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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 11, 2023 13 Building Ideas That Work... Contact us at 860.482.7613 or visit us at BorghesiBuilding.com 2155 East Main Street Torrington, Connecticut 06790 © 2011 BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Butler Manufacturing ™ is a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. With "Public Works" budgets being so tight, many towns have turned to Borghesi Building & Engineering Co., Inc. for help in leading the team to marry the budget with design and technology. In turn, we provide an efficient, practical building that "works" for the town. Providing quality and reliability with design and energy efficient construction. With over 80 years of experience our processes will help your dream to be realized. BARKHAMSTED HIGHWAY GARAGE HARWINTON GARAGE WATERFORD PUBLIC WORKS Connecticut currently hosts about 170 golf courses, according to Friday, a number that hasn't changed dramatically since 2008. About a dozen have gone up for sale since then, he estimates; several were purchased by owners who kept them as golf courses. Friday said he and seven friends are negotiating the purchase of a golf course in upstate New York, near the Vermont border. He's hoping to turn a modest profit in an up-and-coming area near Lake George. "Everyone is trying to fulfill a childhood dream and doesn't expect to make millions," Friday said of his prospective investment. "Maybe we'll get a little return on the investment and have some fun with it." Friday said he was working at a private, 27-hole course in 2007 when the housing market collapsed, dealing a gut punch to the broader economy. Many private club members dropped out and depended on public courses. Within a couple of years, public courses also began to suffer, he said. "The next 15 years were really rough," Friday said. A corner turned? An April report by the National Golf Foundation declared the sport "is in a better place" today than it was when the current "supply correction" began, with a record number of new players. The U.S. lost the equivalent of 2,200, 18-hole courses since 2006, or 13% of its overall supply, the report said. However, 550 new 18-hole equiv- alent courses opened, another 1,500 courses were rebuilt or undertook major renovations, and 250 courses were resurrected. The foundation's website notes there was a 20-year boom leading up to 2006, in which the supply of U.S. courses grew by nearly 44%. As of the close of 2022, the nation had nearly 16,000 courses, and various metrics showed record interest and participation in the sport. Mike Goman, principal of East Hartford development consulting firm Goman + York, said he regu- larly receives calls from golf course operators seeking an analysis of their properties' development potential. There is a middle path, he said, in which courses with 18 or more holes sell off a portion of their land for development, allowing a nine-hole course to remain viable. "Generally speaking, in almost every case, the answer is to develop surplus land as residential of some kind," Goman said. Goman said much of the U.S. still has an oversupply of golf courses. He acknowledged a recent boom in interest in the sport, but expects that to trail off to pre-pandemic levels. "Golf courses, in general, got overbuilt," Goman said. "The Hart- ford region is a pretty good example of that. I mean, you can draw a five-minute drive-time circle and often within that find five or six golf courses. You can find high concen- trations of golf courses in very small areas. There just aren't enough people playing golf anymore to make them make sense." The Candlewood Valley Country Club in Milford (left) and Copper Hill Golf Course in East Granby are for sale. PHOTOS | COSTAR