Closed - Center Valley Golf Course - Allentown, PA

[Grumpter]

Looks like I've got another reason to hate Bank of America. It was a nice track so sad to see another course go.

http://articles.mcall.com/2011-10-05/news/mc-center-valley-golf-20111005_1_sierra-management-saucon-creek-resort-local-golf-community

[sabram]

Why blame B of A? If the owner thinks it's a better business deal to sell the land rather than operate it as a golf course, it's not the buyer's fault. Lots of courses are closing across the country because too  many courses were built in ways that made them too expensive to maintrain and operate.  It's just not a profitable business to be in in many cases.

[sabram]

Here's a link to an interesting artcile that just appeared in the Wall St Journal about the tstae of golf courses in the U.S.The article says in part that "We won't see anything like the boom that began around 1990 and extended into the early 2000s. During that period, according to the National Golf Foundation, an average of 300 courses a year made their debut in the U.S. The peak was 2000, when about 400 courses opened. Every year since 2006, more courses have closed in the U.S. than have opened, with a net loss of more than 300, and a huge oversupply remains .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204452104577060172893982112.html

[Lefty-Golfer]

Center Valley was a nice course...i hated it but that doesn't change the fact it was a challenge. All in all it was kept in good shape and you could always get a T time. Before i joined my club some of mt buddies and i used to keep it as a lte fill in. the cost was high enough that you could always a get weekend T time on short notice if you had to...i hated in order

#5 because i suck and that hole just kiiled me time and again!

#7 because the landing area of a long par 4 was about 20 yards wide and had a huge mound on the left

#11 because i still feel the T ball is unfair.

#12 because i suck...see #5

#17 T ball was terrrible, wet land issues but the entire hole was forced and should have been rethought

#18...a 450 yard par 4 with water on T shot and 2nd shot...just a beast of a hole to kick you in the balls before you leave!!!

The one funny thing is i played CV once this year and finished Birdie / par on 17 and 18 glad i don't have to do it again!!

[Grumpter]

Originally Posted by sabram

Why blame B of A? If the owner thinks it's a better business deal to sell the land rather than operate it as a golf course, it's not the buyer's fault. Lots of courses are closing across the country because too  many courses were built in ways that made them too expensive to maintrain and operate.  It's just not a profitable business to be in in many cases.

I'm not going to go into the 25 Billion and 5 reasons I have to hate Bank of America. I didn't like them before they closed this course and i won't like them after. if a different company would have bought the course i probably wouldn't feel nearly as much animosity towards that business. This marks the second course in the area that was bought out by a business that, IMO, contributed greatly to the current financial situation.

Things might be a lot different if the country weren't in the current financial situation. Hard to tell if it is a case of overbuilding or the fact that there are a lot less rounds played per year due to financial situations. Probably some of both.

Originally Posted by Lefty-Golfer

Center Valley was a nice course...i hated it but that doesn't change the fact it was a challenge. ...

#17 T ball was terrrible, wet land issues but the entire hole was forced and should have been rethought

#18...a 450 yard par 4 with water on T shot and 2nd shot...just a beast of a hole to kick you in the balls before you leave!!!

The one funny thing is i played CV once this year and finished Birdie / par on 17 and 18 glad i don't have to do it again!!

Agree on 17 and 18. I remember hitting 3 iron off the tee on 17 and going through the fairway. that's not a well designed par 5 IMO. The other thing I hated about 18 was I felt forced to layup on the tee shot due to the waterway running under the fairway. Also, the 2nd shot was usually into a wind.

All in all there still weren't many courses in the area that were that nice and open to the public.

[WUTiger]

Quote:

... Every year since 2006, more courses have closed in the U.S. than have opened, with a net loss of more than 300, and a huge oversupply remains.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204452104577060172893982112.html

One course in the area may get plowed up because it's a maintenance nightmare. Lost all its greens last year, and half its greens this year. Part of problem: too many tightly packed trees, especially in low areas, which prevent air flow and encourage fungus. It's a semi-private in a housing development, so charter homeowners might make it difficult to liquidate.

Pre-Recession, the four area courses which closed were all nine-holers. Too much work for too little revenue, more $$ as a housing tract.

Also, friends in the financial world have told me about "land-banking." Buy up a couple hundred acres on the rim of a growing city, and put in a decent, no-frills golf course.  Golf brings in the best $$ for 25 years, but if area grows, plow it up and subdivide. Quite a few of the 1990s boom courses were built with this in mind.

[inthehole]

Hate to see that.   I play about an hour north in the pocono's - we have a couple courses that are rumored to be in difficult financial straights - hope they don't follow suit.

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by Grumpter

I'm not going to go into the 25 Billion and 5 reasons I have to hate Bank of America. I didn't like them before they closed this course and i won't like them after. if a different company would have bought the course i probably wouldn't feel nearly as much animosity towards that business. This marks the second course in the area that was bought out by a business that, IMO, contributed greatly to the current financial situation.

Things might be a lot different if the country weren't in the current financial situation. Hard to tell if it is a case of overbuilding or the fact that there are a lot less rounds played per year due to financial situations. Probably some of both.

Agree on 17 and 18. I remember hitting 3 iron off the tee on 17 and going through the fairway. that's not a well designed par 5 IMO. The other thing I hated about 18 was I felt forced to layup on the tee shot due to the waterway running under the fairway. Also, the 2nd shot was usually into a wind.

All in all there still weren't many courses in the area that were that nice and open to the public.

You're still incorrectly placing blame. The owners of the course made a business decision that it was more profitable to sell the course than run it as a golf course. B of A just happens to be the buyer.

[frombucks]

the issue concerning center valley isn't financial. http://articles.mcall.com/2011-10-14/news/mc-center-valley-golf-club-20111014_1_gift-cards-sierra-management-gift-certificates

the issue is how they treated\notified the employees. why close a place for the sake of closing if you aren't doing anything yet with the land, which by the way is built on an old zinc mine so that very much limits what can be done there. granted it's not like they employed a ton of people, but at least it employed a few and i suspect they would have liked to have kept their job.