Acacia Country Club 1922-2012 - One Last Round

[Joe Leenheer]

We have enjoyed an extended season here in North East Ohio.  Unfortunately for Acacia Country Club, a Donald Ross gem, it will be her last. 

From cleveland.com

LYNDHURST, Ohio -- Shareholders at Acacia Country Club agreed Thursday night to sell their 160-acre property to a conservation group, ending speculation about the future of the 87-year-old golf course.

At a closed-door meeting, members holding 77 percent of the private club's shares voted in favor of a $14.75 million deal with the Conservation Fund, a nonprofit group based in Arlington, Va.

The vote scuttles attempts to develop the 18-hole golf course, long viewed as a prime spot for shopping, offices or other development along a bustling suburban corridor. Now that high-profile property, a rare slice of greenery between the Beachwood Place mall and Legacy Village shopping center, could become anything from a quiet park to a public golf course.

"This property will remain as green space and will not be used any more intensively than it is today," said Matt Sexton, a senior vice president of real estate with the conservation group. "We expect the clubhouse to be here and to be available, at least for events like weddings and things like that. And possibly conferences. But we expect the footprint of the property to remain as it is today."

Acacia, founded in 1922 and at the same location since 1925, will see its members finish a final season on the Donald Ross-designed course. The Conservation Fund expects to close its purchase in early December.

"What drove the overwhelming support for it was the opportunity to preserve an Acacia legacy with some sort of open space, whatever it will be," Charles Longo, the club's president, said after the shareholder meeting. "The money was a secondary concern for the vast majority of the members."

Although there is mention of the course joining forces with other Cleveland Metro Parks public courses (which includes Manakiki, another Ross Design), word on the street is this will not be the case.  There is no word on what will become of the course, but one thing most are certain about is that it will have nothing to do with golf. 

One interesting note (and a bit of a challenge to anyone who likes to do some investigating) is that the above article mentions that Acacia was not located on it's current site from 1922-1925.  This was also mentioned by the outgoing professional, but he was uncertain of any details.

A bit of history from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History....

"The ACACIA COUNTRY CLUB, located on the northeast corner of Cedar and Richmond roads in LYNDHURST, opened on 31 May 1921, although only 9 holes of its golf course were completed and it had no official clubhouse. Originally limited to Masons, it was later opened to non-Masons. The club covered 300 acres and offered some of the finest golfing in the area. Its course was designed by Donald Ross, a Boston golf expert, and Henry A. Tremaine was the first president. There were approx. 400 members during the club's initial years.

Initially a golf club, Acacia steadily developed into a leading country club. On 4 July 1922, a $200,000 clubhouse was opened. In the summer of 1954 a $75,000 pool was added, complete with dressing rooms and a snack bar. Major additions to the clubhouse began in May 1963 and were finished by 1964. A new portico and stone front were added to the exterior. A new powder room was built by the main entranceway, and a large building to the west of the clubhouse was built to house a mixed grill, men's card room and bar, and a new men's lockerroom. The interior decorators for the additions were Holzheimer's Interiors. In 1993 the Acacia Country Club owned 176 acres and had 440 members."



WARNING: The following photos were taken on December 19th.  According to staff, the course had not been touched in months.  Acacia was always know to be in great condition from tee to green.

This is by no means a photo tour.  Just trying to show an old beauty a kind wave as she fades away.

#1 Tee Box



#1 Green



#2 Green..wonderful use of rolling terrain into this par 5.



#3 Green...a great short par 4.



A look at #7 Green from #3.



#4 Green....set nicely into a gentle hillside..another fun par 5.



#7...classic.



#8 Fairway (the bunker on the top right is some 40 yards short of the green...great deceiving bunker)



#9 Fairway...beautiful grass bunkers hide an elevation change of some 15-20 feet into a fantastic green.



#9 Green



#10 Tee...a dramatic start to a strong stretch of holes.



#11 from bottom of hill.  This Par 3 also boast a significant down hill tee shot to a severe green.



one last crossing...



a look back at #11...



