OT: RIP Colonial Country Club

[Fighting Irish.sixpack]

You bled a slow painful death for the past 10 years when your Blue Haired members refused the sale to Christ United Methodist Church that would have paid off your debt, given your share holders their intital investment back plus some.

10 years later, the blue hairs are dead, the young people have gone to Reunion and CCJ, and the doors are now padlocked awaiting the impending bank foreclosure in a couple of weeks.

 

[natchezdawg]

Same fate for Deerfield?

sad.

 

[seshomoru]

Yep.. but there may be hope for that course.

Rumors of some local hitters wanting to save that one. If I lived at Deerfield I'd be pitching in all I could to save it as well. Your house won't be worth anything sitting on an abandoned golf course.

 

[fishwater99]

Is Deerfield closed now too?

 

[crushing]

I heard a rumor that Randy Watkins was buying Colonial. That really didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Buying Deerfield would be a better fit. There's no way Deerfield closes IMHO. If it does, it won't be for very long.

 

[seshomoru]

Any deal they do will be for Deerfield only is what I've heard.

Colonial folks could have had no debt and a nice course in Madison. That decision to not sell to Christ United looks rather terrible in hindsight.

 

[patdog]

That decision was one that you knew was a bad one the first time you heard it. Someone was offering good money to take a liability off their hands. Should have taken the deal. And I agree too that Deerfield will reopen in one form or another. No way it just gets abandoned.

 

[NewTweederEndzoneDance]

Word is that the Deerfield pro is buying it. Colonial goes to auction in a week or two, and I imagine it gets purchased in some form or another. Randy wants just the golf course, but I believe there is another group who wants the whole thing. It made financial sense for them to lowball offers the last few months and then buy it for pennies on the dollar at auction.

 

[Daddy Rabbit Dawg]

Hate to hear that. I won the MPGA Invitational (MS Open) there in 1987....very fond memories.

 

[Dawg1976]

So many CC's have gone through this. Some come out of it, some don't. Briarwood in Meridian almost bit the dust before a group of local investors bought it. Now its a semi-private club. And its doing ok from what I have been told.

 

[The Peeper]

I actually sat in on one of those meetings and was amazed at the archaic mindset. It was like "That damn interweb won't ever catch on. Outta my way you young whipper snappers, I gotta go to JC Penneys and buy me some new Sans A Belt knit slacks and watch Lawrence Welk @ 6:00." Totally living in the 60's

 

[thatsbaseball]

Heard a couple of months ago that JSU was interested in Colonial....is that a possibility ?

 

[The Peeper]

Maybe they'll build their dome there on that site.

 

[BigMotherTucker]

You may know him as officer Joe from the "Whats Going Down" episode of That's My Momma!

Randy Watson!
View attachment 650

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Deerfield is in a growing area and could probably be subdivided and built up if it doesn't survive as a golf course.

Northbay, in Madison, seems to be doing fine with regards to occupancy and such and that course has been closed for so long there are probably people living there who don't even know there ever was a course. I can't say for sure if the houses took any market value hit from course open to course closed status, but I suspect that it would be hard to separate any decline from the fact that it is covered up with clay related foundation issues.

 

[Digging dog]

Another mighty blow to the head of Jackson.

 

[coach66]

A couple of MSU guys and the old pro

(Ole miss guy) have supposedly cut a deal for Deerfield. I hear they will offer memberships for $250 per month cart use included in that rate. Three very good guys, this should do fine if the bank doesn't 17 it up.

 

[CivilEngineerDog]

About 20 years ago, a developer tried to buy Colonial and make it into houses

I can remember the old geezers having bumper stickers saying "Colonial's not for Sale!."

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

Country Clubs everywhere are struggling, they even have to let me in

I'm about to join one here in SA that I could never have gotten into fifteen years ago, or could have afforded the initiation fee. Now it's almost reasonable. My home club has dropped fees as well as have almost every club in the country. I believe 5 million gofers quit last year from being too old or just not playing anymore. And another five million expected this year, and the ranks are not being replenished by youngsters.

