Wichita golf fee increases to take effect Monday

The Wichita City Council passed a menu of fee increases for municipal golf courses on Tuesday that will affect most season golf pass holders, including seniors and retired military.

The price increases for passes run $20-$25 and take effect Monday.

The most expensive pass, allowing two adult golfers course access seven days a week, will rise from $970 to $990. The seven-day single pass will go up from $800 to $820.

Purchasers of the passes pay steeply discounted greens fees.

For seniors with Monday-through-Friday passes, those greens fees will go up from $11 to $12 for 18 holes and from $7.50 to $8 for a round of nine holes.

Even with the fee increases, Mayor Jeff Longwell said the city golf system “may be some of the best value you’ll find in the country.”

The council also raised cart rental fees 40 cents a round, bringing the cost to $25 for 18 holes and $15 for nine.

City parks officials said that’s necessary to replace 196 of the city’s 277 golf carts, which have been kept in service past their recommended life and are now becoming more expensive to maintain than they’re worth.

Longwell questioned whether the cart-rental price increase was really necessary, because golf carts cost about $4,000 each and the rentals generate $1 million a year. He calculated that works out to about $30,000 income on each cart.

“I’ll take that return on investment,” he said.

Troy Hendricks, the city’s golf course manager, acknowledged that the courses make a lot of money on cart rental, which is used to offset other expenses to keep the system solvent.

Unlike years past when most golfers used to walk the course, demand for carts is so strong that the courses are looking into renting extra carts to offset shortages at Sim Park and Tex Consolver courses, he said.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 12:19 PM with the headline "Wichita golf fee increases to take effect Monday."