Golf course communities -- a concern to consider. (Young: 2015, HOA)

[Mike from back east]

I live in a gated 55+ community. Great landscaping, lovely place, with many amenities, one of which is a golf course with clubhouse and eatery.

Golf is in a decline. Adidas' golf revenue fell 28% last year despite a booming economy.

Direct excerpts from article: "The number of young people, aged 18 to 30, playing the game has sagged nearly 35 percent over the last decade. ... That drop-off has hit America's greens and links hard. More golf courses closed than opened in 2013 for the eighth straight year, according to the National Golf Foundation. And the number of course closures has sped up, averaging 137 closings every year since 2011, data from golf-industry researcher Pellucid show."

For some time now the developer of our community has been shopping around for a buyer to take our golf course, club house and restaurant but no buyers are interested. Now they want to sell it to our HOA but no one knows what the economic impact of that will be to homeowners, nor do we know what will happen if the HOA members (homeowners) decline to buy the "assets."

In a prior life I lived in COLO SPGS where several courses went bankrupt and closed. In one case a developer (naturally) wants to get his hands on the land and build homes. Home buyers who paid a premium for a "golf course lot" are incandescent with rage at such a screwing over. No one here in my current 'hood has any idea if we can let it revert to open space desert or a wash or whatever. There are legal issues for most any course of action. Well kiddies, isn't retirement fun.

For potential homebuyers in this area (and indeed nationwide) this is a cautionary tale to take a hard look at any community where a golf course is part of the allure. It may be best to avoid such places and live in a non-golf community. To each their own. YMMV.

[Burning Madolf]

Along with Mike's advice, if looking at a golf course community and you are finding it difficult to get answers while taking your hard look, then you may already have your answer.

[ABQConvict]

I would think that an otherwise nice community surrounding a failing golf course could revision the space as a park or develop it with other amenities.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by ABQConvict

I would think that an otherwise nice community surrounding a failing golf course could revision the space as a park or develop it with other amenities.

You'd think so but there are various stakeholders whose views and financial interests must be considered as well as zoning and/or land use issues at the municipal level and maybe even at the Corps of Engineers level where water and wetlands are part of the mix. Nothing is easy these days. We had a land use matter back in my COLO SPGS neighborhood where the Endangered Species Act protected the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse; one exterminator turned me down on an issue with common moles because he was afraid he'd harm those mice as part of the service.

An article from 2018 on the decline in golf.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

You'd think so but there are various stakeholders whose views and financial interests must be considered as well as zoning and/or land use issues at the municipal level and maybe even at the Corps of Engineers level where water and wetlands are part of the mix. Nothing is easy these days. We had a land use matter back in my COLO SPGS neighborhood where the Endangered Species Act protected the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse; one exterminator turned me down on an issue with common moles because he was afraid he'd harm those mice as part of the service.

An article from 2018 on the decline in golf.

NOT THE PREBLE'S MEADOW JUMPING MOUSE! Oh the humanity!

[Kate2345]

The Wall Street journal covered this issue extensively and came to the same conclusion.

[thinkalot]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

I live in a gated 55+ community. Great landscaping, lovely place, with many amenities, one of which is a golf course with clubhouse and eatery.

Golf is in a decline. Adidas' golf revenue fell 28% last year despite a booming economy.

Direct excerpts from article: "The number of young people, aged 18 to 30, playing the game has sagged nearly 35 percent over the last decade. ... That drop-off has hit America's greens and links hard. More golf courses closed than opened in 2013 for the eighth straight year, according to the National Golf Foundation. And the number of course closures has sped up, averaging 137 closings every year since 2011, data from golf-industry researcher Pellucid show."

For some time now the developer of our community has been shopping around for a buyer to take our golf course, club house and restaurant but no buyers are interested. Now they want to sell it to our HOA but no one knows what the economic impact of that will be to homeowners, nor do we know what will happen if the HOA members (homeowners) decline to buy the "assets."

In a prior life I lived in COLO SPGS where several courses went bankrupt and closed. In one case a developer (naturally) wants to get his hands on the land and build homes. Home buyers who paid a premium for a "golf course lot" are incandescent with rage at such a screwing over. No one here in my current 'hood has any idea if we can let it revert to open space desert or a wash or whatever. There are legal issues for most any course of action. Well kiddies, isn't retirement fun.

For potential homebuyers in this area (and indeed nationwide) this is a cautionary tale to take a hard look at any community where a golf course is part of the allure. It may be best to avoid such places and live in a non-golf community. To each their own. YMMV.

You used a 4 1/2 year old story?

Just about all of the golf numbers are up. First time male and female golfers, youth golfers, equipment sales, minority golfers. 65+ golf is way up and will continue as boomers continue to retire.

Junior girls golf has more than doubled and minority girls are up from 6% to 25% of the total.

5 straight years of 2M+ new golfers.

Largest customer segment is 18 to 34 so don't try to pull the millennials don't golf line.

Female golfers are now 36% of the golfing population.

Sure there are more courses closing and that will continue. Youngstown Ohio for example was a big golfing area but their population dropped from 190,000 to 60,000 and there are many other dying areas like that. I am sure they aren't opening courses in Detroit.

Rounds played did drop last year, the third wettest year on record.

All numbers are from the National Golf Foundation. Keeping track of the game is what they do (the good and the bad) unlike a reporter working on A story.

I live in a golf community. We have 8 courses. There are always a few that talk about a park or some other thing THAT WON'T BRING IN ANY MONEY and would still have to be maintained.

You are right that people should check before buying into a golf community but please use current and accurate numbers. Don't use news stories from times when the economy wasn't doing that great or anecdotal examples from one place. I could do the same with places that are hard to get a Tee Time.

[Mike from back east]

Here's an article from Forbes about exactly the issue of HOAs being stuck with dead golf courses. They expect this issue will mushroom in the years ahead.


Here's an article on the mess at Ahwatukee.

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by Burning Madolf

NOT THE PREBLE'S MEADOW JUMPING MOUSE! Oh the humanity!

Trebbles? Trebbles!!!

[jnojr]

Who actually owns the land the golf course is on? And is there actually a promise, as in written in legally-enforceable language, that the golf course will always be a golf course? If nobody is paying to play on it, who is going to water and manicure it?


This has happened a couple of times in California. Golf course goes bankrupt, and someone who owns the land says the best use of this land is more houses. Existing homeowners go nuts... but they have no leg to stand on. And I bet few if any were paying members of the club!

Sorry, you don't get to decide what someone else does with their land, and you cannot hold them to "promises" made by someone else decades ago.