Hog Neck's Two-Tier Driving Range Would Shrink to One Covered Level After Every Bid Tops the Budget

EASTON, MARYLAND — Talbot County's plan for a two-tier driving range at Hog Neck Golf Course would be scaled back to a single covered level and put out to bid again, under a recommendation going to the County Council on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

All eight bids the county received for the project came in over budget, according to an Oct. 20 memo from Rich Setter, Hog Neck's general manager and head golf professional. The available budget is approximately $2.5 million. The lowest bid, from Harper & Sons Inc., was $5,295,000. The highest was $6,693,500.

Setter recommends the council reject all eight bids for Bid No. 26-14. After consulting with project manager Bill Stagg and the architect-engineer, Davis Bowen & Friedel, he proposes reconfiguring the project into a single-level covered range built with a "Cover the Tees" aluminum structure, with approximately 15 to 16 hitting bays. Once new specifications are ready, the project will be re-bid, the memo says.

The memo does not give a cost estimate for the smaller design or a date for the new bid.

The council raised the project's spending authority this summer. Bill No. 1630, enacted July 14, 2026, authorizes the county to spend up to $3,020,000 on construction of and improvements to a driving range complex at Hog Neck, according to the county's enacted bill file. The bill amends Bill No. 1539 and says the total is an increase of $600,000 over prior authorizations. The money comes from the county's Recreation Fund through a transfer from the General Fund, "with the potential for repayment to the Talbot County General Fund once the project is completed," the bill says. That ceiling is higher than the approximately $2.5 million the Oct. 20 memo lists as the available budget. The memo does not address the difference. A separate bill enacted the same night, Bill No. 1632, authorizes up to $1,000,000 for Hog Neck's cart paths and paved areas, an increase of $500,000 over prior authorizations.

The request is item IX.C under the county manager's report, listed for council action. A separate Hog Neck item on the same agenda, IX.D, seeks award of Bid No. 26-17 for asphalt paving of the back nine cart paths.

The council's closed session runs from 3:30 to 5 p.m., and the open meeting begins at 5 p.m. Council members are President Chuck F. Callahan, Vice President Pete Lesher, Keasha N. Haythe, Lynn L. Mielke and Dave Stepp.