A Number of RI Golf Courses Are Under Serious Financial Stress — Some of the Biggest Are Failing
GoLocalProv Business Team
A Number of RI Golf Courses Are Under Serious Financial Stress — Some of the Biggest Are Failing
The country clubs face a range of challenges all during a so-called boom economy.
As GoLocal first reported in 2017, one of the most prominent clubs whose membership was a who’s who of prominent Rhode Islanders — Agawam Hunt Country Club — declared bankruptcy.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAgawam, which requires a strict dress code and cell phones-on-vibrate-only policy, delineates its history on its website:
'During the 1890s, crusades for physical vigor swept the educated classes in both Europe and America…The cult of the strenuous life,' which culminated in the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt swept Providence as well," according to the club's website at the time of its bankruptcy.
At the time of the bankruptcy the club's creditors included some of RI's most affluent:
* Charles Townsend, III: Aloha Partners exec who sold wireless spectrums to AT&T for a reported $2.5 billion. One of GoLocal’s wealthiest and most influential in 2015.
* Glenn Creamer: As GoLocal reported, “If Jonathan Nelson is worth $2 billion as Forbes claims, then Creamer is estimated to be in the $1 billion range. Creamer grew up in Pawtucket and went to Brown University.”
* Almon Hall: Served as Senior Vice President and CFO at Nortek, where he worked closely with Rick Bready. A philanthropist, has a “Family Fund” along with wife Suzanne at the Rhode Island Foundation.
* Winn Major: The East Side resident was a Director at the now-defunct Old Stone Bank, and of counsel for Edwards and Angell - now Locke Lord.
Then, Rhode Island’s premier club and residential property — Carnegie Abbey — was forced into an auction and sold in December of 2018.
Now, it is Metacomet Country Club announcing that it is for sale. It was less than a decade ago that Club + Resort Business reported that “Brad Faxon is one of several investors in an agreement to purchase the Metacomet Golf Club in East Providence, R.I. The group is working with Gil Hanse’s design team with hopes of bringing the Donald Ross design back to its glory and returning it to status as one of the state’s best courses.”
“The last thing PGA Tour golf professional Brad Faxon wanted to see was the demise of one of Rhode Island’s classic golf courses, so he’s decided to help,” reported Club + Business.
Now, Metacoment is on the blocks again.
Golf is seeing a significant decline over the past 15 years. The height of golf’s popularity peaked in 2005 and the golf industry says it mirrors the height of Tiger Woods' popularity. In 2005, more than 500 million rounds of golf were played across the country, according to the National Golf Foundation.
In 2008, 434 million rounds of golf were played on course across the country — down 4.8% from 456 million in 2017 — a precipitous drop and some of the decline was blamed on weather.
The even more worrisome number is the decline in the number of golfers. In 2001, over 30 million golfers played in the United States, but by 2018 the number has dropped to 24 million -- a decline of 20 percent.
Golf Operator's magazine published an ominous overview of the industry's decline and its implications. The story outlined the oversupply of courses, the aging population of golfers, and the societal decline in private clubs.
"In the ‘90s, around 9 million adults aged 18 to 34 played golf, according to the National Golf Foundation. Today, that number is closer to 6.2 million. The research firm IBISWorld found that from 2011 to 2016, golf-course and country-club revenue grew by a little more than 1 percent annually," reports City Lab.