City of Hamilton golf courses review teed up

Does Chedoke need all 36 holes? Is there room in the west-end green space for other uses?

For Sally Brillinger, the undulating green terrain of west Hamilton’s Chedoke Golf Club serves more than one purpose.

She’s an avid golfer but, on this crisp early spring morning, she walks her dog, Charlie, through the scenic escarpment-hugging landscape.

“This is gorgeous here,” Brillinger says.

She’s not Chedoke’s only non-golfing visitor this day.

Meet Judit Vajda, who’s getting her steps in along the paths that meander through the club’s two 18hole courses.

“It’s great to be here. It’s really peaceful.”

Therein lies at least part of Coun. Maureen Wilson’s motivation to explore whether the 110-hectare (274-acre) Chedoke lands could accommodate more than just golf.

To that end, Wilson has called for a review that examines everything from financial to patronage figures, not to mention the need for parkland in what she expects could be a looming green space crunch.

“It’s been on the docket for a long time and it just keeps getting punted,” she told The Spectator about the pending study. “So it’s our responsibility.”

For years, amid spotty revenues, the future of municipal golf operations have been debated, with pitches for private-sector outsourcing and land sales for housing development.

In 2017, after hiring a consultant to study how to improve revenues and facilities at Chedoke and King’s Forest, an 18-hole club along the Red Hill Valley, council decided to retain operations and halt further study into potential sales.

Wilson emphasizes she has no in- terest in teeing up the city’s golfing real estate for sales.

“Because once you sell (green space), it’s gone forever, and I think there is a significant value that comes from public access to green space.”

But the future of municipal golf operations — Chedoke, in particular — was brought up at the door during both of her Ward 1 election campaigns, in 2018 and this past fall, Wilson said.

Residents questioned whether the city needed 36 holes between Chedoke’s Martin and Beddoe courses and suggested at least some of the land could be ceded to passive green space, she noted.

Whether for exercise or socializing, golf holds value, said Wilson, but many also flock to the Chedoke area to train on the escarpment stairs or pick up the radial trail.

“Yes, it’s a green space for golfers,” she said, “but while the golf season is on, it’s a space that others are impeded from using.”

This week, council backed her motion to conduct a financial review of all three city courses, gather data on rounds played and patronage, and examine environmental factors, including water, fertilizer and pesticide use.

This is to be studied in concert with Hamilton’s existing and expected parkland needs — crucial questions, Wilson said, amid a forecast population spike and provincial changes that limit the city’s ability to acquire more green space.

Brillinger agrees Chedoke is a jewel, but does it need all 36 holes?

“A lot of people think nine holes is not enough to golf and 18 is too much.”

It’s worth exploring 12 holes, a happy medium that’s offered elsewhere, Brillinger suggested.

The city didn’t provide up-to-date patronage figures for Chedoke and King’s Forest, but offered a fairly recent snapshot of activities.

At King’s Forest, 26,396 rounds were played in 2019. At Chedoke, between its Beddoe and Martin courses, 39,238 were played. The total for all three — 65,634 — was up from 54,642 rounds in 2018 and 52,460 in 2017.

The courses ran losses in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The deepest hole — $239,171 — came in 2017, when King’s Forest tallied $1,582,662 in expenses and $1,343,491 in revenue.

But more recently, with the exception of a King’s Forest loss in 2021, the city links have posted profits. Last year, Chedoke was $22,331 in the black and King’s Forest $190,935.

Taking a swing at King Forest’s future wasn’t a priority among Ward 4 residents during her recent election campaign, Coun. Tammy Hwang says. “I think that people love it and enjoy it.”

And like Wilson, the first-term councillor, and former city economic division staffer says she has no interest in shedding precious green space in her east-end ward.

But she’s “curious” what the staff report, which is expected in early 2024, might illustrate about Hamilton’s parkland and recreation offerings.

If a sport like bocce is sinking and pickleball is on the upswing, she suggests by way of example, how should the city maximize its assets?

“Perhaps there’s a way to be innovative and start to think about how we repurpose spaces without potentially losing the original intent for what that land was.”