Downsizing: 18 to 9

[Lou_Duran]

Running a golf facility is not the same as running a farm.
Jon

Of course, you're right.  But the financial implications have strong similarities (crop yields/# of rounds sold x commodity prices/green fee = revenues; operating costs + depreciation + cost of capital in excess of revenues = Let's do something else).  Funny, a well-known superintendent once explained to me how growing one crop (a single type of Bermuda throughout the course) made his life and cost line so much easier.  The context was a highly-regarded Dallas course which has three different types of zoysia for fairways, tees, and roughs plus the latest heat-resistant bent on the greens.


It reminded me of my time in rural Ohio helping farmers grow and harvest wheat, oats, hay, soybeans, corn, and assorted minor crops while faithfully rotating them to nurture the soil and managing livestock.  Both, superintendents and farmers are terribly underappreciated.

[Lou_Duran]

Is there a likelihood that down the line, not tomorrow, not next year, but sometime in the future, that in and around metropolitan/urban areas it might be 9-holes (or another number less than 18) or nothing?
atb

https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/06/the-next-housing-battleground-dead-golf-courses/561896/

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks for the link. Different countries, different circumstances, different regulations etc I guess.
Ownership of the club/course itself forms part of the matter, eg muni, private pay-n-play, Casc or non-Casc, and thus effects how any potential sell-off proceeds are spent.
Is there a situation though where should a metropolitan/urban private members Club sell up and want to move out of town they’ll have to move sooo far out of town that the members, often the joint-owners, won’t want to travel that far to play so to continue playing at all they’d rather downsize and stay where they are?
Atb

[Chris_Blakely]

In Fort Wayne, Indiana the Donald Ross GC downsized from 18 to 9 holes.  They eliminated the 9 newer (non DR) holes and constructed athletic fields for Indiana Tech.  They now own and operate the course.  It was getting a lot of play on my recent round.


Chris

Totally on the mild scale, but this is interesting.  I swing through Ft. Wayne every year for a couple hours and I played this course like 5 years ago to check the box, probably the "worst" (independent of financial well-being) Ross course I have ever played.  The Ross holes are fine, but the other nine across the street was on more compelling land.  Indiana Tech will probably keep it running a bit better than whoever owned it before.  The scorecard on the website now says "Donald Ross Golf Club by Indiana Tech" on the front!

By far, the worst “Ross” course I have played is The Woodlands in Hampton VA.  However, the highest expansion destroyed this course from what I was told.


As for Donald Ross GC in Fort Wayne, I thought the Ross greens were very good and other than hole 1 appear untouched.


Chris

[Wayne_Kozun]

Toronto Hunt is somewhat like this although the course to have never have been more than 9 holes but it used to have grounds for hunting, polo, tennis and other sports.  Much of that land was sold of through the years and other activities discontinued, especially during the 1930s. 


The golf course was first built in 1895.  It was later rebuilt by Willie Park Jr in 1918.  Later redesign work was done by Stanley Thompson and George Cumming - although it seems that Thompson's plan was never implemented as the club balked at his price.  So the current course appears to be primarily Cumming's work during WWII.  The most recent work was by Tom McBroom.(Source Toronto's Lost Golf Courses by Scott Burk and the club's website).


Although only nine holes the club is quite prestigious and has a beautiful location on the Scarborough bluffs, right above Lake Ontario.  It is one of very few clubs in Ontario that border the Great Lakes which I find strange as one would think that a club right along the lake would most approximate the links of Scotland.  Sure the Great Lakes are not an ocean but they are similar and would have sites with lots of wind.


The clubhouse has a spectacular view of the lake and is very popular for weddings and social events, and hosted a G7 dinner in 1988 with Reagan, Thatcher, etc.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Buying half a tractor is a figure of speech.


Being realistic an irrigation system for a 9 hole golf course still requires a pump house, irrigation controller, it is certainly not half the price of an 18 hole system. You can make the case equipment lasts longer, but you still need the same sized machinery store if you run all the kit. If you want to be a good club, you still have a pro, secretary, bar, staffing costs won't be half and as soon as you slash the staffing level the quality of the operation drops and so does the amount you can charge so eventually finances bite too much and typically you end up with a 9 hole course at £400 per year subscription ran by a couple of people.


This does not matter if you are downsizing from an initial 18 as you would already have it, it will delay the inevitable though.


The main negative for a 9 hole course is the perception by most golfers wanting to play 18 and 18 holes is a round of golf, going round twice is a big no no for many. Most people will join the 18 hole course.


Housing generates lots and is a different thing altogether.


A lot of clubs could have pockets that release a few acres of land and in some areas a few acres relates to a few million. The land needs to be next to roads and close to services, but losing a couple of holes and finding some alternatives might be a good route for some clubs. That way they stay 18.