Whither Golf?

When's the last time you played golf? Do you know anyone under 40 who plays regularly?

Those questions haunt the golf industry today. People have quit playing golf over the last few decades and few people under 30 care to play. The New York Times sums up the problem quite nicely:

Golf has always reveled in its standards and rich tradition. But increasingly a victim of its own image and hidebound ways, golf has lost five million players in the last decade, according to the National Golf Foundation, with 20 percent of the existing 25 million golfers apt to quit in the next few years.

The year 2009 was a landmark year in the decline of golf courses. The financial crisis threw many golf courses that were barely in the black squarely in the red. That was also the year of Tiger Woods' very public personal issues. Before Tiger's meltdown there was some hope that golf would become a sport for younger people. According to American Golfer the average age in 2009 was 46. By 2015 it was 54. Golfers are a dying breed, literally.

Golf RIP. We Hardly Knew Ye.

But the observant among you know that. Golf courses are closing all around the US, with Florida being hard hit because of the number of courses here. On a personal note: From where I live Pine Meadows, Rolling Hills, Sabal Point, Links at 434,Mount Plymouth, and Rock Springs Ridge golf courses are within a 20 minute drive from my house. And all are in various stages of being overgrown with weeds as bankruptcy scenarios are playing out. And I'm probably missing a few. If you're a Floridian you can probably name a list of dead golf courses around you, too.

So what does this have to do with the reason for this blog -- My thoughts on wildlife, wildlife policy and about anything else that interests me in the general subject of plants and animals?

Here's the connection. Golf courses are the biggest tracts of undeveloped land remaining in many cities. As courses fail almost all will be eyed by developers as an easy building area. And golf courses are failing regularly. So what to do?

More Failures than Openings, Always

When golf courses fail it's always messy. Conflicting legal claims can keep old golf courses tied up in court for decades. Here are some thoughts from watching and studying the legal morass play out in roughly 10 dead golf courses in the Orlando Area.

• Running a golf course is a horrible business to be in. If a golf course closes for more than a month it's never coming back no matter what commitments were made to local homeowners.

• Lots of people have claims. Most dying golf courses created since 1980 were built as the centerpiece of subdivision developments. Agreements made when people paid for the house are suddenly null and void. Creditors, shareholders, homeowner associations, developers and individual owners need to have a say. People who pay extra for a view of the fairway are adamant that can't be taken away from them. 

• Maintaining the course becomes a problem. Many times this is the developer's biggest weapon to get agreement. People may be angry in the first year that the course isn't maintained, but after a half decade of growth it changes to acceptance. As the homes on the golf courses lose value people become more willing to negotiate anything to restart maintenance.

Florida Hazard, but only for Baby Boomers

• Another issue is the neighborhood can do downhill. People may be very anti- development of the golf course in the beginning. But homeless people moving into the clubhouse and meth deals happening in the parking lots tend to make people more susceptible to negotiations. And yes, I've seen both of these happen. And don't forget ATV races on the fairways. 

• The fact that the fairways tend to be long and narrow and snake between housing developments make them pretty worthless for large wildlife preserves. The fairways are also not idea for development since they are long and narrow with no road access in place. However the fairways do make good city parks / green spaces.

Fairways Meander Through Subdivision

So what should you do if you want to influence the next life of a dead golf course? There may be an opportunity to influence what happens to the course. But don't think it's going to be easy or quick. Each case is different, but here are some general guidelines.

• Any development to the golf course will probably have go through the local planning commission (or planning and zoning or whatever it's called there). Make your voice heard. The local planning board hates issues like this and will look hard for a way to make it go away and anything that unites the developer and local residents will get consideration.

• Compromise is the order of the day. In the end the deal will probably be some development around the clubhouse because there's large piece of property with utilities there and some kind of protection for the fairways. That protection may come in the form prepaid maintenance fees from the developer or maybe getting the local city or county to take over park maintenance.

• The golf course is never coming back. Local residents that get in a position that somebody must run the golf course because it was promised are going to be disappointed. This is always hard to get past.

• Time is of the essence. The developer gains strength every year the issue drags on. If nobody is doing maintenance on the buildings or mowing the grass people get more tired of the situation. Anger gives way to acceptance eventually. Sometimes it's better to cut a deal fast than be forced later.

About the best that can be hoped for from a hiker / naturalist perspective is that a piece of the property is set aside for a park or some kind of public use. Usually the compromise is the developer helping with upkeep for some period of time with the homeowner's association or city taking over that responsibility eventually. For that the developer is allowed to build on part of the property, usually the central part around the old clubhouse.

Getting an agreement on the ground makes it easier for the planning commission to OK new development. Without an agreement on the ground planners see it more as a dead rat being dropped on their desk. So don't be afraid to talk to the commission about competing visions of how a golf course can be repurposed. But also don't be too quick to accept new development on the old golf course, but ruling it out completely will probably not work either.