Madison Considers Closing Municipal Golf Course

Madison is considering closing all or part of Yahara Hills Golf Course or Monona Golf Course, according to a city official. The city currently owns and operates four municipal courses, totaling 72 holes. If the Monona Golf Course is chosen, closure may also include sale of its land.

A recently released analysis by EdgeHill Golf Advisors points to the city’s over-supply of golf courses and the predicted future decline of golfers after 2027 as the reasons the city may need to close down one of its courses.

Stuart Lindsay, a principal at Edgehill Golf Advisors, prepared the analysis for the city. He said Wisconsin has been relatively unaffected by the national decline in golf, noting that he hasn’t heard of other cities in the state having the same issues as Madison.

“I think Madison may be unique there but that again is Madison’s unique because the rest of Wisconsin hasn’t been as overbuilt,” he said.

Wisconsin’s golf participation is about 14.4 percent, according to the analysis from EdgeHill, which is roughly double the national average.

Charlie Romines, Madison Parks assistant superintendent of operations, services and facilities, said there hasn’t been any significant reinvestment in city courses in decades and the infrastructure is failing.

“It’s time to either reinvest and find a way to do that and fund that, or to start to close holes, close courses to try to bring our expenses more in line with play,” Romines said.

Madison’s municipal golf courses are facing both infrastructure and funding issues. According to city documents, in 2016, infrastructure need ranged from $5.6 to $8.6 million. That includes drainage issues at Yahara Hills Golf Course that are leading to a drop in rounds of golf, the EdgeHill analysis stated.

While the report also noted the lack of 18 to 44 year-olds playing the sport, Keith Stoll general manager at Forest Hills Golf Course in LaCrosse, hasn’t noticed a decline in younger golfers.

“With the three colleges right in town, we see a lot of young millennial play,” he said. While Stoll said he hasn’t seen a significant decline during his time working at the course, he said people are playing shorter games.

“We’re happy to still see that we’re getting a lot of rounds from them. It just maybe a little bit different,” Stoll said. “There’s a lot more nine hole rounds that are played.”