So the economy stinks right now. We all know it, and we all feel the pinch every day. Think you have it bad? Try running a golf course. Look around at what is happening to golf courses not only in our area but all over the country. Golf courses are going the way of the housing market. Banks are taking over at courses, they are filing bankruptcy, closing up their doors, and your super exclusives are opening up their doors to the public to make a buck. What does that mean for you the golfer? That's not so easy.
Here is the good. You are getting access to more golf courses that you would normally never see. Look at all the former privates that have become "semi-private" or public in the Louisville area in the last few years. Glenmary, Midland Trail, and a few others have opened their doors to the public in the last few years. Many of us were always of the opinion that Louisville could never support as many private courses as they have in the area and it was bound to come crashing down sooner or later. Well here we are. Want access to more private courses? Check out golfnow.com and you can find tee times at Persimmon Ridge on the edge of Louisville. They will cost you a few extra dollars than your normal public course but they will gladly take your $70 bucks to play out there. How about Cardinal Club in Simpsonville, which is where the UofL golf team plays. They have probably the best practice facility in the state out there and they have had specials found all over the internet. I have even heard rumblings this spring they will even take your tee time if you just give them a call. These are two courses once thought to be uber-exclusive that have hosted many major tournaments within the state, and now they are letting you on their course. All because they want to make a few extra bucks. Why wouldn't they want your money? Look what they have to contend with in these times.
Now its time for the bad. So you are now able to get on these once-private courses that the economy has opened up to you. The first thing you have to do is open up your wallet to them. They aren't going to let you on for free after all. Persimmon and Cardinal Club who are still trying to stay private will charge you more than your top-level public in the state of Kentucky. Now lets look at the others. We already know they are tight on money, so they have had to cut their maintenance budget. Bummer. You aren't going to see the tightly manicured course you saw from a distance 5 or more years ago. Even the nice looking course you saw at Indian Springs on Westport Road doesn't look as nice anymore. On top of that cut, everything costs them more now. They have to put gas in their mowers, use gas based products like fertilizer, and get all of these products to the course which is costing more. We know the direction gas prices are going now and they feel it too. This is also a non-discriminating issue, as you are going to see the pinch from this at your best private course like Valhalla and at the bottom of the barrel public like a municipal course in the city.
Now, where do you think the extra cash is going to come from at these courses? That's right. It's gonna be you. They are going to be raising green fees, cart fees, range fees, etc. to pay for these things. If they have gas carts they have to put gas in them. If they have electric carts they have to charge them up. If they want to get electric carts they have to find the money to pay for them, and that usually calls for a loan and the banks are about as friendly with golf courses right now as they are with house loans.
You thought that was all? There is more bad news. Courses around the country are closing and being taken over by the bank every month. There hasn't been a lot of that recently in Louisville that I have heard about, but just down the road in Lexington it's happening. Last year one of their private courses, Andover went into bankruptcy and they have opened up on a limited basis to the public. Further than that, just recently Champions Trace just outside of Lexington in Nicholasville got taken over by the bank. The course formerly known as "Champions", an Arthur Hills design, was one of those courses thought to be on that list of courses that would not be affected by the economy to this extent. That tells us the worst could be yet to come for the private courses in the golf industry.
So what are you gonna do about it? If you have the cash, by all means go spend it. Stimulate the economy. Join a private course if you have that kind of cash. Play the public courses once or twice a week. Keep our courses open. We can only hope things will level off at some point, and maybe prices will freeze or even drop. So what about working class guy that loves the game but can't afford all of that? Meet me at Seneca Saturday morning. Unless its raining, that's another story altogether.
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