Callippe Preserve golf course to open Nov. 11 Callippe Preserve golf course to open Nov. 11 (September 02, 2005)

Weekend green fees set at $51 for residents
by Jeb Bing

Pleasanton's $34.5-million Callippe Preserve golf course and public trails will open Friday, Nov. 11 with green fees set at $42 weekdays and $60 for weekend play. The public will also have access free of charge starting that day to a three-mile system of trails and equestrian paths around the 145-acre golf course and into parts of the hills above.

The city Parks and Recreation Commission approved the opening day plan this week, although its fee schedule and other operating plans must also be approved by the City Council at its Sept. 20 meeting.

The fee structure, developed in conjunction with CourseCo, the Petaluma-based golf course management firm that will maintain and operate Callippe Preserve, provides a 15 per cent discount for Pleasanton residents. Those fees will be $36 on weekdays and $51 on weekends, with senior rates for those at least 60 years of age able to play $26 on weekdays. Out-of-town fees for seniors will be $28, with no senior discounts to be given on weekends.

Special junior rates for those under 18 have been set at $12 for residents, $14 for non-residents.

Cart fees for the 18-hole course will be $13 for all golfers, regardless of the number of holes played.

A group of seniors asked the commission to consider other special-rate fees for frequent players or for twilight play late in the day, as some other golf courses provide.

James Wolfe, Director of Parks and Community Services, said additional special fees will be considered by the city and CourseCo, but that the fee structure initially is set up to cover and eventually start paying-down the golf course debt. Because of over-building of golf courses in the area and a drop in the number of golfers nationwide, it's expected that the city will have to subsidize the bond repayments and golf course operations by as much as $1.1 million a year.

Wolfe said the number of annual rounds for Callippe for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2006 is now projected at 55,000, a reduction over more than 25 percent from the estimate 10 years ago when plans to build the Happy Valley course were approved.

He said Callippe will be competing against other public play golf courses, including Poppy Ridge, The Bridges, Course at Wente, Dublin Ranch, mountain House, Metropolitan Oakland, Monarch Bay and three new public play courses in Brentwood.

The green fees at Callippe are roughly in the middle range of fees charged at these other courses, Wolfe added. A weekend resident rate at Dublin Ranch is $65, compared to $51 at Callippe and $35 a Monarch Bay in San Leandro. The non-resident weekend rate of $60 at Callippe compares to at high of $78 at Poppy Ridge to the lowest of $40 at Las Positas golf course in Livermore.

The commission also took no action on a proposal by Commissioner Kurt Kummer to allow resident of unincorporated Happy Valley to play at Callippe as "residents." Later, one commissioner said that if Pleasanton waived its resident-only fees for Happy Valley, it would also face similar requests by residents of Castlewood and even Sunol, also unincorporated communities.

2

E-mail a friend a link to this story.