarily think Thunder Bay should remove itself completely from the golf course equation.

“I think that the city should be providing golf courses, just as they provide other recreational activities,” he said. “It would be nice if it was three, but again, it’s understandable if they can’t afford to provide three,” he said.

According the city’s golf service review report, its three courses are expected to continue to lose between $400,000 and $700,000 a year. Adding Strathcona to the closure mix would save taxpayers about $329,000 annually.

Earlier this year, Coun. Rebecca Johnson, an outspoken critic of the city’s golf business, said the time has come to dispose of at least one, if not all, municipally owned courses.

“We need to seriously look at closing some of our golf courses. My personal feeling is that we would close all three. I don’t know that that would pass in council,” she said, adding at the time she expects council will vote in favour of closing just one, Municipal.

Johnson’s argument all along has been that the city shouldn’t be competing with the private-sector, which operates numerous courses in the Thunder Bay area.

The argument doesn’t sit well with many golfers, however.

“I think the fact that we have three municipal golf courses in Thunder Bay is a wonderful source of entertainment for a lot of people.

This being a shorter course, it’s good for the older folks and we have a lot of older folks,” said Pat Warywoda, out for her first round of the year on Friday.

“I think that someone recently said that we have the most retirees per capita in Ontario and this is a wonderful venue for them. It would be sad for it to go, but if the economics demand it, I guess I would rather it be this course than Chapples or Strathcona,” she said.

Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick