Arguably the greatest golfer of all time is in Buffalo taking a tour of two of the city's golf courses. This is Jack Nicklaus' first visit to the links he's committed to re-designing. 

The plan is to revamp Delaware Park's course and create a new one at a former brownfield site to replace one at South Park.

The proposal at South Park would include removing the links there and restore Olmsted's Arboretum and a botanical garden.

Organizers say they've raised about $4 million of the estimated $42 million it will cost. That will be all private money, with none of the burden falling on taxpayers.

Several million of that would go to the Olmsted Parks Conservancy for upkeep and educational programs. Nicklaus says he's basically designing the parks at-cost.

 

 

"What Olmsted did was he did a park and put a little bit of golf in it for recreation,” Nicklaus said. “He did other things. He did soccer fields, and baseball fields and everything else in the park, which is what a park is all about. So I don't think you want to change that. You want to enhance it.”

While proponents of the project say this would enhance the Olmsted Parks System, some say there's still not enough information to green light the project.

"What we would like to make sure is in any discussion of development about this, one, the public has to have their time to give input,” said Stephanie Crockatt, executive director of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. “Two is that this is a nationally registered historic landscape, so you can't just come in and start building hills and mounds and changing the grade of the historic park.”

Nicklaus says construction on Delaware Park would take roughly one season. But at this point, Crockatt said any work is at least a few years off.