Teeing off down memory lane: A tour of more shuttered golf courses we wish were still in business
Readers of Golf Advisor used social media to rally around the topic of their favorite local golf courses that have closed during the last decade. My story detailing a dozen shuttered courses golfers wish were still taking tee times tugged on the heart strings of many players who dream of turning back the clock when their favorite places to play were still in business.
From 2006-2013 643 18-hole layouts closed, according to the most recent numbers available from the National Golf Foundation. Every golf fanatic has a story of a long lost playground. Golf Advisor Managing Editor Brandon Tucker remembers the days when he used to play the now-closed Hickory Sticks Golf Course near Ann Arbor, Mich. for $8 a round.
I practically learned the game on a scruffy little nine-holer named Hickory Woods Golf Course while I was a student at Eastern Michigan University in nearby Ypsilanti, Mich. I'm still friends with the former owner who sold Hickory Woods for redevelopment. I don't blame him for cashing in his retirement. Several readers who commented on Facebook mentioned a feeling of melancholy and sadness whenever they drive by an old course overgrown with weeds.
As a tribute to our fallen friends, we've gathered photographs of courses readers indicated they missed the most. Consider this a road trip down memory lane, a tribute to those courses that are gone but not entirely forgotten.
If you want to give a shout-out to a shuttered course, send us your comments or old photos.