Investors showing interest in Madden Golf Course
Dayton, which closed course last year, has received four inquiries.
Golf ’s popularity soared during the pandemic, and multiple parties have shown interest in one of the two municipal golf facilities the city of Dayton closed last year for budget reasons.
“I think interest in golf is going to go up, and I think people who started playing (during the pandemic) aren’t going to stop,” said Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph.
Last spring, the city announced it was shutting down Madden Golf Course and Kittyhawk Golf Center to cut costs.
The city’s golf operations and facilities had lost money for years, requiring general fund subsidies.
The city decided only to keep operating its most popular facility, Community Golf Club, which is located in Kettering.
City officials said the city would explore possible reuse options for the closed facilities.
The city has been marketing Madden Golf Course, which is an 18-hole golf facility that opened in 1929. The property is about 196 acres.
Emails containing marketing materials promoting the Madden facility have been sent to hundreds of people and golf groups, said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
The city has received four inquires about Madden from potential investors or buyers, who have been in contact with the city’s economic development department, Dickstein said.
All four were interested in preserving the golf course, which is a beautiful and challenging course, said Kelly Pressel, Dayton’s golf division manager.
The National Golf Foundation sent out an email to many of its members to notify them of the Madden facility “investment opportunity,” according to a copy of the email provided to the Dayton Daily News.
Dayton City Commissioner Jeff Mims Jr. said he’d love to see Madden Golf Course not change uses.
The golf facility is an asset on the west side that has been responsible for giving many young people of color an opportunity to play the sport, he said.
An outside consultant with the National Golf Foundation who evaluated the city’s golf operations a few years ago said Madden was the “most challenged” golf facility in the city’s system.
Madden’s golf course design and condition might be the best in the city’s system, the consultant said, but it had the weakest location, revenue performance, “demand profile” and fewest rounds played.
The facility’s proximity to a wastewater treatment plant also was identified as a liability because golfers sometimes encounter unpleasant smells.
The property also has a golf support service building (clubhouse), maintenance facilities and a restaurant building.
Golf play (rounds) increased about 14% last year nationwide, according to the National Golf Foundation, and many local golf facilities reported strong and even record demand and higher-than-anticipated revenue.