"The golf industry was not included as part of the national stimulus package, but just about everyone else was."

There are a couple of great quotes in Steve Habel's Cybergolf story on the dismal state of the design business:

Many golf architects - much like some of the courses they built - will not survive this downturn. "We are just not building very many new golf courses because the banks won't loan any money to make that happen," noted "Open Doctor" Rees Jones said in a recent interview with CNBC. "The golf industry was not included as part of the national stimulus package, but just about everyone else was.

 If only that rich imagination of his could conjure up designs as rich as his fictional interpretation of TARP!

And this from analyst Tom Kite. 

"There is not much further the design industry can drop, and there are signs that it might be coming back somewhat," Kite said. "But there is still an oversupply of golf courses in much of the U.S. and that supply must be absorbed before any meaningful growth can occur."

I'm not really sure what that means, but it sounded great!

Comments

[me]

it means, can i haz mor kondos pleze!

[T Money]

"...supply must be absorbed before any meaningful growth can occur."

Kite has it right. This is not hard to understand. Unfortunately more courses will fail, and until such time as investors are willing to risk millions again the market will be stagnant.

[Wisconsin Reader]

Are there really lots of places where the golf course supply is too low? I spent my working career in Wisconsin - Chicago and Palm Springs and there are no shortages there. I can understand quality and cost considerations - but are there not enough actual courses in the United States?

[digsouth]

!8 holer cancelled here this week.

We need cheap placs to play, practice, for beginners.

more later.

[Jimmy]

What does TARP stand for?

[Del the Funk]

Rees, like Wall St. golf is the enemy. Golf = Wall St. At least in the minds of....

[Del the Funk]

Jimmy, I think TARP stands for Take-A-Report Peckerhead.

Large, is that right? Large, are you out there?!? LARGE...

[Young Tom's Heart]

digsouth, Since you're a fellow Texasian, can you explicate Kite's comment?

[George]

Get with it golf course owners, IT's NOT COMING BACK!!!!!. The industry is shot and the whole damn economy, It's sink or swim.
I will be watching from the side line waiting for those price drops and tee times here in the mid-west (chicagoland area) next year.

YA BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Happy Gilmore]

Maybe if Rees and Tom would retire from ANY designing, more-deserved architects could survive! Would be a fair deal for all the dreck they've foisted on us!

[Del the Funk]

George, you are right on the money. Capacity will not be absorbed, it will be removed...on a large scale. Gonna get a lot worse, uglier than most could ever imagine. Pundits, dream up you worst case scenario, and then TRIPLE IT....then you might be in the general neighbourhood.

[The O]

I have a kid. I love to practice. I can get in a good practice session in about 2 hours. If I could play more 9 hole rounds at good courses, I would play more often. 5 hour rounds, plus an hour to/from and an hourish to warm-up has put the wife in the "I hate golf" world. take 2.5 hours out of that, and its a lot more reasonable.

[digsouth]

YTH......

Kite---- " ooohhh I love to do a little sidestep'

See the link for music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCDoBvG1HoI&feature=related

Come back for more on Kite, and local course construction it is of interest on Wednesday.

[pt]

yea, lets use taxpayer money to build golf courses when they are closing left and right due to lack of demand...good idea Rees....

[fatgoalie]

So, Tom Kite, is hoping for enough courses to fail, so new ones might be built?
Is that what I read?

[Old Hornet]

@ Del

Nice to know there's another TAR - DTAP person reading this blog. Does that mean we have class or we're just classless :>)

[Brad Ford]

They need to learn to build courses that are inexpensive to build and maintain, that can be played in a reasonable amount of time, that can bring people into the game that have a limited budget to play games.

[Press Agent]

"They need to learn to build courses that are inexpensive to build and maintain, that can be played in a reasonable amount of time, that can bring people into the game that have a limited budget to play games."
- first of all, smart people have been saying that for 10 years, but welcome to the club.
-second:
Who's "they"?

Designers will do anything a client asks them to do, so I guess you mean the clients, or developers - ergo business people and land speculators. Since "they" don't seem to know enough to do this, why don't you step up, buy some land, and show them all how it's done?

[Dewey Finn]

TARP stands for:

Totally Assinine Ripoff Plan.

GOLF stands for:

Get Original, Lazy F**k

ASGCA stands for:

Another Stupid Group Crying Aloud.

You're not alone, ASGCA. Lots of industries are hurting. It's not our fault you think what you do is actually a business.


Blame Washington.

[Young Tom's Heart]

digsouth, Thanks for the link, Pardnuh--'nuff said :)

[vwgolfer]

Bandon Dunes is probably doing ok. So maybe its the golf courses themselves that suck. Plus most of them are private so I could really care less. Let em rot.

[digsouth]

YTH

On Kite, Crenshaw :

Thanks to Kevin Robbins with the AAS for this recent blog .....

...quote follows, with the full link .

" I would like to suggest that Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw — winners of major championships, members of the World Golf Hall of Fame and established golf-course architects with impressive design portfolios — create our new marquee municipal. And because Kite and Crenshaw do dramatically different work, influenced by different ideas and styles, I’m proposing that each be commissioned to design an 18-hole course. We’ll have a 36-hole complex. We’ll have the Crenshaw course. We’ll have the Kite. It’ll be their legacy to the city. It’ll be a powerful symbol of the city’s place in Texas golf. It could be sensational. Can you imagine?

Austin has a chance to close the glaring gap in municipal golf. There is no better time to do so than now"

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/golf/entries/2010/07/28/municipal_golf_in_texas_will_a.html