It’s surprising how fast a golf course deteriorates when it gets minimal maintenance.
That my home has a golf view is happenstance; my house came first by 20 years. But the course was built as a community with large homes much more expensive than mine. Imagine those homeowners’ shock early this year when they learned that the golf course had gone into receivership. (I wasn’t exactly thrilled to learn of it either.) A bank owns it now, but the course is not operating.
It’s fascinating to watch the course deteriorate. The bank regularly sends someone to cut the grass, but a golf course needs a lot more work than that to continue to look and perform like a golf course. As spring arrived, at first you could still make out the distinctive features of the fairways and greens. But nature was starting to have its way.
I haven’t golfed in 25 years, but many of my friends do. They tell me that they find other area courses to be more interesting, but they liked this course’s low green fees. They often mention that maintenance here is so-so at best. Last season, even that so-so maintenance fell off. In the view from my back yard, the rough became very rough and even bare in spots. Fallen tree branches were not being picked up. The cable barrier that kept carts on the path was not being repaired when it broke. I wondered what was up. Now we all know.
These three trees just behind my property are a frequent subject when I test new-to-me old cameras. You can see that there was still some contrast between the fairway and the rough earlier this spring. Black-and-white film really brings it out.
Today it’s very hard to tell fairway from rough. Greens are even hard to distinguish now. Whoever buys this course, if anyone ever does, will have a lot of work to do to make the course fit for golf again. I shot this from the 14th tee; this is the fairway I see from my back yard.
Before this season, I’d stepped over my fence onto the course only a few times, and always to maintain my property. I’ve been curious to walk the course as the families who live in this golf community often do, but I’ve felt sure that wasn’t allowed. This season, curiosity has sent me over the fence a handful of times to explore. I’ve walked only the back nine, the part on which I live. The 14th hole is in the worst shape, with fallen trees blocking the cart path in a few places.
The ponds have all scummed over.
A distinctive feature of this course is that the back and front nine are separated by a heavily traveled road. You’d never know it while driving through, but golfers play through by using a tunnel under the road. This photo doesn’t show it well, but this tunnel is tall enough for me to stand up in, and should be easily tall enough for a cart to drive under.
Despite the decay, it’s easy to see how attractive this course is. It provides lovely views for homeowners along it.
Of course I hope someone buys and operates this course. But I worry that this area has more golf courses than it can support, and this one failing is a natural consequence.
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