PARKS FUNDING: Tennis and Golf?


Does Nick Walker love public-private managed agreements? Managed agreements are prone to non-transparent operation and administered by Memphis Parks. Managed agreements often provide public private non-profits with significant public resources, while not required to answer FOIAs or open their board meetings to the public.

Could yet another managed agreement be in the works in First Tee for golf? Maybe. Since the 2020 publication of the Parks Survey, alternative committees have seemed to bolster funding support for public amenities for Tennis and Golf that did not fare well with public surveys or in ratings provided via a Market Potential Index (MPI).

Locally, Tennis and Golf involve public-private partnerships in the likes of Tennis Memphis and First Tee. It seems Mr. Walker may be grouping golf in the open play spaces category, to justify golf expenditures. After $30M for Leftwich Tennis Center, under discussion is $6M in City funds for a Audubon Golf Clubhouse.

See below raw survey results, programming and market potential index results from the 2020 Memphis Parks Master Plan.