ADDED INFO: Bad Weather Delays Opening of Township's Coakley-Russo Golf Course

If you love golf, here's one more reason to be sick of snow: Inclement weather has delayed this Saturday's scheduled opening of the municipal Coakley-Russo Memorial golf course until next Thursday, March 31.

Memberships at the golf course are available for both residents and non-residents. Information is on the Bernards Township website under the parks and recreation section.

The course, a Robert Trent Jones, Sr. design, is located at the Department of Veterans Affairs Complex off Valley Road. 

Former members who already paid the irrigation fee may rejoin for a $100 re-registration fee, in addition to annual membership dues, rather than again paying the initiation fee.

The golf course sponsors tournaments throughout the summer and into fall for its members, mostly township residents, and their guests.

Information also is available by calling the department of parks and recreation at 908-204-3003, or by stopping by the parks and recreation office at the municipal complex at 1 Collyer Lane in Basking Ridge. 

ADDED INFORMATION: The Coakley-Russo Memorial Golf Course is a utility whose budget is offset soley by membership and guest fees, said Jennifer Gander, director of township parks and recreation.  Tax dollars are not used for the operation and maintenance of the course, she said.  A portion of the operating costs, such as salaries for the parks and recreation staff, are included in the golf operating budget, since the department administers the course, she said. 

Tax dollars were not spent to install the golf course irrigation system, she said. All members were assessed an irrigation fee of $300 when the irrigation was installed to cover the cost of the project. "We continue to charge all new members a one-time $300 initiation fee, to continue to build funds for any repairs, upgrades, or future capital improvements," she said on Thursday morning.

 The annual township audit statements are posted on the Bernards Township website each year when received, she said. She said the audit figures show the golf course is a utility fund, operated solely on the income created by the golf course (membership and guest fees), and completely separate from the taxpayer funded operations of the township.

Gander said the township assumed control of the course in 1996 from the Veterans Administration complex. She said her records indicate that the Coakley-Russo Memorial Golf Course was presented to the VA Medical Center on Memorial Day, 1947, as a gift from New Jersey golfers, both men and women, amateurs and professionals.

"The gift was the product of many hours of work over a period of many months by the New Jersey Rehabilitation Committee," she said, quoting the information. "The committee was composed of two members each from the New Jersey Section, PGA of America, the New Jersey Golf Association, the Women’s New Jersey Golf Association, the State Public Links Association and the State Greenskeeper Association. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones."

The course was dedicated to the memory of all New Jersey golfers who gave their lives in World War II , according to that information. It was named in honor of the two New Jersey professional golfers, Lt. Francis X. Coakley and Sgt. Nick Russo, killed while serving.