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Parks & Rec committee hears golf operations update; staff outlines irrigation design timeline and near-term fixes
Summary
Lago Vista’s golf professional reported improved greens and rising play and revenue year-to-date, but staff said full course recovery depends on an irrigation replacement project now moving toward design; the committee set July and August dates for council briefing and final committee approval of the work plan.
Greg, the course’s golf professional, told the Parks & Recreation Committee the clubhouse and greens have improved under current staff efforts but that the course remains constrained by irrigation limits and a failed pump.
“Year to date, revenue…we are at about $623,000. Expense wise, we are at about $860,000,” Greg reported to the committee, and he described staff forecasts that the course could return to a better operating position once irrigation is completed. He said staff and management expect to be able to restore more of the course once the irrigation system is repaired or replaced and that a full recovery of amenities would take additional time.
Greg said one irrigation pump ("pump 2") had been out for several months but that staff expected parts to arrive soon; he credited staff for manually managing heads and keeping greens playable. On the driving range, staff signed procurement paperwork and planned to install full-height netting configured from the ground up; Greg said the vendor had been engaged and the work “will be done within the next two weeks.”
Committee members and the council liaison, Norma Owen, discussed the broader irrigation project timeline. Committee members said the design phase will begin when council and staff finalize funding and that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) permitting or certification could be a wild card that affects schedule. Several committee members expressed frustration with the project’s multi-year pace but also said recent staff hires had advanced several urgent fixes.
The committee reviewed a draft slide deck and work plan the committee intends to present to City Council. The group set two near-term dates: a committee meeting on July 22 to finalize the work plan and a request to be placed on City Council’s August 7 agenda for a roughly 12–15 minute briefing. Committee members asked staff to supply updated rounds and revenue figures and to compare Lago Vista’s performance to peer municipal courses; staff said they would try to assemble municipal-course rounds and revenue data for the presentation.
On other course amenities, members discussed pickleball-court resurfacing, lighting, and jurisdiction: committee members and staff agreed pickleball upkeep and any resurfacing project fall under Parks & Recreation’s budget and liaison process rather than the golf operating budget. A council liaison said resurfacing and lighting could be pursued through grants and that earlier vendor estimates shared by a residents’ group put a resurfacing estimate near $65,000 (presenter said that figure was from a resident/POA conversation and not a formal city quote).
Committee members requested that staff return with more precise data for the council briefing and that the committee keep irrigation as the principal near-term priority in the work plan.
