The City of Dayton announced today that it is permanently closing Kitty Hawk and Madden Golf Centers. The city has already instituted a hiring freeze, shuttered capital projects, and slashed budgets as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
Officials said Dayton was facing tough choices when it came to its golf courses even before the pandemic. A 2018 study by the National Golf Foundation found that Dayton’s golf courses needed a minimum subsidy of $7.5 million over the next five years.
City Manager Shelley Dickstein said new COVID-19 state standards would require even more funding, all for a resource that less than 2 percent of Dayton residents use.
“Simply put, having the general fund support golf operation is an impossible scenario, considering a significant loss of revenue and budget cuts underway,” she said.
Officials spared the city’s third golf course, Community Golf Center, which they said generally brings in a small surplus. The city plans to put revenue generated from Community Golf Center back into recreation services. The staff is working out social distancing and sanitation protocols, but Dickstein said she expects it to reopen in the very near future.
