Golfing great Jack Nicklaus reveals some re-design details for Delaware Park Golf Course

Most any morning, weather permitting, Scotty Boag plays golf at the Delaware Park Golf Course.

“My knees are shot but I just love coming here.”

Boag knows the course is far from perfect. That's why he's eager to hear how Jack Nicklaus plans to redesign the greens.

Nicklaus spent about a half hour Monday morning touring the front nine.

“It needs an irrigation system. I've got a few other ideas which I would best think of how to utilize the space you got,” Nicklaus said. Take the soccer field, for example. It sits in the middle of the course, so golfers have to play around it. Nicklaus said it's something he'll consider during his proposed re-design. “You want to relocate the field a few feet, so the course is on one side and the field is on the other. I don't know. We've got a long way before until we get there.”

He also said he plans to keep it an 18-hole course. 

Most anyone can agree the course needs work, which begs the question, why did Nicklaus agree to sign on? “It would revitalize the urban areas. That's one of the reasons I got involved,” he explained. Nicklaus is also friends with the local leader behind the project, Kevin Gaughan. Gaughan’s brother worked for the golf legend before he died.

The project has a $42 million price tag. Gaughan said he intends to pay for it through private donors to avoid raising green fees, which right now range from about $14 to $17.

Pending public input, and common council approval, construction could begin next spring.

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