#12 Tee...amazingly enough another dramatic tee shot...three in a row! This is another great short par 4.



#13 Approach.  Plays drastically uphill to the most extreme green on the course.  The tee shot also plays down a drastic slope which requires excellent club selection to avoid trouble.



#13...a look back.



#14 Green...another demanding hole..picture just doesn't do it justice...



#16..another simple classic par 3 to one of the best greens on the course.



#18...




Although these photos are of rough quality and do not do any sort of justice to what a great course Acacia is, they do represent something special. 

These photos are from the last round of golf played at Acacia Country Club.  Played on Wednesday, winter weather hit Cleveland on Friday and will more than likely stick around for a while.  I am happy to say myself and Bill McKinley showed this old lady one last good time with a great match.  It took a hole out from a green-side bunker on #17 followed by a solid par on 18 to secure the victory for Mr. McKinley.  Both of our rounds were scored under par. 

If anyone has any better photos of Acacia please feel free to post.

Acacia Country Club, 1922-2012, 90 years young. 

[Stephen Davis]

Thanks for posting this. It is always sad to me to see clubs with such history go. I am glad you will have a great memory of her last round.

[Tom_Doak]

Joe:

Thanks for the photo tour.  It looks like a fine course; I'm sorry to see it go, and I do have some experience with those feelings.

Why did this particular course close, instead of one of its neighbors?  Always curious to understand our business.

[Jud_T]

I don't get it.  It's going to be kept as green space but not at least minimally maintained for golf?

[Tom_Doak]

I don't get it.  It's going to be kept as green space but not at least minimally maintained for golf?

Quite sad when a group will pay $14 million to turn OUT the lights of the golf course and turn it back to nature, while its value as a golf course was much closer to zero.

[Bill McKinley]

I don't get it.  It's going to be kept as green space but not at least minimally maintained for golf?

Yes Jud that is a great question. Apparently the group that bought the club from the members had no intention of keeping it a golf course even though a good number of Acacia's voting members thought there was a chance that they would when they voted to sell. The members have voted whether or not to sell many times over the years but mostly all of the potential buyers where commercial real estate companies and the members where really not on board with that.

To Tom's question, the main reasons are that Acacia didn't have that many members and the club wasn't doing well financially after they built a new clubhouse in the early 2000's. Also, the east side of Cleveland is definitely overpopulated with private clubs in this current economic climate. Their are still about 9 private clubs in a 10 to 15 mile radius. For comparison's sake, the west side of Cleveland has 3. There's just not enough "private club members" to go around.

[Michael George]

Tom:

Bill is 100% correct on the over population of golf courses on the east side of Cleveland.  My guess is that Acacia is not the last course to fall.  Luckily, Bill is safe at Canterbury.  Others like Pepper Pike Club and Country Club (PP) are obviously very solid, but there are simply too many clubs on the east sdie of Cleveland for the population.  In fact, there are a couple of other Ross courses on the east side of Cleveland that I think could fall. 

In addition, you have to know where Acacia is located.  It is a wonder that the course remained as long as it did.  It is directly across the street from the largest retail area in northeast Ohio.  Developers have wanted the Acacia property for many years.   The reason that the green space was a viable option is that this is the only green space left in the entire area.  Otherwise, it would be a cement city.

While I enjoyed Acacia, it was not a great golf course.  Its closing will help other clubs in the area like Canterbury, which is a truly special course. 

[Patrick_Mucci]

Michael,

I don't buy the over population excuse.

It was a Ross course dating back to the 20's,

More likely, finances in terms of assessments or debt is the culprit.

What was the cost and what was the reason to build a new clubhouse in the early 2000's ?

I suspect the new clubhouse was the beginning of the end

How many members left over the clubhouse project and how many left subsequently ?

[Mike Hendren]

To me, the sad thing is that this type of bread and butter golf course will not be replaced in the inventory of U. S. parkland courses.  While today's great architects design and build in exotic locations on dramatic parcels of land, who if anyone will design and build this type of classically styled lay of the land layout, full of function and strategy but devoid of marketable frills that the public and for that matter the cognoscenti crave?  (Props to Doak for Common Ground).    I fear we'll be relegated to a bifurcated future of magnificent symphonies and fleeting pop hits with a cavernous vaccum in between.  

