![]() “This was our home course growing up in high school. Livingston’s golfing buddy, Sam Bistritz, said the course has tremendous opportunity for growth, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many people to play golf for the first time. It has significant value for the city of Cleveland and it’s where I learned to play, too.” “Jim Brown used to come to this course and play golf. ![]() He played with a lot of the old Cleveland Browns players,” said golfer Nate Livingston. My grandfather played here when he lived in the area. The course’s storied history isn’t lost on those that play it today. Some of golf’s most storied names, including Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, played at Highland in the mid-1960s as part of the PGA Tour’s Cleveland Open. Highland was also considered to be the home course of Charlie Sifford, who is known as the “Jackie Robinson of Golf.” In 1987, the course hosted the PGA Minority Golf Championship. The course welcomed minority golfers before most courses did. Opened in 1928, the city-owned golf course has a deep, rich history - and not just in the game of golf. Any naysayers, we’d like to prove them wrong,” Teeuwen said. “We are all very competitive and we’d like to make sure that you guys are proud of the results that happen at Highland Golf Course. That golf course, you’re going to hear the sucking sound of money.”īonnie Teeuwen, the city’s chief operating officer, expressed confidence in the arrangement and its potential to ultimately end the continued cycle of annual losses at the golf course and, potentially, begin turning a profit. “I’m telling you: I’ve been here longer than anybody. We’ve had to do too many clean-up acts around here with this Council,” Polensek said. I don’t want to get in a situation again where we are going to have to figure out how to clean up something. Some council members, including Councilman Mike Polensek, expressed skepticism about the agreement. Although Cleveland Metroparks issued a letter of interest, it did not submit a formal proposal. The Bibb Administration deemed the Highland Park Golf Foundation and its partnership with Troon Golf to be the best, most qualified proposal to come from the city’s recent request for proposals. The contract also gives the city additional leverage to terminate the agreement if the foundation and Troon Golf fail to meet certain criteria. However, the agreement was amended to 20 years with two, five-year options. Some city council members initially balked at the length of the original ground lease agreement which spanned 30 years. The city’s general fund had to cover the estimated $600,000 loss, according to city financial statements. In 2022, the course required $1.3 million to operate while only drawing in $700,000 in revenue. In each of the past five years, the city’s general fund has had to cover financial shortfalls at the course, prompting a long simmering debate over whether the city should cede control of the course. The $1.5 million in “seed money” is right in line with the amount paid by the city in recent years to help offset financial losses at the course. If and when the golf course turns a profit, the excess revenues would first go to reimburse the city’s $250,000 annual outlay. Additionally, the city would contribute up to $1.5 million over the first five years of the contract to help fund capital improvements at the course, including the construction of a revenue-generating driving range later this year. The foundation, in turn, would pay Troon $66,000 annually to handle the daily operations of the course. As part of the agreement, the city would contribute $250,000 annually to the non-profit Highland Park Golf Foundation. The Council’s Municipal Services and Properties Committee as well as the Finance, Diversity and Inclusion Committee approved the legislation on Monday. Troon, an Arizona-based company that manages 140 municipal courses across the country, would handle day-to-day operations at Highland. Under the legislation, a newly-created non-profit of local business leaders, frequent Highland golfers and golf-industry experts would assume management of the nearly century-old course. CLEVELAND - Two Cleveland City Council committees approved legislation on Monday that would hand over management of the historic, city-owned Highland Park Golf Course located in suburban Highland Hills.
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