My club has been sold...

[Paul Jones]

I was a member at Lanier Golf Club - www.laniergolfclub.com - in Georgia.  It is a Joe Lee course built in 1970.  Good course that we were allowed to walk with cheap monthly dues $210 with no minimums. It is now open to the public because it has been sold to a builder who is going to bulldoze it for home sites and/or shopping strips at the end of the year.

Is this a trend or just back luck for me?

[Scott_Burroughs]

Paul,

See this thread about my home course:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=22209

You ain't alone.

[A.G._Crockett]

Paul,
I was a member years ago when Lanier GC was Canongate-On-Lanier, but didn't reup when it was sold to the membership.  I hate to see the course go, but this is a definite trend in Atlanta.  There was a thread recently about the number of courses that are going this way, and it is a bunch in Atlanta.

I saw an ad this weekend that announced that Lanier is open for public play from now until the closing sometime next year.  Also, at Alpharetta CC, where I play, we have picked up a number of new memberships from Lanier.  As I understand it, we are for sale also, but will remain a golf course.

[Brian_Marion]

I'm afraid it's a trend. I've seen a couple of courses locally have the same thing happen. Seems the setup is always familar. Good, older course where the membership is older and aging out. Club can't afford to remain private and gets bought out.

 

[A.G._Crockett]

I'm afraid it's a trend. I've seen a couple of courses locally have the same thing happen. Seems the setup is always familar. Good, older course where the membership is older and aging out. Club can't afford to remain private and gets bought out.

 

The pity of this one is that Lanier is still a very viable and active club that is probably very profitable.  The owners have been offered something like $20 million by developers, though, and money talks.  In Atlanta real estate, money shouts!

BTW, I think the teams from Lanier GC have won something like 7 of the last 9 club team championships conducted by the GSGA.  Good, tough course with a LOT of good players in the membership.  Unfortunately, it is even a better piece of real estate.

[JohnV]

Definitely a trend.  At least 3 clubs in the Pittsburgh area have been bulldozed in the last two years.  More will probably follow.

Two trends are at work here.  One is the decline in golfers who want to be members of private clubs and the other is the increasing value of the land near the cities.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

Paul nice to have you here as a contributor.

Market forces are at work in the golf business.  Too much supply and not enough demand combined with the real estate boom  (bubble) have made this a reality all over the country.  

As you know we have struggled at my club, but seemingly have weathered the storm for now.  There are other courses in the area that must be close to being redeveloped.  I can think of one that has good freeway access and beautiful views of Mt. Rainier hat would make for great condo's.  

Scott Oki, Microsoft $$, has bought several courses locally(Desert Canyon thread) and I have to believe that he feels protected by the value of the real estate that underlies those tracks.  
Sorry about Lanier!  Good luck on finding a new home.  If you want to move to Tacoma, we have a membership available

[Mike Benham]

... cheap monthly dues $210 with no minimums.

Your answer lies within ...

[A.G._Crockett]

... cheap monthly dues $210 with no minimums.

Your answer lies within ...

Mike,
Yes and no.  Those figures are low, I know, but there are a number of clubs in the Atlanta area that are very profitable with a similar fee structure, including Lanier.  In fact, the Canongate chain continues to buy courses (now up to 15, including 3 on the northside) with fees well below what Paul is citing for his club!

The catch is that real estate prices on the northside continue to just explode, and the houses that are being built on this end of Atlanta generally start in the 700,000 range!  Lanier is a great piece of real estate for housing; rectangular, lots of road frontage, relatively flat, and very-well located.  I'll guess that the housing will run from the mid-600's to over a million, and they'll sell them as quickly as they are completed.  

[Paul Jones]

... cheap monthly dues $210 with no minimums.

The owner stated that he kept the dues cheap becuase he only spends money on the course.  The club house is extremely dated and they have a very small staff to server breakfast and lunch. However, the club has no debt.

The sad thing is most of us would have gladly paid more to keep the club.  Canogate offered around 7 million to buy it last year as a golf course.  Once Lanier got sewage and water access the price more than tripled from builders wanting it.

[Tim Taylor]

Interesting thread. Also read Scott's thread about WFGC. So WFGC is semi-private with annual dues but not initiation fees, right?

