Golf Courses Across the Region Up for Auction as They Face an Exodus of Annual Members

Many golf course owners across the tri-state area are looking for an exit strategy as the once seemingly untouchable industry is seeing more red than green, writes Natalie Kostelni for Philadelphia Business Journal.

The Worcester Golf Club in Montgomery County was put up for auction in early February and is now under agreement for $925,000.

This is nearly a quarter of the $1.2 million that it sold for twenty years ago. However, Worcester Golf Club is not the only course in the region having difficulties.

Some courses have been sold to developers for housing or other projects. Meanwhile some, including Malvern’s White Manor Country Club and North Hills Country Club in Glenside, have been acquired by country club specialists so they can continue, but for how long is unknown.

According to Laurence A. Hirsh, president of Conshohocken’s Golf Property Analysts, many other member-owned clubs are in a similar situation.

“You have age-old excuses that golf costs too much, takes too long and is too difficult, I don’t know if that is true, but it’s done a poor job embracing millennials, minorities and women,” she said.

Read more about golf’s downturn at Philadelphia Business Journal by clicking here.