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accelerate James and Stephanie Lemon are enjoying the new fruits of their labor at the former Lakeview Golf Course. Reversal of fortunes Converting from course to Farm proved to a be sound move for James and Stephanie Lemon By Kyle Darbyson T here are pumpkins growing on the No. 5 tee box of Lakeview Golf Course in Cool Ridge, West Virginia, and owner Stephanie Lemon couldn’t be happier. It isn’t a “typical” scene for a golf course, but then again, Lakeview isn’t your typical course. In fact, it’s no longer a course at all. Lakeview, a nine-hole track built by Lemon’s grandfather in 1961 on the site of an old rock quarry, hosted generations of golfers while affording the owners a comfortable living. Eventually, however, changing demographics and increased competition hit the small enterprise hard. Aging locals began favoring competitors that offered carts, something Lemon and her family had never bothered to acquire. “I thought the course was such an easy walk,” she explains. The Great Recession of 2008 delivered another serious blow. Even after Lemon dropped rates to under $10, the business. The surviving family members were unanimous in their support of closing the course, the decision rounds continued to fall, and an already shrinking revenue stream got that much smaller. made even easier by the fact no one’s livelihood would be For Stephanie and her husband James, the last straw affected. “There wasn’t anyone else working besides me came in 2009, when the family was struck with a serious and my husband,” Lemon says. illness; the couple knew then it was time to get out of Yet even as developers lined up to buy the 105-acre © 2013 Photo by Steve Brightwell © 2012 Photo by Terry Kuzniar
parcel, the Lemons had something different in mind. “I always told my dad how good of a farm the course would be,” Stephanie notes. It’s a dream she’d held onto during the darkest days of the course’s struggles. So on March 1, 2010, the plows came out, and Lakeview Golf Course was transformed into Lakeview Farms. The conversion was surprisingly smooth. Stephanie and James had always been interested in farming, going so far as running a small garden on site while the course was operating and even selling brown eggs out of the clubhouse. Since the land was already zoned agricultural and was to be completely organic, they needed no permits or regulatory permission to transition into a working farm. “We’d basically been running the course as organic for years,” Lemon notes. That experience has served the couple well in their new venture. Rather than expensive bags of fertilizer, the farm relies on kitchen scraps, compost and a healthy dose of manure donated by local ranchers. Collectively, these efforts are paying off for the Lemons, who have spent just $4,000 converting a third of their land from course to farm. “We’re already making more money than we ever did with the golf course,” says Stephanie, noting that she and her husband plan to plant apple and pear trees on another third of the property next spring. Indeed, the Lemons’ decision to transition from golf course to farm runs counter to a national trend that sees an acre of farmland disappear every minute. It’s also a reversal of the way many course owners got into the business. But with so many golf courses struggling, the Lemon’s strategy may become a more common exit strategy for other operators. “A course just a few miles down the road closed last year and brought in cattle,” Lemon notes. To be fair, making the switch from golf to farming isn’t without its challenges. Yule Golf Club, a daily fee course located an hour northeast of Indianapolis, Indiana, had been in operation for 45 years, but like Lakeview, the club was hit particularly hard by the recession. Revenues had declined steadily over time, precipitated by the loss of numerous high-paying jobs at the local General Motors plant. “The writing was on the wall for years,” explains Brachen McCurdy, who managed the course for his father, who owns the facility. Even so, the course was viewed as a strong piece of civic infrastructure—it attracted new housing, provided valuable tax revenue and, perhaps more importantly, provided a sense of community in a town being ravaged by economic forces. So when the local government heard of the