The Critical List, march 8, 2013

     On April Fools’ Day, the joke will be on the members of Escondido Country Club. The 49-year-old club in Escondido, California will close on that day, because its new owners have determined that “there is an oversupply of public and private golf clubs in the North San Diego County market.” Of course, they knew that in December, when they bought the club. Their due diligence also should have told them that the club was “facing insurmountable financial challenges” and needed nearly $2 million worth of improvements. So when these folks told the San Diego Union-Tribune that they plan to build houses on the 80-acre property and that “no one is more disappointed” than they are about this most unfortunate occurrence, I had to laugh.

     Time is running out on Woodcrest Country Club in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The club has been bouncing “from one near-death experience to another,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a date for an auction of the 155-acre property will likely be set next week. Woodcrest’s 18-hole golf course was co-designed by William Flynn and Howard Toomey and opened in two phases, in 1930 and 1931. In 1948, the track became the centerpiece of a club created for the Philadelphia area’s Jewish golfers. The club’s demise, the newspaper says, was sparked by “a disputed and ill-fated clubhouse expansion.”

     The forthcoming golf season will almost certainly be the swan song for Summerhill Golf Course in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. The owners of the nine-hole track plan to start farming the property, an idea that doesn’t sit well with the club’s captain. “There is a surplus of farmland in the Hay area but only one golf course,” he told the Hereford Times, “and its closure would be a another massive loss to those who enjoy sport in Hay-on-Wye.” The course, which opened in 1997, was designed by Bob Sandow, a former touring pro who believed that “system-built nine-hole courses” were, in the words of the Times, “the way forward” for daily-fee golf.

     The upcoming golf season may also be the last for Riviera Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, which is said to be “struggling with waning interest in the game and high operating costs.” Back in October 2012, the Columbus Dispatch reported that at least 14 offers had been made on the 42-year-old club. It’s apparently a prime site for a subdivision.

     After nearly 60 years as a going concern, golf course in Albertville, Alabama faces an “uncertain fate,” according to the Sand Mountain Reporter. Albertville Golf & Country Club has exactly one week to pay off or renegotiate the loans on two defaulted mortgages. The total hit: More than $1.1 million. Club officials are making last-ditch efforts to fend off a foreclosure, but they face harsh realities. “We have a real serious issue on our hands, and it’s been that way for a long time,” said the spokesman for a group of members that hopes to buy the club. “Unfortunately, what we learned is [that] some of the worst of what we thought might happen has already happened.” Among the worries: The club’s loans may be sold to a developer of low-income housing.

      No golf will be played this year on the 36 holes at Mississippi National Golf Links. Things began to unravel for the municipal complex in Red Wing, Minnesota late last year, when its private-sector operator took a hike and left the city holding the financial bag. As a result, this year the city expects to spend $375,000 on maintenance for the 400-acre property, and a councilmember fears that the Gordon Cunningham-designed courses may not reopen anytime soon. “I’m almost guaranteeing [that] if we shut it down,” he said in a comment reported by the Rochester Post-Bulletin, “it’s going to be a long time before it comes back, if ever.” This summer, the city hopes to conduct a search for a buyer or another operator.

     Sefton Council has been forced to assume management of Bootle Golf Course, after the property’s private-sector operator went broke. The course, in suburban Liverpool, England, had been operated by Fairway Investments, Ltd., on a 75-year lease.

     Flooding has contributed to financial woes at Painted Hills Golf Course in Spokane, Washington, and today the facility’s future is said to be “up in the air.” The property’s owners filed for bankruptcy protection last year, and this week their attorney told the Spokane Spokesman-Review they’re “considering all possibilities right now, including sale of the golf course.” The owners are seeking a buyer who’ll preserve the property’s golf courses -- Painted Hills features a pair of nine-hole layouts -- but their lawyer won’t guarantee that one will be found.

     Lynnwood Municipal Golf Course, in the state of Washington, is “in financial trouble and in jeopardy of shutting down,” says KOMO News. The number of rounds played at the 18-hole facility “has fallen almost every year that it’s been open,” says the Associated Press -- from nearly 60,000 in 2002 to 41,000 in 2012 -- and now the property is said to be saddled with more than $1 million in debts. In late December, the Associated Press reported that the city will decide the course’s fate “in the next three months.” So far, though, the verdict hasn’t come down.