Concerns About Condition Of Bentwood Course Heard By City

This is the first part of a two-part series regarding local concerns about the condition of Bentwood Golf Course.

Ulysses City Councilmen were inundated with golfers during their regular meeting August 13. The local golfers came to voice concerns about the current condition of Bentwood Golf Course.

Saying he was representing Friends of the Golf Course, local resident Jay Annis was the first of 11 to speak on the subject.

"Over the past weekend we had 140 some golfers out there," Annis said. "We had a golf tournament Saturday.(There was) a lot of things said about our golf course. And, the things said about our golf course are very true. Our golf course is going the wrong way. I don't care if it's the front nine or the back nine - it needs to be taken care of. I don't know why we can't get it figured out, it's been this way for years and it is getting worse. We have water on 17 that has been there all summer, and no, it's not rain water. I guarantee it's not rainwater. Rainwater disappears. We've got problems on greens. We've got a lot of problems that you guys need to look at."

According to Annis he has said something before.

"I've been to Luke (Grimes') office," Annis said. "I love my town and I love my golf course. I go to T off the other day and I looked up. I hadn't been there for 10 days. I go 'man,  the green looks like part of the sand trap. It's ridiculous people for letting this happen,"

Annis said the person in charge of maintaining the golf course needs "guidance".

"We need to give Jess some guidance," he said. "He needs something. He needs a mower. He needs people to work at the golf course."

Annis said the council talking about putting a new clubhouse there is "backwards".

"You did it all backwards," he said. "You are wanting to put in a clubhouse worth over $3 million - that's great, but we don't have a $3 million golf course to support that right now. We have problems and we need to get it figured out. We have dry spots. We have fungus growing on the greens. We need some guidance to make it work right. If we can't get it figured out, let's get somebody here who can take samples of every green you've got and let them take care of putting on the fertilizer and the weed spray. All of that kind of stuff - we need to get away from it because we cannot do it."

Donna Loewen

Local resident and golfer Donna Loewen was the next to speak to the council.

"It is very concerning what we are bringing to you as city council members," Loewen said. "Whether you are golfers yourself or if you have never set foot on the golf course - you need to be concerned, because our golf course is part of our community. It brings attention to our community whether it's new teachers coming in, our students who are on the golf team, or our tournaments. We have big tournaments that are held out there."

According to Loewen, it was during one of those tournaments that things began coming "to light".

"When a lot of this started taking place was during one of our big shoot out tournaments," she said. "We used to hear, 'you guys have a beautiful golf course'. That is not the case any more. It's an embarrassment."

If something isn't done, there will be consequences.

"You're going to lose memberships and then how is it going to function," Loewen said. "It is on a decline. Things need to change, whether it's lack of care about the golf course. Whether it's lack of maintenance, lack of education on how to maintain a golf course - whatever it is,  that needs to change. If somebody needs to go and take classes and be given that guidance - great let's offer that."

According to Loewen, the sand traps are "ugly".

"Nobody can play off of them," she said. "At our last tournament, we considered them a construction hazard, because what should be four to six inches deep of plush sand is like hitting on concrete out there right now. Around the sand traps is not weed eated. It's not kept clean. The bunkers are just ugly.

"The rakes - some of them are broken, some of them are missing," Loewen continued. "You find footsteps in the sand or you find no footsteps, because it's like concrete. The flooded hazards (Annis) was talking about like on 17 - I think number 17 is probably our worst hole out there for all the flooding. One of the first steps that needs to be done when you have water hazards out there like that is it needs to be flagged. It needs to be made very well known to our golfers with hazard tape - something. (Use) caution tape showing there is a water hazard here, that hopefully is going to be worked on whether the ground is going to be raised up or drainage put in or something."

Loewen said "nothing is ever flagged off when there are hazards like that".

"So what happens is us, as golfers, who are in our golf carts are driving up on it at the last minute realizing, 'oh my gosh, this hasn't been fixed'," she said. "This hasn't been taken care of. It's still flooded. So then what happens?"

The lack of maintenance causes more of an issue.

"Our fairways are getting torn up and it's harder to maintain when you get this far behind or get this much damage on a golf course," Loewen said. "You are going to spend more money. A brand new clubhouse shouldn't go there.  The money needs to go in to the course, because we are falling behind. It is looking horrible. Fairways are being burnt up. We were so thankful for the rain we had, but that's no reason to let it burn up later. Whether it's lack of watering, not a good watering schedule - I don't know what it is, but something is happening there. Not only the greens, but the fairways."

Loewen said it needs to be mowed more often.

