Town may no longer run Oak Island Par 3 Golf Course

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — The town of Oak Island is considering closing the pro shop at Oak Island Par 3 Golf Course and making the course a free play.

This would mean closing the pro shop at the golf course and allowing the course to remain open for free play between dusk and dawn.

For almost ten years the town of Oak Island has been operating the Par 3 Golf Course and the pro shop in South Harbour Village, but that could soon end.

“The Par 3 is having financial difficulties, it’s costing about $150,000 a year to support the course, and budgets being what they are, everyone’s looking to save,” Oak Island Council member Charlie Blalock said.

This is a concern for both the visitors who play at the course and for neighbors like Blalock.

“That worries me not only as a councilman, but also as a homeowner the fact that the quality and the monitoring of the course will suffer,” Blalock said.

Employee positions associated with maintenance and operations will be eliminated if the course becomes free play.

Some visitors have been playing the course for years, and they hope the town will keep it.

“I’ve played here for close to 12 years,” one golfer said, “and we’ve enjoyed it even when the course was in terrible shape. It’s in great shape now, and I really hope they don’t close it.”

Councilman Blalock does not think the course has been promoted enough, which could lead to more visitors and more money for the town to keep the course.

“I would go to tell people where I live, and they would go, ‘You live on a par 3? Where is that par 3?’ Nobody even knew it was here. We have a lot of tourists come down, and they don’t know it’s here. It’s not very well publicized, promoted if you will, and I think that would go a long way,” Blalock said.

We reached out to Oak Island Mayor Cin Brochure, and she had no comment.

Blalock hopes that the town council and homeowners association can come to an agreeable solution.

There is a closed meeting between the council and home owners association tomorrow, and the town’s budget meeting is on Tuesday. If the course becomes a free play it will go in effect July 1.