The Critical List, january 25, 2013

     A Stanley Thompson-designed golf course in northwestern Ontario, Canada is available for next to nothing, but nobody seems to want it. The course, which has been closed since 2003, is part of the Minaki Lodge, a century-old resort located roughly 120 miles east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Minaki property is being redeveloped with cottages and condos, a process that will consume one of the course’s nine holes. As for the remaining eight, the developers appear willing to sell them for a dollar, and a local resident has said that it would be “a travesty” to lose the course. So far, though, a buyer hasn’t stepped up.

     Revenues at Etowah Valley Country Club have fallen by 50 percent since the onset of the Great Recession, and the family that owns the property was forced to file for bankruptcy protection late last year. “It’s a bad situation,” Frank Todd, Jr., a family member, acknowledged to a local newspaper. The club, which spreads across 240 acres outside Hendersonville, North Carolina, features a 27-hole golf complex that was designed by Ed Ault and opened in 1967. It’s been for sale since 2011, and it lost a quarter of its members in 2012. “We’re going to work as hard as we possibly can to pull it out, to keep it going, but we need a little help from this economy,” Todd said. “We need a turnabout.” The club, which has been owned by the Todds since 1967, earns no income from real estate sales. It includes a lodge, a dining room, and a croquet field.

     The fate of Airport Greens Golf Course in suburban Cleveland, Ohio is being negotiated by a law firm and a Cuyahoga County prosecutor. Gary LaConte, whose family built the course more than 20 years ago, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he’s been “begging” the county to change the terms of his lease since 2006, when the area’s golf business went south, and that he needs financial relief. “It’s been a struggle, and we’re just trying to ask them for mercy and put this in a position where it’s realistic,” he said. Late last year, an official in the prosecutor’s office characterized the parties as being “too far apart at the moment” for a deal to be struck.

     Budget-slashers in West Yorkshire, England are hoping to close the city of Leeds’ municipal golf courses. The all-but-broke metropolis has reportedly cut spending by £145 million ($229 million) over the past two years, but it needs to find an additional £51 million ($80 million) in savings this year. On the chopping block are the Middleton Park and Gotts Park courses, which are said to operate at a loss and are expected to experience further declines in play. “There is no evidence that those who use the courses would be unable to access other facilities in the city,” concludes an economic report prepared for city officials. “Returning the golf courses to parkland will achieve savings and also open up large areas of land to general public use.” The city will announce its budget next month.

     Golf professional James Drinkall has grown weary of sinking money into Allerthorpe Park Golf Club, and the York Press has concluded that the property’s future “lies in the balance.” The club, in East Yorkshire, England, closed earlier this month, and a liquidator has been appointed to find another operator. “The financial situation at Allerthorpe Park Golf Club had never been great since 2008,” the liquidator said, “and in fact the directors have personally financed it to the tune of almost £500,000 [$790,000] -- something that was never part of the plans and simply couldn’t continue.” Drinkall, in collaboration with his wife and parents, assumed a lease on Allerthorpe and its 18-hole golf course in 2008.

     Lancaster Country Club, in the Dutch country of Pennsylvania, is unofficially for sale and, in the words of a local newspaper, “facing an unknown future.” The club, which has been in business since 1909, has reportedly had cash-flow problems for a couple of years, and it’s currently being operated by a receiver for a bank that’s considering a foreclosure. A few prospective purchasers have emerged, some of whom aim to use the property for purposes other than golf.

     The future of Ballinger Lake Golf Course, which has been closed since November 2012, remains in doubt. The course’s owner, the city of Mountlake Terrace, Washington, is considering three options for the property: finding a new private-sector operator, managing the course itself, or converting the site to open space. The previous operators of the nine-hole course left unexpectedly, bailing out on a lease that ran through December 2015. The track was losing players, a local newspaper suggests, because it “needed to be maintained better and faced stiff competition from nicer 18-hole courses in the area.”

     The city of Elizabethton, Tennessee has agreed to cough up $160,000 to cover cash-flow problems at its municipal golf course. The city’s councilmembers, who complained to the Johnson City Press that they had “little choice but to vote for the cash infusion,” voted 7-1 to support the course. The dissenting councilmember told the newspaper that she voted against the measure because “the only time we ever hear from the golf course is when they want money.”

     Centennial Country Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan was shuttered in late 2012, and a local newspaper says that its future is “doubtful.” Bob Johnson, who plans to buy the club, aims to turn its 18-hole, Warner Bowen-designed golf course into a public park, or maybe a dog park. The 27-year-old course “has not made money in over 15 years,” Johnson told the newspaper, mostly because it’s too short (5,738 yards) for serious golfers. I also have the sense that Johnson isn’t a big believer in the golf business. “You look at Groupons, and you can play golf pretty much anywhere for nothing,” he said. “Private clubs are going by the wayside unless they have huge memberships.” Johnson plans to run his catering business from the club’s banquet center.