Members speak out at Bangor Survey of golfers yields constructive criticism

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The holders of season memberships at Bangor Municipal Golf Course have spoken – written, at least – and their opinions have been noted.

“We heard complaints last year,” said Frank Comeau, director of Bangor Parks and Recreation, which oversees the 27-hole golf facility, “so we came up with a survey.”

Eighty-six of the approximately 260 surveys were returned, which was a little higher return rate than expected, Comeau said.

Overall, Comeau summarized the results as 72.1 percent of the respondents rating the course as fair or better, with 27.9 percent being dissatisfied.

“No question there’s some very constructive criticism in there,” said head pro Brian Enman.

One of he biggest concerns of the respondents involved the work on the sand bunkers that will be entering its third year. One of the major complaints, said Enman, was that the staff was doing a lot of bunkers at once.

“We rent the equipment to do it, and we can’t rent it each time we want to do a bunker. It’s better to do a lot of them at once,” he said.

Enman had the bunker work done by superintendent Russell Bragg and his staff the last two years. That may have saved some money, but it raised other concerns.

“We were doing a lot of the work in-house, so that got us behind on other projects,” said Enman. “Maybe this year we’ll hire out for the new nine so we can concentrate on the golf course.”

Those other concerns included getting yardage markers on the nine-hole course, adding or replacing benches at the tees, putting out more ball washers and keeping them filled, and the condition of some of the greens on the new nine.

The watering system on the new nine broke last year, and parts to fix it were not readily available, according to Enman.

“We were without water on [holes 5-9] for three or four days, and those just happened to be the four hottest days of the year,” said Enman. “We lost that fifth green.”

Enman said green is coming in fine this year.

“Within a month, it should be real good,” he said.

Enman knew the benches were a problem and had purchased some, but didn’t have anyone to put them together.

“Some things [the golf staff] thought weren’t top priority, they learned through the survey meant a lot,” said Comeau.

Comeau said that some of the concerns that were raised in the survey could have been dealt with through better communications between the staff and the members.

To improve communication, a greens committee is being set up with two representatives from the men’s golf association, two from the women’s group, Enman and Bragg.

“My door is always open,” said Enman. “I think that still intimidates some people. … This way, maybe they’ll talk to their committee reps and they’ll bring it up at the meeting.”

After the meetings, which will be held monthly, a newsletter will be published which will include the results of the meetings as well as upcoming events and other news.

“There were a lot of complaints about the bunker project taking so long,” said Comeau, “but if they knew it was going to be a three-year project, then maybe they wouldn’t have complained.”

Enman will be as happy as everyone else when the bunker rebuilding is completed.

“We’ve had major projects for six or seven years now. We’ll be glad when it’s done, and I’m sure the playing public will be, too,” said Enman.

Bunyan program enhanced

As part of its Golf Retention Program, the 40th Whited Ford Paul Bunyan Golf Tournament is waiving its entry fee of $84 for certain members of the U.S. Armed Services.

“The citizen-soldiers of the [National] Guard and Reserve who were deployed overseas in the last year and played in the Bunyan in the past can play for free,” said tournament director Skip Chappelle.

The waiver for Guard and Reserve members who have returned within the last year is in addition to last year’s initial program for displaced workers, which is being carried over to this year’s tournament.

The entry fee will be waived for a past Bunyan participant who has lost a job in Maine because of an employer’s decision to make a reduction in force or to close. At the time of the reduction, the business must have employed a minimum of 20 workers in the same company location and the reduction or closing must have occurred after June 15, 2003, which was the closing date of last year’s tournament.

This year’s Bunyan is scheduled for June 18-20 with three divisions rotating each day between Bar Harbor Golf Club in Trenton, Rockland Golf Club, and Bangor Municipal Golf Course.

The rotation for Class A is Bar Harbor, Bangor and Rockland; for Class B, it’s Bangor-Rockland-Bar Harbor; and for Class C, it’s Rockland-Bar Harbor-Bangor.

Last year’s participants will, if they haven’t already, receive an entry form in the mail. Forms will be printed in ads in the NEWS, or they can be printed from the Web site, www.paulbunyangolf.com. Only mailed entries will be accepted this year.

Dave Barber can be reached at 990-8170, 1-800-310-8600, or by e-mail at dbarber@bangordailynews.net.