So many courses, however, were forced to consolidate in order to play another day, bunched together in corporate collections or signed over to a management company. Washington has been a witness.
In 1994, Oki Golf began buying individual courses, starting with The Golf Club at Echo Falls in Snohomish. Oki then added Washington National Golf Club in Auburn, The Golf Club at Hawks Prairie, Indian Summer Golf & Country Club in Olympia, Trophy Lake Golf & Casting in Kitsap County, The Golf Club at Newcastle, The Golf Club at Redmond Ridge, Harbour Pointe Golf Club in Mukilteo, and The Plateau Club in Sammamish.
Just a few months ago, another layer wedged between the club and the player, with the China-based HNA Holding Group purchasing those eight Oki courses for $137 million. As part of the agreement, Oki Golf will stay on to manage the courses.
There’s also, of course, Premier Golf Center, which manages 15 courses at 13 facilities, including most of the city-owned tracks in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and Everett; as well as PGA TOUR star Ryan Moore’s RMG Golf Club Management, which owns and operates Moore’s home course, The Classic, plus McCormick Woods and Oakbrook Golf Club, and whose management partner, Columbia Hospitality, also represents Gold Mountain and The Golf Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, and recently took over management of the formerly family-owned North Shore Golf Course.
Then there’s Access Golf, which owns Willows Run, Druids Glen, Kayak Point and Capitol City; plus the numerous courses that have either been built or purchased by Native American tribes in recent years, including White Horse Golf Club, Salish Cliffs Golf Club, the Cedars at Dungeness, Swinomish Golf Links and more.
Those five groups alone — Oki, Premier, Access, RMG and the various Northwest tribes — account for more than 40 Western Washington public courses, including just about all of the region’s most-played tracks. With such large management groups and deep-pocketed ownership, and all the attendant marketing resources, it’s little wonder that our region’s “little guys” have found themselves squeezed out — or, in some cases, reluctantly selling out.
Mount Si Golf Course in Snoqualmie has been connected to the Barter family since the course opened in 1927. Scott Barter, who has been the do-everything general manager/CFO since 1988, has helped his property come out on the other side of the recession with all its pins intact.
Like most single-family course operators, Barter is irreplaceable. He can’t pass it off to a management company “because I’d have to fire myself.” His hands are deep in the turf. He understands, better than anyone, what it takes to stay solvent. His staff numbers 15 during the winter to 50 at peak summer. His water usage at mid-summer could reach 300,000 gallons per day. Equipment breaks down. Taxes rise, temperatures fall. He has to keep track of it all — along with a full-service restaurant — with a sharp pencil.
All courses have similar expenses, but the solo enterprises are at distinct disadvantages. They can’t pool their resources as the multiple-course operations can, such as equipment, bulk buying power and all-important marketing.
“Our marketing tools are more difficult in this era,” Barter says.
Mount Si doesn’t have a marketing reach much beyond the Snoqualmie Valley. “I think we’re recognized by a good core group here. There’s a lot of loyalty. But that’s become a smaller group, too.”
Avalon’s Hass added that “the challenge with a stand-alone operation, you are responsible for everything. You can’t defray your marketing costs.”
There’s one bottom line, and it’s hazardous to cross.
Hass says the current nation-wide challenge, particularly for small-budget courses, are the national on-line tee time discount sites. He said their only interest is to drive down prices while offering little or no benefit to individual courses.
“It takes a certain amount of dollars to operate a course. You have to have a certain revenue to keep the doors open,” Hass says. “Those Ma and Pa operations are not collecting enough revenues.”
But Hass is optimistic. He said the junior programs in his area “are far better than when golf was in its heyday. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve seen an emphasis on golf that far exceeds what it was when I grew up.”
He said local outreach and local support is vital to survival. Avalon offers are variety of junior programs, gives high school and college golf teams access to the course and is involved in every local fundraiser.
“I do this because I love the game,” Hass adds. “Most of us have been working here for a long time. It’s fun being part of a smaller, family operation. You develop relationships with the staff and I really think that the customer can tell the difference.”
Bob Sherwin is the co-founder of GolfersWest.com, and writes regularly for Cascade Golfer, The New York Times, The Associated Press and MLB.com. His feature on former Husky golfer Richard Lee (CG, Aug. ‘13) won an NWGMA media award in 2014.