Cornett helps dedicate new Lincoln Park clubhouse
OKC Mayor Mick Cornett discusses the new clubhouse at Lincoln Park.
By Ken MacLeod
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett helped dedicate the new $9.5 million clubhouse at Lincoln Park Friday, honoring those whose vision led a switch from simple repairs of the half century old existing clubhouse to the creation of one of the finest facilities at any public golf course in the country.
"We’ve set a standard of doing things right in Oklahoma City and we have to keep raising the bar," Cornett said. "That’s what I tell our people who serve on our boards and commissions. We have to keep raising the bar."
This clubhouse gives off a sense of energy and hopefully will help generate new golfers. It will also help keep our retirees around. When they go to price golf in some other part of the country and compare it to what we have here, they will realize they better just stay here."
It was a proud day for long-time Lincoln Park Director of Golf Steve Carson, who has run a successful operation out of the previous building for decades, but now presides over 32,000 square feet of gleaming magnificence.
The roomy pro shop is 2,500 square feet, there is a banquet room which seats 180, an upstairs terrace bar with a balcony to sip drinks with a scenic view of the course below. The restrooms are huge, large screen televisions are everywhere and the huge windows and high vaulted ceilings keep the interior light and airy.
"People ask why the building bends and turns," said Craig Foster, the principal with LWPB Architecture, which designed the building. "We studied all the sight lines and wanted to provide the best views possible from every angle."
It was the first clubhouse for the firm which had previously designed the Bricktown Fire Station and the Northwest Library among its municipal projects. The reaction from the golfers, city officials, pros and others in attendance Friday was that the firm had drove the green on a par-five.
"It’s been a long time coming but it’s just fantastic, wonderful," Carson said. "This will help us generate new golfers and set a standard for public golf."
The clubhouse was financed through $2 million in general obligation bonds and $7.5 million will come from the golfers at the Oklahoma City public courses paying a $3.50 assessment as part of every green fee for the next 25 years or so.