SPRINGFIELD— The Snyder Park Golf Course will reopen June 29, National Trail Parks and Recreation District Director LeAnn Castillo said Thursday.
The course had been closed this season to allow for the greens to rehab and heal. Castillo said the greens were in poor shape in part due to budget restriants and deferred maintenance, as well as last year’s flooding followed by extreme heat.
Castillo said NTPRD has spent about $5,000 to $6,000 on the rehab and is confident that the district will not lose money because of only having Reid available to golfers so far this year.
“We feel comfortable with where we are at this point,” she said.
Brad Reid, the golf pro at Reid Memorial Golf Course, said the number of rounds per month being played on the course is up to 3,500 on average.
“The weather has been wonderful, and that’s what drives this industry,” Reid said.
Castillo said the Reid courses have had more than 14,000 rounds so far this season, up from about 8,000 at this point last year.
About 15,000 rounds of golf were played at Snyder Park last year, she said.
The increased foot traffic at Reid has prompted a few concerns about the condition of the greens on the south course, Castillo said.
“We see those concerns being able to be addressed once play moves back to Snyder,” she said.
The temporary closure of Snyder Park’s course, in addition to the warm, dry weather, provided a boom in business to other area courses.
Private golf courses at Northwood Hills and Springfield Country Clubs both reported an increase in the number of rounds played over last year.
Tom Kreitz, director of golf at the recently purchased Windy Knoll, said he doesn’t know how business compares to previous years because the company is new to the course.
“We’ve got a couple guys who have been here a few years who say we’re busier than we were,” Kreitz said.
He said having one less course to play, as well as the beneficial weather, have contributed to the good start to the season.
Rocky Lakes Golf Course Business Manager Kathleen Griffith and Locust Hills Golf Course Head Golf Professional Andrew Kitchen said their courses have also been busy.
Kitchen said it is hard to tell if the Snyder Park closure has directly affected the increase in business because of the nice weather this season.
“It’s hard to distinguish between the two since the weather has been nice,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0263 or bethany.bruner@coxinc.com