Golf course to receive new fleet of carts

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Local golfers will be putting their clubs away soon. But when the municipal course reopens in the spring, they'll be greeted by a fleet of new carts.

For a $35,915 annual lease, the city is replacing its fleet of 50 golf carts with their latest model. For the four-year term of the deal, said Assistant City Manager Larry Binkley, the city will be paying $2,400 more than what it paid for its last four-year lease.

For another $700 each, the city will also be buying 10 of the carts from the old fleet, now four years old. Binkley said that will save the city the trouble and annual expense of the renting an additional 25 carts above and beyond its regular fleet during peek summer months.

The carts end up more than paying for themselves through the fees the city charges for their use, Binkley said, and in a good year can bring in roughly $25,000.

When the course reopens, golfers should also notice some improvements. Over the coming two-month closure, the assistant city manager said, city crews will be adding retention ponds to collect more water for course's maintenance, adding sand to the fairways, fixing greens, and repairing some deteriorating concrete cart paths.

Binkley said the city would keep the course open for as long as the weather allows, but no later than late December.

The city plans to close the course for at least one month every year to make regular repairs and improvements. Because the cold weather tends to keep most golfers off the course anyway, Binkley said, winter is an ideal time for the closures.

"There are just so many days in the winter when you just can't have play," he said.

This winter's repairs to be paid for out of the course's regular annual budget will follow the additional $280,000 investment the city made last winter and spring, when the city build a new drainage system to keep excess water off the course, repaired and replaced greens, repaired and built new t-boxes, and added landscaping.

Golfers may also be returning to some higher fees. According to Binkley, it's been at least five years since the city raised fees at the course.

"There's a need for them to go up," he said. "But if they do go up, it will be a minimal increase."