Decision nears on future of Nine Spring Golf Course

FITCHBURG, Wis. — The Nine Spring Golf Course has been a part of the City of Fitchburg for more than 30 years. The city has grown up around the 9-hole course, but on May 13 city council will decide on whether it will continue as a golf course or become a park.
Three years ago Fitchburg began subsidizing the golf course operation by contributing $20,000 a year.
“When the city started doing that 3 years ago council members and me as mayor had questions to say what is the best use of this. Is it a golf course, but since we’re putting in public assistance tax payers have the right to know what else should be up there,” says Shawn Pfaff, Mayor of the City of Fitchburg.
The city has spent the last 18 months reviewing the operation of the golf course and considering other possible uses.
“Now we have a survey out throughout the community. More than 250 people have already responded asking them that question,” says Pfaff.
The Nine Spring Golf Course is the only golf course in Fitchburg and plays host to golf leagues and youth learn-to-play golf programs.
“Seems like they are pushing pretty hard to turn this into a park and in my opinion there are parks in this area, but there isn’t a golf course,” says Jim Kraemer, a golf who plays the Nine Spring course several times a week.
If the Fitchburg city council votes to turn the 33 acre property into a park, it will still operate as a golf course through this year. Work would not begin to turn it into a park in 2015.