Salado developer Glen Hodge said he has a contract pending on the Leon Valley Golf Course. Hodge would not comment on plans if the contract goes through.
But Hodge has already gained city approval to develop an 85-acre tract, called Tuscan River, which abuts the golf course. Belton city manager Sam Listi said the city approved development for 121 lots.
Leon Valley co-owner Caroline Smith said they had an offer on the table, but would not elaborate.
Listi said the property could be developed for housing, even though it is on the river, and has flooded.
“Any change in use would need to come and go before the planning and zoning and city council for a zoning change,” Listi said. “It’s private property. We certainly can’t dictate the use at this point, unless we’re willing to acquire it.”
That scenario - the city buying Leon Valley - is most unlikely, Mayor Jim Covington said. Inasmuch as he values what a golf course brings to a community - an urban green space and recreation for youth and seniors - the city can’t afford to buy, rehabilitate and operate a golf course.
“That’s a tough thing to spend tax dollars on. Whatever the purchase price is ... in order to bring it up to the kind of course it needs to be, would probably cost too much,” Covington said. “I’m just not sure it would pay for itself. I’d have a lot of trouble spending tax dollars on an endeavor like that.”
But Covington hopes some middle ground is available. He said he wants to encourage developers to consider a lighted par-3 course.
If developed, the new subdivision could bring in more revenue for the city than it now does as a golf course. Bell County Appraisal District had the current property valued at $700,000.
“The potential of addition to the tax roles is a very positive feature, if it’s privately developed,” Listi said. “So you have to balance all those issues to determine what’s appropriate for the property.”
If the 134-acre tract is developed, it would leave Belton without a golf course for the first time in about 50 years.
But many golfers scattered to other courses several years ago, when conditions went downhill.
To former course manager, teacher and part-owner Carlie Tice, these conditions are about as sad as missing a 3-foot birdie putt
Tice played varsity golf in 1947 at The University of Texas in Austin and worked for the legendary Harvey Penick. Penick’s teachings, known to many from the best-selling “Little Red Book,” shaped at least one generation of golfers including Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite, both winners of major tournaments on the PGA tour.
“When we were in Belton, it meant a lot because we had all kinds of players from 50 miles away ... from Waco to Austin ... Taylor to Killeen,” Tice, 84, said. “We always had the best greens in the county.”
A couple years back he drove out to the old haunt.
“I saw an unkept golf course. The roughs were not mowed. The fairways not mowed. Greens eaten up with weeds,” Tice, now living in Temple, said. “As someone who put all the sweat and blood that I did and had it in pretty good shape, it didn’t make me feel very good.”
Present co-owner Smith said she’s heard the criticisms before. Modern, stringent herbicide regulation and concern about using fertilizer near the river, has affected their ability to groom the course. She said they keep three mowers busy.
“A lot of things come into play,” she said. “You really have to have a lot of money to maintain a golf course. If we had more golfers, we could do more.”
Regardless how the once-popular course fell into disrepair, Tice says golf plays an important role in learning life’s lessons, and developing lifelong relationships.
“Harvey (Penick) said if you’re a golfer, you’re my friend. And I say the same thing.”