The "Fazio 6.5" can't hold a candle to Donald J. Ross' B-List.

Bogey

[Michael George]

Patrick:

No doubt - the huge clubhouse with huge overhead and multiple non-revenue generating country club activities surely had an impact on the non-profitability of the club.  It is amazing to me that country clubs in the north continue to be run so inefficiently.  They serve 4 dinners a night during January and February (when half of their members are in Naples, Fla.), yet keep the entire dining areas and kitchens open with full staff.  They perform no cost-benefit analysis when looking at services.  

I don't know any more about their financial situation to talk about those issues.  

Re: the course - I think it had been touched post Ross.  It really does not have much of a Ross feel to it.  While I enjoyed playing it, it is not a major loss.

Hope you and everyone else on the site has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.

[BHoover]

Patrick,

You are likely correct that finances were the main factor in Acacia going under. I don't know why the members would have built a new clubhouse. But that's history.

But the population issue definitely is a factor. It's no secret that Cleveland has lost over half its population in the past 40-50 years. While there have been times of prosperity (the 90s), the economy since 2000 has not been kind to NE Ohio. There simply are not enough prospective members to support the number of clubs in the area. In that area, i know of several ckubs that were/are competing for a limited number of members--Canterbury, The Country Club, Pepper Pike Club, Shaker Heights, Mayfield Sand Ridge (th result of a recent merger to save the clubs) and several others. Some, the bigger name clubs, are going to be fine--Canterbury, The Country Club, Pepper Pike Club, and perhaps a few others.  Some clubs, however, probably face a less certain future.

[BHoover]

Although it is sad to see an 80+-year old course go under, I'm happy that the Beachwood area will have a large area of green space. Better to lie in a natural state than to be paved over.

I'm surprised that the Cleveland Metroparks would not have wanted to add Acacia to its slate of courses. I'm sure economics played a role in that decision. If any other courses do go under, I would hope the Metroparks could get involved. I believe that one or two of it's current courses are former privates (Manakkiki and perhaps Sleepy Hollow).

[Mike_Trenham]

Looks to me like the extremely rare situation where the members are walking away with real cash in their hands, I know of no situation in Phildelphia where this has occurred. Only nearby in Hershey and that deal seemed too good to be true.   I would bet the impending capital gains tax increase is making this deal more interesting.   Will it close before year end?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Michael & Brian,

Woodcrest and Shackamaxon in NJ experienced similar situations after they poured money into their clubhouses, repeatedly.

Now, I see the same pattern repeating itself in Florida.

I don't get it.

There's a difference between redecorating and modernizing to offset wear and tear, but building a new clubhouse is one hell of an expense process.

Alpine, in NJ also embarked upon a similar project but sold $ 13,000,000 of adjacent land to finance it.
And, they still went over budget. 

[BHoover]

It really baffles me why a club would choose to burden itself with unsustainable debt for the sake of a clubhouse? If anything, the money should go to the golf course. What's the main reason folks join a club? Is it for an overly opulent dining room, or could it be for a golf course? Seems pretty obvious, at least to me.

[Chris_Hunt]

Never like to see a course close, but the adjacent malls/traffic definitely hurt Acacia's viability, and Mayfield and Shaker more architectural interest to me.  Oakwood Club closed in the last two years as well, so hopefully the remaining clubs are viable on the east side.  As for the Conservation Fund winning the bid, it isn't the greatest tax generator for the city, but the nonprofit fund did receive a $4.6mm donation in 2011 from David Maltz, who hails from a notable philanthropic family in town, which I'm sure helped with acceptance for the bid.

Farewell, Acacia.

[Nate Oxman]

Brian, the club had to have dumped money into the clubhouse hoping to attract more weddings, parties and other special events. The revenue from one wedding had to be the equivalent of several golf memberships, no?

