As a citizen and season ticket holder at the Hyde Park Golf course for many years I was implored to write this letter. The city of Niagara Falls last year decided to lease out the golf course and entered into an agreement with Niagara Golf Partners (NGP). With the city losing an estimated 300K per year according to the city administrator, this was a good financial decision. The city isn't in the golf business and needed the proper management to run the course. Just like they leased the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion years ago they were not able to run a facility like that and make money for the city coffers.
Now onto some of the few improvements that NGP has done in a short period of time. And I want to note that they didn't get the key to the building and grounds until April 1. Also they were up against Mother Nature this year as they lost two months because of wet weather. If you’ve played the North 18 hole course these improvements are very noticeable.
1. The greens are cut six times a week including weekends when the course gets the most play. The city never cut on weekends and therefore by Sundays the greens were a mess!
2. Repairing and using the sprinkler system and repairing the many leaks in the system. Now the tee boxes and greens aren't soaked because no one previously operated the system correctly
3. The ticket office is back to the location where it used to be making it more convenient for golfers to get their tickets and the golf carts now located next to the ticket booth. Great customer service.
4. Both men's and women's locker rooms were painted and refreshed, making it more enjoyable to use these facilities.
5. The entrance way and the peripheral boundaries of the course is well groomed and maintained. This makes for a great first impression of visitors coming from out of town to play our course.
These are a few of the improvements that they have made and more to come. The city just didn't have the resources or manpower to keep the course in tip top shape.
I do think that there could be a few improvements but with the short time they had to get the course in great shape, I'm sure they will be addressing some of them. Hopefully they can get a driving range back. The city did have that for a couple of years on the first hole of the red nine.
As a long time golfer (50 years plus) I tip my hat to NGP and their staff for a job well done!
Gerry Sig
Niagara Falls
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