Residents taking shot to save their golf course
CONROE — Relaxing in his oversized leather lounger, Wayne Norman is surrounded by the trappings of suburban success: a big house on a cul-de-sac with 14-foot ceilings and four bedrooms for when the grandchildren come to visit.
But his most prized domestic possession is what you find just outside his back door — Wedgewood Golf Course, an 18-hole course spread over about 120 acres of undulating terrain amid the piney woods of Conroe.
“It was a dream of mine as a kid to be married to someone who loved to play golf and to live on a golf course,” said Norman, a retired salesman who’s been hitting the links for more than 50 years.
But what drew Norman and many of his neighbors to this upscale subdivision
north of Houston, where towering pines and curving farm-to-market roads give off an air of country living, is being threatened by a potential real estate deal that could result in parts of the golf course being redeveloped, possibly into more houses.
After financial setbacks put the property into the hands of a Texas bank, the nearly 30-year-old Wedgewood course is closing this month. Norman and his neighbors fear what could happen to their property values if the land is sold to builders or if it’s not maintained.
Area courses closed
Across the U.S., golf course communities that boomed during the Tiger Woods era are falling out of favor as interest in the sport has waned. Community developers are increasingly dumping the golf course for amenities with a broader appeal, like trails or lakes.
“The market for golf is not the same as it was 15 years ago,” said Harry Yewens, a Conroe resident who worked in the golf course development industry. “The demographics, the people that supported the game are just getting older.”
After peaking a decade ago, the number of golf courses has been in steady decline. Since 2005, 18-hole golf courses in the U.S. have fallen from 15,007 to 14,437 at the end of 2014, according to the National Golf Foundation.
Several Houston area golf courses have closed in recent years, including properties in Clear Lake, Inwood Forest and Fort Bend County.
“They are huge money losers,” said Scott Davis, Houston director of Metrostudy, a consulting and research firm for the homebuilding industry.
In some cases, the underlying land value is worth far more than the golf course operation.
In the Spring Branch area, where real estate is increasingly being redeveloped, the Pine Crest golf course was recently put up for sale.
The Houston property, located inside Beltway 8, east of Gessner between Clay and Kemp Forest, could be sold to an owner who wants to keep it a golf course, but the brokers listing the property said it is best suited for housing and commercial development.
“Most groups are looking at it to develop into a high-density residential master-planned community,” said Davis Adams of HFF.
For Richard Drewelow and Kathy Barth, the impending loss of the Wedgewood course is about more than birdies and bogeys.
In July, they moved into a newly built home they had handpicked because it backs up to an extrawide stretch of the course. Wedgewood is known by golfers as being challenging to play because of its rolling landscape and tight fairways.
The retired couple worry that if any part of the course is suitable for the development of homes, it’s the area just beyond their backyard. “I can just see us looking down at someone’s pool,” Drewelow said from his yard.
Dallas-based PlainsCapital Bank acquired the property in 2013 after assuming assets of First National Bank of Edinburg, a bank that had financed a previous purchase of the golf course.
The bank took the property back through foreclosure before it was shut down by the federal government.
Offers rejected
PlainsCapital announced last month that it would close Wedgewood on Jan. 31.
Norman has been working for months to get his neighbors to pitch in to a fund that would buy the 18-hole golf course from the bank.
He set up a nonprofit organization called the Wedgewood Members Acquisition Fund and has been trying to raise $3 million by selling memberships of $5,000 apiece. About 20 members had written checks or were committed to buy memberships, Norman said recently.
The group would buy the course and either renovate it and resell it to a golf course operator or operate it independently.
Norman and other neighbors have been trying to drum up support by putting white signs in their yards with green letters reading: “SAVE Wedgewood Golf Course.” Norman’s email address is printed at the bottom.
The group has made two offers to the bank, but neither has been accepted. Norman said the parties are still negotiating.
Developers who used to build planned communities centered around golf often did so as a way to use reclaimed wastewater or to return some value from land that may not have been developable because of flooding or other issues.
Colby O’Brien and his young family recently moved into a house that backs up to the Wedgewood course, which is just off Texas 105 west, halfway between Interstate 45 and
Lake Conroe.
The longtime golfer said he knew it was possible the property could be sold when his family bought the house. He said there are other draws to the neighborhood like its good schools, but he still hopes the course doesn’t close.
More golfers needed
Several challenges and issues would need to be addressed if the Wedgewood golf course were to survive.
First, it needs more golfers. Wedgewood logs about 28,000 rounds annually, but needs about 40,000, said Yewens, who works part time at Wedgewood.
The property also needs significant improvements because of deferred maintenance. The driving range has a separate owner. And there’s competition nearby at West Fork Golf & Country Club.
“It’s a tough deal,” said Chris Hopper, Wedgewood’s general manager. The company he works for, Touchstone Golf, was hired to take over operations in 2012.
Ed Fishman, a Dallas real estate attorney who represents PlainsCapital, said it is his understanding the golf course has been losing money every month.
He said the bank will consider its next action once the golf course closes, though he did not know of any specific plans.
“I would think marketing it or putting it up for sale would be one options they’d seriously consider,” Fishman said.
For Norman, now a hospice chaplain and Sunday school teacher, the loss of Wedgewood Golf Course would mean more than losing one of his favorite courses.
“It is a wonderful time spending a few hours in God’s creation of nature.”
“Most developers try at this point to avoid golf courses like the plague,” Davis said.