Geneva park board raises fees at Stone Creek course

It will cost more green to hit the greens at Stone Creek in Geneva this year.

But because it's a miniature golf course, we're only talking a buck more per round.

The Geneva park board agreed Monday night to raise rates $1 across the board for residents and nonresidents. Youths and senior citizens who live in the district will pay $5 a round; resident adults and nonresident youths and senior citizens, $6; and nonresident adults, $7.

The fee increase will help cover the increased cost of running the course due to an increase in the minimum wage paid to its workers.

The golf course is in Wheeler Park on Route 31. It has 18 holes.

The board also agreed to reduce the course's hours in September. Previously, it had been open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during that month, but Friday attendance was low, said its manager, Dana Hofmann. So Fridays were eliminated, although she is amenable to renting it out for private parties.

In 2007, 13,380 rounds were played, 1,701 more than the previous year. More resident youth rounds were played than nonresident, but nonresidents led the way in rounds played by seniors and adults.

The course also had a miniature golf camp, before it opened for the day, for 3- through 5-year-olds. Hofmann recommends continuing that. She also wants a concrete patio under the course's new awning, so picnic tables could be placed there, making the course a more-attractive option to people for children's birthday parties.

Attendance for 2007 was the highest recorded since 2003. The net proceeds were also the highest since then, at $57,307. That does not include money spent to improve and maintain the course, including the $21,324 for the Dynamite Shack at the 18th hole. The shack "blows up" if you shoot a hole-in-one.

"We had a lot of happy little kids when they set that off," Hofmann said.

And speaking of the 18th hole: The lighthouse that used to grace it will be back this year, refurbished and in a new spot -- the first hole.