The fight to save Fisher Park

YAKIMA -- Use it or lose it -- that's the message city officials want to make clear about the future of Fisher Park, Yakima's only municipal golf course.

Located on 40th Avenue across from Eisenhower High School, the little 9-hole course has seen use plummet over the past 10 years. Golfers recorded 37,500 rounds in 1998 vs. barely 13,000 last year.

To save the course, which was built during the Kennedy administration, a study group that formed last year after rumors began circulating about Fisher Park's imminent demise has been brainstorming a variety of promotional schemes.

Led by Tom Hinman, an insurance agent and member of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission, the study group has already come up with several strategies to turn things around.

Among them, lowering the $9.25 greens fees to $7 on weekdays through May 16; letting foursomes play for the price of three through the end of May; and special deals on Mother's and Father's Day.

But the group's biggest idea, literally, is the purchase of a large new sign with a reader board to publicize upcoming tournaments and specials.

The city has agreed to foot half the $10,000 bill for the new sign, with Coca-Cola paying the other half. To reimburse the city, Hinman's study group is selling advertising rights to benches and hole signs.

During a recent meeting at Hinman's insurance agency, members of the group said lack of awareness of Fisher Park may be partly to blame for the golf course's decline.

"It's a hidden gem right in the middle of town that people just don't know about," said Patty Prediletto, an interior decorator who recently took up the game.

And that's a shame, say members of the group. As a par-3 course, Fisher Park may be too small to use a driver, but its advantages for certain types of golfers outweigh its shortcomings, they say.

Bev Luby Bartz summed it up nicely: "Fisher is basically designed for the young, the old, the beginner and the handicapped."

That's because it's not too tough, a round takes only a couple of hours, the greens fees are cheap and beginners are welcomed with open arms. That goes for children, too.

Still, city officials have made it clear that if rounds don't pick up, Fisher Park, with its $95,000 operating shortfall last year, is a prime candidate for the chopping block.

It doesn't help that the 2008 season got off to a bad start last month. In the first 20 days, rounds were down 17 percent over the same period last year. Supporters believe poor weather and an Easter closure may be to blame.

Mayor Dave Edler said he is rooting for Fisher Park and would hate to see it close. But a municipal golf course that doesn't break even is a luxury right now the city just can't afford.

"The same is true of our swimming pools," he said. "We can't continue to plug money into these things when we don't have money. It's all about streets, cops and firemen."

"Bottom line," he added, "if people just started playing golf there, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

But Hinman and members of his group believe the city seriously needs to consider spending some money to make money.

In addition to the need for a stable promotions budget, Hinman said he would like the city to consider purchasing a nearby vacant lot to improve parking and build a new clubhouse.

"If you don't spend any money," he said, "you might as well shut it down. And that would be an absolute shame."

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.