The rumors were fairly loud several months ago. They proved to be quite accurate earlier this month when Adobe Investments of Sonoma County announced that they would be closing Adobe Creek Golf and Country Club in Petaluma. First opened in 1990, Adobe Creek is a Robert Trent Jones II design that has been a favorite of Northern California golfers for the past 25 years. Like most Trent Jones golf courses, Adobe Creek was all about big – big fairways, big water hazards, big greens and big sand traps. The reason given by Adobe Investments for the closure of Adobe Creek is because of the “sport’s declining popularity.”
Obviously I am unable to regularly monitor the tee sheet at Adobe Creek, but I have been there several times each year since the course first opened. Adobe Creek’s management has always been very good to the high school golfers of the Coastal Mountain Conference. A generation of kids who played golf for Kelseyville and Middletown high schools have nothing but positive memories when it comes to playing this outstanding daily fee layout.
Aside from the Sonoma County regulars who teed it up at Adobe Creek through the years, the people who will most be impacted by the course’s closure on Jan. 1 are the many homeowners who live alongside it. You don’t have to be a top-notch real estate agent to realize that living alongside a golf course, especially a beautifully maintained Robert Trent Jones II layout, can only enhance your property value. Should Adobe Creek be relegated to high grasses and weeds during the next few years, you can expect local residents to take a hit financially. The ambiance of living in that part of Petaluma will also go downhill.
Adobe Investments’ contention that the golf market is declining is steeped in accuracy. The Sport and Fitness Industry recently conducted a 10-year study of golf participation. They reported that from 2004-2014, rounds of golf declined by 35 percent for those young adults ages 18-30. A different study by the National Golf Foundation found that from 2005-2015 overall participation in the game declined 20 percent. Most studies point to the fact that modern-era golfers find the game to be too costly, too time consuming and too difficult. For those active millennials who might contemplate playing golf on a regular basis, invariably they find that distance running, cycling and even basketball at the local gym costs a whole lot less than golf.
For some economic analysts, all this seems to make sense. Golf experienced a big building boom around 1990 with upscale golf courses surrounded by upscale communities. Such was the model for Adobe Creek Golf and Country Club. Yet it turned out to be excessive. The Bloomberg Report calls the golf bust of the 2010s to be a “market correction” because of “market saturation.”
To those knowledgeable golfers in Northern California, Adobe Creek is just one chapter in an ongoing story of golf course closures throughout the reason. Adobe Creek is not alone.
Earlier this year the 36-hole golf complex at Sunol Valley alongside Highway 680 in Pleasanton closed its doors. The reason given for the closure had to do with the cost of water and water rights in the East Bay foothills. One of the headaches that accompanied the Sunol Valley closure was the need to cancel 22 weddings that had been scheduled at the facility throughout the first half of 2016. Another 36-hole complex on the chopping block at the end of this year includes the East and West courses at Rancho Canada in Carmel Valley. Golf is ultra-expensive in the Monterey area and Rancho Canada was one of the more affordable alternatives to area as well as visiting golfers. Green fees of $70 are a whole lot more reasonable that the hundreds of dollars needed to tee it up at Pebble Beach, Spyglass and Spanish Bay.
Rancho Canada did have water issues. The owners were able to sell the complex to the Trust for Public Land for a $10 million price tag. It will turn into walking trails, picnic groves, environmentally sensitive areas and an become an entry way into Palo Corona Park. As an aside, the course record at Rancho Canada was set some 60 years ago by former PGA Tour great Doug Sanders, who carded a 63 on the East Course.
Kelseyville High School used to regularly attend the Hilmar High School Invitational Tournament each March. It was held for a number of years at Stevinson Ranch Golf Course outside Turlock. Stevinson Ranch closed in the summer of 2015 because of water issues. The Hilmar tournament relocated to Roddy Ranch Golf Course in Brentwood last March. Built in 2000, Roddy Ranch just closed its doors. Water rights and its costs were also given as the reason for the closure. I’m somewhat of the belief that there won’t be a Hilmar tourney this time around.
Two 36-hole facilities in Northern California have downsized to 18 holes. Diablo Grande in Patterson closed its Legends Course. The Legends was designed by grand slam golfers Jack Nicklaus and Gene Sarazen. Ridgemark in Hollister also closed one of its 18-hole courses for financial reasons. Tracy Country Club and Auburn Valley Country Club are two private courses that are now daily fee facilities. Maybe exposing their fine facilities to the public will enhance their bottom line. Top-notch private clubs such as the Olympic Club and Lake Merced seem to be thriving, but mid-level private country clubs are having a difficult time replacing their aging members with a new generation of successful young adults willing to pay for and partake in the country club life.
Financial analysts such as Bloomberg Financial report that continued golf course closures will be a reality through the next 10-15 years as the golf market adjusts to more places to play than there are golfers who want to play them. The golf boom that came about with the market explosions of the 1990s coupled with the advent of the Tiger Woods era is now a thing of the distant past. More than likely more golf course closures along the line of Adobe Creek and the current era of the decline of golf will most certainly impact Lake County as well.
