Frustration remains strong as Alameda’s lingering golf course controversy remains deep in the woods.

The city council gave the National Golf Foundation (NGF) permission to draft a master plan for the Chuck Corica Golf Complex on Jan. 2. Richard Singer, Ed Getherall and Forrest Richardson of the NGF met with the golf commission at last Wednesday’s meeting. But they didn’t get very far.

The commission is under strict orders from council to get their financial house in order. Some ideas thrown out at previous meetings included the elimination of nine holes from the main facility, creating a 27-hole facility like Poppy Ridge, and possibly closing the Mif Albright 9-hole course. NGF is expected to investigate these ideas.

But the commission had already dropped the 27-hole idea. And instead of closing the Mif, the commission opened up one hole. That would be the old ninth green, which had become a short-game practice area. The practice area was closed, the Mif restored to its old form, and green fees were lowered to $7 or $8.

The Mif has since prospered.

In the meantime, the council took NGF’s $80,000 consulting fee for the master plan and billed it to the golf enterprise fund. Commission chair Jane Sullwold objected, strongly, to the council at a subsequent meeting, and to NGF last Wednesday.

“That number is extremely high,” Sullwold said. “You’ve already done the operational review.”

So most of last Wednesday’s meeting was spent haggling over NGF’s fee.

Singer agreed that the commission was on the right track, for the short-term. But there needed to be long-term solutions to protect and preserve the viability of the golf complex.

There was an elephant in the center of the room that nobody really talked about. The city has continued to take money from the golf complex, calling it an “expense.” To date, through February (eight months into the fiscal year), that “expense” amounted to at least $670,000. A more exact figure could not be given because the financial statements released to the public, and to the commission, remain un-decipherable.

Wente

The Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship is next week at Wente G.C. All four rounds will be televised on the Golf Channel. Todd Fischer, Joel Krible and Esteban Toledo are among locals entered. Monday qualifying for that Nationwide Tour event is at the new Stonebrae CC in Hayward, dubbed Bandon Dunes South — because they were both designed by the same architect, David Kidd, his second course in North America. Kidd is currently finishing the new seventh course at St. Andrews. Stonebrae is a lot like the course once planned for Alameda Point. This may be your only chance to see Stonebrae, which is private. Go to www.winecountrychampionship .com for further info. The 81st Alameda Commuters Championship begins on April 19.

Award-winning golf writer Ron Salsig can be reached at