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Fore! City misses fairway in latest golf decision

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The City of Brantford may want to take a mulligan on its latest decision regarding its golf courses.

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In an Expositor story published on Thursday, July 30, it was revealed that playing privileges for employees at Arrowdale and Northridge have been taken away.

Inderjit Hans, general manager of public works, said it was necessary to put a “pause” on the practice until more investigation could be done. Hans went on to say he’s aware that other municipalities “enable” the practice, but he has seen no written policies when it comes to the practice.

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According to Maria Visocchi, Brantford’s director of communications and community engagement, the city wants to formalize a policy.

“It’s a corporate position,” said Visocchi, noting that it’s important that the city is accountable for every tax dollar spent.

“It’s not just Mr. Hans’ decision and it’s not a final decision.”

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Without something in writing, it was deemed by the city that the playing privileges for employees could be taken away mid-season.

The loss of privileges for employees goes right to the top, with business manager of golf operations – and head professional – Jeff Moore also losing his right to play for free.

To remain fully transparent, my son is an employee at the two golf courses and he, like his co-workers, was affected by this decision. While it’s extremely disappointing to him and the others that this step was taken, this column has more to do with Moore.

It’s important to understand the role Moore plays at the courses and what he’s done for golf in the city, particularly when it comes to juniors.

He has a variety of roles but one of his most important jobs is as a teacher. He’s responsible for giving lessons to players young and old, who are looking to shave a shot or two off their games.

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Envision this scenario: Moore has just finished a 30-minute lesson on the driving range with someone who has paid him a handsome fee. That person then wants Moore to play nine or 18 holes with them so that they can see if the work done on the range translates to the course.

Instead of saying yes and jumping out onto the course, Moore will have to tell the person to wait while he goes into the pro shop to pay for the privilege of doing his job.

Visocchi clarified the city’s position on this, saying that Moore could go play but a full round would be a no-go.

“That’s what the policy will define,” said Visocchi, noting that information about the investigation should be in front of council in September.

“He can work with players at the course. He can’t do a full round that has no context with his job,” she said..

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“He wouldn’t have to play 18 holes. If he’s working with (golfers) and they ask him, ‘Hey can you go do No. 9 with me?’ Of course, he would be able to do that.”

I may need to do some of my own research on this but I’m fairly certain in talking to many different people over the past week that there isn’t a golf course in Ontario, Canada, North America or the world that makes their head professional pay to play nine or 18 holes. Most of them encourage their professionals to play with members to keep the paying customers happy and to help them with their games.

Imagine the outrage a city employee would feel if their employer asked them to pay to do a part of their job. I’m pretty sure any employee would think about walking away, like three employees from the pro shop at Arrowdale did earlier this week.

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But back to Moore.

You can argue that there may be someone who has done more for golf in the city over the past decade but not when it comes to junior golf.

When Moore arrived to work at the city’s courses, golf was in a bleak spot.

In terms of memberships, just at the junior level, there were 30 kids with full playing privileges at the two courses when Moore arrived. Last year, there were 207.

Moore also runs a successful junior camp throughout the summer. There were 110 participants when he arrived and there would have been 215 this year if  this summer’s camps hadn’t have been cancelled because of COVID-19.

That’s a lot of extra revenue, which is another area where the course has been turned around by Mr. Moore.

When he came to Brantford, the city’s golf courses were running large deficits. For the 2018 golf year – the last year a public filing is available – the two courses earned a surplus of more than $60,000.

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To make a profit at a city-run recreational facility is almost unheard of, particularly when it comes to golf courses.

Just last year, Moore was congratulated on Twitter by the City of Brantford and Mayor Kevin Davis for winning the PGA of Ontario’s Junior Golf Leader of the Year.

And, while Visocchi made clear that Moore is highly thought of within Brantford’s corporate structure, his reward for all of this hard work seems to be that he’ll have to pay to play at the course where he works — at least for now.

Suddenly taking away the playing privileges of employees at a golf course in the middle of the season is not right, even if it’s just a “pause.” The employees should fight. The city should have allowed the practice to continue until it finished its investigation into what similar courses do.

But worse is to take away the privileges of your head professional, who has poured his heart and soul into golf in this city and who has turned things around dramatically at the two courses.  That’s not a good look for Brantford.

The city needs to do the right thing by taking its finger off the pause button, which would allow Moore to get back to doing his job, which includes playing at the golf course where he works for 60-plus hours a week each summer.

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