LETTERS: JAYCEE COURSE NEEDS TO INSTALL SOME BENT GRASS

To the editor:

I find it hard to believe that golfers in Cape Girardeau are not petitioning the city to put in bent grass greens at the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course. After all these years playing on very poor Bermuda greens six months of the year and then playing on worse temporary greens the other six months, I would have thought you all would say "Enough!"

We deserve a quality municipal course with bent grass greens like all the other cities our size in the heartland. We are tired of playing on the only Bermuda grass greens north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Sure, it would cost a little more to play on a quality course with bent grass greens, but it would be well worth it. Some of the additional expense would be offset by more play the six months of the year when the course has temporary greens. Many golfers go elsewhere to play because of the temporary greens.

I think the Jaycee course is well-managed and maintained. The fairways have never been better, and the layout of the holes is great. There are some beautiful water holes also. The staff is polite and attentive. However, when you mention bent grass greens to management, they almost go ballistic. They pull out every negative statistic they have saved over the years to convince us that if bent grass greens are installed, only the well-off could afford to play golf. We know this is not true.

Ninety-five percent of the golf courses in the upper Midwest have bent grass greens. This includes municipal courses. The number of rounds of golf and the number of new golfers is increasing every year by leaps and bounds.

So come on, Cape. Start the ball rolling to bring the old Jaycee course up to par with all the other municipal courses in the heartland.

DAVID E. YOUNG

Jackson, Mo.