 

[RocketDawg]

Yes, CCs everywhere are suffering the same fate. There were 4 in Huntsville, now there are only 2 totally private ones. One of the others is open to public play, and the other is in the process of either closing or finding investors. They're now open for public play, I think weekdays only.

Not so sure it's a matter of blue hair attitudes as much as it is the overall economy and the fact that not a lot of people are interested in the CC lifestyle any more.

 

[Old Dog 1943]

FYI Deerfield is now open under new ownership.

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

Does Randy Watkins still own Lake Caroline Golf Club? I remember he was at one time was thinking about buying Live Oaks, but don't think it happened. Deerfield has had a troubled history-they've been in financial trouble in the past, but somebody bailed them out. I knew Colonial would eventually fold due to the changing neighborhoods around there. I was a member of CUMC before we built the new church-guess Colonial is regretting not accepting the church's offer.

 

[buddy.sixpack]

Does Randy Watkins still own Lake Caroline Golf Club?.

Yes, he owns Lake Caroline, Whisper Lake and Patrick Farms. You can be a member of all 3 courses for less than $200 per month. I saw yesterday that the new Deerfield owner is selling 400 memberships at $250 per month but that includes the cart. Still seems high to me. Supposedly, he has already sold half of the available memberships.

 

[fishwater99]

If you live near there that is not a bad deal with a cart.
If you average $40-$50 fees per round you will need to play 5 or 6 times per month to break even.

 

[natchezdawg]

Funny thing, but I bet Christ United is glad it missed out on that deal too.

That neighborhood has changed a ton over the past 10 years.

 

[seshomoru]

They are less than a mile down the road on the other side of the street.

Not sure what it cost to buy the land and build, but it doesn't look cheap. Nice view of a Rite-Aid and a half empty strip center as well.

 

[patdog]

Less than a mile can make a real difference. CUMC is in a much better location than it would have been if it had bought Colonial.

 

[coursesuper]

Having been in the golf biz for over twenty five years now I have been through the boom and the bust. It is now a very competitive market no matter where you happen to be. The big change during this period is that there is now even more separation between the upper level facilities and the rest of the golf world. The upper echelon clubs have made changes and some have failed but most have changed their operations very little. The demographic for these clubs has not changed, they are able to sustain there operation due to strong operations and memberships before and since. Every club or public facility below the very top end of the market is now in competition for the available rounds in their given market and there are just not enough rounds to go around. The model that 400 memberships at $250 a month doesn't sound like a sustainable model unless they open for a significant amount of outside play and go after every corporate outing that they can squeeze in. Even with that conditions will suffer. A recent pole of golfers nation wide proved that the most important reason people choose a facility is course conditioning. At that rate there will not be enough funding to meet the exceptions of the outside guest much less the membership. Good luck to those guys they have a talented super at Deerfield and it still think that the course is one of the better layouts in the state, its sad to see that shortsighted membership decisions have sunk a property with as much potential as Deerfield.

 

[johnson86-1]

Not so sure it's a matter of blue hair attitudes as much as it is the overall economy and the fact that not a lot of people are interested in the CC lifestyle any more.

I think it's more of a matter that golf clubs are kind of like beach condo's for super rich people. They seem like they'd be something fun to own, so people fool themselves into thinking they are better investments than they are. Once you get one too many golf courses in an area and a decent one goes public or semi-private, it makes country clubs look like a terrible deal in comparison. Most people don't play enough golf to justify CC dues and over time, having a public option that is not a goat ranch that you can get onto for less than $80 a round will prevent a lot of the younger crowd from joining country clubs.

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

Less than a mile can make a real difference. CUMC is in a much better location than it would have been if it had bought Colonial.

I agree, but wonder how long it will remain like that in view of the change of the surrounding area. I venture to say most of the congregation drives in from Ridgeland or Madison.