Elmwood Golf clubhouse replacement to move forward with budget cuts

The Sioux Falls City Council has voted to move ahead with a replacement clubhouse at Elmwood Golf Course after bids came back higher than anticipated.

The current clubhouse is nearly 60 years old and is the only one in the region that hasn’t been renovated.

A fire in 2019 destroyed the cart storage building, leaving the current fleet of carts unprotected. The new clubhouse is designed to transform Elmwood into a full-service model, featuring modernized lounge and dining amenities, a full-service kitchen and enlarged banquet spaces.

The city rejected nine bids for the project in March, and “we knew we needed to go back and sharpen the saw,” said Don Kearney, the city’s director of parks and recreation.

The city modified costs and clarified plans for contracts, which included using less costly products, simplifying the foundation and working through some permitting issues because of proximities to the Sioux Falls Regional Airport.

The cost-savings measures dropped the price by about $800,000 when it was rebid in June and attracted seven bidders. Hegg Construction was recommended for the $6.2 million project. That’s still more than the $4.5 million originally budgeted, with new funding coming from surplus in the capital budget and land acquisition funds that now aren’t going to be spent.

Sioux Falls City Council members questioned the cost escalations since the project was approved as part of this year’s budget but ultimately voted 6-2 to support moving forward.

When the project was first approved, the South Dakota Golf Hall of Fame reached out to ask the city to partner as part of it, as did First Tee of South Dakota, which wanted to expand there for a permanent location. Making accommodations for the new additions also drove up some costs, Kearney said.

Landscapes Golf Management, which operates the city courses, projects that with the new clubhouse, Elmwood will see more than $1 million in additional net income by 2032.

“We turn a lot of events away because it’s not big enough,” Kearney said. “Just the amenities, the feel of Elmwood is not very desirable. … It’s tired.”

The plan is to start construction in September and be mostly done by the end of next year, with a grand opening for the start of the golf season in 2026 — also the 100th anniversary of Elmwood Golf Course.