CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After 111 years of tee times, tournaments, and tweaks on the driving range, it looks like the Mason Rudolph Golf Course has run out of mulligans. The city has plans to close the course May 31st and reopen the space as a public park starting June 1st. However, those plans may change due to concern from several local residents.
NewsChannel 5 received scores of messages and phone calls from angry golfers about this development.
Michael Long is one of them.
"This is a great place to start and learn your fundamentals in the game of golf," said Long, who grew up near the course.
Long not only learned the game of golf at Mason Rudolph, he says he also learned the values that come with it.
"You keeping your score, you’re having to call penalties on yourself. The value isn’t only in the property, but the game," he said.
There's no question, the course has fallen into disrepair. In fact, golfers have only been able to use the driving range for the past few years. Most of the greens became badly damaged due to what the city calls a faulty irrigation system.
"Efforts were not made to keep it up as a golf course," explained Long.
Michael now wonders was that done on purpose, to make it easier to close down the course.
"You can’t argue with the fact that there was grass growing on the greens and water was turned off to, to more or less let them die," said Long.
Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts rebuked that idea.
"That’s a false narrative, and to do so, to say that would do an injustice to the Mason Rudolph legacy," said Mayor Pitts, in a sit-down interview with NewsChannel 5's Chris Davis. "Why would we let a jewel-like Mason Rudolph Golf Course go down and degrade? We didn’t do it on purpose, you know. It was just a series of issues that came up. Everything that came up, as I mentioned, irrigation system, and sinkhole and we’ve had some staff changes too. Finding expert people to work on golf courses is just not as easy as it sounds — despite some of the social media traffic."
Pitts thinks opening up the space, for all to use as a public park, will better serve the community.
"Converting it to a park, families in those neighborhoods will be able to make new memories in the Mason Rudolph Legacy Park," said Pitts. "We’re going to take the fences down. We’ll erect pavilions. Our vision is to perhaps build a Mason Rudolph Pavillion on the site that will tell the story of Mason."
He says, frankly, the city doesn't have the millions it would take to return the Rudolph to its former glory.
"It’s a four-and-a-half million dollar lift, in this time of a very very austere budget that we proposed for the city," said Mayor Pitts.
"I think that’s an inflated number," said Michael Long.
Long says the century-old course has never been the fanciest in town, and certainly doesn't need that treatment now.
"Look around, it needs mowing and some flags. That’s just about it," said the avid golfer.
Long was just hoping for another hundred years of teaching new golfers his favorite game.
"This is a great haven for beginning golfers," said Long.
Mayor Pitts did not have to get approval from Clarksville's City Council because the city isn't spending any new money on the park. At least not yet.
"We’re not proposing any new money for this, we can flip the switch immediately and people can start enjoying it," explained Mayor Pitts.
NewsChannel 5 asked the mayor if he was still committed to the plan or if he would reconsider, after some of the pushback from area golfers.
"Well it’s happening June 1st, but it’s also hey, if you’ve got an idea, I’m all ears. But make sure you couch it in a positive term. You know, I’m getting emails, not a lot of emails, but a few that have been negative towards our character," said Pitts. "I’ll be glad to sit down and talk with anybody, but just understand what the vision is."
The new park will also be named after Mason Rudolph. The late professional golfer and Clarksville native won the Tennessee Open several times and played on the 1971 Ryder Cup team.
After we published this story, the Mayor of Clarksville released a statement backpedaling on the close of the golf course:
"Since our recent announcement of a plan to convert Mason Rudolph Golf Course to a public park that would be called Mason Rudolph Legacy Park, we have heard from many Clarksville residents, casually and informally, who have widely-different points of view on this concept. There are many of our residents who are for the park proposal, but we are also hearing from many who want it to remain as a golf course. There are many issues to iron out regardless of which direction we ultimately choose, but for now, we have decided to pause the process, and respect the opinions of our many valued and appreciated Clarksville residents. Throughout the early stages of this process, my singular goal has simply been to do what's best for all Clarksville taxpayers with respect to future utilization of this property. I absolutely do not want this issue to become divisive in our community. I only want an end result that everyone can be happy, and comfortable with. In the coming weeks, the City of Clarksville, through our Parks & Recreation Department, will formulate a specific strategy for formally gathering public input on this topic, that we can use to guide the way forward in determining the future for this 48-acre site. To all residents, we say thank you for your interest and concern."
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