City Hears Proposal on Pines

Toccoa City Commissioners hear from one of the individuals interested in operating the city-owned Pines golf course.

Terry M. Martin, a retiring educator who currently lives in the Atlanta area, spoke to city commissioners Monday representing his Tall Pines Management Group.

Martin submitted one of the two proposals for operating the nine-hole, city-owned course that has been closed since late August.

He said operating the course successfully will be a difficult project.

According to Martin, one reason is that the entire golf industry is in decline and added that many people he spoke to feel it will be difficult for Toccoa to support a nine-hole course.

“I have been looking at this and have thousands of hours in it now,” said Martin. “I have had a lot of people look at the plan. They are still somewhat suspect of whether or not a profit can be made here.”

Martin said he would require an eight-year lease to operate the facility.

That is because he said there is no profit to be made at the very least for about three years.

“I am looking that this project is going to bleeding red ink profusely in the first 12 to 18 months,” said Martin. “Then you might slap a tourniquet on it, slow it down to a spew or drip. But it is going to bleed for three years. I do not see any way around it.”

Martin’s proposal called for the city and his group to each put money forward for renovations on the course, while also requesting that the city undertake a number of other improvements to get the course ready for play.

He said the scariest potential repair that may need to be made is the course’s irrigation system and the possibility it will have to be completely replaced.

“You have an irrigation system that may not even function at all,” said Martin. “It is galvanized pipe and if you know what happens to old galvanized pipes that go into old houses. It corrodes and gets smaller and smaller.

He called the irrigation system a “Pandora’s Box” and said an assessment had to be done.

Martin also said the course’s greens must be repaired and made bigger.

His proposal also called for work on the tee boxes, cart paths, and bunkers, among other areas.

Even after all of that, Martin said many he has talked to feel that the course will not turn a profit.

Toccoa Mayor Gail Fry said that she feels it can work.

“What I have heard from you is that we need to spend all this money but it is not going to work because this place is not going anywhere,” said Fry. “I think it can work. I think it takes a community and takes all of us.”

“I have not heard that from you,” said Fry. “What I have heard from you is that it is not going to work.”

Martin said he feels it can work and can be an asset and a valuable part of the community and wants to see that happen.

“This is where we are at, that is where we want to go, what is between here and there and what do we have to do,” said Martin, comparing it to coaching and administration in the schools and adding he would not have spent so much time on this if he did not feel it would work.

The city will continue to look at options for operating the golf course next month and may make a decision by the end of the year, according to Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse.