Nassau pulls carts, hikes fees for county golfers

The Nassau Parks Department replaced one golf course controversy with another Thursday by removing Eisenhower Park's mandatory cart rule and increasing fees for county residents. The county's theory

News 12 Staff

•

Sep 20, 2007, 10:38 PM

•

Updated 6,197 days ago

The Nassau Parks Department replaced one golf course controversy with another Thursday by removing Eisenhower Park's mandatory cart rule and increasing fees for county residents.

The county's theory that mandatory carts would increase revenue and speed up play on Eisenhower's Red course, which hosts the Commerce Bank Classic on the PGA Champions Tour, was proven false.

"On a day like this, you shouldn't be riding. You should be walking," North Merrick resident and golfer Howard Levine said.

While residents were relieved by the change in cart rules, they were equally incensed that course fees across Nassau were increased for county residents and lowered for non-county residents.

"If mine is going up, why should theirs go down?" Ken Cohen said. "They don't live in Nassau County. They don't pay taxes here."

For Joe Gill of the Parks Department, the answer is simple. Non-county golfers, which make up 4 percent of all players, just weren't coming.

"We kind of priced them out of the market," Gill said. "It became too expensive."

Deputy County Executive Tom Stokes said the new fees will generate an extra $270,000 for Nassau.

"We have excess capacity," Stokes said. "Let's go ahead and draw in those individuals."

The county said a study from the National Golf Foundation recommended lowering non-county resident fees, and concluded county residents' fees were too low.