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Regents approve University Ridge golf course expansion
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by Michael Gendall
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
WEST BEND — The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a resolution Friday granting authority to increase the scope and budget of the University Ridge Golf Course Phase III Project to more than $1.19 million in Program Revenue Supported Borrowing.
The University Ridge Golf Course, located in Verona and home to the UW men's and women's golf teams, is sometimes dismissed by the NCAA in its bids for hosting tournaments due to its small size, University Ridge general manager Mike Urben said.
"The project proposes to expand existing holes which have not been altered since 1991," Regent Jesus Salas, who chairs the Physical Planning and Funding Committee, said at the regents' meeting in West Bend Friday. "The previously approved project [also] addresses the need of UW golf teams by providing a nine-hole academy [golf] course and additional practice area."
Urben said University Ridge currently measures approximately 6,900 yards, while most of today's courses measure anywhere from 7,200 to 7,400 yards.
"For men, if we're going to host an NCAA event down the road, we have to get into the 7,200 to 7,400 range," Urben said.
Regent Thomas Loftus, the only regent to vote against the resolution, said he opposed it because he is concerned about UW competing with other golf courses in the business sector.
"This proposes to build a new nine-hole golf course … in addition to the golf course that [is] already there," he said at the meeting.
Loftus added that University Ridge will be a par-three course in competition with three other par-three courses in Dane County, one very close by.
"This is a tight business, running a golf course," Loftus noted. "The profit margins are thin, and this is the university going into the business area and they will compete with others, and I am going to oppose this because of that."
Salas responded to criticism by stressing the extent to which the resolution would help the university's athletic programs.
"To maintain ourselves [as] competitive for [both men's and women's] teams, we need, as I said earlier, to expand the holes [and to] come in compliance with the appropriate length at the NCAA level," Salas said.
UW Associate Athletic Director for Operations John Chadima said that by lengthening the course, the university would be more likely to host golf tournaments in the future.
"Our existing 18-hole course is somewhat undersized to host a men's NCAA tournament," Chadima said, adding that with the regents' resolution, "We could have some opportunities to host tournaments and, in particular, men's tournaments, in the future."
After some regents, including President David Walsh, questioned whether the university should actually allocate so much money to athletics, UW Chancellor John Wiley defended the athletic department's rights to maintaining its own pool of cash reserves.
Wiley said about 15 years ago, the athletic department was in debt and that a few losing seasons for the football and basketball teams could potentially restore their post as a detriment to the university's funds.
"[If we] hold their feet to the fire not to go into debt and saddle us with a bill, it's fair for them to have and maintain significant cash reserves," Wiley told the regents Friday. "In fact, it would be irresponsible for them not to."
Walsh countered by arguing that in an age of dwindling state funding for the UW System, the regents should consider changing their approach to the money generated by athletics.
"My point is, we do subsidize various departments and various people, and all I want to make sure is that we don't sit around and say this is their money and this is somebody else's money," he said.
Walsh added he recognizes the omnipresent possibility of a few bad football teams decreasing revenue, but the university should take advantage of the current profit and allocate that money to other university faculty.
"We're going to have a TV contract coming in with the Big Ten … and [it] will be a great day when that happens, and we can give money back to the faculty," Walsh said. "I'm sorry that I'm stubborn about this, but I think it's time we look for other sources of revenue if the Legislature won't give it to us."
