You can skip the green fees and golf nine holes for free at the Regent Par 3 Golf Course in Regina this year.
“Over the past decade, usage of the course has declined to the point where the revenue generated by green fees is less than the cost of staffing the facility to take in those same green fees,” explained Jeff May, manager of sports and recreation for the City of Regina.
He said the city will still keep up basic maintenance of the course including mowing the fairways twice a week and the rough once a week. May admits the greens themselves are in rough shape.
“Like other aging infrastructure, the Regent Par 3 Golf Course has reached a point in its life cycle where it should either be refurbished or repurposed, so the greens aren’t the greatest, they have some tree roots growing through them,” May said.
Right now the beginner level golf course is stuck in a holding pattern until the city decides what to do with it.
May explained that the city is currently refreshing its master plan for all city recreation facilities but that will take a few years to complete. He said that work will be presented to council in 2017 before a public consultation with the community over the next two years to guide any decisions on future investments.
“What it means is it will be status quo until we do our due diligence and find out what kind of investment should be made at that site through consultation with the community,” May said.
He said it’s hard to say if the condition of the course will deteriorate more over the next few years. For now he said it will get the same level of maintenance it has had over the past decade.