It's the economy

One area golf course is being auctioned off in early 2009. Another has put nine holes on a death watch.

Those are just two instances of how the financial crisis is negatively impacting the area's golf industry.

North Augusta Golf and Country Club, which was established in 1962, will be sent to auction at 11 a.m. Jan. 29 by J.P. King Auction Company of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The auction will take place at the course, which was purchased by Fred Layman in April 2007, days before a fire destroyed the clubhouse.

Ground was broken on a 30,000-square foot clubhouse valued at $5 million in December 2007, but construction never started. As a consequence, a number of members left to join other clubs.

Houndslake Country Club, a 27-hole facility, was scheduled to lose its nine-hole Laurel course on Dec. 31, the date Houndslake officials told members it would stop maintaining it. That date has been moved back to April while renovations are done on the other two nines, Azalea and Dogwood.

Both courses are at private clubs in Aiken County. There aren't any courses in the Augusta area with plans to shut down, but they are being affected by the economic slowdown.

"Every course is feeling the pain," said Ray Mundy, one of the co-owners of Jones Creek Golf Club, a public course in Evans. "Most clubs had a bad third quarter, and a not-so-great second quarter."

And how does 2009 look?

"It's going to be a challenge for everybody," said Kirk Hice, the head pro of the private West Lake Country Club in Martinez.

With the economic downturn expected to worsen before it gets better, courses are losing members, and the market for prospective members is drying up.

"I would hate to be putting all the money into the courses like some owners are," said L.D. Waters, the owner of Bonaventure Discount Golf, whose business is also suffering. "It's worse than having a boat and dumping the money in the water."

That being said, Waters doesn't see any other area courses going under because of the economy.

"They're going to keep them afloat; they've got to," he said. "They've got too much money in them."

As bad as the economic climate is, Waters doesn't think it's quite as bad as the last U.S. recession, which hit the country in the early to mid-1970s.

"That one might have been a little worse because inflation was way up," Waters said. "Inflation is down now and that makes a big difference."

IT HAS BEEN A TOUGH YEAR all around for golf courses. It started with the spike in gas prices in the spring. Those prices are lower now, but the economy is worse.

"It puts us in a different mode as far as recruiting new members; we know it will be difficult," said West Lake's Hice.

Courses surveyed for this story -- two private, two public and one semiprivate -- haven't lost many members because of the tough times. But that could change.

"We had some, but very few," Hice said "We're seeing people who are not using it but once or twice a year re-evaluating if they're going to remain members."

At the private Mount Vintage Plantation in Edgefield County, director of golf and club manager Jay Rusch said he's had members "show concern" about staying on, but none left.

"We've heard talk about it and we know it's out there but we haven't seen it," Rusch said. "It hasn't hurt us like I've heard it has at other facilities in the area."

Mount Vintage is a real estate development as well as a golf course.

"We're seeing less new members because they're not purchasing property, and we're not seeing existing members able to move to Mount Vintage," Rusch said. "Other than that, the members are very supportive of the golf club."

IN ORDER TO KEEP members in the fold, West Lake is putting even more emphasis on customer service.

"We're in the mode of retaining the members we have," Hice said. "We're making sure they are happy and want to stay. We want to make sure we're attractive."

Being a member at a private club like West Lake "is certainly a fun thing, and they could do with it," Hice said. "We want to go the extra mile."

Hice said West Lake is also studying ways to restructure member programs, such as different ways to pay the initiation fee.

"Not at a lower price, but spread out to be more accessible," he said.

At the semiprivate Goshen Plantation Golf Club, co-owner Spike Kelley, a former PGA Tour winner, has said for years that the Augusta market is overpopulated with golf courses and underpopulated with golfers.

"What we have to do is encourage not only golfers to play our golf courses, but to encourage more players to play," Kelley said.

To that end, Kelley will try to draw more golfers to his course by offering free golf lessons this spring.

Kelley, who won the PGA Tour's Buick Open in 1975, will be giving the lessons.

"It should be interesting to see what happens," Kelley said of 2009. "In golf, price is not as important as value. Most people will have to determine how the economy affects them."

Goshen has taken in four new members recently, which might lend some credence to the theory that people turn to recreation as an outlet in tough times.

For those with discretionary income -- and who are willing to spend it -- this is a great time to be a golfer, according to Waters, the Bonaventure Discount Golf owner.

Waters is a constant presence at his store, and keeps abreast on the state of area golf from his customers.

"Clubs are dropping their dues and you can join just about any of the clubs for just about nothing," Waters said. "It's almost to the point they don't have initiation fees anymore. They'll do anything to get you to play."

Forest Hills Golf Club, a public course, is one of the courses advertising discounts.

This is also a good time to buy golf clubs.

"It's something like real estate now," Waters said. "If you're going to buy a golf club, now's the time because the price is never going to be lower."

That's because major golf equipment manufacturers "are really hurting bad," Waters said.

"They're cutting me deals they've never cut me before," Waters said. "If I had $4- or 5 million and a warehouse, I'd fill it up."

IF THIS WAS 25 YEARS AGO, golf courses would be dreading Jan. 1.

That used to be the day members had to decide if they were going to renew their membership. With the advent of computerized pro shops, members sign up year round and decide about renewing memberships on their anniversary date.

Still, members at private equity clubs like West Lake and Mount Vintage have to think hard when faced with dropping their membership. The initiation fee at both courses is hefty -- and nonrefundable.

At Waters' Bonaventure Discount Golf store, he's noticed that it is the upper class -- those who can afford to belong to a country club in the first place -- who are being hit the hardest by the economy.

"Most people don't know it, but the way this thing shakes out in golf is my low-end golf people are OK," he said. "It's the high end, like doctors and lawyers, that are slacking back because they've been killed in the stock market. They've taken a beating."

ON TOP OF THE ECONOMIC realities of today, golf courses have had a bad draw with the weather.

"Not only have we been in the worse economic meltdown of the last 25 years for the past nine or 10 weeks, but this has been a pretty harsh fall," said Mundy, the Jones Creek pro.

Mundy said Jones Creek golf course superintendent John Steele keeps daily records on the weather.

According to Steele's notes, the first heavy frost in 2007 came during the second week of December. The first one this year was Nov. 17.

"And it's been fairly wet, too," Mundy said. "So it's been a double whammy. Not only are courses getting hit from the economy, but from the weather."

Over at Forest Hills, Don Grantham said it's hard to tell if it's the economy or bad weather that has caused rounds to drop this fall.

"We'll see more come March and April when the weather gets better," said Grantham, who is the chairman of the Forest Hills Golf Committee. "We'll see if the people who are playing now are still playing then, and if others come back."

Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.