McCurdy family’s plans to close the course and sell the land, they quickly offered to run the course for up to two years while a new owner was found. The McCurdy family declined Local citizens were devastated when they found out about the closing. But after the 158-acre parcel of land was auctioned off to a local farmer who planned to plow the course under, they were downright incensed. Convinced the loss of the course would hurt both the reputation of the town and the value of their homes, a group of residents pressed town council to reject the deal. The zoning board listened, and the petition to rezone the course agricultural was denied. Conditions of sale were contingent on the farm plan going through, meaning the McCurdy family is stuck with a distressed asset and no viable exit plan. “We just want to stop the bleeding,” McCurdy says. No doubt, giving up the golf business for the farm business looks to be a thorny issue that a growing number of operators could face as they look to navigate treacherous financial waters. But for Stephanie Lemon, it was the best decision she’s ever made. “I spend way more time outside now than I did when we ran the course,” she says. “All the stress is gone.” Kyle Darbyson is a Vamcouver, Canada-based freelance writer. Playing the Game Plowing under fairways to plant organic corn was a viable exit plan for Stephanie Lemon, but many owners of troubled golf courses aren’t as lucky. That’s where consultants like Matt Call come in. As a principal at NavPoint Golf, a Colorado-based firm that focuses on distressed golf assets, Call specializes in helping troubled course operators right proverbial the ship. Typically, that means trying to negotiate more favorable loan terms or accrued interest forgiveness. “Lenders see taking the asset back as a very last resort—they’re usually very willing to work together,” Call notes. He’ll then do an operation assessment to see if there are inefficiencies that can be addressed. One thing Call has discovered over his 16-year career is that many struggling courses spend far too little on marketing. “I’ve seen courses spending $5,000 that should be spending 10 times that amount.” The accomplished golfer, who’s played in both a U.S. Open and a PGA Championship, also finds older courses often have bloated budgets that far exceed common industry benchmarks. “It’s not a case of mismanagement, it just builds up over the years,” he says. Even with drastic help, some situations are untenable. “Most experts in our industry say we’re 10 percent oversupplied,” Call says. “That’s 1,700 courses that have to close.” As the industry recovers from the seismic shifts brought on by both economic and demographic forces, Call says he’s still optimistic about the future of the business and the sport. “I love this game—people will always love this game,” he notes. “It’s not going anywhere.” —K.D.
Page 2 and 3: TO AUGUSTA Bill Stevens buys the Te
Page 4 and 5: Greensmaster ® TriFlex TM & TriFle
Page 6 and 7: Viewpoint From the CEO T he unsung
Page 9 and 10: CONTENTS March ‘13 20 24 FEATURES
Page 11 and 12: THE STAKES ARE TOO BIG TO SETTLE FO
Page 13 and 14: First NEWS, VIEWS, [ TRENDS & ANALY
Page 15 and 16: Industry Pulse December 2012 Monthl
Page 17 and 18: Industry Pulse December 2012 Averag
Page 19: Long On the Range The Hype: Trojan
Page 23 and 24: marketing and advertising agency, a
Page 25 and 26: THIS CAR HAS IT ALL BATTERIES WITH
Page 27 and 28: hese days, you can’t grow revenue
Page 29 and 30: Runs in: Mar, Jul, Oct Consider a g
Page 31 and 32: Hills Golf Course in Fullerton, Cal
Page 33 and 34: © 2013 Illustrations by David Cutl
Page 35 and 36: “You just NEVER KNEW when you wer
Page 37 and 38: “Bentgrass has RUN a lot of good
Page 39 and 40: diately. When Elwinger approached h
Page 41 and 42: “I don’t think there will be mu
Page 43 and 44: ommunity A positive Outlook can hel
Page 45 and 46: Keeping Guests Happy s the battle t
Page 47 and 48: Playin’ In the Sand he shortest d
Page 49 and 50: southern California by many, Spinel
Page 51 and 52: Creating a New Labor Model Jeff Spa
Page 53 and 54: MEMBERS IN MOTION Purchasing Networ
Page 55 and 56: C L A S S I F I E D S (Pinehurst ar
Page 57 and 58: d Index Interact with the companies
Page 60: [ Who Says Three’s a Crowd ] Ther

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