As Madison’s Golf Subcommittee weighs whether or not to close nine-hole Monona Golf Course or all or part of the 36-hole Yahara Hills Golf Course to sustain the city’s Golf Enterprise, even that may not be enough.
According to a report in the Wisconsin State Journal, a Madison Parks Commission study concludes that while closing courses would help reduce costs, the city’s Golf Enterprise, designed to be self-sustaining, would still be left in the red largely because of estimated capital costs ($5 million and $8 million) needed to repair the courses.
Complicating matters is research that predicts the demand for golf will stabilize in the near term but eventually decline, and the fact that Mayor Paul Soglin is not interested in a tax subsidy for the courses, or the idea of an “angel donor.”
