Desolation Row, october 10, 2014

     Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Louisiana State University’s 53-year-old golf course, recently renovated by Jim Lipe, may soon take a permanent recess. Although “the exact future of the course is unknown,” writes the Daily Reveille, “there are questions as to whether an entire 18-hole course is necessary.” A decision regarding the course’s future is expected to come “in the next several months.” Best-case scenario: Nine holes survive.

     Hastings, Minnesota. After bleeding red ink for most of this century, Hastings Country Club has reached the end of the line. The club, which was established in the 1940s, closed late last month and hopes to continue operating with a new owner, presuming one can be found. Hastings died a slow death. The final nail in its coffin was struck in August, when its remaining 230 members refused to approve a $2,000 assessment that would have allowed the club to hang on for a while longer. The vote was 97 percent against.

     Land O’Lakes, Florida. Plantation Palms Golf Club bit the dust in mid May, and there’s no reason to believe its current owners plan to revive it. “Nobody knows anything,” the president of the accompanying homeowners’ association told the Tampa Bay Times. “There’s nothing happening.” Plantation Palms’ 18-hole, David Harman-designed course opened in late 2000. A trio of Native Americans, operating as MJS Golf Group LLC, bought it in 2011, reportedly for $2.18 million. The LLC stopped maintaining the property in June.

     Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. Sometime in December 2014, the last rounds will be played at High Mountain Golf Club. Toll Brothers has agreed to buy the nearly 50-year-old club, provided that it can secure permission to build 275 houses on its 18-hole golf course. “It’s tough to chew,” a member told the Record. “But I guess I understand people have land and they want to sell it and get rid of it.” The newspaper reports that High Mountain will be the first 18-hole course in Bergen County to close in more than a quarter century. The club currently has about 140 members, down from a high of 400 several years ago.

     Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The end is near for Wicked Stick Golf Links, as an unidentified home builder has agreed to buy more than half of the John Daly “signature” golf course. “The piece of land that Wicked Stick is currently sitting on is very valuable, and I think the ownership knew that when they bought the course,” the property’s director of operations told WBTW-TV. Daly co-designed Wicked Stick, which opened in 1995, with Clyde Johnston. The Myrtle Beach Sun News reports that the 18-hole course, which occupies 149 acres, had been listed at $6.55 million.

     Irving, Texas. Twin Wells Golf Course -- “one of the worst golf courses in North Texas,” according to the Dallas Morning News, and “the least-played municipal course in the region” -- needs nearly $5 million worth of upgrades that city officials are reluctant to fund. “It’s clearly in a death spiral,” one of them believes. The city is expected to replace the course’s private-sector operator, who’s reportedly stopped making lease payments.

     Rocklin, California. Charles Gibson wants to build 30-some houses on property owned by his Rocklin Golf Club, and he’s threatening to shut the place down if he isn’t given permission to do so. “I can’t stay here with no return on the investment and lose money each year to keep this what it is,” he said at a recent public forum. “Something has to change.” The club’s 18-hole golf course, designed by Billy Bell, opened in 1963, as Sunset Whitney Country Club. Gibson and a partner reportedly paid $2.5 million for Sunset Whitney in 2011. Maybe it’s only a coincidence, but Sunset Whitney’s former owners also wanted to develop some housing on the club’s property.

     Lake Orion, Michigan. The 27-hole complex at Bald Mountain Golf Course will almost certainly soon succumb to development pressure. “I’d love for Bald Mountain to be a golf course forever,” an Orion township official told the Oakland Press, “but if you look around the country, golf courses aren’t as viable as they used to be.” The property’s likely new owner is Pulte Home, which believes the 236-acre site can accommodate 387 single-family houses. Bald Mountain, a venue for beginners and those who can’t afford to play at the Detroit area’s better-maintained golf facilities, has operated since the late 1920s.

     West Monroe, Louisiana. Trenton Street Golf Course, a municipally owned nine-hole track, is scheduled to expire on New Year’s Eve. Matt Owens has operated Trenton Street since 2002, when he leased the defunct Riverside Golf Course and brought it back to life, but he no longer wishes to cover its losses. The city may turn the 64-acre property into a park.

     Kingman, Kansas. Marvin Miller can’t even give his golf course away, and that’s bad news for golfers in suburban Wichita. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he told the Hutchinson News. Late last year, Miller sold Kingman Country Club and its nine-hole course to a local golf pro, but he was forced to take it back due to extremely unfortunate circumstances. More recently, he tried to give the club to a local foundation, but it said no. And the city doesn’t want it either. Miller doesn’t want to close the club -- “You lose your course, you lose a part of your town,” he believes -- but he’s running out of options.