Santa Rosa hopes new operator can help turn Bennett Valley Golf Course around

Santa Rosa’s Bennett Valley Golf Course will be under new management starting next month, a move that will keep the course open to the public for the foreseeable future after City Hall officials floated the idea of redeveloping it last year.

Golf course supporters and neighbors pushed back, forming a loud and visible constituency in east Santa Rosa that lobbied the City Council to reconsider the scope of a study aimed at looking at potential future uses for the city land.

On June 7, the council voted 6-1 to approve a three-year contract with Berkeley-based Touchstone Golf to operate the 150-acre site and reopen the club house restaurant that closed in 2020.

City officials hope the new contract will help stabilize golf course operations, which have taken a hit amid declining interest in the sport over the past two decades. The course also is saddled with hefty annual debt payments that have cut into profits.

Under the operations deal, the city will pay Touchstone $96,000 a year, plus an annual incentive based on performance. The period will give the city time to craft a plan for how to fund $6.8 million in needed capital investments at the 53-year-old facility, which includes an 18-hole course, driving range, pro shop and clubhouse.

The golf course is projected to bring in $3.4 million in the first year of the contract and $4.6 million in year three, staff said.

Mayor Chris Rogers praised staff for working on a plan that would keep the course open and said he is excited to work with Touchstone.

“We look forward to our partnership and getting moving and I know the public is really anxious and excited,” he said.

Santa Rosa last year began looking at other uses for the course that included turning the links into housing. Thousands of community members opposed the plan and urged the council to keep the course as is, and the council ultimately pumped the brakes on the plan.

Golfers and residents cautiously cheered the new contract.

Louis Capuano, president of the Bennett Valley Golf Club, said the new contract signals that the course will remain playable for at least the next few years, but infrastructure needs must be addressed to ensure it remains an asset for generations.

“The new contract really does help keep this course open but there’s still concern about the maintenance that needs to take place and finding where those funds are going to come from is something the city is going to have to work on if they do want to keep it open as a golf course,” he said.

‘We want everyone … to know this is their golf course’

Touchstone will take over from longtime operator Bob Borowicz, who is retiring, July 1.

The company was chosen from among five companies for its experience managing municipal golf courses. The company manages more than 40 courses across the country, including 20 in California, though this is the first in the North Bay.

Touchstone is expected to open the restaurant and event center by mid-July, as part of the contract.

The company also will be charged with marketing and outreach to help grow membership and increase visits to the course.

Over the past two decades, the number of rounds played has dropped by nearly half from about 100,000 in the early 2000s, according to the city. About 40,000 rounds of golf were played in 2019 and that jumped to 60,500 in 2020 as the sport saw a spike during the pandemic.

More than 68,000 rounds of golf were played in 2021, with about a third played by non-city residents, and nearly 18,000 rounds have been played in the first four months of the year, according to the city.

Santa Rosa will pay Touchstone an $8,000 monthly fee to operate the course during the three-year contract and the city has the option to extend the agreement up to two years. The company also will receive an annual incentive based on course revenues, estimated at $20,000 in the first year of the contract and $50,000 in the third.

CEO Steve Harker said Touchstone’s goal is to operate the golf course in a way that it’s an asset for golfers and nongolfers.

“We want everyone in the city of Santa Rosa to know this is their golf course,” he said.

Councilwoman Dianna MacDonald, the lone no vote on the contract, said she preferred choosing a Sonoma County-based company to operate the course and someone with dining experience to run the restaurant.

But other City Council members said they felt Touchstone had the experience and reputation to successfully manage the golf course and its amenities.

Company officials have already begun meeting with various Santa Rosa groups to launch youth programs and expand access to older residents, Harker said.

One program the company is considering would blend golf instruction with job training. The company would transport young people to the course to teach them how to golf and train them in various course jobs that they can perform after school.

Touchstone plans to host other types of events, such as runs and luncheons, to bring people to the site, too, he said.

City working on long-term plan for course

Beyond day-to-day operations, the city will now begin looking at how to revitalize the course and pay for improvements.

Touchstone has committed $50,000 toward landscaping at the entrance to the golf course.

Other minor improvements are planned in the first year, including work on the sand traps, tree thinning and in the restaurant.

But long term, millions in improvements are needed across the facility. One of the highest priorities is replacing the 50-year-old irrigation system and installing a drainage system to prevent water from pooling on the links, which is estimated to cost $4.4 million.

A consultant earlier this year recommended completing a sitewide masterplan and creating a list of priority projects. Touchstone has said some of the work can be done in-house.

Now the city must figure out how to pay for improvements.

The consultant recommended funding work through a general fund investment, bond or using golf course revenues, a move that could require the city to increase playing fees.

As a city enterprise, the golf course is supposed to be self-sustaining, meaning course revenues should pay for operations and capital projects.

Yearly rounds played at the course do generate revenue but the course’s profitability is hampered by a $458,500 annual payment needed to pay off about $4 million in debt stemming from a 2005 renovation of the clubhouse. The city expects to retire the debt by 2030.

The debt load has forced the city to use reserve funds and general fund dollars to operate the course and pay down liabilities, leaving less money for improvements.

City officials hope the new management contract is more lucrative for Santa Rosa.

The city will receive all course revenue and is responsible for all operating expenses under the new management contract. Under the previous contract, not enough revenue was being captured to cover costs, Parks Deputy Director Jen Santos said.

Course revenue should also see a bump with the restaurant reopening after two years, Santos said.

Santos said the city projects a first-year loss because of costs to transfer operations, minor improvements and debt payments, but the course is expected to operate in the green in future years and surplus funds can be put toward capital improvements.

City staff will return to the council later this year with an update on course revenue and expenditures, a list of recommended capital projects and funding options.

Golfers have ‘high hopes’

Capuano, who has been playing at Bennett Valley since he was a kid in the early 1990s, described the course as his second home.

He became involved with the golf club about 16 years ago. Club members make up many of the rounds played at Bennett Valley, he said. Their annual membership fluctuates from about 250 to 350 members.

Capuano worries that without improvements, talk of redeveloping the course won’t go away.

The pro shop and restaurant remodel made the course a great venue but at a cost. If the course wasn’t burdened by debt, that money could go toward deferred maintenance and the course would be profitable, he said.

“(The contract) is certainly a good step in the right direction but I have a feeling that subject will never be closed,” he said. “But I do have high hopes for this contract.”

Dan Galvin is more optimistic.

Galvin, whose father headed a committee in the 1960s that led to the course’s creation and was one of the original employees at the pro shop as a high school student, said Touchstone will bring stability to the course.

It was upsetting that the city considered redeveloping Bennett Valley but he was glad elected officials listened to the thousands of residents who fought to save the course, he said.

He hopes the discussion is put to rest for good.

“I hope the course is preserved for good and any thoughts of selling off or redeveloping part or all of it will go away,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.