Sunday, March 25, 2012

30 golf courses???!!!

30 golf courses in central Oregon???!!!

Did I read that right? (Bulletin. "The Golf Boom is Over.")

That's just crazy.

Meanwhile, you got Bill Smith, who helped build Black Butte ranch saying: "...it would take 120,000 residents to sell 300 memberships, roughly enough to support one private club."

Holy Tiger Club!

Do the math. O.K. He's talking private memberships, but still. It sounds like 2 or 3 private courses would do the job. Maybe a couple more for casual, non-member types. A couple more for tourists?

What am I missing?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And most of the courses barely support 6 months of play. The reason there are so many courses is they were loss leaders to sell real-estate and they are the required "recreation component" of destination resorts.

http://tinyurl.com/6scn2ja

H. Bruce Miller said...

At least that story admitted that the Central Oregon climate is shitty for golf. The courses do okay during the summer, struggle in the "shoulder seasons" and just try to survive the winter.

This is another reason why Bend isn't a good retirement choice for many people. A lot of seniors like to play golf, and they want to be able to do it more than four months a year. (Do it comfortably and enjoyably, I mean; you CAN play golf in the rain and snow if you want to -- but how many want to?)