Palatine Hills Golf Course facing financial crises – Golf News
After suffering huge losses last year due to heavy floods in the area, the Palatine Hills Golf Course is trying to get back to its operations this year.
The course is publicly owned and it lost around $246,000 last year because of the floods that forced the course officials to stop the operations.
Moreover, the high competition in the area and declining interest of people in the game is also a major cause of the losses that the course is suffering.
As there are high fixed costs related to operating the golf course, it becomes difficult to overcome them in view of very few people coming to the course and taking memberships.
Mike Clark, the owner of Palatine Hills, said that there was a time when golfers used to search for different golf courses across the area.
However, the scenario is totally different these days as the golf courses chase the golfers to come and display their skills in the field.
According to the course officials, different locals are still showing some interest to keep the game alive in the area. For this purpose, they are also providing some financial help to save the course from closing down.
On the other hand, some people are finding new ways of cutting costs while hoping that the game survives during its declining phase.
Ed Harney, the commissioner of the Winnetka Park District, told that his course lost around $700,000 due to declining interest of people in the game.
However, he also proposed a model that may help in bringing improvements in the slumping conditions.
"We believe we have a model that ultimately will be self-sustaining, but clearly, that hasn't been attained in the last five years," he said. "That's something we have to look long and hard at".
The two courses, Springbrook and Naperbrook available at the Naperville Park District, lost about $30,000 even after cutting costs by $850,000 last year.
"That's a fine line you walk," said Ray McGury, the district's Executive Director. "If a golfer comes out and says, 'Where's the fairway?' because everything looks like the rough, they're not coming back".
Similar is the problem with the Palatine Hills Golf Course, as maintenance is the major issue that cause the golfers to stay away from it.
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