![]() The course’s price was not disclosed, but a popular nationwide online commercial real estate site, has listed it for $990,000. The purchase followed community objections to a plan to use Memorial Park for the project, the Journal Gazette reported. ![]() And this year, Indiana Tech announced it was buying the Donald Ross Golf Course on the south side to use as a women’s softball field and track facility. Orchard Ridge Country Club in Bryan, Ohio, also closed in 2013. Two philanthropic businessmen’s foundations bought it for what county records say was a little over $1 million, and in June, the ground was reopened to the public as a park, the Journal Gazette reported. Auburn’s Greenhurst Golf Club, with a classic course dating to the 1920s, closed in 2013. The former Grey Goose course near Decatur closed in 2010 and is now home to New Hope Church. “We have a lot of golf courses and not players.”ĭelagrange and others familiar with golf or development can point to at least eight courses that have been sold for other purposes or are on the market. “It’s been tough in the last six or seven years,” he said. But it’s now harder to make a profit on golf, he said, acknowledging the Fort Wayne area might qualify as one of those “oversupplied” places, the Journal Gazette reported. In the 1990s, Fort Wayne area home builder and developer Roger Delagrange opened and owned Cherry Hill and Autumn Ridge golf clubs and also built upscale housing developments bordering them as an amenity. During the recession “incomes were less, and things (like golf perks) got cut back,” she said, and they haven’t returned. “It’s foursomes (now), not sixsomes,” Holle said. It’s only recently that a one-day outing has come close to filling up, the Journal Gazette reported. Maurine Holle, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Fort Wayne, recalled that a few years back, she’d have no trouble packing two-days’ worth of players into the group’s fundraising golf outings. Plus, with the changing composition of the workplace, golf club memberships and outings have become less of a corporate perk. “And it’s not inexpensive,” he added, noting that may have discouraged individual players during recent recessionary years, the Journal Gazette reported. In an age of instant gratification, it takes a long time to become proficient. The “hard-core golfing population” is aging, Hemstroth said, and younger people, despite having grown up or come of age during the glory years of pro golf phenom Tiger Woods, haven’t picked up the game, the Journal Gazette reported.įor one thing, golf can eat up scarce leisure time families want to invest in other pursuits, Hemstroth said. “Golf, over its history, has peaks and valleys, and…we’re in a down cycle right now,” he said.Ī big reason is demographics. Golf pro Rick Hemstroth, manager of golf operations for the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department’s four courses, agrees. ![]() Golf courses are losing money-no matter what they tell you, they’re losing money.” They play sports, but they play other sports. “I have 11 grandchildren, and none of them play golf. ![]() “What I think is happening with golf-well, what I know is happening-is that young people are just not that attracted to it,” Thomas said. Mike Thomas, a realtor and real estate developer, is behind two recent proposals to turn part of the former Deer Track Golf Club in Perry Township, Ind., into housing developments, the Fort Wayne, Ind., Journal Gazette reported. “We have a lot of golf courses and not players.” “It’s been tough in the last six or seven years,” said Roger Delagrange, who owns Cherry Hill Golf Club and Autumn Ridge Golf Club, both in Fort Wayne. The club plans to upgrade its practice facilities, will add tee boxes for women and seniors, and hopes to improve the course’s condition, said Moyer, who is replacing long-time Head Pro Bill Blumenherst.A report by the region’s Journal Gazette details a few of the golf courses being redeveloped as housing. The membership will include cart use, bag storage and use of the driving range. That was our feeling, and the response has been fantastic.”Īutumn Ridge, owned by Roger Delagrange, will remain public through this year and then offer a $3,495 yearly membership for a single player, or a $4,495 family membership. We’re not going to be a country club offering the fine dining or that social aspect. “I think there’s a market for an inexpensive, private golf club. “The golfing community wants this,” Moyer said. The reason for the change, Head Professional Alan Moyer told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, is the thought that local golfers would like a less-expensive alternative to area country clubs. Starting in 2010, Autumn Ridge Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind.-long considered one of the premier public courses in the Fort Wayne area-will become one of the few options for those wanting a private club experience. ![]()
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