Wichita spending millions for pickleball upgrades, nothing for golf. What gives? | Commentary

Look, I don’t want to start some kind of Hatfield-McCoy feud between public golfers and pickleballers, but a few things need to be said to clear the air.

It starts with the Wichita City Council’s unanimous vote last month to invest $6 million of tax money in the creation of a pickleball complex in South Wichita.

Meanwhile, the city manager is pushing back against a request from the Public Golf Board of Governors for $8 million over four years to upgrade the deteriorated irrigation system that waters the four public courses.

Let me say from the outset that I do not oppose the $6 million pickleball investment. Public recreation is a quality of life component that enhances the mental and physical health of our citizens.

Public tennis has been subsidized for decades, as has every other adult and juvenile recreation activity on the city’s Park and Recreation agenda.

If pickleball is as popular as described — and national numbers support that description — then the $6 million will be well spent.

Yet, somehow, when a similar argument is made on behalf of public golf, the City has never been as receptive.

From a financial perspective, the investment in public golf makes a whole lot more sense than pickleball.

Wichita’s four public golf courses — representing millions of dollars in physical assets — have been booming for the past three years, and continue to draw more customers every day.

Women, minority and youth golfers are among that growing throng who have discovered the pleasure of a few hours of outside activity.

The cost for a round of public golf is $25 to $32. Renting a motorized cart is another $15. Annual memberships are available to make golf more affordable.

Thanks to new management that was installed last year, the courses are in better shape than any time in the past decade.

Staff morale is sky high, compared to the low point a couple of years ago when the city manager furloughed the entire staff for a month, claiming back a month’s salary despite a $600,000 cushion in the golf account.

In contrast, public pickleballers pay a pittance.

As the City Council approved the $6 million investment, council member Bryan Frye noted that it would take 25 years for the new complex to repay the $6 million, and that estimate didn’t include expenses.

The public golf system is currently operating in the black and is expected to show a $2 million balance at the end of the year.

As good as that sounds, it isn’t nearly enough to take on the essential upgrade of the irrigation system. The golf system has already spent hundreds of thousands of revenue dollars on retention ponds at MacDonald Park, heating and air at Tex Consolver and other overdue deferred maintenance.

Much more work is needed to catch up on the incompetent management of the past decade, and golfers will pay for the bulk of that work.

So, if you are a public golfer, make your voice heard. The city manager has a long record of opposition to public golf, including the attempted sale of MacDonald Golf Course, the closure of Clapp Golf Course, the attempted privatization of the whole system earlier this year, and the aforementioned furlough of staff.

But the city manager doesn’t make policy and doesn’t make the final decision about where tax money is spent. Public golfers need to make their voices heard, especially to those current council members who are seeking re-election this year, and to every candidate aspiring to take a seat on the council.

If pickleballers are smart, they will join in support of public golf irrigation funding. It shouldn’t be an either-or situation, but that’s where the City Council has left it. Let’s hope the council sees the light and does the right thing.

The city budget gets approved in August, the same month as the upcoming primary election and a couple of months before the general election. Every candidate will be asked to weigh in, and let’s hope they are all smart enough to support both pickleball and public golf.

Dale Goter is a media consultant, former journalist and former lobbyist for the city of Wichita. He has served on the city’s Park Board and Golf Committee.