Desolation Row, april 15, 2016

     New Bern, North Carolina. After operating for a half-century, time has run out on Carolina Pines Golf & Country Club. Joe and Jeannette Mospaw closed the slowly deteriorating venue earlier this year, blaming its demise on disappearing rounds and revenues. “Our membership has aged out, and nobody’s joining country clubs,” Joe Mospaw told the New Bern Sun Journal. “Every golf club in the area is having the same problem. We’re all fighting and scratching to get new members.” The Mospaws reportedly bought Carolina Pines in 2001. At the time, they say, it had about 200 members. At the time of its closing, it had 51. The 109-acre property has an assessed value of $1.67 million.

     Tallahassee, Florida. Regarding Killearn County Club, Barton Tuck’s wish has been granted. Tuck has closed Killearn’s North nine, a rarely played track that dates from the early 1980s, and he’s promised to invest the profits he realizes from redevelopment into long-overdue improvements on the club’s original 18-hole layout. The plan had stirred controversy in the club’s accompanying community, for Tuck, the principal of Greenville, South Carolina-based Wingfield Golf, had threatened to close Killearn’s entire 27-hole complex as soon as he could -- that would be in 2021 -- if he didn’t get his way. To mend fences with the home owners he’s alienated, Tuck has guaranteed to maintain the surviving holes until 2061.

     Fallbrook, California. The battle between Jack Lamberson and the members of a group called Save the Fallbrook Golf Course may not be over, but it’ll rage on without Fallbrook Golf Course. Lamberson pulled the plug on the 18-hole, Harry Rainville-designed track in March, claiming that he can’t continue to cover its mounting losses. “I can’t even think about keeping it open anymore,” he told the San Diego Union Tribune. The course opened in 1962. Lamberson thought he’d sold part of it earlier this year, but the sale fell through.

     Birmingham, Alabama. A home builder has agreed to buy Eagle Point Golf Club, which means that the end is near for the venue’s 18-hole, Earl Stone-designed golf course. Highpointe Properties’ plan still needs a thumbs-up from Shelby County officials, but the club’s fate appears to be sealed. “The golf course was going to be sold one way or another,” a Highpointe representative told 280 Living. “Somebody was going to develop it. We’re glad that it’s going to be us.”

     Fairfax, Minnesota. With losses continuing to pile up, Minnesota’s department of natural resources has decided to close the nearly 90-year-old golf course in Fort Ridgely State Park. According to the Mankato Free Press, the nine-hole track has suffered from “years of steep deficits.” It rang up a measly 2,609 rounds of golf last year, generating just $24,186 in revenues -- by my math, about $9.25 a round. Red ink flowed to the tune of roughly $125,000. The DNR hasn’t yet said when it plans to turn out the lights, but it’ll be sometime this year.

     Edgmont, Pennsylvania. More houses are coming to suburban Philadelphia, and they’ll be built on the 190 acres formerly occupied by Edgmont Country Club. The club, which opened in 1963, had catered to what’s been described as “the middle-class golfer.” Its 18-hole course was designed and built by Frank Mariani and his uncle, Nazz Mariani, and had remained in the family until it was sold, in late March. “We worked very hard to keep the course open, but it didn’t work out that way,” Frank Mariani told a local newspaper. The Marianis tried to sell Edgmont to the owners of other golf properties in the area, but they couldn’t find any takers.

     Livermore, California. You can forget about celebrating the 50th anniversary of Springtown Golf Course this summer. Six months after the course’s private-sector operators went out of business, and after giving concerned citizens a last-ditch chance to save it, the city has closed the nine-hole, money-losing track. The property will likely remain as open space.

     Huntsville, Alabama. As it turns out, Sunset Landing Golf Course was only temporarily grounded. The 18-hole track, located adjacent to Huntsville International Airport, was closed earlier this year but has reopened with new private-sector managers. “We’re very excited for this new endeavor and for the potential we believe Sunset Landing offers,” said Mike Parrish, one of the new operators. “Our goal is for Sunset Landing to become a premier public golf course in the Huntsville area.” Of course, the contract that The Birdie Boys II has signed only delays the inevitable, as the Port of Huntsville eventually plans to use the course’s 100 acres for airport expansion.