Lago Vista golf advisory committee elects officers and hears irrigation timeline as rounds, revenue climb

The Lago Vista Golf Course Advisory Committee on Jan. 16 elected Larry Russell as chair, Jack Desjardins as vice chair and Susie Mumford as secretary, and heard from city staff that a contractor pre-construction meeting for a long-planned irrigation replacement is scheduled for Feb. 11.

The committee’s city council liaison, Paul Prince, and Greg, a golf operations staff member, told members the irrigation project and a related pond contract approved by the City Council should allow staff to irrigate more reliably and improve course condition. "We have our pre construction meeting February 11th," Greg said. "We will probably start sometime before March 1 on the irrigation side." He added that the project is expected to be staged so only one or two holes are out of play at a time and expressed a goal of having irrigation work mostly wrapped by Labor Day of this year.

The timeline matters because Greg said course play and revenue have risen sharply after changes to maintenance and staffing. "We're up approximately 53% in rounds and revenue year to date," he told the committee, citing year-to-date comparisons that include data through January. He said the course handled about 18,000 rounds per year when he arrived and that recent months have shown gains that could bring…