Woodbury To Lower Greens Fees at Eagle Valley

Hitting the links at in Woodbury will be a little cheaper this year.

After examining the prices at similar courses in the area, city staff during a Feb. 8 Woodbury City Council workshop suggested the city drop greens fees for the municipal course. (See the PDF with this story for specifics.)

The rates won’t become official until an upcoming meeting, but because the city wants to get the fees out to the public—and into golf publications—council members informally agreed to them last week.

While the course breaks even from an operations standpoint, it has had trouble keeping up with debt and capital needs, said Councilman Paul Rebholz.

“That’s where the course has been falling behind,” he said.

Rebholz—chair of a task force created to better market Eagle Valley and resolve those issues—said play has been down over the past few years, partially due to the economy and weather. Courses across the country are seeing reductions in rounds.

The task force was not behind the rate change, Rebholz said. Instead, the group has been tasked with finding new ways to increase rounds through various promotional methods.

“I think it’s a great course,” he said. “We need to get more people who golf in Woodbury to golf at Eagle Valley.”

Rebholz said he plays 10-15 rounds a year—about half of those at the city-owned course.

“It’s another community asset,” he said, “not any different from the parks and the trails and what we’ve got going on down at ).”

The task force still has quite a bit of work ahead, Rebholz said, and the key is to tap into the local golf market.

“It’s not as popular as it was, but there are still plenty of people who play golf,” he said.