Hartford Business Journal

10 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 14, 2022 As golf industry navigates changing landscape, some course owners, businesses realize new opportunities By Zachary Vasile zvasile@hartfordbusiness.com W allace "Ron" Ronald had the vision long before he had the location. Ronald, who has served as founder or general partner in a number of Hartford-area restaurants, pictured a laid-back, relaxing space that combined the offerings of a brewery with access to meals from popular food trucks, keeping the "menu" fresh and labor costs down. He eyed locations across Connecticut, including one near the Connecticut River, but ultimately settled on a place closer to home: the former Tower Ridge Country Club in Simsbury, near where he grew up decades ago. The old clubhouse has been extensively renovated and turned into the Talcott Mountain Collective, which aside from beer offers a deliberately limited menu of pretzels, chili and pizza — to not compete directly with the food trucks — and entertainment such as board games, cornhole sets and outdoor fire pits. "It's still a magnificent piece of property," Ronald said, referring to the site's panoramic view of Talcott Mountain and the Heublein Tower. "But it was never a proper golf course. Some people enjoyed the challenge of it, but to me it was always a goat pasture." Today, some of the former fairways and greens have been repurposed as a disc golf course by a separate business entity, Tower Ridge Disc Golf, headed by David Tolk. Tolk, who co-designed the 18-hole course, said disc golf is an ideal use for the land, as it takes advantage of the old course layout without the significant expense typically sunk into constant mowing and chemical treatments. "We're keeping the recreational spirit of it without all the maintenance costs," he said. "It's more environmentally friendly. That is a huge benefit of converting the space." While still a fairly unique case, the former Tower Ridge site is one of at least four golf courses in Connecticut to come under new management over the last year. And while real estate and golf industry experts don't necessarily see a broader trend unfolding, they acknowledge that mounting costs and declining profitability could in some instances prompt existing golf course owners to offload or lease out their properties, which are typically large and hard work to maintain. "Some of these golf courses are not as strong as they used to be," said Tom York, principal of transactional and advisory services at real estate consulting firm Goman+York. "We're not seeing a trend, but maybe it stands to reason that some property owners are seeing new opportunities now." Connecticut has seen little growth in its economy or population over the years, York noted, meaning that golf courses that thrived in better times may not have the financial resources to continue under their existing business model. "You own a piece of land. It's either profitable or it's not, or it's marginally profitable," he said. "When you take a look at it — is there something else that makes sense? Is there a higher and better use for that land? Each site will be a little different, but that's the question each of them needs to ask." Aside from Tower Ridge, which is being leased by its new operators, 2021 was a relatively busy time for golf-related real estate deals. In May, Quarry Ridge Golf Course in Portland was sold for $1.7 million to Nexus Golf Properties. Around the same time, voters in Southington approved the town's $4.5 million purchase of development rights to the privately-owned Southington Golf Course, a move expected to prevent the construction of a 114-lot subdivision on the property. The transfer means that while the land will continue to be owned by the Calvanese and Kastner families, they would give up the right to build on it or use it for anything other than a golf course or recreational green space. The same would apply to any future owners. And in December, Tallwood Country Club in Hebron was sold by the local McDermott family to Dana Barnes, manager of Concord Golf Properties, for $1.5 million. Mixed outlook The idea of financial hardships plaguing golf courses would appear to fly in the face of reports from industry groups trumpeting a major resurgence in the sport during the COVID-19 pandemic. For much of 2020, golfing venues, which naturally lend themselves to socially-distanced play, were one of the few recreational businesses still up and running. Courses reported a huge increase in players returning to the sport, and beginners just taking it up. Some courses saw record-setting revenues as a result of the local golf revival, said Tom Hantke, executive director and CEO of the HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER (From left) Osvaldo Nunez, Brett Hollander, Ron Ronald and David Tolk at Tower Ridge Disc Golf in Simsbury. Tolk heads the disc golf course, while Ronald is the founder of the adjacent Talcott Mountain Collective.

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