More than 1,400 U.S. golf facilities have closed since 2001, and, as one might guess, the dearly departed are mostly nine-hole daily-fee courses that charged “affordable” rates.
Premium-priced public spreads, tracks that anchor private clubs and courses that are part of golf communities have higher survival rates, according to an analysis by the National Golf Foundation. In fact, private clubs, which the NGF says constitute one-quarter of the nation’s existing stock, have, despite their well-documented troubles, so far represented only 8 percent of the total closures.
The smaller, “affordable” courses are disproportionately biting the bullet, the NGF explains, as a result of price pressures that are trickling down from the top end of the market. As the high-end courses cut their greens fees to remain viable, the mid-priced courses are forced to follow suit, and then the weakest low-cost courses, desperately scrambling for the few remaining dollars in the market, are squeezed to extinction. In business school, it’s what they call “a vicious cycle.”