Park City Municipal hosted an open house Monday evening at Park City Library for public feedback on the draft of its long-term master plan for Park City Golf Course.  Vaughn Robinson is the course manager. He said this process began last year when the city began looking into replacing the irrig ation system. “It’s 30-plus years old,” Robinson said. “The lifespans are 15 to 30 years.” The city hired TCS Consultants to see what improvements could be made to the course on top of the critical irrigation work.   “They listed out quite a few items of long-term capital improvements,” Robinson said. “Inside of that, they suggested we get a master plan and that we could use that to guide us.” The course hired golf architecture firm Beddo Boyden to develop the master plan. The current draft is the result of a year of work.  “It’s a city asset,” said Robinson. “If we end up doing it all, it’s going to be 30-plus years before we even should have to worry about looking into it again.” Golf manager Vaughn Robinson speaks with attendees at the open house on Monday at Park City Library. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record Replacing the old irrigation system is the No. 1 priority, Robinson said. Past that, what improvements they pursue depends on what people want and how expensive it would be, with the City Council having final say. The current shortlist includes redoing the greens, leveling the fairways and tee boxes and redoing the bunkers.  “Everybody always seems to complain about the bunkers even though we put new sand in them two or three years ago,” Robinson said. “But that’s mostly because everybody has a hard time hitting out of the bunkers. So I get it.” In the current draft, all 18 holes would get some level of repair or improvement, some more dramatic than others.  “The hole that I like that changed the most would be hole 15,” Robinson said. “We would take out the trees on the left … and then move the green back about 30 yards down by the pond. So that second shot could just be a perfect signature hole where all you see is 18 pond, and it’s down low.” The current plan also recommends changing the length of the holes to address player feedback on pars across the course.  “If there are two complaints about the golf course, one from the better players, the par fives are too short,” Robinson said. “And from the average player, the par threes are too long. And this kind of meets both of those. It’s shortening (hole) 8 and 17, which are over 200 yards. But it’s lengthening 16 and 18, the two par fives on the back nine, to make them closer to true three-shot holes, if not fully true three-shot holes.”  Robinson said that since the project would be funded through tax dollars, he didn’t foresee the course needing to raise rates. However, the course would need to close while the work is being done. That could look like a complete closure for one year or a partial closure of nine holes at a time for two years. Robinson said while it’s early to say since they’re still working off a draft, work could start as early as next spring or as late as 2028.  City staff will incorporate public feedback into the master plan, and City Council will likely look at it again in August, Robinson said. Park City Municipal hosts an open house on Monday evening to share preliminary plans to refresh the Park City Golf Course. Almost 400 people responded to a survey to gather public input. The City Council is expected to make a decision on how to move forward in August. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record Park City Councilor Bill Ciraco said he feels it’s worth investing in the course.  “Having just spent nearly $10 million on the pools at the MARC, I feel it is completely justified to make an investment in our wonderful municipal golf course, which is a critical part of the resident experience and the summer visitor experience,” he said.  Visitors generate important sales and use tax dollars for the city, but they also directly subsidize a below-cost experience for the resident taxpayers of Park City, Ciraco said. “Allowing us to have our cake and eat it, too, in some respects,” he said. Larry Gardecki plays 30 to 40 games a year on the course.  “I’m pretty much a regular,” Gardecki said. “Every week we have a weekly game, and every so often, twice a week. Love the golf course.”  Gardecki said there are a couple of things he’d change, though.  “A couple of holes have greens that are unputtable, basically,” he said. “If you putt from the top of the 14th green, you may be in the fairway by the time it stops.”  He didn’t have one major complaint, saying his gripes are a lot of little things. Hole 5 has trees in front of the tee, so if golfers don’t drive high enough, the ball ends up 50 feet in front of the tee. That’s annoying, he said. Another golfer, Steve Wilson of Silver Creek, said he liked the current plan and thought it had better, more strategic bunker placements.  “I think it’ll be a good deal for everybody,” he said. “I think that’s all I need.” The post Park City’s golf course needs an update, but how much should change?  appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less