New Course Development Trends

[Mike Bodo]

While new golf course construction in the U.S. has taken a hit the last several years due to declines in golfer numbers and rounds, the 2020 season has seen a major reversal in that trend. Whether its lasting or a one-off due to COVID-19 remains to be seen, but I am cautiously optimistic the industry has turned a corner. Should growth in new golfers and golfer rounds continue, which segment of the retail golf market do those here see new course development taking place? I can't recall many new individual private or public courses having been constructed the past few years. What few new courses have been built seem to comprise resort properties. Is this still the wave of the future or do you foresee an increase in new individual private and public golf courses being constructed the next 2 - 5 years? Inquiring minds want to know. 

[Tom_Doak]

My US projects since 2008 are Old Macdonald, Streamsong, Dismal River, The Loop, and the redo of Medinah No. 1.


In other words, they are all additions to multi-course facilities.  That's where the money is; the infrastructure costs to develop a new standalone 18 holes are discouraging. 


I don't see an uptick in play as having much effect on that.  Of the seven new projects we have under contract or in negotiation, only the one in Napa is a new standalone facility.

[Niall C]

Tom


How many of those courses were developed purely as a business proposition and how many had an element of just wanting to build a course while accepting that it wasn't likely to repay the initial investment ?


Niall

[Joel_Stewart]

I was listening to a podcast the other day discussing GD best new courses for the year.  If I recall, only 15 new courses were built in 2020 and 7 of those were on existing golf sites.

[Derek_Duncan]

I was listening to a podcast the other day discussing GD best new courses for the year.  If I recall, only 15 new courses were built in 2020 and 7 of those were on existing golf sites.

There were 15 courses that were on the "ballot" for best new course, including one in Canada (several courses that opened in the late 2019/2020 timeframe opted to be considered for 2021, which we offered due to the strange dynamics of this year and the limited travel capacity of panelists). 9 of those 15 were built atop/remodels of existing courses.