New Crop of Golf Courses Not Par for the Pocketbook

With six new golf courses from Palos Verdes to Aliso Viejo opening soon and another 30 right behind, it would seem that Southern California is finally catching up with the sport’s popularity.

But there’s one hitch. Most of these courses will be lavish, costing more than $100 a round to play. That’s out of the price range for many golfers, who wait for hours on weekends to play at crowded--but reasonably priced--courses.

And with the phenomenal growth of the sport projected to level off during the next decade, many are beginning to wonder if the Southern California building industry is heading down the wrong path.

“I’m not an economist, but I worry about it,” said Ted Robinson Sr., a nationally known golf architect based in Laguna Niguel. “I think we are getting too many courses in that [high-end] category. I’ve talked to a lot of people who just don’t want to play these [expensive] courses.”

If developers are worried, they aren’t acting like it. Instead they are building courses at a pace unmatched in the Southland, with an Orange County group even launching a marketing campaign to promote high-end courses. Their reasons for building are varied:

* Many of the courses now under construction were proposed in the 1980s but were slowed by environmental issues, financial problems or both.

* The thriving real estate market has helped resurrect a popular 1980s trend: the golf community. Developers never forgot that golf courses add value to nearby homes.

* Thanks in part to the phenomenal success of Orange County export Tiger Woods, more minorities and youths are being drawn to the sport.

* Golf has a new, gilded image where it is no longer associated just with retirees in polyester. Rock stars and superstar athletes have caught the bug and helped signal its coolness. And its expense.

For instance, Ocean Trails Golf Club, perched on bluffs overlooking the Pacific in Palos Verdes and scheduled to open in July, will cost $200 to play on weekends ($150 during the week).

For the money--3 1/2 times the state weekend average of $57--the player will get an above-average golf experience. It will be similar to Pelican Hill Golf Club, which opened in 1991 in Newport Coast and is managed by the same company.

Drive up to Pelican Hill and you will be met by a valet to park your car and an attendant to carry your golf bag to a cart. For $210 on Fridays, weekends and holidays, you can choose between two 18-hole courses with expansive ocean views.

Money Buys Respite From Crowding

The courses are challenging and well-maintained . . . and uncrowded.

It’s an environment worlds away from the average public golf course, where the price, including golf cart, is usually less than $40 but the fairways aren’t nearly as green.

At the low end, golf courses are usually owned by cities, which hold greens fees down as a public service. Low prices lead to crowded conditions, especially on weekends, and the courses tend to be worn down by the heavy play.

Until the late 1980s, these were the standard public courses in the Southland, and few new ones were built because they didn’t make any money, said Dick Thorman, a Ramona, Calif.-based industry analyst.

“Remember, back in the ‘60s, even into the early ‘70s, you could go almost any place on a public golf course and play a round of golf for $6 or $7,” Thorman said, “on weekends maybe for $8 or $9.”

It didn’t last. Steady growth in participation boosted demand and prices inched up. “All of a sudden,” Thorman said, “people were saying, ‘Boy with all this demand, I bet we could build a really nice golf course and charge more.’ ”

The trend got rolling in 1989 when Tustin Ranch Golf Club opened. Greens fees were $60 ($45 on weekdays) and the course was an immediate financial success. Other high-end courses followed the Tustin Ranch blueprint during the early 1990s.

Now more developers are jumping on the bandwagon, just as there are signs that the brakes should be applied.

Nationally, the increase in supply of golf courses is outpacing the growth in demand for playing time. The National Golf Foundation, a Florida-based trade group, released a report in January predicting that demand would grow 1.5% to 2% during the next decade. At that rate, given the new courses projected to open, there would be a demand shortfall of 100 million rounds by 2010.

Slackened Demand for Ritzier Courses

Some high-end courses are already starting to feel a pinch. Last year, premium courses in Orange County saw a drop in rounds played--and therefore revenue--of about 10%, according to Mike Lichty, general manager at Tustin Ranch.

“It’s still a good business, don’t get me wrong,” Lichty said, “but it’s not what we’re used to.”

