Federal Funds Turn Zablocki Golf Course Synthetic

A synthetic tee box and greens at Zablocki golf course. Photo taken on June 18, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.

At Zablocki Golf Course Tuesday morning local officials celebrated a small project that is a piece of a much larger success story for Milwaukee County government: new synthetic greens, which, however small, are another reminder of the impact the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) has had on Milwaukee.

County Executive David Crowley, Parks Director Guy Smith and local Sup. Kathleen Vincent attended the ribbon cutting for the new greens, which were paid for using federal ARPA funding. Zablocki Golf Course was built in 1968. It’s a nine-hole, par-3 course and it’s now the first in the state to have synthetic greens and tee boxes, Smith said.

Money for the synthetic greens was included in $22 million county ARPA spending package called the “Fiscal Health Challenge,” which was created using proposals for one-time investments that can save the county funding long-term.

Milwaukee County Parks expects the synthetic turf at Zablocki will do just that. Unlike real turf the synthetic greens and tees don’t need regular maintenance, and they’ll never need watering or treatment with pesticides. All of which should save the department money.

“When we received our American Rescue Plan Act dollars, we wanted to make sure that these dollars were going to be stretched like none before,” Crowley said, adding that the federal funding allowed the county to make investments in affordable housing, mental health and drug addiction treatment, as well as parks.

For the parks system, “ARPA investment has been huge,” Smith said.

The federal stimulus bill — enacted in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — has allowed the department to invest in new things for the system at a time when much of its resources are tied up in maintenance and repairs. The parks system has a backlog of infrastructure projects and maintenance estimated to cost half a billion dollars.

Smith said he thinks the new synthetic tees and greens can help grow the game locally. Jon Canavan, parks golf and recreational turf manager, told Urban Milwaukee the synthetic turf is easier to hit on compared to real turf, and will be nice for players learning to play golf.

“This, I think, is an innovative project,” Smith said. “This isn’t ‘Hey, we’re surviving'”

The game itself has become an important offering for the county parks system. After years of budget cuts, the department now has to generate more than 50% of its annual operating revenue through fees. Last year the county golf courses generated revenue equivalent to approximately 20% of the county’s annual parks budget.

The synthetic greens are a relatively small project for the county, even the parks system. However, they are part of a long and varied list of investments county policymakers have made since the pandemic; a list that includes minor improvements to county golf courses and major initiatives like a $15 million affordable housing fund or a new $42 million human services building.