Prospects looking up for San Jose’s public golf courses

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo conceded he is far from being a golf guy, but he still joined the rest of the city council in a vote of confidence for the city’s three public golf courses.

“My extensive knowledge of golf comes exclusively from watching the movie, ‘Caddyshack,’ ” Liccardo said during Tuesday’s council meeting, “and my skills have been compared to Gerald Ford on the rare times I have been out there.”

So that means he probably knows how to “be the ball,” even if it doesn’t wind up where he meant for it to go. For those too young to remember, Ford — the 38th president — was infamous for hitting spectators with errant shots.

In any event, it was a good turn of events for the courses, two of which had been financial sand traps until they all saw a spike in attendance — and subsequently dollars brought in — during the pandemic, mirroring a nationwide trend. Now, the city is looking for a third-party operator to take over all of them with a long-term lease.

San Jose Municipal Golf Course, which opened in 1968 and is the oldest of the three, was in the black even before COVID-19 forced people to look for new outdoor recreational activities. Both Rancho del Pueblo and Los Lagos, however, had been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars for the city in the five years leading up to 2020-21. But that turned into a net gain of $1.5 million last year, and the remaining debt on the courses was paid off, too.

So just a few years after considering dumping at least one of them, the city’s reversed course — at least for now.

Liccardo reiterated some of his previous reservations about getting into a long-term deal based on a single-year turnaround during a pandemic following years of decline. He doublechecked that the city could terminate any agreement early if the numbers took a nosedive. “The worst decisions that are made in any organization are made in good times,” he said.

And to make sure the community continues to benefit, any deal also will make sure that First Tee Silicon Valley, a nonprofit which has used golf to build character and leadership skills in young people through golf for more than two decades, has continued access (though Council Member Magdalena Carrasco said she’d like more outreach from First Tee to increase its representation of Latino youth.)

Should Liccardo and the council decide to update their golf knowledge through movies before the next time the issue comes up, may we recommend “Tin Cup,” “Happy Gilmore” and “Goldfinger.”

STILL IN STYLE: After what she considers “the hardest two years any business should have to endure,” Atelier Studio owner Karie Bennett was filled with gratitude after the Santana Row salon was named to the Salon Today 200, and Bennett herself was one of the owners featured on the cover of the magazine’s spring edition.

“After eight months of shutdowns, remodeling to accommodate partitions and distancing, trying to cut hair outside in triple-degree heat in the midst of heavy smoke from the nearby fires and finally being able to open, we won an award for doing a great job of staying in business and keeping our team employed,” said Bennett, who opened Atelier 20 years ago.

Among the things Atelier did during the pandemic was creating home touch-up kits for clients — which brought in new clients who heard about the DIY service from friends.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: There’s a great lineup of panelists for The Kids Table, the third annual event hosted by Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg to celebrate champions for children in our community. This year’s event takes place April 7 at 8 a.m. in-person at the Hotel Valencia at Santana Row and will focus on our recovery from COVID-19 and how we’re getting women and caregivers back to work.