BETHEL TOWNSHIP — The global pandemic has hit area golf courses, like so many businesses, hard this year.
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Cliffside Golf Course in Bethel Township announced on its Facebook page that it is closing permanently.
It joins Kittyhawk Golf Center and Madden Golf Course in Dayton, which both announced May 7th they would be closing.
Among the many groups and people that called Cliffside home are the Bethel High School golf teams.
“My first thought is what are we going to do,” Brett Brookhart, Bethel’s golf coach, said.
He said that the course has been for sale for 4 or 5 years so he knew the closing has been a possibility but still came as a shocking blow when he got the news.
"I drove out to Cliffside and I got to see the top 9 and the grass was about 3 feet high and it's just sad," Brookhart said.
Bethel has called Cliffside home for more than 20 years. Brookhart says the team is now scrambling to find a home. His hope is that an area course will allow them to play even if its just a part time basis. One of the challenges he said is that many courses already have a high school team that they already host and have been turning Bethel down to try and play or practice at the course.
“For us to be able to have try outs, to have practice, you can go to the driving range as much as you want, but you need to physically get on the course to be able to play your home matches as well,” Brookhart said.
It’s not just the high school team that will feel the impact but so many different groups host events and fundraisers and Cliffside. Even for a more casual or league golfer Brookhart said for many it’s not just entertainment but an escape.
“To be able to go to relax in his golf league it means a lot to them to get away from the stress of work and things,” Brookhart said.
When Tiger Woods took the golf world by storm Brookhart said the industry saw a huge boom from 2000 to 2007. Then when the recession hit that was the start of the downturn for many in the golf business locally and the last few months have only made it worse for many.
“Nowadays with COVID happening in the last couple months and people with unemployment it effects a trickle down to golf courses it’s not very much of a money-making business right now,” Brookhart said.
Brookhart also reflected on several of his memories from Cliffside. He said it wasn’t uncommon to be playing a round of golf and see a deer not far away from you. So many great rounds, and teams came to mind and even moments of a kid that had only been golfing a couple weeks sinking a hole in one.
Like most he’s now just left with memories of the course, but he also must try and find a new home for Bethel to keep them from merely being a transient team that plays all away matches. He wants to find a home for his kids, one where they can make so many new memories and help give a hurting golf industry a boost.
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