Competition has been a plus, area course officials say

If there's a magic number in golf, it's four.

Golf groups are called foursomes.

On par 72 courses -- the most common type -- a golfer must average four on each hole to shoot par.

Even an errant shot requires the courtesy shout: "Fore!"

Until last summer, Cape Girardeau County adhered to the theme with its own foursome: Cape Jaycee Municipal Golf Course, Bent Creek Golf Club, Cape Girardeau Country Club and Kimbeland Country Club.

But that's when a fifth partner -- Dalhousie Golf Club -- joined the group. It increased golf availability by 20 percent in the county and beckoned questions: Are Cape Girardeau residents golfing 20 percent more? Can five courses co-exist in a market where four courses weren't straining to meet the demand?

"Any time you get another golf course and they make it, it makes golf better for everybody," Kimbeland president Carroll Williams said.

While no numbers are available to give an accurate measurement of golf in the county, few argue that play has increased by 20 percent, especially after snow covered the ground for most of a harsh winter.

The second question: What's the impact of the new course?

"It's really hard to judge," Bent Creek co-owner Mike Litzelfelner said. "I know that a lot of the regular golfers we have here have experienced it, because I've talked to them. And that's a good thing because we want to provide good golf to the people in the area. And I think the combination of them, ourselves and the other clubs are doing that."

Going public

In Cape Girardeau County, the gambit of cost is varied, and it ranges from buying a weekday walking round of golf at Jaycee with a $10 bill to paying thousands of dollars for initial initiation costs and thousands more a year for monthly dues at a country club.

Jaycee and Bent Creek remain the two purely public courses in Cape Girardeau County, while Cape Country Club limits play to members and their guests. Kimbeland and Dalhousie, an upscale course designed by Gary Nicklaus, open to members and guests on the weekends and to the public on weekdays.

Dalhousie officials say there's little doubt where their course is headed.

"The eventual goal is to be private," Dalhousie director of golf Jack Connell said. "That's what it's always been."

Until then, Dalhousie is trying to find a niche in both the private and public markets. The club is at the high end in costs in both areas.

Rounds cost $59 during the week and $10 more on weekends, and that puts Dalhousie well above the cost of a round at Jaycee, which is $18.45 with a cart during the week and $20.55 on weekends.

"I think we're mainly the golf course that gets a lot of new golfers to start with because of our inexpensive prices," said Sabrina Tate, Jaycee's director of golf.

At different ends of the spectrum, Jaycee and Dalhousie don't often cross cart paths in the business realm.

"When you think about it, Dalhousie will probably get the top 3 percent income, and we'll take the other 97 percent," Tate said.

Because they're public courses, neither Bent Creek nor Jaycee have initiation fees, although both sell season passes.

"To that extent we're not competing with the private club members, Cape, Kimbeland and now Dalhousie," Litzelfelner said. "We're a 100 percent daily-fee golf course open to the public. And that won't change. We've got a nice niche here."

Connell has seen some of the looks on customers' faces when he discloses Dalhousie's fees. The club's first impressions are deceiving with a temporary clubhouse situated in a gravel parking lot that appears to be half quarry.

"But when they come back in after they're done they say it was worth every bit," Connell said.

Private matters

If there's a mom and pop type of country club in Cape Girardeau County, it's Kimbeland, which has gone to semi-private from private.

The club is no frills: a snack bar, pro shop, swimming pool and lots of golf. Williams said Kimbeland might have lost a half-dozen members when Dalhousie opened. He said there are a few Kimbeland members with dual memberships, something once common between Kimbeland and Cape Country Club. Williams, the golf coach at Southeast Missouri State University, once held memberships at Kimbeland and Cape Country Club and a season pass to Bent Creek at the same time. That arrangement still works for a select few, who hold memberships in all three clubs.

