Future of Wichita’s public golf courses up in the air

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The future of Wichita’s public golf courses could rely on costly replacements for irrigation systems at all four golf courses, according to the City of Wichita’s Golf Division Director Jesse Coffman.

During a round at Arthur B. Sim Golf Course, golfers said they drive over 40 miles out of town to play courses that don’t have the issues Wichita’s public courses currently have.

At Arthur B. Sim Golf Course, there’s running water, mud puddles, leaks, and brown fairways.

Wichita’s Vice Mayor Maggie Ballard said she wants an additional $1 million added to the city’s budget to fix irrigation at the four courses, but that could create challenges.

Blaine Williams has played Wichita’s four public courses for 35 years. He said it’s time to address the irrigation.

“It’s a huge issue; we’ve gone to Hesston, McPherson, Sierra Hills, anywhere else where we can; when you get a nicer course when you hit a ball in a fairway, you’d like to be able to be on grass instead of dirt,” said Williams.

A complaint the director of golf hears all the time.

Without irrigation replacements, Coffman said, the courses would be forced to close.

“We have very old irrigation systems. The one at Sim is almost 40 years old, the average life expectancy of an irrigation system is between 20–25 years,” said Coffman.

Ballard wants to work the cost of an irrigation replacement at Arthur B. Sim Golf Course into the budget and then focus on fixing the final three courses later.

“I suggested putting a million dollars for a one-time fee into the CIP for next year to help start with irrigation here at Sims,” said Ballard.

Council Member Dalton Glasscock is not convinced this is feasible. He said they already need to find a way to cut $12.4 million from an overstretched budget.

“I will not support additional money added to the CIP, so I’m interested in where we would be reallocating funds from the current CIP toward the golf irrigation fund,” said Glasscock.

The director of golf said the courses would profit $6 million in 2023.

The upgrade would begin with the Arthur B. Sim Golf Course and address each of the next three every two years.

Both Ballard and Glasscock said the city has been considering selling its golf courses and allowing the private sector to take over. They said the issue was brought up a couple of years ago and strongly voted against by the public.

Glasscock said he would reconsider the issue in the future.

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