California Drought Has Led To More Course Closures
/Jason Scott Deegan files a sobering wrap-up of closed California courses from the last few years, nearly all of which were somehow influenced by the drought to varying degrees.
This summer alone, California has lost two Pete Dye designs at Lost Canyons Golf Club in Simi Valley north of Los Angeles; the nearby Mountain Course at Robinson Ranch Golf Club in Santa Clarita; Empire Lakes Golf Club, an Arnold Palmer-designed course in Rancho Cucamonga east of L.A. that hosted the Web.com Tour; and Roddy Ranch Golf Club in Antioch, a popular value play in the Bay Area.
Remarkably, to date, the Coachella Valley has remained mostly unscathed.
The Coachella Valley, which includes Palm Springs, La Quinta and other popular snowbird getaways in the SoCal desert, has fared surprisingly well considering how many courses face high water-costs. The area said goodbye in 2015 to Santa Rosa Golf Club in Palm Desert, and to Rancho Mirage Country Club.