El Nino storms, which washed out golf for a good part of early 1998, played a part in the drop-off. And Tustin Ranch was hurt by the Asian economic crisis. Japanese golfers, once up to 40% of weekend players there, “literally disappeared for a while, “ Lichty said.

But he believes the biggest factor is increased competition. In 1990, Tustin Ranch was one of three upscale public courses in Orange County. Today, there are five more with three under construction and several more in planning stages. “Every year we’ve got a new product opening right in our backyard,” he said. “That just cuts up the pie a little more.”

If anyone is going to lose out, it will probably be the new courses being built in outlying areas where land is cheaper and more abundant.

A regulation-length layout requires about 140 acres, and golf courses are rarely the most lucrative use for land, said Greg Currens, vice president of Newport Beach’s AMHC Corp., which built Aliso Viejo Golf Club, scheduled to open in April.

“There has to be something wrong with the property to put a golf course on it,” Currens said, “something that makes it unavailable for housing or commercial development.”

Building a high-end golf course in Hemet or Poway, for example, is more risky, experts say, because nearby residents are less likely to pay lofty rates. The courses tend to struggle to find players during the week.

But some owners and operators aren’t taking any chances. Owners of nine high-end Orange County courses plan to spend $120,000 in the next six months promoting the allure of Orange County golf--first in mailings to meeting planners, later in print ads and direct mail to individuals.

The Irvine Co., which owns three of the nine courses and plans to build another, is leading the effort. The goal is to increase the rounds of premium golf by 20% over the next five years, Irvine Co. officials said.

“If we can promote it as Orange County’s golf coast,” said Richard Sim, group vice president at the Irvine Co., “then we’re talking about something that’s got some strength and critical mass to it.”

Times staff writer E. Scott Reckard contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Fore! and more Fore!

The building boom for golf courses in the Southland shows no signs of slowing.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION OR RECENTLY OPENED

Aliso Viejo Golf Club, Aliso Viejo, 27 holes, April opening

Cascades, Sylmar, 18 holes, summer opening

Cimarron Golf Resort, Cathedral City, 36 holes, December opening

Crosscreek, Temecula, 18 holes, spring 2000 opening

Diamond Valley, Hemet, 18 holes, opened in February

Eagle Glen, Corona, 18 holes, April opening

Goose Creek, Riverside County, 18 holes, spring opening

Maderas, Poway, 18 holes, fall opening

Montebello, Montebello, 18-hole reconstruction, spring opening

Ocean Trails, Palos Verdes Peninsula, 18 holes, July opening

PGA of Southern California, Beaumont, 36 holes, March 2000 opening

PGA West Greg Norman course, La Quinta, 18 holes, December opening

Robinson Ranch, Santa Clarita, 36 holes, December opening

Sierra Lakes, Fontana, 18 holes, early 2000 opening

Sterling Hills, Camarillo, 18 holes, summer opening

The Landmark, Indio, 36 holes, November opening

The Meadows Del Mar, San Diego, 18 holes, August opening

Talega, San Clemente, 18 holes, fall 2000 opening

Tierra Rejada, Moorpark, 18 holes, spring 2000 opening

Westridge, La Habra, 18 holes, June opening

Yucaipa Valley, Yucaipa, 18 holes, spring 2000 opening

STARTING SOON

Auld Goff, Chula Vista, 18 holes, fall construction start

Black Gold, Yorba Linda, 18 holes, spring construction start

Barona Indian Reservation, San Diego County, 18 holes, June construction start

Borrego Springs, Borego Springs, 9-hole expansion, spring construction start

Chino Hills Golf Club, Chino Hills, 18 holes, imminent construction start

Heartland Village, Hemet, 18 holes, mid-year construction start

Marriott, Palm Desert, 18 holes, construction start this year

Mile Square, Fountain Valley, 18-hole expansion, April construction start

Moorpark Golf Club, Simi Valley, 18 holes, fall construction start

Mountain Springs, Corona, 18 holes, August construction start

Oak Quarry, Rubidoux, 18 holes, April construction start

Rancho La Sierra, Riverside, 36 holes, imminent construction start

Santa Fe Valley, Rancho Sante Fe, 18 holes, spring construction start

TPC at Valencia, near Santa Clarita, 18 holes, spring construction start