After a year of disarray in the operation of three restaurants at Government-owned golf courses, officials are hopeful the new year will bring more order.

But this week, the operation of a restaurant at the Island's most popular course, Port Royal Golf Club, remained in limbo.

The Government policy has been to tender the facilities out to concessionaires, instead of taking on the responsibility of operating them.

But it has been a year of woe for all three. Right now, the two most popular of the three have been out of commission for months, representing a significant loss in revenue.

At the Ocean View Golf Club, tenders have been considered and a decision was reached by the Board of Trustees for the Consolidated Golf Courses before they recently resigned to make way for the new Government.

Chairman of the former board, Raoul Tyrrell, confirmed that it was anticipated that restaurant service will be restored at Ocean View as of January 1.

He said, "There had also been applications received for Port Royal Golf Club.

But no decision has been made at this time.'' That is partly due, of course, to the change in Government. The board is in a state of flux. It is normal for board members to resign to make way for an incoming Government and so there is no board at the moment, until a new one is appointed by Premier Jennifer Smith.

But all three restaurant concessions have had their share of problems this year. At the St. George's Golf Club, service resumed last March after a four-month closure. It wasn't the first hiccup. It had also closed for three months in 1996, because of problems identifying new operators.

At Ocean View the last concessionaire curtailed service in the final weeks after a dispute over what was required. Come January, it will have been months since a full service was last provided.

Mr. Tyrrell reflected a commonly-held sentiment when he conceded, "The restaurant operation at Ocean View left something to be desired. And we are expecting that the new concessionaire will be able to correct those problems.'' The applications to operate the Port Royal concession had only arrived for consideration up to November 30. But that consideration will likely be one of the first responsibilities of the new board, once appointed.

BUSINESS BUC