Rio Hondo Course : Downey May Revamp Golf Fees and Rules : GOLF: Downey May Change Fees, Rules

Every Saturday at dawn, rain or shine, Jack Andreasen and his buddies tee off at the Rio Hondo Golf Course.

Andreasen, 62, a retired auto worker, is president of the Rio Hondo Men’s Golf Club, an organization 600 strong that monopolizes weekend playing time at the city-owned golf course.

Andreasen doesn’t live in Downey, however. He lives in Norwalk. Like at least half of the members, he is an out-of-towner in a club that reserves 60 starting times for 60 foursomes every weekend. The reservations tie up the course from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturdays and from 9 am. to 1 p.m. Sundays, Andreasen said.

The men’s club’s dominance of the golf course has come under criticism from City Council members, who are saying the club may have to give up some of its reserved starting times on weekends and pay an increased price for reservations.

Right now, a member of the organization pays $10 a year to reserve a start on the golf course every weekend of the year. The annual reservation fee has not been changed for 15 years, city officials said.

“That’s the best bargain I ever heard in this town,” said council member Diane Boggs during a council meeting last week.

In interviews this week, other council members said the men’s club may have to give up some of its privileges. The discussion of fees and rules comes at a time when the council plans to seek bids on new city contracts for operating and maintaining the golf course.

“It’s the taxpayers’ golf course, it’s not a private golf course--but, in my opinion, it has been operated like a private golf course,” said Councilman Bob Davila.

“That golf course is for the people in this community,” council member James Santangelo said in an interview. “It’s a public course, but on the other hand, we don’t want that course monopolized by people from out of town.”

Both Davila and Santangelo said Downey residents have complained to them that on weekends, they cannot get a starting time on the city course.

Santangelo, Davila, Boggs and a fourth council member, Robert Cormack, have all said that the $10 fee may be raised. But Andreasen said the council may be “looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

“Naturally, I’m against anything that’s going to cost more money,” he said in an interview. Of the council, he said, “They ought to leave well enough alone.”

Andreasen said the men’s club, which charges a $75-a-year membership fee, pays its course reservation fees at the beginning of every year, so the city takes in $2,400 whether club members play or not. He said club members spend $300,000 annually at the golf course, counting what they pay for golf carts, greens fees and purchases at the pro shop.

Andreasen said of Davila, who does not play golf and has criticized the men’s club’s dominance of the course in the past, “He wouldn’t know a golf ball from a cantaloupe.”

Other Fees Lower

The reservation fees at other municipal golf courses in the area, however, are even cheaper than Downey’s.

At the three city-owned golf courses in Long Beach--El Dorado, Recreation and Skylinks--it costs only $10 every three years to buy a card that gives a golfer the right to make reservations six days in advance for weekday or weekend games. The cards are not restricted to Long Beach residents or to members of any club, said Bob Vogel, Skylinks golf pro.

At Montebello’s city course, the men’s golf club of that city gets reserved starting times on weekends, but at least three of five golfers have to be city residents, said Larry Torres, parks and recreation facilities manager. Montebello charges no reservation fees, Torres said.

In Downey, the City Council in July will request bids on maintaining and operating the Rio Hondo course through the end of the year.

The city purchased the golf course in 1970 for $4.3 million, and for years has contracted for its management and maintenance.

Since 1977, the course and pro shop had been run by Ken Cherry, who earned $82,000 in the last fiscal year, but the council fired Cherry March 13 for unspecified violations of his contract.

Cherry could not be reached for comment, and council members would not speak on the record about the former golf course management.

Terms of Contract

Under the contract with Cherry, the city received 92% of all greens fees, which are $8 on weekdays and $10 on weekends. The city also received at least $1,000 a month from the pro shop, 90% of the $13 golf cart fee, and 40% of the driving range fee, which runs from $1 to $6, depending on the size of the bucket of balls. The fees are the same for members of the men’s club and non-members.

The golf course generated $1.1 million in the 1983-84 fiscal year, and operated at a net profit of $75,427, according to city records.

Since 1972, maintenance of the city golf course has been handled by Avila Golf Services, which earned $273,000 the last fiscal year. The contract with Avila expires June 30, and Santangelo has complained that the course could be better maintained.