"The mowing needs to happen more frequently and it's not happening," she said. "Weeds are over grown the weed eating is just not there. It's very poor, even around the fences and the driving range. The weed eating has been absent for quite awhile."

Loewen also pointed out other damage.

"The condition of the greens - there has been some serious damage," she said. "Sand in the flag poles is something more recent that has been happening. We had the tournament on Saturday. All the flags were standing up in their holes beautiful, perfect. My husband and I went golfing the very next day and flags were down. Why? Because there is sand filled up in the holes of the flags. What is going on? What is causing that?  Is it something our maintenance crews are doing when they are sanding the greens or whatever? Let's clean that out. Let's keep those flags up standing. It's careless."

Driving a golf cart is also a challenge.

"The ruts in our cart paths are horrible, whether it's rain damage or what," Loewen said. "Our cart path needs some attention, too. Some of those ruts go very, very deep and it's unsafe. You have to be careful how you are driving or you're going to get a wheel stuck in that."

Loewen pointed out that water jugs on the course sit empty.

"It's very seldom that you find them full of clean, cool water," she said.

A new clubhouse is not what Loewen and others feel is needed at this time.

"Instead of putting money into the clubhouse, I would love to see another putting and chipping practice green," she said. "We (could give) something so beautiful for golfers to do while they are waiting to T-off. We have no where to practice our chipping and putting."

Management is the key.

"Does our city council (or) our golf course manager have an operations management system to help keep track of schedules, tasks.... when these tasks need to be performed?" Loewen asked. "Taking in data and saying, 'ok this fertilizer isn't working. We need to do our research find out what other fertilizers are working. Controlling pests. Controlling extra equipment, whether it be the aerators or top dressing machines or utility vehicles. You have to have a management system in place in order to be successful in any business. At this point it seems like it is missing. (A) system is very important for the details (for) our course to be beautiful and to be appreciated. That system is missing."

Loewen closed with saying "something needs to be done."

"Again, if nothing is done, you will find lower attendance for tournaments and you will find a decline in memberships and that will be really sad," she said.

Stacy Gee

Stacy Gee said having an 18-hole golf course is "awesome".

"The 18 holes of golf is an awesome opportunity for all of us and we love it," Gee said. "We are lucky to have the 18 holes and I do appreciate the fact we have 18 holes, because not many (golf courses) in Southwest Kansas do have (that many). I appreciate that and I do appreciate also keeping the cost of (membership) low, because it is cheap in my opinion for us to play on an 18 hole golf course; however, I'm guessing everybody who is sitting here would pay a higher price if the golf course was well maintained and taken care of."

Gee said she wanted to speak on what she knew.

"I would like to speak a little bit on things I have witnessed personally," she said. "I don't like to repeat things i hear because sometimes stories can get embellished a little bit. Not only is the mowing (an issue), but the supervision of those employees is a little bit lacking as well. Just from what I would see from my backyard as far as the speed of which those mowers were running."

Gee said she realizes some of the help at the course is high school students.

"They are high school boys - I get it, that's what they want to do, but (driving the mowers so fast) has really torn up the grass around the trees," Gee said. "They are zero turn mowers they are (driving really fast and) it has really torn up areas."

Driving fast is not the only issue.

"I did witness them playing bumper cars with the mowers at one point in time," Gee said. "(Again), they are high school boys - I get that, but those are, I'm sure, $70,000 machines would be my guess. One mower broke down and was being towed back in by someone with nobody on the towed mower. I think there are a lot of  concerns going on out there. Whatever needs to happen (at the course), needs to happen and would be greatly appreciated."

John Dunn

Golfer and local resident John Dunn did his research prior to the meeting.

"A friend of mine is a member of the Golf Course Green-keeper's Association," Dunn said. "He takes care of a golf course in Oklahoma. I said (to him), 'we have an 18-hole golf course that is struggling. What do we need? How much manpower do we need to keep this course up and make it look nice?' He said you need four full-time employees on minimum and three to six part-time employees. Then you need a system that you don't have to spend half your time repairing. He said your watering system needs to be upgraded if its creating problems."

Dunn's friend also told him equipment needs to be maintained.

"I think we're at a crossroads here," Dunn said. "You guys need to decide which direction we're going to go. I'm concerned about the condition of the golf course. When you're repairing water leaks half the time and not taking care of the golf course, there's time lost."

Dunn voiced concerns about the staffing at the local course.

"They need to be adequately staffed," he said. "I don't know how many acres they have out there. A quarter section I would believe. You divide that by four full-time people and that's 20 acres they are responsible for. I don't know how many acres we have in the park, but we have a staff there that does a good job and a lady who has 30 years of experience. I think you need to figure out which way you're going to go