City Golf Courses: Whaddya Expect?

Some years ago a friend of mine, a weary veteran of Trying to Do Things in Chicago, was working with the city on a building project, and boxing with the usual shadows. He told me something that stuck with me.

He said he didn't so much mind that crooked deals sometimes get done in the city. What bugged him was that it seemed to him a straight deal can't get done. Like it's against the rules or something, or a slippery slope--do one honest deal and people might start to expect it.

Chicago has a chance to prove my friend wrong, by awarding a big contract to somebody nobody sent.

The management contract came up last January for the Chicago Park District's six golf courses. If you've ever played on these courses--we're talking Sydney Marovitz, Jackson Park, South Shore, Robert Black, Columbus Park, Marquette Park--you know that they need a shave and a haircut.

Hairy fairways and nappy greens, dirt bunkers, greasy ponds. Service with a smirk. And generally, just a half-assed, tumbledown, anything-goes attitude about things.

Now, I love these golf courses, divots and all--and I probably play them 25 times a year. From what I hear, they're a hell of a lot better than they were before a big, locally owned company called KemperSports took over their management from the Park District in the early 1990s. Kemper restored the asphalt tee boxes to grass and made a hundred other improvements.

But most of that work was done 15 years ago, and the Park District courses could be so much better--they could be jewels, to show off to out-of-town visitors. They could be as good as any public golf courses in the area--and for not much more money in greens fees.

How do I know?

Because I play another 25 rounds a year--hey, reporters don't have as much to do these days, have you noticed?--at the 10 golf courses of Cook County's Forest Preserve.

As I chronicled in an April 1, 2007 story in the Chicago Tribune's Sunday magazine (a story Trib columnist Eric Zorn updated in this blog item last spring) the county awarded the contract for these courses to another management company, Billy Casper Golf.

Over the last six years, I've watched those Forest Preserve courses transform themselves. Once centers of embezzlement dismally maintained by patronage goons, they've become and remained everything that I thought government-run golf courses could never be: cheerfully and efficiently run, imaginatively marketed with lots of special offers and organized tournaments and outings, and most of all, beautifully maintained.

For the most part--Edgebrook is a stepchild, still with asphalt tees--these courses are maintained to the level you'd expect at any decent public golf course. That means smooth greens, well-maintained bunkers, tightly mowed and watered fairways. On most of these courses, you often forget entirely you're on government turf. And the greens fees haven't gone up more than three or four bucks per round.

So why can't the Park District tracks be this good?

At the end of my 2007 article I noted that the contract for these courses was due to come up in January of '08 and quoted Billy Casper's regional VP Bill Rehanek as saying his organization would like a shot at the contract.

Kemper was not amused. I caught wind that the CEO of KemperSports tracked down Trib golf writer Ed Sherman at the Masters to bellow about this piece. Some Kemper marketing people called me and gave me the third degree--which courses did you play and when did you play them?--until I hung up on them. A rumor circulated that Rehanek and I were old pals. (No, Rehanek and I had never met. Old pals are Mayor Daley and Kemper's former CEO Steve Lesnik, who made a $1,500 individual donation to Daley's reelection campaign fund in 2003.)

Eventually, everything died down, as everything usually does.

But last fall, Rehanek told me he'd spoken with a Park District exec about having Billy Casper put in a bid in January. Rehanek was hopeful, but then the exec stopped returning calls. Skeptical about Casper's chances and not wanting to start a war between Casper and Kemper, Rehanek was not inclined to make a stink.

Sometime in March, I called the Park District and asked whether they'd started the bidding process. Hmmm, we'll have to get back to you. The RFP went up on the CPD's website the next day. Rehanek put together a bid complete with photos of abominations on the Park District courses and a guarantee of some heavy capital improvements, along with a revenue deal similar to the one Cook County gets. (Again, see the Zorn blog for details).