"We're a little different from Dalhousie and a little different from Cape Country Club," Williams said. "It's like everybody has a little niche that they fit and ours is a relatively moderate priced family club without the fancy dining rooms and extensive operations like that."

Cape Country Club, a more formal club than Kimbeland, has been the most affected by Dalhousie with 80 to 90 members initially joining Dalhousie. Some hold dual memberships.

Connell himself is indicative of the impact on Cape Country Club, where he was the longtime club professional before leaving for Dalhousie.

"I don't think there's any doubt," Connell said of an effect on Cape Country Club. "That was never the intent of the ownership. They just wanted a better quality golf course and felt like the area needed it."

A group of Cape Country Club members spearheaded the Dalhousie project.

"The biggest impact is the number of golfers who left the club for Dalhousie," Cape Country Club president Gerald Jones said. "But the number of members remains about the same."

Like Kimbeland, Cape Country Club has 410 members and a swimming pool. It differs with amenities like a tennis courts and a remodeled dining room in an upscale clubhouse that hosts social functions.

It also differs from Dalhousie, which offers golf for now. Dalhousie plans to add all the Cape Country Club amenities, including a permanent clubhouse, to its championship-caliber golf course along with another nine holes.

"I think we're slightly under the total membership desire at this point," Connell said. "But I think that's also due to some delays with the real estate, delays with the third nine getting built, economy and the weather.

"As we add amenities, as long as the price can stay close or to its values, I don't think we've saturated the market by any means. Some are waiting to see if the golf course will stay as good as when it opened."

Creating markets

Dalhousie is just part of a larger picture for the Prestwick Plantation developers, who have plans for 600 luxury homes on a 900-acre tract. The golf course, in addition to providing recreation, is viewed by the ownership as a tool to attract business and homes to the area. In effect, Dalhousie officials say they plan to expand the current golf market. The effort to do that has been hampered by their inability so far to secure TIF resources from the city, which will go toward the infrastructure of the development, including streets and sewers.

"A little bit of competition is really good for everybody," Connell said. "But I do believe this golf course and this facility and this real estate establishment will benefit Cape Girardeau immensely. In the future, as more corporations and businesses look at Cape Girardeau, they'll not only see it as having great values, but also having the recreation and real estate that employees and management will desire."

Dalhousie, which draws 37 percent of its membership from outside Cape Girardeau, also attracts daily fee golfers from outside the region, an area Bent Creek also taps. Bent Creek has built a reliable St. Louis business, and Litzelfelner said the business from there has been as good as ever since the opening of Dalhousie.

Bent Creek offers two-round overnight packages for as low as $80 during the week and $100 on the weekends.

"That business has actually picked up," Litzelfelner said. "My theory is that the people driving here and spending two or three days in Cape used to go further. I just don't think people are making big trips as they once did."

Impact of a new business

When Bent Creek opened in 1990, it was a state-of-the-art facility with large bent-grass greens.

It may have been more than coincidence that Cape Country Club and Kimbeland underwent renovations over the past decade.

"Any time there is competition, it makes us work a little harder," Litzelfelner said. "If you look at what Kimbeland has done and you look at what Cape Country Club did, those changes were made after we came into the marketplace. I think we forced the standard a little higher. And now Dalhousie, they have a beautiful golf course and they've done the same thing. They're going to raise the bar for everybody in the market."

Connell agreed. He oversaw the complete renovation of the greens at Cape Country Club.

"They built a golf course that was now longer, and you had to rebuild your greens," Connell said. "Any time there's competition it makes people aware, 'I've got to do this now, I've got to make this change.' You can't be just where you are with that product so close."

And Dalhousie, which in effect added a high-end luxury car to the line of area golf, has kept other courses on their toes.

"It's going to keep us all honest," Litzelfelner said. "We all have to have a good product. We have to have good turf conditions, and we have to take care of our customers. And if we do that, we'll be fine.

"If any of those things slip in a competitive world we live in right now, your business will suffer."

jbreer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 124