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I was shocked to read about the change in management at Haymaker Golf Course. By any measure obvious to the local or visiting golfer, the quality of the current management team at Haymaker is excellent. The city is giving up a known quantity - Hank and Wendy Franks - for new contractors whose job titles shown in the Sept. 8 Steamboat Today do not look to be equal to the existing team that has very successfully managed Haymaker for 12 years. The final straw, however, is that ": the new contract wouldn't result in substantial cost savings for the city." Are the politics of change alive and well in Steamboat Springs?

Each golf season for the past five years I have had a season pass to Haymaker, and over these years I have played 20 to 35 rounds of golf each year. In those rounds I have often been paired with other golfers - both locals and visitors. Without exception, the comments from those golfers have been very positive about Haymaker. The quality of the experience actually brings visitors back to our city year after year.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to play golf on numerous courses around the world. The friendliness of the Haymaker staff, the quality and variety of merchandise in the golf shop, the communications with players through e-mail, the ease in making a tee time and all other factors that make a pleasant golf experience all are well above those metrics at other courses I have played. Hank and Wendy actually care about the golfers at Haymaker, and it shows.

Why, then, would the golf committee recommend a change away from a successful management team to an unknown quantity - and for no economic benefit to the city? What were the attractions to the winning bid? In this day of promised transparency, I would like to know what the new managers bring to the course that would be compelling. Has the committee met with the Franks and warned them about needed upgrades in service? I am pretty sure not. It is very hard to improve on excellence, but it is very easy to experience a diminution in quality. The city now has the risk of lower quality of service for one of our destination attractions, and I do not think the risk is worthwhile.

I hope it is not too late to review this decision and do the right thing for Steamboat Springs.

Chuck McConnell

Steamboat Springs