Rehanek presented his bid in late spring and the Park District has spent the summer narrowing several bidders down to Casper and Kemper, asking questions and deliberating. And the multi-year deal may well be deserving of deliberation, especially if Casper's competition inspired Kemper to significantly sweeten its offer.

In any case, the word is a winner should be announced soon.

Meanwhile, I slog around the haggard old Park District tracks and revel in the comparative splendor of the Forest Preserve courses, and wonder if my friend was right: Is it really impossible to do a straight deal in Chicago?

I guess we'll find out soon.

Comments

[ChiGuy]

Agreed 100%, Mr. Murray.

I live about a half mile from Black in Rogers Park, and go there to sort of "tune up" before a golf date with friends or associates at a standard course in the suburbs, and the place is worse than a muni I played in Gary while visiting a friend about 15 years ago. Aside from the greens, you may as well be playing your round in the rest of Warren Park.
Another friend suggested that if I want to continue to warm up at a Par 3, then I might want to try the one on Central Ave. in Evanston. I'll be checking them out in the Spring.

I hope you'll keep us posted about the bidding.

[CriticalDune]

Agree 100% re Waveland. It was simply awful and improved w/ Kemper but that was a long time ago. It suffers from terrible neglect. The traps are a joke, they flood (as do the cart paths), and haven't been edged in a long time. The greens are hideous. The fairways are way below average.

Frankly though, because of the new equipment, the course is in desperate need of a redesign to pull tees back to speed up play. It's in a park so there is plenty of room to do it. Unless you have very little distance on your ball, on most par 5s you need to wait till most in the group ahead hit their third shots into the green to drive or, conversely, wait till the green is cleared for your second shot. This slows down play on what is already a really, really slow 9 hole course. The course is sized for retirees or people using 1970's equipment. It's too bad because Waveland gets tons of play whenever it's not snow covered. They could easily raise and tier fees (for seniors etc) and not see a dropoff, IMHO.
I hope Casper gets the nod, Kemper's time has passed.

While they're at it, there is a beautiful lakefront fieldhouse (clocktower) and snack bar adjacent to the course that could be used for a a lot of money raising special events and functions, a la Cafe Brauer...but not in their current dilapidated states.

[JSM222]

And now the Mayor of Chicago is planning on sellng taxpayers Midway Airport to his cronies for a 99 year lease.. Another Rezko trick.

Remember when Mayor Daley attacked Megs Harbor in the middle of the night, he came with bulldozers and gouged the landing strips in one of Chicago Airports to create a park that will be named after his wife someday.

Daley is laying of cops in Chicago. Three of them were shot in the last month along with about 30 shcool kids murdered in the streets so far this year.

Chicago's Mayor has a brother on Obamas senior campaing advisor list. William Daley who also camped for Gore. Corruption is all I have to say. Pure corruption...and Obama is in the middle of it.

[David Murray - Huffpost Blogger]

John Kass, doesn't your daily Trib column offer you a frequent enough chance to connect Barack Obama to every untoward thing that happens in Chicago? Must you also pose under "JSM222" and litter your prose with imbecilic typos just to cover up your real identity?

[ChiGuy]

What a pathetic attempt to attach Daley and Obama at the hip.
I don't know how many times it must be said, but Obama was cleared of ANY wrongdoing in his limited association with Rezko. In fact, if you find the transcript of Rezko's trial, you'll see that Obama's name was mentioned one time. Just once.

Megs Harbor? Anyone that has lived in Chicago for any measure of time knows that it's Meigs Field.

Given your pronounced lack of knowledge, I seriously doubt that you live in Chicago, or are a Chicagoan.
Go back to tro//ing the main thread and find more inventive ways to smear Obama.

[1manisland]

Note : Daley isn't laying off cops. He just wasn't adding new cops he promised to the payroll. It is only office workers at the Department that are going. No Sworn Officers. And crime will continue to rise as unemployment does. The Mayors layoffs contribute to more unemployment, which make matters worse. Politicians should be looking to make jobs, not just save Wall Street.