The City of Fort Scott staff are trying to make the Woodland Hills Golf Course used by the community more, in fact, to become an activity center in Fort Scott.
The staff spoke at this week’s Chamber of Commerce Coffee hosted by the golf course.
“Steve and his clubhouse crew have implemented many upgrades for our customers this year,” said Mary Wyatt, FS City Planning, Housing and Development Director, and as such is the director of the golf course. “We have contracted with a new golf cart fleet vendor and replaced all of our old golf carts, installed new countertops, purchased a new TV for the clubhouse, and purchased new high-top tables and chairs. We are also in the process of contracting with a new point-of-sale hardware and software which has many new features such as a tee-time software, annual pass cards for members, and a new website that we will be implementing soon.”
“As the FS Director of the Golf Course, I help facilitate and assist with projects, but the on-site management and their crews are the ones that make the customer experience so excellent with their daily hard work and dedication,” she said.
New Name For The Clubhouse
“With all of the new upgrades this year, we thought it would be a great time to give the Woodland Hills Golf Course Clubhouse an official name,” she said.
A suggestion box was placed in the clubhouse requesting name suggestions, and the top 10 were selected and put into a survey online. The community voted on the suggestions, determined the winning name by majority vote, and purchased a sign with that name that was installed on the front entrance of the clubhouse.
“The new official name chosen by the community is The Clubhouse!” she said. “Key Industries, Inc. designed shirts with the official new name for staff, and Jeff Allen wired and mounted the new sign.”
Community Is Invited To Utilize
“We have worked hard this year to create a more inclusive environment that any man, woman, or child can enjoy for more than just a golfing experience,” she said. “We want to invite everyone to come watch their favorite sports games in the clubhouse, hold their volunteer group or committee meetings there, host a weekly card game with friends, or come enjoy a burger or chicken sandwich for lunch or dinner.”
Steve Carter, club manager, said there are currently golf leagues for men, women, children and families, with cart rental at $16 for 18 holes of golf and $10 for 9 holes of golf.
Grounds Keepers
Dustin Fowler, head greens keeper, and his staff: Tyler Cook, Jonathan Allen, Rick McDaniels, and Glenn Niemann have been working to maintain the fairway with weather conditions adding to the workload.
Fowler said the Fort Scott Public Works dredged a pond to make it larger and deeper for irrigation of the greens and Bermuda sod had been donated from Wolf Creek Golf Course, to replace sod that had been killed by drought/ winter kill. He said the plan is for the fairways to be reseeded next spring.
Mini Golf
FS City Manager BradMatkin said he met with a business owner recently and there is a grant opportunity for a Fort Scott-themed miniature golf course at the city-owned golf course.
“This is in the very early stages, so I don’t have a ton of answers right now,” Matkin said. “Once I have budgeting information, it still have to be approved by the commission.”
“The Youth Activity Team has granted money for this project, and we are working on another grant for additional monies,” Matkin said.
“Our vision is to have an 18-hole miniature golf course that will not only add value to our community but will bring people from the area into our town to play. Fort Scott needs more things for families to do and I feel this would be perfect for that type of activity. We want it to be a place where a family can go out play 18-holes of miniature golf then eat a burger or hot dog, at The Clubhouse, and enjoy each other’s company or meet new friends.”
” We are going to ask for businesses to purchase holes and will let them put their “logos”, “theme” or brand on the holes,” he said. “It would really be great to have a hole that represents the fort, the splash pad, or possibly other parts of our history.”
Other Future Projects
