Myrtle Beach area not alone in course closures

ALAN BLONDIN

ON GOLF

The Myrtle Beach area led the nation in the trend of golf course closures last year, but it was not alone.

According to the National Golf Foundation, there was negative net growth in golf facilities in 2006 for the first time in 60 years, as the number of courses that closed (146 18-hole equivalent courses) was greater than the number of openings (119.5).

On the Grand Strand, 9.5 courses closed in 2006 while just one opened - Reserve Golf Club at St. James Plantation, which is expected to be public for 18 months before becoming private in January 2008. The closing of Eastport this month has dropped the total number of Strand courses from a high of 120 in 2001 to 102.

The NGF included executive and par-3 courses in its numbers, however, while the Grand Strand total is strictly full-length courses measuring at least 6,000 yards.

The NGF does not consider the closings alarming, rather a strengthening of the industry nationwide with a return to more normal levels of openings combined with a culling of weaker facilities in which, in many cases, owners profited from real estate appreciation.

In the late 1980s, the number of openings was about 100 per year. Increased construction in the 1990s peaked in 2000 with nearly 400 openings.

The 146 recorded closures are an increase of 56 percent from 2005, and represent about 1 percent of the total supply of courses in the U.S. Closures were primarily public (97 percent). None of the 21 courses that have closed on the Strand since 2001 have been private.

Closures were recorded in 39 states, were predominantly value courses with greens fees peaking at $25, and were often stand-alone nine-hole layouts.

Tour event canceled

Grand Strand Pro Golf Tour founder Steve Clark had to regrettably cancel the tour's second tournament of the year last week at Carolina National due to lack of interest.

Clark, who started the tour last year following the dissolution of the Cape Fear Tour in Wilmington, N.C., wants at least 20 players per event and was down to 15 after three out-of-town players withdrew on Monday.

He has changed the entry deadline to Friday the week before an event rather than Monday to avoid a recurrence of canceling a day before the event was to begin and leaving the course with open tee times.

"I think once we get the marketing strategies right and people know about it, I don't think the 20 will be anything to look at anymore," Clark said.