A mile-long paved trail around the south end of the lake at Clear Creek Golf Course could give new foot traffic to the course’s recreation area and spur further improvements at the county-owned course, officials say.

The Bovina community, particularly seniors, would benefit greatly from the nature trail and, for many, be closer to home than the Vicksburg National Military Park or Riverfront Park, said District 1 Parks and Recreation Commissioner Gerald Bailey, who supports applying for $97,087.92 in grant money from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The Warren County Board of Supervisors will consider the option Monday.

“It’ll be convenient for us and a lot of people,” Bailey said. “We’ve got families there, quite a few elderly people. The military park might be overtaxing for some of the elderly, whereas this will just have a gentle incline.”

The military park, off Clay Street, is 16 miles of hilly terrain.

If the Bovina trail is realized, the asphalt would start at the parking lot for the golf course, cross Brabston Road, and parallel the existing road past the pavilion and restrooms before looping back near the security gate. Motorized vehicles, except for wheelchairs, would not be allowed on the track, Bailey said. More than $33,000 will pay for a newly surfaced parking lot, which has been left out of recent county budgets that pay solely for basic daily operations.

“We’ve been poking at them for some time on that,” said District 3 Commissioner Elijah Johnson, who welcomed the chance at a trail grant if only for the improved parking conditions. “They always said we needed an engineering study.”

Funding for parks and recreation, which oversees Clear Creek and boat landings at Eagle Lake, LeTourneau and Old Twin Lake roads, has been stuck at $193,000 the past three fiscal years after the county board slashed more than 12 percent from the commission’s subsidy in 2009. That and other cuts in nonprofit agency support were blamed on the recession.

Bailey said he believes getting funding for the walking trail will lead to interest and eventually funding for the golf course.

Still unfinished for those who work the links is the course itself. The front nine was resodded in 2004 after a root infection harmed the Bermuda grass. The back nine, except for routine surface maintenance, is still the same course as when the course was built in 1978.

“It’s like having two different golf courses,” course superintendent Brice McLendon said, comparing professionally shaped fairways on the front nine and misshapen mounds of earth and patches of mutated turf on the back nine. “It’s hard to get it very consistent.”

The first resodding cost $250,000, funded by a capital loan paid back over five years. At the time, one green cost at least $50,000 to renovate. Now, planting high-quality hybrid Bermuda would cost at least that much, plus upgrades to irrigation systems, McLendon said.

For golfers like course pro Kent Smith, aesthetics matter on the greens.

“They’re just rounded shells,” he said. “They have no shape to them. We’ve taken good care of them, but it’s just not the style that matches the front. You want to be consistent. Right now, we have two different types of putting surfaces.”

Membership at Clear Creek has picked up since a March pledge drive netted about 30 members, bringing the total to 232. Rounds of golf averaged 26,000 from 2009 to 2011, office manager Teri Young said. That’s up slightly from 24,000 averaged from 2006 to 2008, but off from the 30,000-round pace seen just before the front greens were redone.

Financing will determine the future of the back nine and other touch-ups, McLendon said.