This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A legislator is proposing the state study privatizing its golf courses ("Bill: Study privatizing Utah State Park golf courses," Tribune, Feb. 19). It is true that so far, only Wasatch golf course makes money; however, because there is a multimillion-dollar bond on the two courses at Soldier Hollow, no private outfit is even going to bid to try to run them.
If any non-governmental course management company were hired, prices would nearly double in order to make a profit. And I guarantee that course conditioning would suffer almost immediately as the operator tried to reduce costs.
Soldier Hollow alone has more than 20 volunteers keeping the course neat, conditioned and playable. And it is still relatively new with increasing revenues every year since opening in 2004.
Soldier Hollow has hosted many in-state tournaments and is the only Utah course that has hosted a U.S. Golf Association tournament. It has recently undergone improvements to make it more playable and more fun. If legislators want to privatize something to keep out socialism, try liquor. This proposed legislation is "out of bounds."
Mike Eberlein
Park City