LOOKING FROM THE OUTSIDE; WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

For the first time since April of this year, I played a full 18 holes at the Gallup Municipal Golf Course. Despite my bad play, I enjoyed the company of five local golfers who chose to spare my wallet (thanks!). The service at the pro-shop was good, I think this young lady Evelyn, is an asset and I hope she learns as much about golf as possible, it can only help the operation.  She is trying, but the policies set forth that she has to follow, are not conductive to making a golfer feel welcome. Almost like saying, "pay up, go play and we'll see you next time". Big deal!

While I had fun and enjoyed the afternoon, I also realized why play is minimal. But try to say anything about service to those who make policies, and they'll say, "that's the rules!" Really? Chang the rules!

"No bills larger than $20" (really? at a golf course?); the sign on #1 reads,  "RANGE CLOSED, CLOSED, CLOSED". We know, actually since 2007. Maybe each "closed" is intended for each year closed, if so, it is missing 2 big "CLOSED" words (2010,2011)!; Q: "can you tell me who is playing?" A: "no, we cannot disclose who is playing"; Q: "is it busy?" A: "come and find out, we cannot say"; Q: "can you loan me a cart to go see if that group is going to play the back nine?" A: "no, you need to pay"; Q: "Can I host a tournament here?", A: "sure, it'll cost you $38.00 per person. It includes $15.00 for gift certificates that you need to redeem within a year in practically nothing that we have in he pro-shop"; Q: "who will handle the tournament for me?" A: "Uh? We have some golfers that might want to do it. Otherwise, it's your responsibility to put it together"; Q: "Who gives lessons?" A: "We have a couple of school teachers that can help you when they are around."; Q: "Are they good teachers?" A: "Don't know" Q: "Do you patrol the course?", A: "uh?"; Q: "Have they mowed the greens?" A: "I don't know, we are not told".... get the picture?

Add the above to the conditions (someone needs to say: "LET'S GET RID OF THE WEEDS AND START MOWING REGULARLY" and stop listening to those who make silly rules because you might be afraid of your job), and you can see that golfers are a lot more faithful here than in other parts of the country. Losing only 30% revenue in the last fiscal year might have been much better than elsewhere. But you won't see that printed in the paper any time soon.

Realistically, the golf course will never be able to pay for itself in Gallup (in small cities, it seldom does), but we can minimize the cost. Gallup needs a golf course. It is a quality of life issue. No one has an idea of the benefits, particularly to our youth. The course needs to be "cleaned up" and maintained as it has not been properly maintained since early 2007 when the main goal was to beautify everything but the fairways and greens. At least before 2007, Vince Alonzo (back again in "the saddle"), Richard Gomez, Preston Tom, Dennis Nieto and Co. tried their best with very little, to maintain what we had. ENCOURAGE THEM and give them some resources (I assure you, the monies will be better spent than before!!