Even as golf clubs nationally struggled during the recession, many courses in Fairfield County appeared to hold up under the strain, according to financial filings covering the 2009 season when the shock of the downturn hit square.
Golf course closings outpaced openings for a fifth straight year in 2010, according to the Jupiter, Fla.-based National Golf Foundation. NGF said 107 courses closed last year versus 46 opening (NGF uses an 18-hole equivalency measure for its data).
On a net basis over five years, 220 courses have shut down, fully 1.5 percent of all golf clubs in the country.
Considering the severity of the recession, however, NGF stated that golf has held its ground reasonably well, and noted that there are more than 80 golf course projects currently under construction in the United States, most of them in the Southeast.
And it is not just the Sunbelt that is benefiting ”“ Pennsylvania led the nation for the most new courses opening last year (though the highly regarded Deer Run course outside Pittsburgh reportedly will not open for the current season), with Illinois second ”“ ahead of Florida, North Carolina and Texas which occupied the next three rungs.
In Connecticut, many golf courses have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy
