GIRARD — City staff has teed off on a series of renovation projects at the Crawford Hills Girard Municipal Golf Course that should give the course a whole new look.
Kurt Ziegler, Girard utility superintendent, and city worker Clifford Scales worked Tuesday to add sheet rock and continue progress on the new maintenance and office building at the golf course, one of several improvements planned for the course.
“We are about 70 percent through the maintenance building at the golf course,” said City Administrator Gary Emry. “From there, we will go on to the clubhouse.”
Emry said the clubhouse repairs should start in mid-August.
Both the clubhouse and the maintenance building are major parts of the project to renovate the golf course, a project made possible thanks to a utility settlement that Emry said would finance the estimated $275,000 cost. All of the project is part of the city’s effort to make quality-of-life improvements throughout the city.
Count Ron McBride, Girard Municipal Golf Course superintendent, among those looking forward to all of the changes. It was exactly one year ago that McBride started in his job to try and make the golf course the best it could be.
“I do kind of look at this as my anniversary gift,” McBride said, laughing. “But it has been a whole lot of work.”
Course work
Much of that work has already taken place on the golf course, McBride said. For one thing, he has filled the greens in so well that Councilman Dan Smith compared it to “walking on sponges.”
“That’s just the greatest compliment that you can give (McBride),” Smith said. “You see his face just light up.”
The course also lights up more now than it used to, courtesy of new fountains in ponds near the seventh and ninth greens, both of which light up at night. The seventh is the bigger of the two ... the five-horsepower motor boasts several different design settings for the water outburst, though McBride said he thought he had the right one figured out.
“There’s a wider one that looks pretty nice,” McBride said. “But honestly, it would wind up spraying up over the banks all of the time.”
Both fountains, and one of the ponds, were added within the past few weeks.
Then there are the two bunker additions. The smaller version sits near the second green, but a larger one threatens the eighth hole.
“The grass hasn’t quite filled in the way that I would like,” McBride said. “The shade makes it more difficult there. But I think it should be pretty nice.”
General landscaping around the course is also planned.
Off course work
Off-roading.
It’s something that a lot of people like to attempt when they’re driving around in cart paths. But at the Girard Municipal Golf Course, visitors don’t have to leave the path to get a bumpy ride.
That too, according to Emry, will change with the improvements.
Ziegler said the city had been collecting “path fees” for several years, an amount that now adds up to about $17,000. Emry said the city would likely rent an asphalt coating machine and utilize city and some county staff to lay down a wider, smoother asphalt path for carts to traverse.
“That should take care of the lion’s share of it,” Emry said.
The city could also look at sealing some spots that aren’t quite as bad, and should both the maintenance and clubhouse come in under budget, it’s possible that some of the extra money could be pushed back into the paths as well.
As for the clubhouse, the plans call for an expansion to include a kitchen and dining area, expanded pro shop and ADA compliant bathroom facilities.
“It’s going to be a little more elegant than the maintenance building,” Ziegler said.
When it’s completed, Girard City Council members said they felt like the course would be an attraction for people visiting the city. Girard Mayor Maurice Harley even said he heard compliments that the course itself was among the area’s best.
And that’s just the way McBride wants it.
“We are trying to give him everything he wants,” Ziegler said. “When it’s finished, this should all be really nice.”
Kevin Flaherty can be reached at kevin.flaherty@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 Ext. 134
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