Canton golf course may close Monday and Golf course in Canton shuts down ...
IHSMANTX wrote - Poor marketing, too expensive. Other cities have their parks departments run the courses, and all I have played have been a great experience. Every time I play Callahan Golf Links, or drive by, they have people playing golf. Not only are they cheaper, but they are also nicer to their customers. Since when did this course become Laurel Canyon's? Canton, you may just have pissed off the rest of your citizens in the comments you posted in the article. You cannot expect the citizens of Canton to frequent a course if it was only marketed to the Laurel Canyon people. I pay my city taxes like the rest of the Laurel Canyon citizens; why not ask the entire city to the meeting? Lower the price to compete and provide each Canton citizen a free bucket of range balls a day. You will see people out on the course, and the Laurel Canyon residents will see an increase in property value.
Jackie in Acworth wrote - There must be a pro golfer out there who would want to purchase this golf course. Put an ad on Craig's List, run an ad in a golf magazine, get busy folks, start a letter-writing campaign to all of the "pro" golfers out there. Turn this into an opportunity for your community! Good luck!
Feel bad for them! wrote - This course has been a fiasco from day one. Residents of Laurel Canyon, in fact, all bona fide residents of the city of Canton were supposed to have free greens fees (pay only cart fee) on this course for 10 years. It was also supposed to be used by the high schools for practice and by underprivileged children for golf camps, etc. What actually happened was the management breezed into town acting like this course was the "cat's meow" and was going to be this elite course or something. It has never been up to par (pun intended), and no efforts were made to improve it. It was then made a Canongate course ... what an inside deal that was. Obviously, it was not up to Canongate's standards, and the course was quickly dropped. The little old men who worked in the pro shop were delightful, but the management was pompous and rude. Don't blame this closing on the economy. Callahan Golf Links is five minutes down the road and crowded all the time. For the sake of those who bought in on this course, I hope things pick up and some awesome management takes over this course, making it an asset for Canton rather than a liability.
Ric Romero wrote - Make a motocross track out of it. Charge $15 per rider and hold races on the weekends. I have driven for over one and a half hours to get to a decent track and paid more money. I have seen these "local" tracks bring in more than 30 or 40 riders every day they were open. It would be more profitable than the measly 70 members the golf course has now.
Parteeinga wrote - If they were able to have 200 people a day play the course for a year, they could have $1 million in revenue by only charging $13.70 per person. I would think that they could charge the City of Canton residents a reasonable fee of $30 and charge others a fee of $40 and be profitable. I play just up the street at Callahan Golf Links almost every weekend for $39. I did not see any reason to pay an additional $10 or more to play at the Fairways of Canton. This doesn't even take in to consideration other income that would be received from range balls, food, etc. The City of Canton needs to wake up and listen to the residents and do some simple math to figure out a way to make it work.
RAMS wrote - This golf course has been mismanaged and overpriced from the first day it opened for play. There has never been any attempt to promote play to local residents. As a resident of the City of Canton, I was asked to pay greens fees that were higher than those of much better area courses. The Fairways of Canton should, and can be an asset to the city. In my opinion, the course closed not because of "this rotten economy," but for the lack of good management.
JonG. wrote - This is not surprising. I played there last week and was very disappointed with the course and accommodations. They didn't have score cards with a map of the holes (which any decent 18-hole course will have), and the greens were in horrible condition. In fact, two of the 18 greens were closed due to lack of proper maintenance. They did have temporary greens mowed and pinned, but you couldn't even putt on them because they were so rough. We were not informed of the condition of the greens prior to playing, or else I would've gone somewhere else. I'm disappointed there's no mention of why they have a lack of business. There are many other courses in the area, so you can't expect to get customers if your course and its accommodation's aren't up to par!
Greyshark wrote - Hopefully, the course can be sold to a proper golf management firm that can publicize its existence. I never knew it was there. I suspect I am not the only area person active in golf surprised to find out there is an 18-hole course in Canton.
Well deserved! wrote - Good! They deserve it for lying to the people of Canton promising them free greens fees for the first 10 years. Maybe that would have been a good idea in hindsight, huh?
As others have said, poor marketing. The course layout is interesting with some great views. I hope someone buys it.
more sad investment such as THE SO CALLED BLUFF's Developmet,the DAM PROJECT and TONS of MONEY spent on a RICH Mans DREAM, the CHerokee AIRPORT PROJECT. All the projects were to bring Business and people into our Cherokke County but all turned in a Fianical BURDEN Period !!! Next Time think BEFORE YOU LEAP !!