As anyone remotely connected with the business side of golf knows by now, the 2008-09 economic recession/housing meltdown dealt the golf course development industry a major blow. Already in a downslide because of the overbuilding that marked the late 1990s and early 2000s, course construction numbers fell even further in 2009 and it looks like they won’t get up – at least for the foreseeable future.
According to the National Golf Foundation, which tracks course building in the U.S., just 49.5 courses (in 18-hole equivalents) were opened in the past year. That represents a further drop from the 72 in 2008 and 113 in 2007. And it’s down a whopping 87.6 percent from the peak of 398.5 openings in 2000.
Conventional wisdom holds that lower construction numbers in the long run are good for the industry overall. With rounds played remaining flat, more courses added to the supply will only mean fewer rounds for each facility. But try telling that to the golf course architects, contractors, irrigation contractors and other vendors who depend on course development projects for a significant part of their business.
Our 2009 State of the Industry survey found that 58 percent of those responding believe that it will be 2014 or beyond before the course supply begins growing again.
Do you believe that an oversupply of courses still exists in the U.S.? Is it a positive for the industry that the number of course the number of closures has exceeded openings for the past four years? What does this mean for the overall business of golf?
We’d like to hear your opinions.