Future drives change
Will shorter or virtual courses take over traditional 18 holes?
From the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, golf course development was a lucrative industry. New and improved courses were popping up all over the country, creating more golf courses in a two-decade span than any other country in the world had in total. The problem was, there weren’t enough new golfers to fill up the links.
Now, as golf courses close around the U.S. as the industry rebalances itself, many communities are left wondering what to do with the vast acreages of largely open green space left behind. The Memphis area is no stranger to the conundrum.
Colonial Country Club in Cordova closed its north course several years ago and a $300 million redevelopment project is in the works, which will include new residential units. People who move into the development will be social members at the club with the option of becoming full members, which the club staff hopes will boost membership numbers.
Germantown is facing a similar situation after the closure of the Germantown Country Club in February. An Arizona-based developer announced this month it would buy the property and attempt to revamp it into a mixed-use development, potentially encompassing housing, retail, golf facilities and parkland.
While the Germantown golf club redevelopment remains a concept — no plans have yet been submitted to the city and any attempted zoning changes would be an uphill battle — it gives a potential blueprint for communities and golfers wondering how the game moves forward as golfing facilities continue to close.
Bob Hobbs Jr., CEO of Millennium Properties, the company purchasing the Germantown Country Club, said his company’s concept would not only bring in more property tax revenue (and sales tax, if the property were rezoned to allow for commercial use) but that the proposed nine-hole course and putting greens are more in line with how people want to golf now.
“We believe golf as a sport is not declining, but the way it is played is,” he said. “They don’t want to be out there for eight hours. They don’t want to feel pressure if they’re not good.”
National golf organizations that track participation in the sport report the number of people who golf regularly has largely remained constant in recent years, even as more facilities close. The National Golf Foundation (NGF) estimates there are about 24 million golfers in the U.S. However, people are increasingly playing in ways outside the traditional 18-hole format, whether that’s on a nine-hole course, at a driving range or in front of a screen.
National trends, local impact
From 1986 to 2005, the number of golf courses in the U.S. increased by 44 percent, according to the NGF. The market became oversaturated.
“During that 20-year window, the U.S. added more than 4,400 new golf courses — more than any other country in the world even has in total,” NGF editorial director Erik Matuszewski said in an email. “At the start of this year, there were nearly 16,700 golf courses at 14,600 facilities in the U.S.”
Since 2006, the end of the golf course building boom, 8 percent of the nation’s golf courses have closed, according to NGF figures. Matuszewski described it as a “slow but steady natural correction.”
While the trend of course closures continues, golf courses have by no means disappeared, including in the Memphis area. The city of Memphis alone operates five 18-hole courses and three nine-hole courses, according to the city’s website. The NGF said the entire metro area has 40.5 golf courses, measured by adding up all the holes of golf in the area and dividing by 18.
“We find that golf courses are typically supported by residents who live within 5 to 15 miles of a course, so their success is often determined based on how well their ‘product’ matches up with what golfers in the area are looking for,” Matuszewski said.
Non-traditional golf
Many in the golf industry believe that people aren’t necessarily not playing the sport, they’re just not always playing it the traditional way. According to the NGF, a quarter of all games of golf played are on nine-hole courses and 66 percent of golfers said they played a nine-hole round in the past year.
Having a variety of golf facilities in a community could be the key to keeping the sport vibrant.
“It’s like restaurants in a town,” Matuszewski said. “You would not expect them all to be successful unless there is some meaningful differentiation or the options perfectly align with local tastes and demand. Golf courses, like restaurants, must set their product apart to compete, particularly in oversupplied areas.”
Some golf venues have tried to do that by adding new activities to their existing infrastructure including late driving range hours so patrons can hit glowin-the-dark golf balls through the night sky or setting aside one day a week where the course is dedicated to disc golf, in the hopes getting younger people onto the links and thinking about golf facilities in new ways.
TPC Southwind hosts nighttime and weekend golf events to attract younger players, and the city of Memphis is offering complimentary greens fees to players 17 and younger.
Another way to set a golf product apart is to take the game off the course. Last year, 23 million Americans played at “golf-entertainment venues,” standalone driving ranges or golf simulators. That was a 10 percent increase from the year before, the NGF said. When Let It Fly opens in Germantown later this summer, patrons will not only have a new place to eat, drink and watch their favorite sports teams but can play a few rounds in the venue’s virtual golf bays.
David Rodriquez, director of operations for Let It Fly, said in an email the simulators can be enjoyed by everyone from professionals to people who have “never picked up a golf club.”
“Virtual golf simulators have revolutionized the social aspect of golf and indoor entertainment where friends and families can enjoy the sport leisurely or competitively,” he said.
One of the most popular and wellknown golf-entertainment venues is Topgolf, where players can hit microchipped balls down driving ranges at various targets while sipping cocktails in a climate-controlled environment.
The Topgolf effect
Between standard Topgolf locations and the company’s Swingsuite — virtual golf suites situated inside resorts and casinos — and Toptracer brands, there are more than 170 places in the U.S. and Canada where golfers of various skill levels can play.
Golf & Games Family Park in Memphis features a Toptracer ranger — driving ranges where players can see the trajectory of their balls on a screen using the same technology used during golf TV broadcasts — as well as a standard driving range, a putt-putt course and golf lessons. But visitors to the 40-acre park will also find Go-karts, batting cages and laser tag. Vantage Point Golf Center in Cordova also features a Toptracer range, which owner Chris Thompson said attracts a wide variety of patrons.
“We get a lot of golfers who come out to practice and want to get better,” he said. “We also get people who aren’t really interested in playing at all, they just want to hit. Kind of like people going to the batting cages or the bowling alley.”
Vantage Point has the Toptracer range, a traditional driving range and offers golf lessons, but also features mini-golf, which brings in more families and people who can’t work a round of golf into their normal routine. He thinks the nine-hole course idea put forward as part of the Germantown Country Club redesign will be more accessible.
“Golf is intimidating and you’ve got to be pretty good to go out and play,” he said, adding 18 holes can take up half a day and cost upwards of $50, something that is out of reach for a lot of families.
Thompson agrees with Matuszewski that people aren’t giving up on golf, they just want to experience it differently. He sees that in people who come to Vantage Point, some of whom went to a Topgolf and now want to start taking lessons or who saw golf on TV or online and want to play around at a driving range for themselves.
“When a lot of people come out, they just want to be entertained,” he said.
Commercial Appeal reporter Katherine Burgess contributed to this report.
Corinne Kennedy is a reporter for the Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.kennedy@ Commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Corinneskennedy