Theron "T.O." Thurman started playing Augusta Municipal Golf Course when he was 12 years old.

A course member, Mr. Thurman, 64, tries to get in a round of golf just about every day.

"For what it costs to play, you can't beat it," he said Thursday morning while sitting in the course clubhouse after completing his game.

Mr. Thurman and other area golfers could see their trips to "The Patch" curtailed after a proposal this week from City Administrator Fred Russell that would close the course to help shave a nearly $8.6 million budget deficit.

The move would save about $230,000 in cash flow, Augusta Recreation and Parks Director Tom Beck said. That number differs from an estimate by Mr. Russell of saving about $310,000 because of factors such as depreciation, Mr. Beck said.

The Augusta Commission ultimately will decide which cost-saving measures to enact, and the course will operate as normal until then, he said.

Regulars at the 81-year-old golf course described it as a no-frills, budget-friendly venue and said shuttering it would be a mistake.

"It would be devastating," said Durance "Smitty" Smith, 49, who has played the course for 13 years. "It's a meeting place for the boys. We all get along together -- it's one big family."

Mr. Smith, who owns a construction company, said he could play golf elsewhere if "The Patch" closed but would have to take in fewer rounds a week.

"With the economy like it is today, it would be hard for someone who works 9 to 5," Mr. Smith said.

One of the main problems with municipal golf courses is they don't traditionally make money. In the 2009 fiscal year, the course had an expense budget of $640,000 and revenues of $530,000, Mr. Beck said.

"It's very, very difficult to make money on a municipal golf course," he said. "It costs a tremendous amount of money to keep a golf course up with the greens (maintenance). ... The problem is we can't charge the kind of fees it would take to break even or make money."

"The Patch," which is short for "The Cabbage Patch," got its nickname from a cabbage patch garden grown near the old clubhouse. Located off Highland Avenue and adjacent to Daniel Field, the overhead roar of aircraft is part of the daily sights and sounds.

Rates range from $7 for nine holes for a senior or junior Mondays through Thursdays to $33 for 18 regular-priced holes using a golf cart on weekends.

Course member Jessie Morton, 65, described Augusta as the "golf capital of the world." He said that made the course's possible closure particularly odd.

"Everybody who's anybody in Augusta has played golf here," Mr. Morton said. "It'd be a shame if they closed a historical place."

This isn't the first chatter about closing "The Patch." The course appeared on a potential sale list in 2006.

"They started saying this once before," said Russell Cooper, 86, who has played golf at the course since 1963. "I've gotten to the age where I probably don't want to play anywhere else."