Hillsview Golf Course had a busy season after more people turned up to hit the greens in the 2021 than in any year dating back to the 2011 flood.
“We keep track of rounds played, which is the number of people who play each day,” Course Manager and Head Golf Professional Carin Doyle-Hayn told the Capital Journal. “And that number’s going to surpass 32,000 this year when it’s all said and done. So that’s definitely the most that we’ve had in that period of time since the flood.”
The 2011 Missouri River flood ultimately closed the course for about 23 months, from Memorial Day weekend of 2011 to April 27, 2013, Doyle-Hayn said. She told the Capital Journal in early May that the course was already 800 rounds ahead of the pace of the 2020 season, which saw an uptick of rounds in itself from 2019.
“Our season this year’s going to be 230 days, so you can kind of do the math on that,” Doyle-Hayn said. “We stay nice and active, and it was really a really good season, overall. Our city revenue categories were really up which is good, which means we had more season pass holders, we had I think it was 65 more season pass holders in our different categories this year than we had last year… And a lot of times when we have the season pass numbers pop up, then sometimes our green fee numbers and some of those things will trend downward, but that wasn’t the case either. Our green fees are up.”
Doyle-Hayn said she isn’t quite sure what brought this year’s numbers up so high, but she noted that Hillsview offers a popular outdoor activity in the midst of a continuing pandemic.
“We have a great facility here and one-of-a-kind in the area for the most part, we feel like we’re kind of one-of-a-kind in what we have to offer, and so we have a golf community that has supported it all along,” Doyle-Hayn said. “But you know, it fluctuates some here and there. So that upward movement is really positive and we’re just hoping that trend continues, that people are coming back to golf and enjoy golf and what we have to offer, so we just kind of try to take one day at a time and offer them a great product and great service and make them want to come back.”
Pierre Parks and Rec. Director Tom Farnsworth said Hillsview unofficially grossed $94,500 more between January and October 2021 than the same period in 2020.
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