Today was supposed to be the last day of operations for Hillandale Golf Course in Durham, NC. The long-time area staple planned to shutter operations as of today, but late last week, Sun Trust bank, the trustee of the course’s operating foundation, announced that it was extending the closure indefinitely so that a possible deal could be reached with the city of Durham to take over the course.
The course lost money for the last 3 years in a row despite getting 35k rounds played last year. How did they manage that? Well, the pro shop owner Zach Veasey has (had?) what I’m told is one of the best deals in golf. The foundation receives revenues from the modest greens fees. This money is used to cover all of the maintenance costs for the course. Everything else including food and beverages, equipment sales, lessons, etc goes to Veasey. Admittedly, he runs a great pro shop, but it does seem like it would almost impossible for a golf course to make money (or at least break even) when all of your profit generating revenue streams are going to somebody else.
Veasey’s contract to operate the pro shop runs until March of 2012. The deal that looks to be coming together is that the city will take over ownership of the course from Sun Trust’s foundation. Then former Hillandale pro Karl Kimball’s newly formed management company will then lease the course from the city and take over all of the operations, including the pro-shop, F&B, course maintenance, etc. This will effectively eliminate the city’s risk in the deal. The city had previously been hesitant to take over the course if they were going to have to inherit and continue with Veazey’s operating contract.
The plans for the course will be discussed at the city’s Nov 10 council work session. Hopefully they’ll be able to come up with an agreement that keeps the course open and available to the residents of the Durham area. It’s really a nice little course with very affordable rates. It’s also walker-friendly, which is really nice these days when many (if not most) new courses are cart-only.
