HARLINGEN — After eight years, Tony Butler Golf Course is drawing more players — and driving in more money than last year.
But at City Hall, the balance sheet shows it’s still in the hole.
Now, golfers want city officials to reopen the so-called “nine-hole short course” they closed to cut maintenance costs, arguing the venerated Winter Texan favorite would help the golf course break even or turn a profit.
Across the revamped 18-hole course, General Manager Jeff Hart is reviving the greens and fairways, drawing many golfers back to the iconic 92-year-old golf course that has run a deficit for about eight years.
But it took a phenomenon to bring a new generation of golfers to the course — the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid the pandemic’s safety restrictions, more residents are finding the course’s 200 acres of rolling grounds offer players all-natural social distancing.
“We’re doing much better than we did,” said Hart, who took over as general manager and golf pro in November 2019. “COVID directly helped us a lot. There was nothing for them to do so they turned to outside sports. It’s definitely one thing you can do and still social distance.”
From October through March 31, the golf course generated $483,094 in revenues, while taking $497,849 in expenditures that included the $12,000 purchase of an irrigation injection system, Hart said.
“We’ve lowered expenses dramatically,” he said.
During the same period the previous year, the course posted $474,415 in revenues, with expenditures of $475,585.
From October 2018 through March 2019, the golf course pulled in $512,537 while expenditures climbed to $757,675.
“Keep in mind this is the busiest time of the year — the Winter Texans are still here,” City Manager Dan Serna said. “Historically, for many years, the golf course has been losing money.”
New generation of golfers
Now, the golf course is drawing younger players, said Tim Elliott, a member of the city’s Golf Course Advisory Board who owns Elliott’s Custom Golf.
“The golf course is booming,” he said. “The demographics at the golf course have completely changed. When you see the course packed, it’s all local people — a lot of young locals 25 to 45 years old. You have a lot of young people playing golf and their spouses are coming out and the kids are playing.”
Selling the nine-hole short course
Since opening in 1929, Tony Butler stood as Cameron County’s sole 27-hole golf course until last year.
For decades, the nine-hole short course drew players from Winter Texans to young golfers honing their putts.
Then in late 2019, city commissioners voted to close the nine-hole short course while trying to sell the 30-acre tract running across holes 19-23, prime land along Interstate 69’s frontage road with an estimated value of about $5 million.
As part of the move, they planned to use the money to fund $3.7 million to $7 million in upgrades, based on a national consultant’s recommendations.
Meanwhile, area golfers and Winter Texans packed City Hall, urging commissioners against selling the short course.
Later, officials turned up a decades-old city resolution restricting the land’s use to parks and recreation, City Commissioner Frank Puente said, adding voters would have to decide whether the city could sell the land.
More than a year later, the question of whether the city will sell the nine-hole short course hangs in limbo.
“That’s a decision that the city commission has to make in the future,” Serna said.
Call to reopen short course
Now, a group of golfers is requesting officials reopen the nine-hole short course.
“We’re getting lots of input from residents and golfers upset about the closing of the back nine and oppose keeping it closed,” said Puente, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the plan to close and try to sell the nine holes. “They want to see it open back up. We’re getting feedback from Winter Texans who count on Tony Butler to play golf.”
As part of the golfers’ group, Elliott believes reopening the nine-hole short course would help draw more players — and money — to the golf course.
“We need that 19-27 to be open,” said Elliott, the Golf Course Advisory Board member.
Since the city closed the short course, many Winter Texans and their RV park leagues have left the golf course to play the Stuart Place Country Club’s nine-hole golf course, he said.
“We can’t peak to our potential because we don’t have those nine holes,” Elliott said.
The golf course, he believes, needs the nine-hole short course to break even or turn a profit.
“I also believe TBGC, if left 18 holes, will never be able to sustain itself without being subsidized by the city of Harlingen,” he stated.
However, Serna said the commission’s decision to close the nine-hole short course has cut maintenance costs, taking two full-time jobs off the payroll at the golf course carrying a $400,000 deficit.
“It’s a lot of area to cover,” he said, referring to maintaining the tract. “Even before we closed the nine holes we were losing substantial amounts of money.”
Crews improving greens, fairways
Now, Hart, who took over as Tony Butler’s general manager and golf pro in late 2019, has been focusing on improving the 18-hole golf course, Serna said.
“The maintenance has improved because we’re concentrating on the 18 holes,” he said. “Right now, the guys are doing a better job maintaining the 18 holes. The greens have improved tremendously.”
Along the 200-acre golf course, Hart is aerating the greens while new irrigation equipment has increased the water’s acidity to reduce the soil’s high alkaline content.
Across the rolling grounds, weed control has helped spruce up the fairways, which crews mow to two inches.
“The greens are the most important part of a golf course,” Hart said. “We’re trying to convert the greens to sand-based greens. We still have a long way to go.”
Officials mull multimillion-dollar overhaul
Last month, city commissioners along with members of the Harlingen Community Improvement Board considered dipping into the board’s budget to fund as much as $2.6 million worth of upgrades.
As part of his proposal, Serna recommended a $1.6 million overhaul of the golf course’s irrigation system.
Meanwhile, he called for $500,000 aimed at pushing up the golf course’s greens and $230,000 to upgrade drainage in low-lying areas.
Consultant’s recommendations
In 2019, officials paid $22,000 to hire the National Golf Foundation, a national golf consulting firm, to recommend upgrades aimed pulling the golf course out of the hole.
In a 97-page report, the consultants’ recommendations included selling the nine-hole short course to turn the 27-hole playing field into an 18-hole course.
In their report, the consultants recommended as much as $3.7 million to $7 million worth of improvements aimed at overhauling much of the golf course.
“We found that course conditions were poor, with partial turf loss on greens, hard, crusty bunkers, drainage problems throughout and an irrigation system that doesn’t keep up with demand in hot summer months to keep the course green,” the report states.
“Based on our evaluation, we believe that Tony Butler Golf Course finds itself in the position of needing to replace nearly all its infrastructure just to survive and remain in business with a functioning golf course.”
Recommendations included rebuilding or replacing “major infrastructure components of the 18-hole course — greens, irrigation system, bunkers, drainage” at a cost of $3.75 million, the report states.
“We recommend, at a minimum, replacing and/or upgrading all major infrastructure components, including greens, irrigation system, bunkers, drainage and tees.”
