Everett golfers fight plan to end discount

The Everett City Council chambers were packed, and 14 people signed up to speak against a proposal some council members hoped would dig Everett's two city-owned golf courses out of the red.

The proposal: Eliminate the discount senior-citizens' golf pass. Seniors in the room March 15 didn't think that was a good idea.

People 55 and older currently can purchase an annual pass for $750 to play at Legion Memorial Golf Course in the city's north end or $550 for the Walter E. Hall course in the south end.

But in a move none of the seniors was expecting, the council tabled the resolution. The council said it wanted to collect information about when senior golfers are playing before eliminating the discount pass.

But the seniors told the council members about their frustration anyway.

"I love to play golf," said Bill O'Neil. He said his wife "has a little plaque in her kitchen that says this: 'When I die, bury me at the golf course so I can see my husband five days a week.' "

Laughter and applause erupted from the audience, and amid the noise somebody said, "It's true."

Depending on how much a particular senior plays, the cost difference could be substantial.

The resolution would have eliminated all annual passes. Currently, an annual pass is $1,300 at Legion and $900 at Walter Hall, substantially more than the senior-discount pass.

Paying for each individual round of play would make golf even more expensive. A weekday 18-hole round would be $28 at Legion and $20 at Walter Hall, including a new fee that would have been implemented to pay for cart-path paving at Walter Hall.

The move to change how golf works in Everett was spurred by expense issues at Legion, said Councilman Mark Olson. A couple of bonds to improve the fairways and clubhouse at Legion keep the course about $500,000 in the red, he said.

"We don't have a rounds problem; we have an expense problem," he said.

Olson said the senior pass shouldn't be so heavily discounted, but he disagrees with eliminating it.

"The problem didn't start with annual passes; it won't be resolved by annual passes," he said.

Olson was ready to present an alternative resolution at the council meeting that would have kept annual passes and opened them up to everyone, not just Everett residents, he said. Currently, anybody can play at Everett's two courses, but only residents can buy the annual passes.

The council proposal probably will remain tabled until the fall — after the busy summer season, when more data can be gathered about when seniors play. Council members said they want to know if seniors are taking spots on the courses that would otherwise be used by golfers paying full price.

In their testimony, many seniors said they play early in the morning on weekdays when nobody else is on the course.

Olson said he'd like to see the issue dealt with before summer.

"I think we should just keep up the momentum of the discussion," he said. Now the council can "pull back and have discussions with the groups that are most interested or most involved," he said.

Brian Alexander: 425-745-7845 or balexander@seattletimes.com