Cedar Hills links in the green

CEDAR HILLS — Some Cedar Hills residents may think their city-owned golf course is a debt-ridden sand trap — but recent figures show the par-72 course is bringing in the green.

Attendance at municipal golf courses has fallen nearly 9 percent nationwide, according to recent statistics supported by the Professional Golfers Association, but at Cedar Hills' sometimes controversial course, attendance is up by 15 percent and climbing,

"I'm glad to see things moving in the right direction," said Jim Madsen, Cedar Hills' new golf course director. "I attribute it to fanatical customer service. ... It's all about understanding your customer, and if your customer has a problem, it's about coming in and taking care of that problem. If they have a difficulty with a policy or a procedure, it's our willingness to be flexible ... and find some middle ground."

Madsen, a Brigham Young University graduate with a master's degree in business administration, took over directing the city's golf course in April.

Soon after, Madsen says he started providing special perks for customers, such as delivering golf carts to golfers while they wait in the parking lot and retrieving the carts when they're finished.

Madsen also started organizing more promotions — he gave away 3,000 free rounds of golf at a golf expo in Sandy — and advertising at corporate events.

That marketing has started to pay off, Madsen says. Simply getting the word out about where Cedar Hills is has helped to boost attendance at the golf course, Madsen said.

"We've put our name out there as a golf destination and we're starting, today, to pull from markets we weren't pulling from before," Madsen said. "We're seeing a lot of people come in from Draper, Riverton and Sandy and... we're getting a lot of positive feedback."

City Manager Konrad Hildebrandt said the city is working to provide a clubhouse for the course, but first a $6.25 million debt must be paid.

With the debt service, Hildebrandt says the golf course revenue comes within $2,000 of breaking even with its operational expenses. If the debt is paid off, the course will most likely be "in the black" every year, Hildebrandt said.

"We get that debt paid off and watch out, we're just going to get better and better," Hildebrandt said. "We're going to go from good to great."

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