New Move afoot to make Harding a PGA-style Golf Course

By Carol Dimmick

Last January, when Arnold Palmer walked away from a deal to turn Harding Park into a PGA-style golf course, SF Mayor Willie Brown and other supporters of the concept had to scramble to come up with a way to sell the idea to a reluctant public.

After going back to the drawing board, a new plan to renovate the aging 76-year-old course was unveiled at a Town Hall Meeting Nov. 8. So far, it seems to be winning support from many local golfers.

The SF Recreation and Park Department has silenced many of its critics by eliminating several of the most controversial features of the Palmer plan and is now in a position to pull off the $14 million renovation.

Under the new plan, management contracts are limited to five years, eliminating a major sticking point in the previous plan which effectively privatized the popular municipal course by giving Palmer Golf a 35-year lease.

Other provisions that were either modified or eliminated include: creating a special "golf fund" to capture revenue that would be used to maintain the Harding and Fleming courses, no night lighting at the new driving range and strict limits on the use of pesticides (to prevent runoff from damaging Lake Merced.)

The new plan won approval from the majority of the 110 attendees at the November Town Hall meeting, many of whom thanked the members of department, commissioners and Supervisor Tony Hall for months of hard work on the project.

"As someone who has been on the side of 'no, no, no,' this is a great plan; a real improvement," said Diane Long.

However, there is one possible sticking point that could turn into a deal-breaker when the plan comes up for consideration before the SF Board of Supervisors - remaking Harding Park into a PGA-style golf course and asking the taxpayers to foot the $14 million bill.

"Why should we bear the total cost. Let the PGA (Professional Golf Association) pay for the extra 400 yards to lengthen the course. If a new clubhouse is essential, let them pay for a part of that," said Francis McCall, a member of Friends of Muni Golf, an ad hoc group of senior golfers that opposes the plan.

Opponents, like McCall, argue that municipal golf courses were built for the use of residents and not for professional golfers. They say that adding a new clubhouse, driving range and lengthening the course by more than a football field to accommodate a PGA event will drive up the cost to taxpayers with little benefit to the local golfers.

Instead, they want the City to renovate the course by eliminating frills and piecemealing the renovations. According to McCall, the course could be kept open for play during renovations if the outside nine holes were done first, leaving the inside nine holes and the Fleming nine untouched for play.

McCall also argues that the cost to taxpayers could be significantly reduced by eliminating a new clubhouse and driving range, and scrapping plans to lengthen the 6,747-yard course.

In response, city officials say that taking a piecemeal approach to construction would be impractical because it would drive up the cost of the project.

But the mayor and other city officials are eager to host the PGA Tour Championship because they see millions of dollars flowing into the City's depleted coffers from the event.

For years local golfers fought unsuccessfully to get the City to return the $1.5 million in annual revenue generated by the golf courses for maintenance and improvements. Under the new plan, this would happen.

To make up for the loss of the $1.5 million in annual revenue to the city's general fund under the new plan, the mayor and city officials now say they need the additional cash the PGA tournament promises to deliver.

By bringing a PGA tournament to Harding Park, the City is guaranteed a $1 million fee every three years for the use of the course. In addition, the event is projected to bring a windfall to the City in hotel and restaurant revenue from well-heeled, out-of-town spectators.

To pay for the renovations, Elizabeth Goldstein, general manager at the SF Recreation and Park Department, told attendees at the Town Hall Meeting that Proposition C, passed by voters in 2000, allows the city to use its bonding authority to leverage funds for the project.

She said the department is currently in talks with the city controller to set up a mechanism to create a special "golf fund" and that the Board of Supervisors would have to pass legislation before the fund could be created.

Report Shows SF Municipal Courses Fare Poorly in Comparison to Bay Area Courses

The idea of creating a separate golf fund surfaced after the Board of Supervisors asked the Office of the Legislative Analyst to look at how other municipal golf courses in the Bay Area were funded last June, after the Palmer deal fell through. The report uncovered some startling facts.

After looking at five Bay Area municipal golf courses, the study concluded that four of the five were profitable and that most of the courses returned all of those revenues to the courses for maintenance and improvements, unlike San Francisco, where the money goes back into the department's general budget.

The study also found that San Francisco's municipal courses employed the least amount of staff of any of the courses included in the study and had the highest percentage of resident use at 66 percent.

Senior Golfers Accuse Supervisor Of Changing Position on Harding Park

Some opponents of the Harding plan, who say they helped to elect Supervisor Tony Hall because of his opposition to the Palmer project during the recent election campaign, now say the supervisor has changed his position.

"Tony Hall said the PGA has to take a hike. Now he is behind them 400 percent," said Joe Greenwald, a senior golfer and member of Friends of Muni Golf.

Greenwald and other seniors who worked to elect Hall say the supervisor agreed with their position that remaking Harding Park into a PGA-style course was not in the best interests of local golfers before he was elected and now they feel betrayed.

Hall accused the seniors of spreading false rumors and said that he only agreed to oppose "a PGA-style course as presented in the Palmer plan."

"These people are spreading false rumors to protect their selfish position. They want to continue to play for $10 on a rundown course and we aren't going to let that happen," Hall said.

Supervisor Leland Yee, who was opposed to the Palmer plan, indicated he may have a hard time finding reasons to vote against the new project.

"I will have to take a close look at the new plan. I don't know how I am going to vote," Yee said.

On Nov. 15 the SF Recreation and Park Commission approved a conceptual plan for the Harding Park golf complex.

The plan is now expected to go to before the supervisor's Neighborhood Services and Parks Committee for review and then on to the full board for a vote sometime next year. It would then go to the mayor for his approval.