Not sure what conclusions we can draw from this but more golf course properties may be available for disc golf and operating golf courses interestd in additional revenue from adding disc golf.

Golf Courses May Soon Be a Starbucks -- or a Subdivision
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

(Sept. 1) -- Golf courses are being plowed under in record numbers to make way for residential and commercial developments. As Tiger Woods goes for his fifth consecutive win on the PGA Tour this weekend, the golf industry struggles to deal with post-traumatic stress from the "Tiger effect" - a boom in golf during the late 1990s that coincided with Woods' emergence as a superstar.

The golf industry's mantra during the Tiger boom was "a new course every day." That's switched to a couple of closings every week.

Golf course openings fell from a peak of 398.5 in 2000 to 124.5 last year when measured in 18-hole equivalents, the National Golf Foundation reports. During that time, course closings soared from 23 to a record 93.5 last year.

When courses temporarily closed for renovation are included, the USA had fewer golf courses open at the end of 2005 than a year earlier - the first year-to-year decline since 1945. Golfers still have plenty of places to play: 16,052 courses nationwide.

"Golf courses aren't generating the returns people like to see," says Mike Hughes, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association. "The land has appreciated so much in value that it makes abundant economic sense to turn the property over to other uses."

Local governments often support the redevelopment because it brings in more tax revenue than a golf course. The economic downturn of 2001 punctured the Tiger effect, and the industry has not yet recovered.

Some conversions:

-- In Raleigh, N.C., the Cheviot Hills Golf Course, open since 1930, was sold for $25 million and will be turned into auto dealerships.

-- In Fall City, Wash., Tall Chief Golf Course is now 12 holes. The back six holes are being developed into homes.

-- In Myrtle Beach, S.C., the Bay Tree Golf Plantation, which once hosted an LPGA tournament, is being converted into 2,100 condos.

The Myrtle Beach area, the nation's top golf-tourist destination, has seen 17 courses close. (A plentiful 107 remain.)

Hit hardest: golf courses built in rural areas that since have been surrounded by population growth. A golf course is a real estate developer's dream: about 150 acres of undeveloped land.

Shorter golf courses and par-3 courses are being redeveloped especially rapidly, the National Golf Foundation says.

Some homeowners who bought houses on golf courses have been surprised to see their views disappear. "The golf holes go away and suddenly you have people living in your backyard," says Mike Waldron, executive director of the Georgia State Golf Association.

Golf courses are being built where land is cheaper and more rural. Golfers still have many choices but may have to drive farther to play.

"It's like when your favorite grocery store down the street closes," says Jack Nance, executive director of the Carolinas Golf Association. "You're sad, but you deal with it."

-- In Raleigh, N.C., the Cheviot Hills Golf Course, open since 1930, was sold for $25 million and will be turned into auto dealerships.




Cheviot Hills is one of the many golf courses in Raleigh closing. It's been in the papers all summer.

The Palo Duro Creek Golf Course in Canyon, Texas has been seriously considering closing due to not enough revenue to keep up the watering schedule. They have tried to work with the city of Canyon to get a better price for water, or possibly make it a municipal course. Sad to see it go, it's a pretty course in a canyon type setting. Homeowners around the course are scrambling trying to find a way to keep their neighborhood from being leveled for HUD housing.

Eventually ALL golf courses will be converted for discs! DiscGolf will rule the world! Moo ha ha ha!

Fly 18 just lost one to a retirement home in ft worth tx.This was my 3rd course to go down an leveled.The bubble has burst.I have a couple more courses in tx that I may do before the years end and orlando also..... Courses are being sold and were not for sale....Money talks....My new Riverside course is 18 miles from innova and my b tier event is 1 month away sept 30 oct 1 par 71 12,640 ft pro 9,171 ams par 71....Our biggest events will be held on golf courses the most professional venues out there. :D

It is not just a boom and bust in golf courses. The company that owns Titleist is down 4% in total sales, this quarter compared to this quarter last year. Golf itself has declined over the last year for the first time since they've been measuring that sort of thing.

I thought it was interesting that shorter and pitch and putt courses are getting the shaft more often the other courses. This should be a comment on our own development and to those who continually argue that we need pitch and putt courses to introduce new players. In terms of a real economic model, pitch and putt courses just don't get played the way that more arduous courses do.

Not sure what conclusions we can draw from this but more golf course properties may be available for disc golf and operating golf courses interestd in additional revenue from adding disc golf.



The conclusion I draw is that unless the golf course draws in a lot of revenue, the land has more value as a front yard, or a fast food joint.

I suspect that is something disc golf with be faced with as we grow, but within the economics of park departments, rather than the economics of regional land values. In some cases, our curent courses/open spaces will be put to higher and better uses. In others, like floodplains where the value to park departments is less, we will probably retain our courses. Luckily for us, course installation and maintenance costs are cheap, while taxing remains unpopular. These factors tend to give us a little niche within the sphere of parkland economics.

i agree with james. the conclusion is that the land is more valuable for other uses, not the ball golf is in "decline". ball golf might be in decline (i have no idea if it is or not), but reports of course closings does not prove it.

if anything, the warning for those of us with public park courses to nurture and protect, is that even governments care about land use. the more help and less trouble the govt gets from the course's users, the less the economics of land value will come into play in keeping a park.

if anything, the warning for those of us with public park courses to nurture and protect, is that even governments care about land use. the more help and less trouble the govt gets from the course's users, the less the economics of land value will come into play in keeping a park.


Case in point is La Mirada. There is tremendous amounts of contruction going on to make "park improvements" that will increase park utilization. That's a good thing to parks department people. Unfortunately for one of the greatest historical disc golf courses is that this construction and the increase in non-disc-golf park users will require a re-design of the course.

EVERYTHING is getting more expensive. In the past, it seemed that a price was determined by making any/the product cost the least...thus, making it available... NOW, it's all about getting the most profit out of EVERYTHING. :eek: Fargin' economics. :mad: