Birmingham golf courses may go private
To meet income targets this year the council need to sell 250,000 rounds of golf at an average price of £12.40 per round.
Currently the full price is £16, but there are concessions, discounts and season tickets.
Mr Hughes said attracting golfers to play 250,000 rounds a year was achievable, but would take hard work to get there.
Opposition leisure spokesman Coun Muhammed Afzal (Lab, Aston) claimed that the budget setting process had failed the golf courses.
“The numbers of rounds have been falling and falling from over 300,000 in 2005 but every year the finance officers put the prices up and expect more income,” he said.
“It is unrealistic and now this £830,000 shortfall has to be found from other sports.”
A key priority of new cut price golf rounds and special offers, announced last week, is aimed at youngsters and those who have never tried the sport before.
But regular golfer Michael Lower, who is a member at Cocks Moors Woods Golf Course in Kings Norton, said: “It’s all very well looking for the new players, but they are not doing anything for established members. We are the backbone of these courses.”
