Steve Gill was a fixture at the Wellington Golf Club for 29 years.

Part 2 of 3-part series

by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — To say Steve Gill knows the Wellington Golf course is an under statement. The former golf manager was in charge of the grounds of the course for 29 years — from 1984 to 2012. Even before that, he helped his father Gerald, who was the course manager as Steve was growing up.

He took a lot of pride over the years in the course and knew every inch of every green.

The Wellington Golf Course is still a fine course, but he has seen some deterioration. There have also been some environmental issues that have caused problems.

The course has been owned by the city for years, and there is discussion going on as to what the city’s financial participation should be. Gill hopes the course will return to its high standards, of course, and he said he is available for advice or any information he could give course or city officials.

The course itself has been city owned for as long as anyone can remember. It was built in 1919 as a nine-hole course and was changed to an 18-hole course not long after that. There is no talk of changing that arrangement, but there has been a need expressed for continued, or even expanded, financial support from the city.

Gill said there has been a change in the landscape over the years, and that is one reason the local course is struggling financially. The course was able to pay for itself through the 1970s and 1980s, and they even built up a nice reserve fund.

In the mid 80s the city changed the arrangement from the golf course being part of the general fund to being in an enterprise fund.

Gill said in the 70s and 80s the course was a money-making venture — with 35,000 or so rounds of golf being played each year. Wichita companies would have weekends here where they would bring customers for an outing. The landscape changed though, as other courses were built and competition for customers became more intense. Businesses also began cutting back when expenses like golf outings were no longer tax deductible.

Those two factors together made the local golf course not as profitable, and the city has had to chip in to help make ends meet. According to city budget numbers, the city of Wellington puts in about $60,000 per year into the golf course.

“In the 1980s, the game was growing rapidly,” Gill said. “A lot of facilities were being built but revenues exceeded expenses. But then in the 90s, the area became overbuilt with golf courses and businesses starting to cutback.”

While the rounds of golf being played at Wellington were about 35,000 in the 80s, it was down to 22,000 by the time he retired in 2012.

“There was a big paradigm shift in the number of rounds played,” Gill said. “More courses were being built with more bells and whistles. People were also not playing as much golf.”

Gill hopes the course can be restored to its glory days of the 80s, and he said they seem to have a good plan as far as sales go.

But he said there will have to be some money put into the course to even maintain what is there now.

“When revenue was going good we bought good used equipment,” Gill said. “The irrigation system was put in about 1993 and it is aging.”

Additionally there has always been good public support for the course. It was public support that created the unique greens that adorn the course now.

They are raised slightly, which was popular when they were put in about 1960 which were converted from sand greens. It was a huge undertaking, but Wellington’s course became one of the most coveted in south-central Kansas.

Gill said this makes it unique in the area and it makes it a bit challenging. It is a short course as far as yardage is concerned. But the raised greens made it more interesting to play.

Gill always liked the fact that all kinds of people used the course. Golf is often associated with more wealthy people, but there have always been people from all economic levels playing at the course here.

The course also has a lot of trees compared to other courses, and many of those were planted by Gerald Gill.

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The golf’s future

But now the course has reached another turning point. Gill sees the condition deteriorating, going from great to good. He believes the city will have to continue supporting the course for it to remain competitive.

There are still a good number of people coming from out of town to play and it is popular with people in Wichita.

There are other cities around that support their golf courses.

Quail Ridge in Winfield, for instance, was developed around upscale housing and built for that purpose. Ponca City has a nice course that is also supported by the city.

Gill said for the course to remain competitive with Quail Ridge, Ponca City and others, it will have to be maintained at a very high level.

He used to walk around the course every day and find things to fix, and that is what it takes.

The course recently had a problem with Fairy Ring, a fungus that attacks greens, and makes them not as attractive. There are also weeds creeping into the fairways.

Gill said some might say the course is a waste of money, but he added that if the golf course were not there it would probably still cost the city $50,000 a year to keep it mowed. And, if the course closed you would probably have 100 families move out of town, lowering the tax base even more.

He added that for years the golf course gradually increased its fees, cart rentals and other prices, but eventually you price yourself out of the market if you go too far.

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