Woodward, Okla. — City Commissioner Roscoe Hill has confirmed that the subject of an executive session during Tuesday’s city commission meeting was Boiling Springs Golf Course.

While he didn’t share specifics about what was discussed during the executive session, Hill told The News Thursday that the gist of discussion was that the golf course is “in financial trouble and they want somebody to figure it out for them; that’s it in a nutshell.”

However, he said he was surprised by the issue, “especially because I played golf out there all day; I even played with one of the (golf association) board members and no one said anything to me about it.”

Chris Cockreham is the president of the Boiling Springs Golf Association which leases the land on which the golf course sits.

In an interview with The News at the golf course late Thursday afternoon, Cockreham confirmed that the association was seeking financial assistance to help cover the costs of reseeding all 18 greens at the course.

He said the association felt justified in asking for assistance since “it’s a city asset.”

In addition, he said the request was made of the city commission to also “keep them notified so they can understand what is going on with their asset.”

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GREENS

Greenskeeper Ben Zollinger said there were “multiple stresses” that recently led to patches of grass dying off on the course’s 18 greens.

These stresses included weather, disease, high salt content in the soil and nematodes, he said.

Zollinger explained that nematodes “are microscopic organisms that are found all over in every soil that’s out there.”

These nematodes are parasites and feed on the grass’ root system, he said.

“We’ve sent soil tests off and know what kind of nematodes we have, but the problem is there is no cure for nematodes,” he said.

Zollinger said the other major “stresses” he mentioned also attacked the root systems of the grass, which weakened the grass until it started to die.

One of the bigger issues this year was a plant disease known as yellow tuft, he said, noting that like nematodes there are no cures for yellow tuft at this time.

“It’s a disease that pops up in cool, wet times like with had this spring,” he said, noting “we tried to manage it as best we could.”

But Cockreham said it was probably the heat this summer that did a lot of damage.  In fact, he said it was in July that patches of grass really started dying off on the greens.

Zollinger agreed that heat can be damaging.

“I don’t know how many days we had that were 95 (degrees) or above, but each one of those takes its toll,” he said.



HOW RESEEDING WILL HELP

The current reseeding process that is ongoing at the golf course seeks to not only replace the patches of dead grass, but to convert the greens to a new variety of grass which Zollinger said “is more heat tolerant, disease tolerant, and salt tolerant.”

Both Zollinger and Cockreham noted that the reseeding process will also help to update the grass on the greens, which they said is a carryover from when the course was built 30 years ago.

After 3 decades, Cockreham said, “we’ve reached the life cycle of the grass maybe.”

Like the original greens, the new grass will still be a variety of creeping bent grass, which Zollinger said is what is used for most greens in Oklahoma.  However, he said it is a newer variety that was created in 2007.

So far 8 greens have been reseeded.  Zollinger said 5 were reseeded on Friday and another 3 were reseeded as of 6 p.m. Thursday.

To reseed the greens, he said the seeds are first spread out over the entire greens.  Then sand is placed over the green, especially in those patches where the grass has died out to make sure the seeds keep in good contact with the soil, so they can take root, he said.

Once this process is completed, Zollinger said, “we’ve got to baby them.”

The newly reseeded greens are watered frequently, he said, noting that a difference can be seen in the green almost immediately after it is first watered.

“We’re optimistic that in 4 to 6 weeks we’ll have a great product to offer again,” Cockreham said.



HOW HAS IT AFFECTED BUSINESS

Once the greens are all green again, Cockreham said he is also optimistic that business will pick back up at the golf course.

However, he admitted that “for the last several years we’ve been losing revenue.”

Part of the problem seems to stem from the economy, Cockreham said, but noted the patchy greens also seemed to have played a role.

“Revenues through June were down, but they were still fair revenues,” he said.  “But in July, we hit a wall.  That seems to coincide when the greens went down and we had all that heat.”

When greens are bad, golfers don’t want to play, Cockreham said, noting, “people don’t want to pay for what they feel is an inferior product.”

In addition to being visually unappealing, Zollinger said that patchy greens can often affect golfers’ game.

However, he said several golfers who went ahead and played the course in the last couple months “said it didn’t really affect their ball roll.”

“But I’m sure their putts were not as smooth as they usually are,” he said.

While Zollinger was “confident that our members have been pretty loyal,” he explained that in the golfing world, word spreads pretty fast when a course isn’t up to par.

“I don’t know how many people decided not to play because of the greens,” he said; “there’s no way to put a good number on it, but I know we lost business because of the greens.”



SO IS THE GOLF COURSE CLOSING?

After the course experienced some vandalism to one of its newly seeded greens earlier this week, Cockreham said there is the possibility that the course “might close temporarily until we’re back to fully functional.”

However, he said no decision about any closure, temporary or otherwise had been made.  But a meeting of the golf association’s 7-member board was scheduled Thursday evening to discuss the issue “if we have enough people show up,” he said.

Cockreham said at this point there are no plans for the golf association to give up its lease.

“If we don’t have to, we don’t want to,” he said.

When asked what would make the association have to give up the lease, he simply said “insolvency.”

And it is because of financial issues at the golf course that the association requested assistance from the city commission to help fund the much needed green reseeding project.

However, Cockreham said the association didn’t receive a favorable response from the city commission following their meeting Tuesday night.

In fact, he said, “we didn’t get any response really.

“Basically they told us they can’t do anything until they go through their proper channels in determining what they can do,” he said.

But more simply put, Cockreham said, “They didn’t write us a check.”

Nevertheless, he said the association isn’t ready yet to see the golf course close.

“We’re working with some donors,” he said, to try to keep the course’s doors open for as long as possible.

In addition, the association’s move to reseed the greens is a clear sign they want to see the course continue to operate.

“Give us a couple of months and come back,” Cockreham said to the golfers out there.  “Let us get the grass growing and come back.”



‘A TREMENDOUS ASSET’

“The golf course is a tremendous asset to Northwest Oklahoma and we want to bring it back,” Cockreham said.

Hill agreed and told The News that the golf course wouldn’t close, “not if I have my way.

“I will try everything in my power to keep the golf course open,” he said.

“It’s a multi-million dollar asset for the city,” Hill said, noting it would probably take $10 million or more to recreate a golf course like Boiling Springs.

In addition, the city commissioner spoke to the revenue that the course brings the city when “we have people in here everyday to play at the course and then they stay and spend money at our restaurants and hotels.

“Do you think we’re going to get rid of that?” Hill said.