Ridgefield Golf Course Is Optimistic With New Membership Program

It was a rough season last year for the Ridgefield golf course -- bad weather in the early spring and two big storms had town officials worrying about the public course's revenue.

But a new membership plan and a warm March show promising signs for the Ridgefield golf course, said golf committee chairman Ed Tyrell.

"We were able to open early this year and the course is in very good shape," said Tyrell, who played three times this week already. "We think the new membership structure is going to create incentive for people to play more."

As opposed to previous years when there were resident and non-resident fees only, this season introduced a membership program that allows both residents and non-residents to choose different options for a season's worth of golf.

"That's our hope," Tyrell said, "that we can bring more people to the course through this program."

The golf course has been discussed several times by both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance this year in terms of its expense-revenue ratio -- after last year's flop, things weren't looking good.

But First Selectman Rudy Marconi and the Board of Finance commended its progress this year and said they, too, were optimistic for the coming season's revenue.

As of now, almost 100 "platinum" memberships have been sold and the course has sold about 350 memberships overall -- the membership program is designed to attract people from outside of Ridgefield, Tyrell said.

"We're trying to create more of a tie to our course," Tyrell said. "So people keep coming back."