The city of Escondido has hired a new operator for the Reidy Creek Golf Course, an 18-hole, city-owned facility on North Broadway at Rincon Avenue, ending a 20-year run by the current management company, JC Management LLC.

The new management company, Escondido Golf LLC, is a subsidiary of CourseCo, a company based in Petaluma that manages a portfolio of mostly municipal golf courses in California and five other states. Reidy Creek will be the company’s 41^st course under management, according to Tom Bugbee, CourseCo chief operating officer.

The Reidy Creek course opened in 2002 and was developed in conjunction with the Brookside housing development, a 222-home project approved by the City Council in 2000, according to a city staff report. JC Management has run the course for the city since it opened under two 10-year contracts.

City officials for years have been frustrated that the course lost money and required a city subsidy. According to a staff report, the city currently pays $361,000 per year to retire $6.3 million in bonds that were issued to build the course on 65 acres of city land.

In addition, the city pays annual management fees. In fiscal year 2020-21, the city paid the operator a management fee of $86,066, plus 0.75 percent of gross revenue, or $7,492, said the staff report.

The city selected Escondido Golf from a field of five companies that submitted bids for the management contract, including JC Management.

The Reidy Creek property includes a 2,582-yard course that offers 18 holes of golf, disc golf, and foot golf; a pro shop with golf and disc golf merchandise; and the newly renovated Clubhouse and Creekside Tavern that also serves as a venue for meetings and special events, said a city staff report.

Bugbee said the first order of business once his company takes the reins is to spruce up areas of the course that have been neglected. For the longer term, he said, Escondido Golf plans to increase community programming to attract the 90 percent of residents who don’t regularly play golf — versus the 10 percent who do — to come and check out the facility.

That could mean a host of activities such as small concerts, movie nights, and holiday celebrations including 4^th of July carnivals and Easter egg hunts.

The course is “a very valuable resource for the residents of Escondido,” so expanding its usage to include more of the population is crucial, Bugbee said.

In recent years, the course has added disc golf and foot golf — a hybrid of golf…