[noonan]

Golf is a pine box industry - the customers are dying off quickly

I bet those greens when cut could really be tricky

Being from Ohio - I have always loved parkland courses

[jeffwarne]

Brian, the club had to have dumped money into the clubhouse hoping to attract more weddings, parties and other special events. The revenue from one wedding had to be the equivalent of several golf memberships, no?

Well than I guess that they can go into the wedding business full time now, without the distractions of pesky things like maintenance budgets and golfers

There could of course be many other factors in this case,but so many clubs have lost their way be trying to be catering halls rather than golf facilities..........

[Evan Fleisher]

My biggest regret...not getting ONE ROUND in at Acacia in the 6 years I've lived here...too too bad.

[BHoover]

Brian, the club had to have dumped money into the clubhouse hoping to attract more weddings, parties and other special events. The revenue from one wedding had to be the equivalent of several golf memberships, no?

Maybe they did try to attract more weddings, parties and other special events. But because the club has gone under, I think it's safe to assume that the decision to invest in the clubhouse was not the wisest of moves.

I think Jeff hit the nail on the head...at some point shouldn't the golf course be the main focus instead of trying to operate a fancy catering business. But that's just me...golf matters more than having an over the top dining facility.

[Jon Wiggett]

I just wonder how long before it starts to get developed on a piece meal basis?

Jon

[Patrick_Mucci]

Brian,

Unfortunately I see more clubs going in that direction.

It's an interesting debate at the board meetings.

Factions within the club see easy revenue from these outside event.
They look at them as "dues lowering" activities.

But in reality here's what's happening.

The club's operation is getting more expensive, so the choices are:

Analyze operations and reduce costs and/or services.
Increase dues to meet increased expenses.
Generate non-member revenue to offset increased operational expenses

Invariably most clubs in that situation opt for the third choice, and once initiated, it almost becomes a focal point.

As an example, initially some clubs only permitted outside events at certain dates, usually off season, and certain times, so as not to conflict with member activities.   But, as the easy money rolled in, the desire for more money led to removing the restrictions, to the degree that the outside functions often became more important than member activities, often leading to restrictions being placed on member activities as the club moved closer to catering hall status.

Interestingly, other factions within the club opposed accepting outside events, as they felt that the club should remain member centric and that the rising operational expenses should be dealt with by either increasing dues or curbing/cutting services.

Once clubs chose the third option the die was cast, AND, operational costs continued to increase unabated, hence the need for more outside revenue.

So now you have two spirals, escalating operational expenses and increased outside events.
As operational expenses increased unchecked, the thirst for outside events increased.
And, as this was occurring the culture of the club was changing.
Members were feeling disenfranchised, almost like second class citizens, hence their loyalty, their connection to the club was being strained, resulting in diminished utilization patterns, resulting in lower revenues for the club, whose operational expenses continued to rise.

Now, another issue arises.
Certain factions favor expanding the clubhouse or building a new clubhouse to be able to accommodate larger outside functions to be able to generate more revenue. 

The members, already facing rising dues to meet increasing expenses don't want to pay an assessment.
The solution............ Go to the bank and borrow the millions needed.
After all, the increased revenues from the new facility will pay for the cost to carry the loan and pay off the principal.

Sound familiar ?

What's next ?

Members leave.
With fewer members, dues increase, resulting in more members leaving, ergo higher dues and the death spiral has begun.

Only a few clubs can be full service clubs at reasonable costs.

Clubs that continue to focus on outside events will continue to be challenged by the dilemma of serving two masters.

Clubs that return to basics, to what made them popular to begin with, will have a better chance at survival in the difficult times ahead

[BHoover]

Jon,

I don't know any of the details of the purchase, but my understanding is that the conservation group purchased the property for the purpose of preventing the land from being developed. The city was adamantly opposed to any sale that would not result in development (they wanted the tax dollars), but the group that ultimately bought the property wanted to prevent the loss of green space.

So, I very much doubt any piecemeal development.

[BHoover]

Patrick,

I think you are 1000% correct.