What the hell does the Doak scale have to do with this project as any type of justification to do it or not? What a joke. Nobody outside of this site cares about the Doak scale or even knows what it is. If the city doesn't spend 14 million on Cobb's Creek, and there IS private money, they are spending it on turning the Reading Railroad elevated track line into a park. Or building skateparks for the kids near the museum. Or rebuilding the entire Schuylkill Banks. The big difference between what the City IS spending on versus what you say isn't worth it...is that Cobb's Creek will actually bring in revenue. ALOT of revenue. When it's done and successful express your opinion of its rating on a dumb scale and that's it's a waste of City funds by not showing up at the first tee Mike Sweeney.
Ian,
You are 100% right. The Doak Scale was a GCA.com cheap shot. Cobbs Creek has been bringing in revenues for years, and this is not a new project. At a $14 million price tag, please tell me how the numbers work?
If you want to make the argument that the course gets additional play, here are Mike's numbers from an old thread:
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Recall that 80,000 rounds were the norm through the 1920s, which increased to 120,000 annual rounds in 1929 with the addition of the Karakung course. Even in 1940 Cobb's Creek had more rounds than any course in the country.
In the year 2000, that number for both courses was 80,216. In the past decade, there has already been a 45% falloff...
2001 - 68,206
2002 - 62, 291
2003 - 48,333
2004 - 44, 426
2005 - 41,737
2006 - 42,754
2007 - 44,481
I've yet to see numbers for 2008....I'd expect to see a bump given some of the publicity that's been generated, but I'd contend that the property today is being seriously underutilized when one considers the possibility of:
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Please tell me how the numbers work on the newly configured Cobbs and please also state the loss of revenues when the project is going on.
How is this going to be re-paid and how much private money is coming into the project?
If you are going to make the argument that other projects in Philly are wasteful, let's agree on that too as I don't really keep in touch with Philly politics.
I basically grew up on Cobbs and Walnut Lane, played high school golf at Cobbs, and played Cobbs when I lived in Center City for 2 years after college. I see the value in what it provides today and I think $14 million could be better used elsewhere in golf and/or Philadelphia.
If the number was $5.0 million (inflated Bethpage Black kind of number), I could see it. At $14 million, i just don't see the numbers working. Please tell me how I am wrong.