Frank Peters Driving Range

Dear Editor

The park board, city council, mayor and city manager decided to allow dirt to be removed from the Frank E. Peters Golf Course driving range in order to use it for some baseball fields around the first of the year. The "plan" was to have it done, rebuilt, and seeded by early April. Well, it's still not complete, and remains unusable and closed.

I'd strongly suggest this lack of completion by the young contractor from Sheldon selected for the project has cost the community hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Area golfers regularly use the range to warm up for play, practice and take lessons, as well as providing our youth programs and golf teams from the area an adequate practice area. Following a successful lesson and/or practice session golfers typically go play the course. Lacking a driving range, we sometimes tend to lack the inspiration to go "prove" what our practice provided in improvements.

Nobody in parks or on the council seems to even acknowledge the continued delay in the ranges completion. It lacks the "green target mounds", grading and an adequate seeding to keep balls from sticking in the mud on wet days.

When the budget and performance of the city course is evaluated, it will certainly indicate a lower income ... it's not the fees, it's not the lack of interest in golf, it's not the management; it's due totally to the lack of an adequate driving range which languishes in an unusable condition. YES, it's obviously due to a total lack of commitment by parks, council, mayor and city manager to complete the "Plan" which they chose, then forgot!

John "Needs Practice" Taylor

Nevada