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Lincoln City Golf Announces Fourth Consecutive Year of Increased Play

Published on October 27, 2023

Lincoln Parks and Recreation today announced that patronage of City golf courses has increased for the fourth consecutive fiscal year. Lincoln golfers played 220,117 rounds in 2023, an increase of 5.6% from 2022, which is the highest number of golf rounds for Lincoln City Golf since 1999.

“It is awesome to see so many golfers enjoying the Lincoln City Golf Courses and to have the highest number of golf rounds played in the last 24 years,” said Wade Foreman, Golf Business Coordinator. “We have seen a consistent trend of increasing golf rounds since 2015. The golf turf superintendents, golf professionals, and their staff do a tremendous job of running the courses.”

This is the third consecutive year golfers have played more than 200,000 rounds at the five City Golf Courses. Holmes Park golf course continued to be the most popular location, with 48,472 rounds played. The 5.6% increase by Lincoln golfers also surpassed the 4.6% average increase from 2022 for public access courses nationally, according to Golf DataTech.

Foreman said the lack of rainfall in 2023 allowed for about two more weeks of playable days than in 2022 during the peak season of May through September. Foreman also attributed part of the courses’ success to new software that allows golf patrons to book tee times and purchase gift cards online more easily. The new ForeUp system, in use since February, has enhanced the customer experience and has tracked tee time bookings by golfers from 43 states and Canada, he said.

Since 2020, Lincoln City Golf has spent $2,415,516 on Capital Improvement Projects at the five golf courses. The steady increase in golf rounds has allowed for more improvement projects to be completed due to the increases in revenue, along with positive profits from golf operations, said Maggie Stuckey-Ross, Lincoln Parks and Recreation Director. In November, Mahoney Golf Course will begin a complete renovation of cart paths and extensive concrete work around the clubhouse.

“Lincoln City Golf would like to thank the golfing community for their continued support of playing our five City golf courses,” Stuckey-Ross said. “Golfers hit almost 5.3 million range balls this year – that’s equivalent to 10 golf balls being hit every minute of the year on average.“

Stuckey-Ross also thanked the 226 dedicated Lincoln City Golf staff members who provide customer service as well as maintain the courses.

“Our teams look forward to offering quality municipal golf courses and programs in Lincoln for years to come,” Stuckey-Ross said.

Lincoln’s five courses hosted 216 golf events and were used by 27 high school and college teams. Golf learning programs were attended by 1,114 junior golfers. Also, 50 military veterans participated in the Nebraska section of the PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) at the Highlands and Holmes courses.

The City of Lincoln has offered municipal golf since 1920. Locations include:

Highlands Golf Course, 5501 N.W. 12th St., 402-441-6081
Holmes Golf Course, 3701 S. 70th St., 402-441-8960
Mahoney Golf Course, 7900 Adams St., 402-441-8969
Pioneers Golf Course, 3403 West Van Dorn St., 402-441-8966

Ager Golf Course and Learning Center, 3761 Normal Blvd., 402-441-3863

The Lincoln City Golf Program is managed as an enterprise fund with operating expenses and capital improvements funded directly through revenues generated from greens fees, CIP fees, cart rentals, memberships and passes. Visit lincolncitygolf.org for more information about Lincoln City Golf courses, programs, and improvement projects.