| Special to the Register Star
While there are obviously more pressing issues in the world today, it should not go unnoticed that the Rockford Park District plans to consider closing Elliot Golf Course at the next board meeting on Dec. 8. In my view this makes no sense with respect to the well-being of the community, or from a financial perspective.
The Rockford Park District’s “Field of Dreams” strategy to pursue sports tourism — “build it and they will come” — has proved to be difficult to achieve. Their plan to lure sports tournaments with large investments in the downtown UW Health Sports Factory and the northeast side Indoor Sports Center fell prey to overly optimistic aspirations and an untimely pandemic. As a result, the park district is losing significant amounts of money on those investments. Even before the pandemic the sports tournaments that committed to Rockford facilities were money-losing ventures. While this strategy should eventually be beneficial for the community (for hotels, restaurants, etc.), it will always be financially difficult for the RPD.
Now the RPD wants to reduce costs by closing Elliott Golf Course, which is one of the few moneymaking facilities within their portfolio. How does this make sense? Granted, they are in a difficult situation but this appears to be a totally baffling, knee-jerk reaction. Closing one of Rockford’s most popular golf courses will backfire miserably. I believe this move will result in the loss of at least 30% of the golf pass revenue, resulting in a closure that actually costs the RPD money! The popularity of golf has been surging as it is one of the safest physical activities under pandemic conditions. So, is now really the time to cut that activity? Finally, one of the strengths of the Rockford community is its golf facilities; closure of the Elliott Golf Course would significantly erode the legacy of this great city amenity.
I realize that the RPD conducted a survey in which golf was ranked low on the priority list. However, the survey focused on mostly non-golfing young families who would naturally rank golf lower than other amenities. But it should be noted that ranking an amenity above golf does not necessarily mean they will use that amenity (in most cases they won’t). By contrast, the golf courses are highly utilized assets.
I call on the RPD to vote to keep Elliott open for next year and into the future. The RPD needs to face its cost problems head on, not take it out on one of the busiest, most profitable facilities in its portfolio. This decision can always be revisited if/when the Hard Rock Casino gets built to determine whether another attractive alternative is available.
Bruce Krandel is a Rockford-area resident.
