The City of Columbus will be organizing an advisory committee to look at the operations of its Greenbelt and Par 3 courses as discussions about the city’s golf offerings continue.
According to director of sports programs Nikki Murphy, the golf advisory committee will include at least two liaison positions, filled by one park board member and one city council member, as well as five other roles that will be held by “qualified members of the community.”
These five members will each focus on one of the following areas: league growth and sustainability; benchmarking and development; ladies’ and youth development; outreach and fundraising; and expansion of course offerings.
Mark Jones, director of parks and recreation, said at Thursday’s parks board meeting that the parks staff is looking at “active” golf course members to fill some committee positions. He said that the liaison positions might potentially be filled by city council member Tim Shuffett and parks board member Josh Burnett. He and Murphy said that city council member and parks board liaison Grace Kestler might also serve as a committee liaison as well.
“The role of the committee will be to help collectively contribute to the continued improvement of course facilities, operations and policies,” Murphy told the Republic. “All of which will offer our golf pro and superintendent additional support and contribute to helping us achieve our annual goals.”
Mary Ferdon, the city’s executive director of administration and community development, emphasized that the committee is intended collect data and provide recommendations to the parks board, but its members should not argue for or against the courses.
“This is an advisory group; this is not an advocacy group,” she said. She added that Mayor Jim Lienhoop plans to also create a larger panel that “looks at golf as a whole” at some point in the future.
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
