Representatives from Kemper Sports, the new management company for Prairie Trails, met with the El Dorado City Commission Monday to discuss plans for the facility.
Commissioners had a variety of questions themselves and questions they had heard from the public about the operation of the golf course.
One of those questions was how many employees Kemper would be bringing to the city.
Keith Hanley, vice president of operations, said all current staff will become employees of Kemper and they will be looking for a general manager for the golf course.
They also were asked about the name for the course, and if they could incorporate public into it.
Hanley said a case was being made that they wanted to change the name or logo and start a new branding
process.
“We have some ideas,” Hanley said. “We just haven’t had the opportunity to present those at this time.”
“Marketing is going to be real important,” said Commissioner Linda Clark. “I associate it as country club.
To get people retrained it is public is going to be so important.”
Hanley said they pride themselves on being able to market their golf courses and be the best in their class.
“We don’t want to completely change the culture of Prairie Trails today, but come up with a plan that incorporates more of the community,” he said.
Another possible change addressed was the decorum of the facility.
“How do you see decorum being established out there?” asked Mayor Tom McKibban, giving such examples as behavior, clothing and rules of conduct.
Kemper Sports has a number of different templates they use at their other properties which can be applied here.
Hanley said one guideline was there is usually 4 to 4 1/2 hours allowed for 18 holes of golf.
“It becomes an education process with each golfer out there,” he said. “For dress code, we make some recommendations on proper golf attire, not to make that exclusionary.”
He gave examples of no swimsuits and golfers must wear shoes.
“All of that we have ready to go,” he said.
It also was asked if they would offer a reciprocal agreement with other Kemper-operated courses.
The most common of those will be with Sand Creek Station in Newton, although they will work out agreements with all five of their courses in Kansas City as well. Those are all owned by the cities so the agreements have to be worked out with them.
Another question arose about storing personal golf carts at Prairie Trails, which is done at the American Legion course now.
Hanley said he would look into their options for that.
On the subject of carts, they also talked about the poor shape a lot of the Prairie Trails carts are in now.
Hanley said they would recommend a new fleet of golf carts. He said they have the pricing of that but have not presented it to the city yet.
Another thing they are doing is looking to create prices for everyday golfing to include carts and memberships.
“We want to involve the city of El Dorado on their thoughts as well,” Hanley said.
One other concern was the men’s night and women’s night groups.
The season for those started this week and McKibban said the groups were looking for some leadership.
“I think it is essential we get some leadership in pretty quick,” McKibban expressed.
Hanley suggested they do a meet and greet in a townhall setting with each of those groups to hear their thoughts and concerns. He felt a small advisory board to speak for each of those groups would be beneficial.
“We are providing a service so hopefully we can help them run an event,” he said.
They will be setting up a date in a couple of weeks to hold those meetings.
Another issue addressed was the closing of the American Legion course.
Their annual memberships end in March, so they plan to treat it like Prairie Trails and bill it monthly for now. They do not have plans to close it at the end of this month; rather wanting to wait on any decisions until they talk with the professionals.
One other topic brought up by Clark was the fact the maintenance shop at Prairie Trails used to be a junior club house, which included such things as pool tables. She said they also offered swimming lessons at the pool there. She wanted to know if it would be possible to reinstate that.
“It really encouraged families with younger children,” she said.
Chris Tuohey, the general manger at Sand Creek, said that would be part of their marketing and they would listen to the customers and see what the demand is.
“I would love to see a very strong junior golf program at Prairie Trails,” he said. “I like to see youth groups get to be introduced to the game of golf.”
Currently the maintenance shop is being used to store some of the carts, which is something they would have to look at before making any decisions.
While they are still working out the details of the exact start date for Kemper Sports, Tuohey has offered his services to help with the transition until they find a full-time general manager for El Dorado.
“I’m 30 miles away so I can certainly help in any way possible,” he said.
The commission approved 5-0 to allow the mayor to sign the contract with Kemper Sports.
