A citizen golf committee’s sustainability assessment of Springfield’s three municipal courses found that at least one course may need to be closed if expenses can’t be reined in and revenues increased.

“I looked at is (though) there are basically two paths we could go down,” committee spokeswoman Mel Marsh told the National Trail Parks and Recreation District board at their meeting Monday. The district operates two 18-hole courses at Reid Park and one at Snyder Park

The city of Springfield has subsidized golf operations an average of $208,000 per year for the past eight years, according to Marsh.

“One path is keep all golf courses operational, but in order to do that, we have to bridge that gap of the average of $200,000.”

“Option number two is if we can’t do that, then take a look at what golf courses should be closed, if any,” Marsh said.

As part of that, payroll — the operations’ biggest expense at $900,000 — would also need to be reduced. “That’s pretty much the only way we’re going to get some of those cost reductions out,” she said.

The committee recommended that the board agree to a three-year trial period, hire a business manager charged with growing the number of rounds, adjust fees and packages to drive appropriate revenue per round and attract more players, and implement an enhanced record-keeping system for better analysis of the rounds being played.

It began meeting in early summer after golf rounds at Snyder Park Golf Course declined sharply last year because of poor greens conditions and the consequent loss of revenue. In February, the parks board suspended foot traffic on the course until its greens could be repaired.

Officials reopened the course at Snyder in late June after spending between $5,000 and $6,000 to repair its greens.

But rounds have declined for several years over all three courses, down from 75,000 per year in 2004 to 51,000 in 2011 among the three courses, according to the committee.

“Even with the subsidy, the budget has not reflected the full costs,” Marsh said. “There has been some deferred maintenance, equipment that’s been kept longer than it should be operational, and there hasn’t been cash reserves for times when we have emergency situations.”

The board accepted the committee’s assessment and is expected to discuss it in executive session at a later date, chairperson Maureen Sheehan Massaro said.

The board expects to have a series of work sessions before taking any action, district director Leann Castillo said.