By TONY BROWN
Maryville Daily Forum, News editor
Recent recognition by a statewide magazine means that the municipal golf course at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park is beginning to meet expectations as a regional recreation destination, Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland said Monday.
Mozingo was picked this spring as the “Editor’s Choice” for golf courses in a special Best of Rural Missouri Edition of “Rural Missouri,” a widely circulated magazine produced by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives.
Heiland said the recognition was both welcome and unsolicited, and that the magazine’s editors made their pick after coming to Maryville and playing the course.
The publication chose Bent Creek Golf Course in the southeast Missouri city of Jackson as its premier golfing destination in the state. Its No. 2 pick was the Ste. Genevieve Golf Club.
As the Editor’s Choice, Mozingo was described as an “ award-winning championship course that is fun for the beginner and challenging to the advanced player. Designed by Donald Sechrest, the 18-hole course is nestled among rolling hills, native grasslands and wooded areas and has established itself as a premier golf destination …”
An e-edition of the magazine featuring Mozingo can be viewed at www.ruralmissouri.coop/digitalrm/story1.php.
“This just came about from the editors having golfed here before, and they obviously liked the course and its amenities,” said Heiland, who acts as the city’s point man for golf operations at the 3,000-acre park, where the 1,-000-acre lake also serves as the city’s primary water supply.
“I think it’s a good thing whenever people recognize the quality of the work our staff members do out there and just the quality of the course itself,” Heiland said. “And when you can reach a statewide audience, it certainly improves our ability to become a regional park.”
Heiland said a number of behind-the-scenes changes and improvements have taken place at Mozingo this year in preparation for a new golfing season, including the arrival of GolfNow as the course’s new website host.
Upgrades mean that golfers can now book tee times online and gain access to other information with regard to special outings and clubhouse promotions, he said.
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