Future of Lake County golf course looking dimmer
Unusually bad weather dampened play this spring but concerns for the future of the Brae Loch Golf Club extend beyond the whim of the elements.
Play on the modest layout near Grayslake has suffered, along with the other two Lake County Forest Preserve District courses. But an operating loss of nearly $98,000 for the fiscal year ending July 1 has the district taking a hard look at Brae Loch alone.
"We're certainly concerned about the long-term viability of Brae Loch," said Tom Hahn, executive director of the forest district.
"We've reduced expenses as much as we possibly can yet we continue to struggle at that course."
Consultant ERA/AECOM will develop a financial model to determine how much play - and revenue - to expect there over the next few years. The district will combine that data with estimated expenses for a detailed picture.
"What we're really looking at is the long term financial viability of Brae Loch as a golf course, " Hahn said.
Preliminary figures showed that combined, the district's three courses made more than $495,000 in 2008-09. Though in the black, that is 43 percent below that of 2007-08.
Forest board President Bonnie Thomson Carter said many other golf courses are cutting rates. Given a choice for a similar price, golfers will choose a better course than Brae Loch, she said.
"How far can you go down until it doesn't make sense anymore?" Hahn asked.
The analysis also will consider the impact of the proposed widening of Route 45, which fronts Brae Loch. The district already has decided to close the course on weekdays during construction, which likely will occur next year.
In a report this week to the district's finance, administrative and revenue facilities committee, Director Dan Prezell put the course's situation more bluntly.
"Brae Loch's not good," he said.
Brae Loch was the forest preserve district's first venture into golf, when it bought the course in the 1980s, to prevent it from being developed.
The study will also update the state of golf in the U.S. and Lake County to see how Brae Loch fits. Since 2006, when more courses closed than opened nationally for the first time in six decades, golf has been stagnant or down.
The most recent information from the National Golf Foundation shows that about 2 percent fewer rounds were played on Illinois courses in 2008 compared with 2007. The drop for the same time period in the Chicago area was more than 3 percent.
Golf course performance was the main reason the district's revenue producing facilities, which include Independence Grove Forest Preserve and the Fox River marina, took in 43 percent less in 2008-09 than the year before.
"We need to be serious about what we're hearing," Thomson Carter said.
Hahn said mowing has been reduced at Independence Grove and that additional cost cutting measures are being considered there and at the golf courses.