BREC bringing in PGA consultant to look at ways to increase course use

A consultant from the PGA will be in Baton Rouge next week, touring BREC’s seven golf courses and meeting with BREC officials about how to increase usage of—and revenue from—the recreation department’s underutilized courses. BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight-Bray, who took over as head of the recreation department early this year, says she contacted Rich Richardson, who works in the area of player development the PGA’s Plano, Texas, office, and invited him to Baton Rouge as part of an effort to “look at our system [of golf courses] and talk about where we need to go from a player-development standpoint.” McKnight-Bray acknowledges it’s no secret that BREC’s seven courses are losing money, though she says expenses are down so far this year and usage is slightly up. She says her first priority is to figure out what, if anything, can be done to increase usage. If that doesn’t work, she isn’t opposed to closing courses, though she says it’s too early to have such discussions just yet. “There are too many golf courses for this particular area in my opinion, but hopefully we can find ways, creatively, to increase play. If we can’t, then I have to look at how much it is costing us and whether we want to continue to be in this business,” she says. —Stephanie Riegel