Does Westwood need a new clubhouse?

When Community Services Manager Brian Laube presented a draft list of goals for the Newton Park Board to approve during its July 18 meeting at city hall, the most-talked-about item was the construction of a new clubhouse at Westwood Golf Course — a project that has been discussed for years but never produced any concrete results.

Construction of the new clubhouse, Laube said, would be a downsized version from previous plans. In 2015, former Newton Parks Administrative Superintendent Nathan Unsworth proposed an estimated $3.4 million plan presented by Big Creek Design Group, which included a fully furnished, 225-person capacity clubhouse with a new pro shop, golfer’s lounge, locker rooms, cart storage in the basement and a banquet room. The high price tag also included work on the parking lot and storage and equipment buildings along the property.

“Just because of the sheer scale of it, we’ve talked about downsizing. We keep referring to Plan A and Plan B. I went up to park board and said, ‘Well, we had been calling it Plan C but now we’re calling it Plan D,’” Laube said.

The downsized vision aims to seat 150 people for events and tournaments. Westwood Golf Pro Brad Sponseller described the Plan A, $3.4 million clubhouse as a “great dream” but acknowledged the scaled-down version as a likely better option for staff and visitors.

“We came up with this grandmaster plan but didn’t come up with the following plans to go along with it,” Sponseller said. “The bad thing about this facility is when we have an outing of 75 or 100 (people) and they just want to sit down and eat, we don’t have the space for them.”

Other visions

In addition to building a new clubhouse, the draft of goals listed several other projects and visions for the Park Board to examine and consider, including the installation of new pit toilets at the far reaches of Westwood Golf Course; construction of handicap accessible and inclusive playground equipment; completion of Sunset Park improvements per recent planning and design efforts; finalization of city-wide hike and bike trail loop and a trail spur to Thirty Acre Park; installation of nighttime skating; evaluation of long-term needs or uses of all city parks; coordination of Eagle Scout and other service projects in city parks; connection of Newton’s trail system to the Central Iowa bike trail system and expansion of marketing efforts.

Park Board members and meeting attendees discussed the idea of a new clubhouse in great length after councilwoman Evelyn George voiced concerns the golf course would shift from a park to an event center and the construction of the facility possibly draining the city’s budget.

“It’s not just about golf in order to make it a cost effective and a wise investment,” George said during the meeting. “It’s not just building the building, you’ve got all the costs after that, which is (why) you have to have a business plan that shows how you’re going to be successful. You have to have someone operating it that is excellent at event management. I have a great deal of concern about that because I know that’s a long-term investment.”

Public Works Director Jody Rhone said he feels Westwood Golf Course is another park and is no different from Woodland Park, Agnes-Patterson or Maytag Park. Constructing a new clubhouse is a “quality of life issue,” he added and serves as a way to draw both residents and out-of-towners to the community.

Several groups of people have wanted to host golf tournaments at the local 18-hole course, Rhone said. In order to host a golf tournament, the clubhouse would need to comfortably fill 150 spots.

“We had to turn away numerous tournaments because they said that we just can’t host the 150 people,” Rhone said. “Yes, it’s going to take an investment, but I don’t feel like it would add more labor. I don’t think we’ll have to add more staffing or anything … We went out and did an extensive tour of the clubhouse, and if we’re not going to build a new one, we’re going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating that one … It’s that bad.”

A new way forward

Westwood Golf Course opened in the 1920s with nine holes. By the 1960s, the back nine was added to the property while the front nine was redone a decade later; around that time a front patio was added to the clubhouse. Another decade later, more room was added to the space, as well as a new roof to the upstairs apartment where former Westwood Golf Pro Larry Stewart lived before Sponseller took over. New bathrooms were installed sometime in the 1990s.

“It’s just been added on to and added on to, and for a while it really worked. Now the building is starting to show its age where they’ve added on to certain areas. We get a few leaks when we get heavy rains or a big snow melt in a few areas, so we also have some roof issues.” Sponseller said. “The last renovation I would say was 10 years ago.”

Laube added, “That was more of a facelift.”

Sheetrock was added to the walls while windows were replaced where there was consistent rot. Then everything was painted over. So apart from the “facelift,” Sponseller said the last real renovation of the clubhouse was in the late 1990s when new bathrooms were installed.

“There’s really no expanding,” Sponseller said. “We know eventually we’ll have to definitely either put some money into this facility or start over. The roof, heating and cooling, windows, plumbing issues — eventually we’re going to have to come up with a serious plan. Do you want to spend all this money doing this or maybe add a little more money and build something you don’t have to worry about in the next 10 or 15 years?”

Laube envisions a clubhouse that would still find use during the off-season. He compared the idea to the Newton Arboretum & Botanical Gardens’ rental facilities, which would allow visitors to utilize the space for graduation parties, open houses, family get-togethers and other events.

“This could be something that any citizen — even if you’re not a golfer — can reserve it and rent the space,” Laube said Thursday at the clubhouse.

During the meeting, member Amanda Price compared Laube’s vision to a park shelter house in which citizens are in charge of everything they do at the clubhouse and are liable for any damages. Although open to the idea, George was skeptical of allowing guests the option to bring whatever they want into the space and suggested there be someone to oversee the possible rentals.

Current clubhouse amenities include a small dining area with a simple menu of food and drinks, a pro shop full of gear, a downstairs locker room that’s seen better days, restrooms and an open outdoor patio equipped with picnic tables.

At the meeting, Price said a new clubhouse has been a goal of the Park Board for a long time.

“I think the point is this has to be done and we need to quit ignoring it,” she said. “The building is falling apart. We have an insanely amazing golf course and we’re just making it look like a huge dump by having that building ... I think it’s important. It gets really irritating when it’s on the top of our list every year and nothing ever gets done. I get that it’s an expensive item, but a lot of things are expensive items.”

Rhone said the clubhouse is beyond maintenance and is also in need of a shop building to contain grounds keeping equipment. He also praised the course’s aesthetics for drawing in golfers from out of town.

“The one nice thing that we have compared to all the surrounding course (is) nobody’s got as nice a course as we do,” he said. “They want to play here, but unfortunately smaller courses around us can host a full tournament.”

Although Park Board approved the list of goals, George reasoned the best way to present the notion of a new clubhouse would be to evaluate current life spans of the roof, heating and cooling systems and other amenities.

"Those are the kinds of things that would help it become not this emotional 'we-need-this,'" she said. "We need to make it relevant to all the taxpayers. You're either putting a new roof in on this old building with all these issues or you're building a new building and now it's a facility that you and your family and your class reunion and so forth can use."

Park Board Chair Melanie Humphrey agreed with the councilwoman’s sentiments.

“I think that’s important to point out what everything is going to cost us and what the total is going to be and why we need to look at a new one,” Humphrey said. “That needs to come out so people understand why we want this.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com