Desolation Row, march 7, 2014

     Developers have their eye on San Luis Rey Downs Country Club, but not for the usual reasons. The Downs’ owners aim to sell their 185-acre property in suburban San Diego, California to a group that intends to strip away all vestiges of the golf course and restore the site to the condition it was in during the early 1940s. From there, the property can serve as a mitigation bank, and Conservation Land Group will be able to sell mitigation credits to developers and other entities needing to offset the environmental damage they create elsewhere. Residents who live near the club have protested, but at this point their arguments will carry weight only if they put a better offer on the table. And there doesn’t appear to be a compelling reason for them to do so. “The golf course has lost money each of the last nine years,” the club’s owner, Bill Thead, said at a recent public gathering. Roughly speaking, one acre of land equals one mitigation credit, and Conservation Land reportedly believes a credit will sell for anywhere between $20,000 and $200,000.

     The asking price for Blarney Golf Resort, in County Cork, Ireland, is falling through the floor. The eight-year-old resort, which is said to be “no more than a stone’s throw” from the famous Blarney Stone outside the city of Cork, has been in the hands of receivers since 2009. The receivers were originally hoping to get €12.5 million ($17.4 million) for the 420-acre property -- it features a John Daly-designed golf course, a 61-room hotel, and meeting space -- but soon dropped their price to €10 million and then to €3.9 million. Today, it’s move-in ready for only €2.5 million ($3.47 million). The Irish Times reports that Blarney’s original owners spent more than €30 million ($41.6 million) to build the place.

     Mount Vintage Plantation Golf Club, a 27-hole facility in North Augusta, South Carolina, shut its doors in early February. The Augusta Chronicle, citing “money woes,” says that “the future of the club is unknown.” The club almost bit the dust several years ago, before it was purchased by Mike Hooker in 2011. Hooker’s LLC tried to file for bankruptcy protection in January, but its petition wasn’t accepted.

     The long, cold winter will be permanently extended for Sundance Golf & Bowl, a combination golf course and bowling alley in Dayton, Minnesota. The 44-year-old property, which is owned by Robert H. Allen and family, closed in late January. Its 18-hole golf course was designed by Ade Simonson, its original owner. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports that Sundance is one of five golf properties in the Twin Cities that have closed since September 2013.

     Last fall, a golf club in Suffolk, England that’s said to be “thriving, with a growing membership” turned itself over to administrators. The reason: The club’s operator, a group called Golf GB, has “historic debt” that it’s been “unable to service effectively.” The club has assumed a “business as usual” mentality while the administrators look for a buyer.

     Eight years after it opened, a debt-riddled golf club in Ontario, Canada is facing an uncertain future. Receivers are now operating OslerBrook Golf & Country Club and searching for a buyer. They may not have to look far, because a group of members is trying to develop a rescue plan. “There is a deal to be done, and we’re confident that we’ll be golfing this year,” the group’s chairman told the Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin. The club, outside Collingwood, features a Graham Cooke-designed course that marketing materials say “combines the traditional elements of both parkland and links styles.”

     Clouds are gathering over one of the more affordable 18-hole golf courses in the Valley of the Sun. The owner of Villa de Paz Golf Club, the centerpiece of a 40-year-old community in western Phoenix, Arizona, is said to be under financial stress and looking for a bail-out from a residential developer. One problem, according to KTVK-TV: Under the current zoning, the property must remain a golf course. Things can change, however, and some residents of the community have mobilized to fight a proposed rezoning.

     The clock is ticking on the 18-hole golf course at the King’s Deer community outside Colorado Springs, Colorado. The 15-year-old, Scottish-inspired track, designed by Ric Buckton of Redstone Golf, was closed unexpectedly last month. “All of us thought things were going better,” a King’s Deer resident told KRDO-TV. “New memberships were being sold.” The golf course is now controlled by its lender, a bank in Nebraska, which intends to turn it over to receivers and then look for a buyer or lessee. The Colorado Springs Gazette says that residents in the accompanying community, based on conversations with the bankers, are “optimistic” that the course will reopen later this year. There apparently isn’t much chance of the course being redeveloped, as much of it is located in a floodplain.

     A Toronto-based lender has foreclosed on a pair of golf properties in the Charlotte, North Carolina area owned by entities related to Jeff Silverstein. Court documents allege that Tradition Golf Club and the Divide Golf Club owe more than $26 million to affiliates of Romspen Investment Corporation. The foreclosure wasn’t unexpected, as Silverstein’s Carolina Trail properties have been under extreme financial duress for more than a year. Three other properties that are part of the trail -- the Highland Creek and Birkdale golf clubs in North Carolina and Waterford Golf Club in South Carolina -- are also in hock to Romspen, but they haven’t been foreclosed upon. Silverstein doesn’t intend to contest the proceedings.

     The party’s over at Cypress Bay Golf Club, an 18-hole course on the Grand Strand in South Carolina that’s said to be “on the low end of green fees in the Myrtle Beach golf market.” Cypress Bay’s Russell Breeden-designed course opened in 1972. It was sold to a residential developer last year, and the new owner shut off the lights for good in late February. Development activities are expected to begin later this year, and houses will likely be on sale in mid 2015.

     Cheval Golf & Country Club, the centerpiece of a gated, new-money community in suburban Tampa, Florida, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Cheval owes almost $5 million to various creditors, but the Tampa Bay Business Journal reports that it registered a slight uptick in revenues last year. “Golf memberships and revenue are now stabilized,” the Journal writes, “and the club believes it can successfully reorganize by restructuring the golf course loan and other financing agreements.” The club features an 18-hole, Steve Smyers-designed golf course that opened in 1985. Surrounding the course are 1,100 upscale houses, an equestrian center, and a large bronze horse.