Billy Casper Golf Meets Philadelphia's City Council

The plan by Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission to contract with Billy Casper Golf to manage four of the City's six municipal golf courses found the rough a couple of weeks ago. Billy Casper Golf took over management of the four courses--John F Byrne, FDR, and the two at Cobbs Creek--on Jan. 1, but any agreement must be approved by Philadelphia's City Council, who voiced some concerns at a hearing before the Council's Parks and Recreation Committee. As Billy Casper Golf has learned, dealing with Philadelphia's City Council can be as tough as conditions at a U.S. Open golf course. According to a story in The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Fairmount Park will save $500,000 annually under the Billy Casper arrangement and is guaranteed $3.5 million in fees and improvements over 10 years" and will also operate the City Line Sports Center at 7900 City Ave., which includes a driving range, miniature golf and batting cages. But "City Council members briefed last week insisted, however, that Billy Casper formulate plans to incorporate high schools near the courses, and even come up with reduced prices for family members of students there," reported The Inquirer. Council set a deadline of June 1 for BCG to formulate their new plans and comply with minority hiring demands or else they default on the contract. A spokesman for Billy Casper Golf, one of the country's largest operators of municipal golf courses, was quoted as saying Council's requests "won't be a problem." Read the entire Inquirer article here.

A New Era Dawns for Philadelphia's Courses in 2008

January 1, 2008 will usher in a new era for all six of Philadelphia's municipal golf courses. Four of the courses (Cobbs Creek, Karakung, FDR and John Byrne) will begin being managed on behalf of the Fairmount Park Commision by Billy Casper Golf. My home course, Juniata, and Walnut Lane will be leased to two non-profits for essentially $1 annually. Juniata will be managed by the Juniata Golf Foundation under the direction of Bob Wheeler, who has served as the GM at Juniata for the past few years. Bob is a great guy and is very dedicated to Juniata Golf Club and its golfers. Walnut Lane will be managed by Impact Services, headed by John McDonald, the former Temple golf coach who is also executive director of the First Tee of Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia Scholastic Golf Association. You can read all of the details in this story by The Philadelphia Inquirer's excellent golf writer, Joe Logan.