For smaller, simpler courses, you may be able to get away with constructing a golf course for under $10 million. For more complex, larger and more elegant courses, you could be looking at $30 million or much more. Somewhere in there — say around $15 million, lies a happy medium for the cost of building a golf course.
Many of us have, at one point or another, drifted off thinking about what it would be like to build and own a golf course. Designing the landscape, hiring the crew, watching the fairways get carved out and bunkers dug and spongey grass start to sprout up from the earth. For many of us, this is a dream that we may one day want to achieve. One of the first things you’ll likely look at is how much it actually costs to build a golf course.
In this article, we’ll take the costs associated with building a golf course and how many factors go into building one.
Factors That Affect the Cost
As you can probably guess, building a golf course isn’t as simple as drawing up a design and handing it over to a construction crew. There are so many nuances and parts of a golf course that you’ll have to consider and make decisions on. Each factor will bring unique costs associated with building it.
Greens
Interestingly, the greens are one of the most expensive parts of building a golf course. Having poor greens can significantly drop the playing experience of a course, so you want to make sure you’re spending some time here to figure out the right options for you.
The cost of greens can vary widely — they can hover on the low side of $3 per square foot to over $600. It just depends on the quality and what type you’re getting. For larger greens that have involved designs, you’ll be spending much more than small, basic greens.
Greens will also require a lot of time and attention to build. Since they rely on precise slopes and speed, you’ll have to calculate the right angle for building.
Tees
You’ll need to account for the tees at the start of every hole. Usually, you’ll have four different tees for golfers to play off of — the ladies, club, senior and professional tees. These will require substantial surface area and also accurate measurements for height and flatness. A sloped tee will throw off even a professional golfer’s game, so it’s imperative to get this part of the course right as well.
Irrigation
Don’t forget about irrigation — we’ve all played courses where the grass has dried up and yellowed past the point of no return. Though this may make your ball bounce some more down the fairway, ultimately it hurts the overall appearance of the course and takes away from the game. Be sure to invest in a reliable pump station that will get water to all parts of your course.
Drainage
On the flip side, you’ve also likely played at a course that is a swampland. This can be just as bad — if not worse — than playing on a desert-like course. Your ball can get sucked into the earth and you find yourself tromping through muddy pits. You don’t want to spend your days fearing rain falling on your course, so you’ll need to put in drainage to counter extra wetness — this means identifying the lower parts of your course and installing sewers there for the water to travel into.
Grading
Once you’ve got your plot of land to build your course, it’s time to start grading. Most golf courses are sloping and built with twists and bends to complicate the game. Usually, land will have to be cleared so that you can build the design you want. You’ll then grade the land to get those slopes and other attributes.
Cart Paths
Another cost will be cart paths. Depending on what kind of material you use — gravel vs. concrete, for instance — this could add another hefty budget item to your list.
Bunkers
Bunkers take extra care and design to get right — you’ll want to make it challenging enough so that a golfer can’t putt their way out but not so difficult that they never want to come to your course again. Because of this, it can take some substantial time and manpower to construct bunkers to their specific dimensions.
Erosion Control
There are also certain rules associated with building a golf course. Because a golf course is so pristine, it’s also vulnerable to the elements — you’ll have to take certain steps to protect grass and dirt from washing away.
Water Features
Many times, water features on golf courses will be natural. In these cases, you may only need to add a fountain or some lawn maintenance to make the hazard look presentable. Other times, you may be looking to build those features yourself. Adding ponds and streams can be a large investment that dramatically push up costs.
Trees and Seeding
Grass is one of the most crucial parts of a golf course. For this reason, many builders may want to start from scratch to give their course a unique look that is lasting. Planting trees and adding seeding will be another worthwhile cost to building your golf course.
Rock Blasting
If you’ve chosen a plot built on a rocky surface, then you may need a crew to blast away some land so that you can build your course. This requires a team and various machines which will drive up your expenses.
Earthmoving
Likewise, building a golf course requires a generous bit of upheaval — you’ll need to invest in earthmoving for soil, rocks and anything else you may want to put on your course.
Topsoil Replacement
In some cases, you’ll also need to replace the top layer of soil so that you can craft the landscape you want. This often includes a generous amount of time and money.
Clearing
You’ll be involved in costs before your course even begins being built — much of the time, you’ll need to have a team come and clear the initial landscape away so that you can have a clean slate to build.
Grow-In Period
Once everything is set, you’ll also need to take some time to let the grass grow and care for it so that it’s healthy. Depending on the size of your golf course, this will demand a certain level of manpower.
As you can see, there are a lot of costs associated with building a golf course and a lot of moving parts that you’ll have to consider before you build. It will help to have a solid gameplan going in so that you can have an overview of what the project is going to cost you. Though there will still likely be some surprises along the way, knowing your budget beforehand will give you confidence as you start building.