Dayton planning to do some needed course maintenance

The Madden Golf Course was built in 1929, and much of it remains the same as it was when Nipper Campbell designed it.

Having played the course often for more than 50 years, I have observed that the greens have been maintained pretty well, but little has been done to maintain the integrity of the tees.

Consequently, many are not level and almost all have poor surfaces that limit the number of places a golfer would choose to place a tee in the ground. Most are not level.

The city of Dayton is planning to do something about that. There are plans to renovate 20 tee boxes — nine of which have never had irrigation and sometimes are difficult to puncture with a wooden tee. They will be re-shaped, leveled with a laser and seeded. Those that have not been watered will be watered.

There is no timetable for the project, as no contractor has been hired, but the city would like to do it this fall, according to Kelly Pressel, the city’s golf division manager.

Meanwhile, the city will be repaving approximately 1,875 feet of the asphalt cart paths at Community Golf Course. The paths are near the No. 2 and No. 14 holes on both the Hills and Dales courses and at the No. 6 hole on the Hills course.

Approximately 15,000 square feet of asphalt was used to repair some of the paths last year.

The bathrooms at Kittyhawk Golf Center are getting some attention. The maintenance staff at Kittyhawk has two new mowers to cut the rough grass. Last season the KH staff got a new fairway mower.

At sometime this summer the city expects to hire a golf professional for the 2018 season. Pressel said only three pros submitted proposals with a required business plan before the deadline.

Piqua Country Club has a new golf professional. He is Scott Foster, a 37-year-old native of Springfield, Mo.

Foster is a relative newcomer to golf, having been in the restaurant business until three years ago when he studied at Mississippi State University and became a golf pro.

He spent the past two years working as a pro at Highland Park, a daily fee golf course in Birmingham, Ala., that is managed by Honours Golf, the company that manages Piqua Country Club.

Foster said he accepted the position in Piqua because he realized he preferred the private golf environment. This year, 18-year-old boys and girls are eligible for the Junior World competition and the United States Golf Association Junior Amateur events for the first time. Seventeen was the previous limit.

The Ohio Junior World qualifier, which for many years was played in June on the Monday after Father’s Day, will be held at NCR Country Club on May 30, the day after Memorial Day.

The entry deadline for the Junior World is May 23.

The Dayton District Women’s Stroke Play Championship will be held alongside the The Miami Valley Golf Association’s annual Men’s Metropolitan Championship this year.

Both will be played at Heatherwoode Golf Course beginning July 20. The women will play 54 holes, ending on Saturday, and the men will finish the 72-hole Metro on Sunday.

The Beavercreek Golf Club will host the Women’s Amateur Match Play event Aug. 2-4.