Will Municipal Golf Courses
Become a Thing of the Past?

A recent report published by the Golf Research Group - The 2001 UK Municipal Golf Report - A Benchmark for Best Value - has shown that municipal golf courses are losing trade to the many new proprietary golf courses being developed.

Over the last ten years, 598 golf courses have been built in the UK, only 5% of which were municipal courses. The result of this has been that the number of rounds of golf played on municipal courses has falled by almost 50%. Worrying news when the number of rounds played over private / proprietary courses has only fallend very slightly.

The report has also shown an increase in green fees, rising by almost 11% over the last five years at municipal courses, whereas those at proprietary courses have only risen by just over 5%. Municipal courses are therefore not reacting to market forces, tending to raise prices by a fixed amount every year, this is now beginning to cost.

Subsidy by the taxpayer is a thing of the past for municipal courses and local authorities are leasing to the private sector at reduced rents to cover large capital investments required on these properties. Around 35 municipal courses are now fully leased and this looks to be a growing trend. Many large corporations are also now adding municipal courses to their portofolios.