FGI is closing these five golf courses, bringing the total in the Myrtle Beach area to 11
The largest golf course ownership and management company in the Myrtle Beach market is closing five more courses at the end of business Wednesday to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Founders Group International, which operates 21 courses on the Grand Strand, is closing International World Tour Golf Links in Myrtle Beach, Burning Ridge Golf Club and Wild Wing Plantation in Conway, and Willbrook Plantation and River Club in Pawleys Island.
The company closed three courses on Monday: Aberdeen Country Club, Colonial Charters Golf Club and Founders Club at Pawleys Island, citing a decrease in demand caused by the COVID-19 virus and the resulting financial strain.
“We continue to look at the demand and how many golf courses we need to have open to operate effectively and provide for the demand,” FGI president Steve Mays said. “We have the ability because of the size of our group to have golf courses all along the Grand Strand, so we’re making those decisions based on geography and price points so we have a variety of golf courses that are still open for people who want to play golf.”
Arcadian Shores Golf Club, the Members Club at Grande Dunes and the Hackler Course at Coastal Carolina are also closed because of coronavirus-related issues, so at least 11 of the Strand’s approximate 80 public-access courses are temporarily closed.
Tracy Conner, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association, said Wednesday afternoon that he wasn’t aware of any additional course closures.
The golf market has been hurt by mass cancellations of pre-booked golf package rounds, which combine lodging with tee times, as well as a drop in short-term bookings with many people throughout the U.S. essentially quarantining in their homes.
“The cancellations from package play because of everything going on in the world has just been catastrophic,” Mays said. “But we’re also doing our best to keep as many golf courses open and as many people employed for as long as we can. So we also want to take the time to at least see what demand is going to be there. So that’s what we did over the past few days.”
FGI still has 13 courses in operation at 10 facilities, and though Mays said it doesn’t plan to close any more in the near future, a further drop in demand could change that. He said there is still a lot of golf on tee sheets from late April through May.
“We’re working in two-week time frames, and we’re not going beyond that because everything’s happening so fast,” Mays said. “We’re really focusing on the short term right now as far as golf course closings.”
Mays added that a closed course could reopen based on short-term demand just for a day or a few days, as well. “We’ll open those courses accordingly as long as we can do so in a sanitary and effective way to keep our employees safe as well as our customers safe,” Mays said.
Golf is an activity and business that can theoretically adhere to recommended social distancing as an open-air activity. Course operators have also taken measures to sanitize their properties and have adopted policies to keep people safe, as directed by the National Golf Course Owners Association.
Mays said he is looking forward to reopening the eight closed courses as soon as possible.
“The toughest part of this process is the human element that’s involved and how many great team members that have been furloughed because of this process,” Mays said. “We fully anticipate bringing all of these people back on when the opportunity arises and demand increases.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 4:22 PM.
