Like many other golf courses throughout the Southeast, Ocean Palm Golf Course took a beating last week from Hurricane Matthew. And like many other courses nationwide, it also took a significant financial beating a decade ago.
In the wake of last week's storm, Matthew left behind a lot of debris and downed trees on the golf course in Flagler Beach, Florida, leaving many people anxious and ready to get to work to get Ocean Palm ready for play. The same could not have been said a year ago before a small group of investors got together to help resurrect Ocean Palm. Their story is a good news trend that is slowly sweeping across the golf landscape.Of the net 900-plus golf courses the industry has shed since 2006, 160 have reopened, according to the National Golf Foundation, including 120 since 2012. That still leaves a net negative of about 800 courses, but the lightly reported rebound of courses that went from open to closed to open again, many under new ownership, is one of the industry's best-kept secrets.
So far this year, 16 courses in 13 states have opened their doors again after "prolonged closure" which is defined by NGF as at least one year. Three of those courses closed in 2015, four closed in 2014, two in 2013, two in 2012, one in 2011, two in 2009 and two closed all the way back in 2008.
For many of these courses, the climb back to solvency is a long, slow journey,
When the economy tanked in 2008, so did the Palm Golf Club at Forest Lakes in Sarasota, Florida. After nine years on the shelf, the course, which now is managed by Billy Casper Go, reopened in March under new owners Neal and Karen Neilinger, who bought the property five years ago. Part of the rebirth can be traced to the sale of 24 acres of vacant land to Canada's Mattamy Homes for new real estate development that, it is worth pointing out, is independent of the golf course. That development will include more than 150 condominiums, townhouses and villas, a clubhouse and pool area, dog park and open spaces.
A year after The Palms closed on Florida's gulf coast, so did Ocean Palm Golf Club on the other side of the state in Flagler Beach. The city eventually bought the property in 2013 in a foreclosure sale, hoping to repurpose it for something that could be consumed by the public. One of the ideas thrown out there was a dog park, but city officials never could come to a consensus.
Last year, cousins Duane McDaniel and Terrence McManus got together to come up with a way to save Ocean Palm for the sake of local golfers. Their plan, which was met with overwhelming enthusiasm from residents and local city officials alike, included a 40-year lease deal with the city that would include revenue-sharing with the city after three years of operation. The new management group also promised to put their own money into restoring the course, because they didn't want city officials feeling like they could poke their noses in to micromanage the the golf operation.
That plan was met with applause by concerned residents, and after nearly a year of preparations, the course reopened in June after being closed for seven years. That group has put its own money into restoring the course and getting it ready to open
Still, for every positive story like The Palms or Ocean Palm, there are many more that do not end quite so happily, proving that management philosophies, like current economic conditions, can determine which golf courses will become a statistic and which will remain viable businesses in the future.