If golf doesn’t work, what’s next for courses?

Do the words “tee time” mean anything to you? If not, you’re not alone.

Golf isn’t bringing in players as it once did. Especially younger players because, well seriously, who has the time? Or the money? And why bother when you can do something fun with your friends outside for free.

Kenton and Boone county fiscal courts are among numerous communities that have plugged losses on golf courses with public money. This year Kenton County is paying $250,000, a budgeted loan payment from the county that the golf courses could not pay back, said Scott Gunning, assistant Kenton County administrator. Both counties hired the National Golf Foundation to evaluate their courses and help figure out best ways to sustain them.

So what do you do with an under performing golf course? Maybe make it into a park. Or turn it into a mixed-use development. Or build houses there. These have been answers for some communities nationwide, including a few in Greater Cincinnati.

Consider Amberley Village, which has a park called Amberley Green, the 133-acre property at Ridge and East Galbraith roads. After refusing a rezoning for the former Crest Hills golf course to be turned into housing, and after litigation, the village bought the site and made it a park.

But the park isn’t likely to remain all green, according to Amberley Village Administrator Scot Lahrmer. He says the village hopes to partner with a developer to make the land a revenue-producer. Yes, that means new homes, but it also could bring in revenue, he said, because there would be some retail or commercial uses on the land.

In Mason, Mark Schnicke is one of several home developers partnering in a 168-acre housing development on what used to be a private golf course. Builders have broken ground on Crooked Tree Preserve.

The development will include 212 luxury and estate homes, many of which will be custom built. Prices range from the mid $500,000 to more than $1 million. It’ll also include more than 50 acres of natural preserve along with 1.3 miles of paved walking and cycling trails.

Schnicke said turning the former golf course into a site for homes and a preserve made sense. Here’s why he says it’s a trend that likely will continue.

•“During the boom time (of golf), developers were wanting to put in golf courses. That led to an oversupply,” Schnicke said.

•Millennials aren’t playing golf. (That’s supported by National Golf Foundation research on millennials that is ongoing but suggests that the youngest of millennials, 18-29, aren’t playing much, although many have expressed a desire to do so.)

•“Municipalities think it’s important to manage golf courses,” Schnicke said, “but there are not enough people playing.” Prices to play go down, and the course can’t make enough money.

Other communities in Greater Cincinnati are also in the process of transforming golf courses into home sites.

Green Township is getting a home development, Greenshire Commons, in place of the former private Hillview Golf Course. Rakesh Ram, senior sales vice president for Coldwell Banker West Shell and developer of the property, said the community response has been “unbelievably” good.

Greenshire Commons will have homes beginning at $300,000, Ram said. “In 90 days, it’ll look like a little city.”

Can we play through? Blue Ash speeds play

But there are still lots of communities that don’t want to give up on their golf courses. Instead, they are working to enhance their offerings at the courses.

Blue Ash, for one, has found alternatives to boost use of its Blue Ash Golf Course.

“We have increased the pace-of-play significantly in the last three years, making the course highly competitive,” said Mary Grace Fitzgerald, community and public relations coordinator for the city.

Blue Ash Golf Course has actually increased its rounds in the past four years. From 2001-2007, number of rounds consistently came in around 37,000 per year. Since 2010, the course has been averaging 39,000 rounds each year.

City officials partially credit the upturn to the opening of Cooper Creek Event Center in 2012. Before the event center opened, the city provided about $365,000 per year to the course. Since then, the city subsidy to the course has dropped to about $220,000 per year, she said.

The National Golf Foundation has recommended better marketing of golf courses including less emphasis on the “exclusive” nature of the sport, making it more an “inclusive” activity to better target millennials.

NKY counties subsidize courses, seek efficiencies

Kenton County is paying $20,000 for the foundation to eye its Golf Courses of Kenton County, consisting of The Pioneer, The Willows and Fox Run. Boone is paying $26,000 for the assessment of Boone Links and Lansing Point.

“None of us is a golf course expert,” Kenton County Judge-executive Kris Knochelmann said. “We are in a situation where we’ve been losing money.”

Kenton Fiscal Court spent $56,697 to subsidize county courses in 2013, and $276,666 in 2014. Both 2014 and 2015 were further in the hole by $135,000 each year for payments not made to the county for past loans, Knochelmann said.

Reinvestment also is needed at the courses, he said. Among the problems? The county learned that bathrooms “were quite nasty,” with plumbing leaking behind the walls, Knochelmann said.

Joe Shriver, county administrator, said the county has no intentions of eliminating its golf course. “The question is, how do we make this a valuable asset? We are looking to maximize it as best we can.”

Could the county leave the golf business? Sure, says Knochelmann. But it’s way too soon to say if that could happen.

“Ultimately, if the county as a group agrees to pay $200,000 a year, that’s fine,” Knochelmann said.

Boone and Campbell officials say their counties’ golf courses also are working toward enhancing their properties’ viability.

“Our discussion has been, how can we improve our operations? How can we advance our efficiency?” Boone County Administrator Jeff Earlywine said. “We’ve been operating well for the last several years.”

Boone County’s general fund has subsidized its golf courses some years. In the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, the county provided no subsidy. In fiscal year 2014, the county paid a $200,000 subsidy, said Earlywine.

Campbell County’s A.J. Jolly Golf Course – and the entire park, for that matter – was acquired with a conservation grant from the federal Department of Interior. The grant was to maintain public green space, said County Administrator Matt Elberfeld. So if the county ever sold the land or did not use it as public green space, the Campbell Fiscal Court would be required to purchase an equal value of green space elsewhere.

The Jolly course has had its struggles. Excluding one-time expenses, the Campbell Fiscal Court supported the ongoing operations of the golf course with about $150,000 in the 2014-15 fiscal year, according to county records.

“The golf business is a tough business at the moment,” Elderfeld acknowledged.

Guide to area golf courses:https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/2014/04/12/guide-area-golf-courses/7650181/