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Birch Creek seeks new carts, Tagmarshal GPS lease and flags $5M irrigation replacement
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Summary
Birch Creek Golf Course staff requested nine new golf carts ($62,163), proposed a Tagmarshal GPS lease (~$3,000/month) to optimize play and support a per-rider cart fee increase, and identified a potential $5 million irrigation replacement as a long-term capital need.
Golf staff told the Smithfield City Council on March 25 that demand and revenue at Birch Creek Golf Course have grown and that several capital investments are needed to maintain operations.
Head Golf Professional Eric Kleven reported the course saw roughly 5,000 more rounds year-to-date than the previous year and that driving-range bucket sales increased about 25% (9,432 versus 6,614 year-to-date last year). To support operations, Kleven asked the council to approve the purchase of nine new golf carts at a total cost of $62,163 and to authorize a leased Tagmarshal cart-GPS optimization platform that staff estimate would cost about $3,000 per month.
Kleven said the Tagmarshal system—already used by nearby courses and 53 of the top 100 U.S. courses—would improve course pacing, provide geo-fencing to protect turf and create advertising opportunities. He recommended a fee-schedule change to a per-rider, per-hole cart fee effective July 1 to offset the lease; the council adopted an amendment to the Prevailing Fee Schedule later in the meeting (Resolution 2026-04) that increased shared cart fees (18-hole per rider from $36 to $40; 9-hole per rider from $18 to $20).
Golf Course Superintendent Zach Smyer outlined maintenance equipment requests (automatic bed knife grinder $33,918; Harper Hawk sweeper $73,423) and described a RAPZ grant application for safety netting on the driving range estimated at $302,620. Smyer also presented a long-term, unfunded irrigation-system replacement estimate of about $5,000,000: the course’s older sections date to the 1960s with roughly 750 sprinkler heads now and a proposed new system of about 1,900 heads for improved water efficiency.
Kleven and Smyer said increased revenues and proposed fee changes should cover the lease and equipment costs. Councilmembers asked about storage and fleet capacity; Kleven said current storage limits fleet size to about 125 carts and that tournament needs typically require roughly 72 carts.
The fee schedule resolution that included the cart fee change passed unanimously later in the meeting.