Greens fees up at Harding
BY TIFFANY MALESHEFSKI
Of The Examiner Staff
Duffers are preparing to dole out more green for greener pastures at the Harding Park Golf Course following its scheduled reopening this month.
A greens-fee plan for the soon-to-be-renovated Harding Park -- the 18-hole municipal golf course located near Lake Merced -- was discussed at a Recreation and Park Commission meeting last week. Developed by the Recreation and Park Department, the plan reflects increases to previous rates for using the greens at Harding Park.
Under the proposed fee structure, San Francisco residents would pay $26 on weekdays (Monday through Thursday) and $37 on the weekend (Friday through Sunday) to play golf at Harding Park. Seniors would pay $20 on weekdays and $37 on weekends, and juniors would pay $10 on weekdays and $15 on weekends.
Rates for nonresidents playing as a guest of a local resident would be $55 on weekdays and $65 on weekends. Regular nonresidents would pay $80 on weekdays and $95 on weekends.
Additional options would include hotel-package rates and tournament and twilight play fees.
Recreation and Park Department officials estimate that the course will generate $4.4 million in revenues over the next five years.
When the Harding Park golf course was closed last year to undergo extensive renovation, duffers knew that increased rates were inevitable, but not all agree on the figures proposed.
Some longtime Harding Park golfers fear that the proposed fees aren't high enough to pad The City's Golf Fund, recently established to collect course revenues and finance Harding's maintenance and equipment upgrades.
"The rates are way below market rate," said Phil Havlicek, president of the Harding Park Golf Club.
Havlicek said that keeping the rates so low would mean that more rounds of golf would have to be played on Harding's grounds to make up for the low fees.
Department officials estimate that 76,500 rounds of golf will be played on the newly restored Harding greens in the five years following the course's reopening.
An additional 64,600 rounds of golf are expected for the Fleming golf course, a nine-hole course adjacent to Harding.
Havlicek said he didn't want to see the freshly renovated course get beaten down by overuse.
Others, however, told the commission that the proposed fees would be more than adequate.
Nancy Cohrs, president of Harding Park's Women's Golf Club, said she thought the increases might be excessive for seniors on fixed budgets.
Before the park was closed last year for renovation, the fee structure was $17 for residents during the week and $31 on holidays and weekends. Seniors paid $10 a round during the week and $15 on the weekend, roughly half what is proposed.
"This is a municipal course, not just a destination golf course," Cohrs said. "I think the rates are pretty healthy. The seniors pay the highest increase in the golf rates."
Harding
Park was closed last year to undergo a $14 million restoration plan that
would create championship tees for every hole, add a new driving range, and
make the course eligible for Professional Golfers' Association championship
tours.
