Dear Editor,
I was dismayed and somewhat bemused by a recent ad placed in your paper by the City of Richmond extolling playing their “beautiful” Pitch and Putt nine-hole golf course.
Unfortunately, over the last two or three years maintenance has been seriously neglected and the course has become a disgrace for a public facility.
I am a member of the senior’s golf group. We have played the course every Wednesday since the early 1990’s. It really did use to be beautiful.
The city has reduced the staff hours allotted to the care of the course by approximately half. The result is weeds everywhere, inadequate mowing, hard sand traps, unkempt and rough greens and decrepit tee boxes.
Conditions on the course continue to deteriorate. In the past we have written to the mayor and communicated directly with parks management, but to no avail. Compared to the other civic pitch and putt courses ours is a disgrace and an embarrassment to the city.
Presumably, the city’s ad was intended to increase participation. But offering a “cow pasture” golf experience will certainly defeat this endeavor. Adequate maintenance resources must be allocated or the city will lose a valuable recreational asset.
David Bell
Richmond
