Outside of very rare occasions, i'm not sure i've ever played rounds over 4 1/2 hours. 5 hours is extremely rare.
Haven't signs the past couple of years that public courses in DSM are in trouble.
Golf courses
- Thread starter HawkeyeHitman
- Start date
Haven't signs the past couple of years that public courses in DSM are in trouble.
If your side chick ain’t giving her money to you, you’re doing it all wrong.
As far as golf; one big problem is irrigation. Almost no one uses native grass. Scotland golf courses are basically native grass that’s maintained (as opposed to imported grass that’s manicured). The cost difference is staggering.
We (the then real estate private equity shop I was at) tried to buy a golf course in Northern NJ post-covid/Pre-Russia invasion (when the economy was slightly different. I am just using russia as a time reference and not identifiying it as a culprit towards anything).
The valuation based on financials was about $6.5mn. Looked great.
We brought in a horticulturist/arborist to help identify biological risk.
Long and short we either had to re-do the whole course with new grass (essentially scraping off the top layer of soil, getting to the sand underneath, resanding, and then regrowing a 6900 yard course. ) Or, re-do the piping to provide an unnatural amount of water to the whole course.
What was happening was the imported grass and the native trees didn’t “get along” and a lot of the trees were decaying causing other problems. The expert said within 15 years this was going to be a wasteland.
The cost to fix it was another $6.5mn.
We took our hit on diligence etc and moved on. Someone bought it for $6mn. No sign of construction. They may look to turn into a subdivision.. good luck with that.
The biggest reason golf is so expensive and unsustainable is we want to play on the courses that look like the things on TV. Outside of aeration I don’t think I’ve ever missed a shot because of the course conditions. It’s the idiot with the club.
Brown Deer in Coralville has been doing much better recently as well. Even Iowa football weekends are full.
Arsenal was one of my favorite eastern Iowa golf courses! Too bad it is closed….Loved playing the first hole as boats were traveling the river…..higher than the fairway you were walking. I was -5 after the first 8 holes…..and shot a 74! I hit a great looking shot on the 9th, ball hit “hard” and ended up in the water…..and easy 5….and then I tripled the 15th to 16th hole and stumbled home! Probably one of my greatest “what might have been” rounds of golf ever! LOL
Is that a reflection of golf or the quality of the iowa football team?
Hahaha, they said it usually doesn't matter how good or bad they are but he laughed about how it was great for business this year.
I really am curious about this. The only “imported” grass I can think of being used in Northern NJ is bentgrass, and that’s a very liberal definition of “imported”, since it’s used widely across most of the country on golf courses, especially in that region. And has been since the early 1900’s.
Do you mind if I ask which course this was?
I want to make sure I am not subject to NDA. Let me get back to you on naming the course.
Imported is in quotes because it’s the best word I could come up with. That it’s used on golf courses and wouldn’t really be there otherwise is the point I was making.
