Here’s what Wichita’s new director says golfers can expect at city courses in 2023

Jesse Coffman says Wichita golfers have plenty to look forward to in his first full year as city golf director, including new carts, course marshals and options for buying food and drinks on the greens.

Coffman took over the top job in Wichita last June after the City Council voted in March not to outsource management of the city’s four public courses to Illinois-based KemperSports.

“We are in a good place financially. The pandemic kind of brought golf back to life, really,” said Coffman, who previously oversaw eight courses for the Fairfax County Park Authority in Virginia, and has also managed a resort-style Marriott golf club in Fort Worth.

Wichita’s golf courses stayed in the black for a third straight year in 2022, netting $560,607 in profit, according to city data. Rounds were up all year until November and December, when extra-cold conditions limited play.

Golfers recorded 174,261 rounds on public courses last year, including 50,605 at Tex Consolver; 42,184 at Sim; 42,005 at Auburn Hills; and 39,467 at MacDonald.

“There’s no sign that things are going to slow down anytime soon,” Coffman said. “I think it’s our job — my job really, to make sure that we are doing these upgrades and providing the latest technology and things that people want when they come out to our courses.”

Marcia Alterman, the Sim representative on Wichita’s new Golf Board of Governors, said Coffman was “the best hire in the world.”

“We’re extremely fortunate to have Jesse as our director because he’s coming in with some great new ideas. He’s coming in with an amazing level of energy,” Alterman said.

The board of governors is responsible for approving course fees and working with the City Council to prepare the annual golf budget.

The golf division has approval from City Council to spend up to $800,000 on clubhouse renovations, and Coffman is preparing to send out a request for proposals for a new fleet of golf carts at each course — just over 300 in all.

The price for a round of golf hasn’t changed on the new director’s watch, but he did tack an extra $2 onto the cart rental fee to help pay for replacements, beginning last week.

“That two-dollar increase is going straight into a cart replacement funds that allows us to purchase the new carts and always have newer carts for our customers without having a huge impact to our budget,” Coffman said.

He’s also looking to invest in beverage carts at each course so that golfers can purchase food and drinks without having to trek back to the clubhouse.

And by the beginning of April, he plans to have a volunteer program up and running to ensure there’s a starter and a marshal at every course.

“Right now, there’s just not really anything in place to monitor what’s happening on the course, and we want to make sure everyone’s having a great time,” Coffman said.

“If they give them the authority to do what they need to do, I think it will be helpful. If not, then they’re just somebody else standing there,” said Randy Bluml, the Auburn Hills rep on the golf board.

“In the past, they have tried to have some marshals and the marshals would go out there and tell some folks that ‘Hey, you’re kind of holding everybody up and you need to either try to speed up your pace or let some folks go through or something.’ People would get mad about that and they would call downtown to City Hall, so City Hall kind of put the kibosh on that.”

Public management

Following the retirement of former Golf Director Troy Hendricks in 2021, City Manager Robert Layton urged the council to consider privatizing management of public courses.

Wichita’s golf courses went from losing a net $477,892 in 2019 to earning $468,664 in 2020. Despite profits climbing to just under $1 million in 2021, Layton cautioned that city courses may not remain profitable for long under public management.

The privatization vote failed 5-2, shortly after The Eagle published an article about the park board being presented with faulty data that understated how much KemperSports stood to gain under their preferred profit-sharing agreement for food and beverage sales.

“I am very happy and excited with how Jesse has come in and got right to work. I know we made the right choice and am excited for 2023,” said City Council member Maggie Ballard, who voted for public management.

Bluml said he’s glad the council ultimately decided to hire another city golf director instead of outsourcing management.

“I think a management company would cost a lot more and they were going to take a lot more money from the enterprise fund, so I think it’s more profitable under Director Coffman’s tutelage,” Bluml said.

“If you can figure out how to do it successfully in-house and you have a staff that’s willing to put the effort in and manage it the correct way, keeping it in house is, to me, a better way to do it,” Coffman said.

He said the golf division employs 18-20 full-time staff “depending on if there are any vacancies,” and has additional seasonal and part-time positions

Coffman said he encourages feedback and wants to hear how the customer experience at city courses can be improved.

“We rely solely on revenue, so it’s very important that we also have an obligation to provide accessible golf and quality accessible golf to the public.”