Tough Decisions For Incline Village Championship Golf Course..

Tough decisions needed for Championship Golf Course
Written by Tanya Canino Thursday, January 08 2009 11:05 PM

A divine dose of wisdom could be needed for the Incline Village General Improvement District Board of Trustees, who will be scrutinizing a revised business plan for the Championship Golf Course on Wednesday.

“I’m trying to get them to play Solomon,” said IVGID General Manager Bill Horn.

As King Solomon had difficult choices to make in the biblical story, so does the IVGID board when it comes to operation of the Championship Golf Course.

“There’s some policy issues,” Horn said.

At stake is the amount of playing time for members of Incline’s golf clubs.

Maintenance issues for the grounds, non-resident allocations and merchandise discounts, were also among the many issues presented when the board discussed a previous version of a revised business plan at the trustees’ November meeting.

What is decided could likely affect the recreation fee as well.

From last summer’s statistical tracking, there are five golf clubs with a total of 486 members, and there are 2,260 resident golfers, Horn said. Resident golfers - including golf club and non-golf club members - are allocated 68 percent of the playing time on the course, while non-residents are currently allocated 32 percent of the playing time, Horn said.

Horn plans to present a few different options for the Championship Golf Course at the IVGID Board of Trustees’ meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the IVGID Administrative Offices, 893 Southwood Boulevard.

Those include options that will give members of the golf clubs more playing time on the course; an option to give all residents equal access to the Championship Golf Course; an option that cuts expenses by drastically reducing service levels; and an option to reserve the golf course on Wednesday for tournament play by members of the golf clubs.

IVGID Trustee Gene Brockman said he didn’t think a resolution could be found during Wednesday’s board meeting.

“From my perspective, we’re not at that point yet,” Brockman said, adding that there are many facets to this complicated issue.

However, one ground rule to any debate is that IVGID’s recreation facilities are operated primarily for its residents, Brockman said. That has been reaffirmed in many board discussions and workshops.

Giving golf club members more playing time was broached last summer. After the board approved a business plan last May for the Championship Golf Course, there were complaints by members of Incline’s golf clubs. Trustees Chuck Weinberger, Bea Epstein and Brockman asked for a new business plan, Horn said