City ‘jewel’ gets new luster
Municipal course is drawing praise after $1.75M in renovations, now almost complete
When golfers returned to the 64-year-old Bethlehem Golf Club last spring, it was like playing on an entirely new course, General Manager Larry Kelchner said.
But the course still looked familiar to those who remembered its glory days in the mid-20th century, when golf was a favorite pastime of Bethlehem Steel executives, who enjoyed tee times at the 150-acre club. The course was designed by renowned golf architect William F. Gordon, who also laid out courses at Saucon Valley Country Club and DuPont Country Club in Delaware.
Kelchner and architect Mark Fine, who oversaw the recent renovations, consulted Gordon’s designs from 1954 before doing any work.
“This is a jewel of a golf course,” Kelchner said. “We didn’t want to lose that integrity, we wanted to polish it.”
For the last two years, BethlehemGolf Club has been undergoing $1.75 million in renovations to bring it back to what it once was. The majority of those renovations are expected to wrap up by the end of this week when new cart paths are finished.
Other improvements include removing nonindigenous trees that became diseased and got in the way of golfers. An irrigation system was installed and some bunkers — also known as sand traps — were improved or removed.
The bunkers used to fill with water, but thanks to a new drainage system, they are filled with pristine, white sand. A pavilion with running water and electricity was installed behind the course’s restaurant, The Clubhouse Grille.
By the end of the year, the project will wrap up when the small pro shop at the front of the course next to the lower parking lot is
expanded, so visitors no longer have to drive up to the old pro shop at the restaurant to check in.
Visits to the golf course are up 10%-20% per month over last year. While some of that is thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, which has drawn people outside for socially distanced activities, Kelchner thinks word also spread about the improved course.
Because of the pandemic, the course opened late this year, May 1. Initially, there were restrictions, like only one player allowed per golf cart, and there was a limited number of tee times available. But that didn’t stop people from coming.
“Afill rate of 75 to 80% is really good, but we were virtually sold out every tee time,” Kelchner said. “It was like guerrilla advertising. People were hearing how great it was and wewere sold out almost every day.”
Times continued to sell out, even when the course was back to regular hours.
There has been a significant turnaround from previous years, when the number of players was down and financial constraints prevented the city from renovating the course. In 2017, the city moved four full-time golf course workers to vacant positions elsewhere in the city. It replaced them with 35 part-time workers, trimming expenses. The savings allowed the city to move forward with renovations, said Eric Evans, Bethlehem’s business administrator.
“Before the renovations, some years the revenue was around $1.1 million to $1.2 million,” Evans said, explaining that players were leaving the course.
Last year, with many of the renovations underway, the course brought in about $1.5 million, and it is expected to bring in about the same this year, despite opening a month later. The revenue includes $150,000 for the city’s general fund.
August was a record month that brought in $258,000 in revenue, Evans said.
Golfers also have been active in Allentown. The Allentown Municipal Golf Course expects to match its record-breaking 2019 year despite the financial blow the pandemic dealt in March and April and a four-day shutdown in early August because of Hurricane Isaias.
The driving range in particular has thrived, bringing in approximately $190,000 from May through September, 64% more than the same period in 2019. And that’s despite spacing mats farther apart than normal, eliminating two spaces.
Golf Course Manager Jeff Wambold chalked up the popularity to the many novices, including numerous collegeage students, who picked up the game amid the pandemic’s dearth of other entertainment options.
Bethlehem City Council members said changes in leadership at their city’s golf course, plus the renovations have turned things around.
“I don’t play golf so I can’t speak to the quality of the course, but it’s pretty well-known that operations have improved,” Council President Adam Waldron said, crediting Evans and Kelchner.
Councilwoman Paige Van Wirt, who voted against a $162,000 grant to buy equipment for the course last month, noted the city once was subsidizing the operation to the tune of $200,000 per year.
“It’s a great thing for our citizens,” she said of the renovated course, “but my argument is there are things we should be doing with our money right now that could be helping our citizens and businesses, whereas the golf course is not the most pressing use of these funds.”
The Bethlehem golf course on Illicks Mill Road replaced an older course where the Lehigh Shopping Center is now. Bethlehem Steel gave the city $150,000 toward development of parks around Illicks Mill, including the golf course.
Tom Ostroski of New Tripoli was among the players on the improved course on a recent sunny weekday. He makes it to the course at least four times a year, including for the Joe Sommer Memorial Golf Tournament.
“The upgrades are still in progress, but everything they’ve done so far has been perfect,” Ostroski said, commenting on what he considers a “meticulously maintained” course.
The 18-hole course follows a classic layout featuring the natural contours along Monocacy Creek, but it’s also a long course, typical of the period when it was built. In its inaugural year, 19,742 patrons played from May 12-Dec. 2, 1956, according to The Morning Call archives.
There were about 36,000 rounds of golf played last year, Kelchner said.