Is Lanier a private club, by which I mean initiation fees plus monthly dues? If so, will the members get their initiation fees back?

I also belong to a club that must be sitting on some pretty valuable real estate and I've thought about this before. I have no reason to believe that our club is in danger of being sold but I guess it wouldn't hurt to go review the documents and by laws. Our club is corporate owned, not member owned, if that makes any difference.

TimT

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Paul has a new club. He has joined Oakbourne here in Lafayette. This gives us 2 GCA types now. You got like a year when things double.

[Bob_Huntley]

In setting up a land bank, one needs to squeeze some money out of it until such time as the city moves outward and the necessary political alliances have been made to develop same.

The ideal way is to have public storage facilities. A little water, no sewage connections (or very little) and access.

Another is a golf course. A lot more expensive but is more appealing if the development is to be a residential tract.

Bob

[Paul Jones]

Tim,

The club was private until everyone started leaving once word broke it was closing.  It is now semi-private for the rest of the year.

The owner said he would only give the iniation fee back to people who stayed until the end.

[Dan_Callahan]

I wouldn't be surprised to see my club in Connecticut close down in a year or two. The land is extremely valuable. Buckets of money were invested in a new clubhouse, while much-needed renovations to the course were largely ignored—seems the social members carried the day on that one. Golf memberships over the past two years have declined by almost 50 percent.

[S. Huffstutler]

I have heard that some of the members are trying to find an angle that would thwart the redevolpement....any luck?

Steve

[Jerry Kluger]

I belong to Indian Spring CC in Silver Spring, Maryland and it will be closing at the end of the year and plowed under for houses.  The club was built in the 1950s and has 336 holes.  The family that owns the club is very wealthy and just did not want to bother with operating the club anymore.  They sold it to Winchester Homes and they wanted to build houses and a new course but they could not meet the environmental requirements in place today as compared to when the courses were built.  They will preserve the wetlands and streams that exist today but they will not have the open space that golf courses represent.  

[Scott_Burroughs]

Also read Scott's thread about WFGC. So WFGC is semi-private with annual dues but not initiation fees, right?

There are (were?) initiation fees of $3K 'retail'.  Often on special for less.  In 1996 when I joined, it was $2200, and I paid the half-price special.

In the 10 years since I joined, 6 more clubs (2 private) in the N. Raleigh/north of Raleigh/East Durham area that are within close driving distance have opened, with at least 2 more coming in the next year.  Too much competition (including the other already-existing courses) and our land is valuable.

[Jason Mandel]

Jerry,

Sad to see Indian Spring will go.  A friend of mine from college family belongs there and we would play there from time to time.  I thought it was a very solid, very underated course in the area.  

Jason

[Tim Taylor]

Wow Jerry, 336 holes! They've got Pinehurst beat by a mile

Are you looking to join anywhere else? Or is everything in/near Montco too expensive these days?

Contact my via PM. I can have you down to play Hidden Creek sometime.

TimT

I belong to Indian Spring CC in Silver Spring, Maryland and it will be closing at the end of the year and plowed under for houses.  The club was built in the 1950s and has 336 holes.  <snip>

[A.G._Crockett]

Paul,
I was a member years ago when Lanier GC was Canongate-On-Lanier, but didn't reup when it was sold to the membership.  I hate to see the course go, but this is a definite trend in Atlanta.  There was a thread recently about the number of courses that are going this way, and it is a bunch in Atlanta.

I saw an ad this weekend that announced that Lanier is open for public play from now until the closing sometime next year.  Also, at Alpharetta CC, where I play, we have picked up a number of new memberships from Lanier.  As I understand it, we are for sale also, but will remain a golf course.

Ironically, when I got home this afternoon, I had an email notifying me that MY course, Alpharetta CC, had in fact been sold to Affiniti Golf Partners by Linkscorp.  Affiniti is a local company that owns or manages 6 courses in the metro area as well as a couple of others in bordering states.

This assures not only that we'll remain a golf club for at least awhile, but that there will be some immediate capital improvements made, both of which are very, very good news and a great relief.  It also pretty much guarantees that my dues will go up later this year or, at the latest, in 2007.  I'll take the good with the bad.

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