The public now owns this Midlands golf course. Why are private courses mad about it?

A rural Midlands golf course is now public-owned, with officials saying they purchased it in an effort to keep it open for residents to enjoy. But the owners of some local private courses say they’re worried about competition from another course that doesn’t face the economic pressures of a for-profit business.

The Lexington County Recreation & Aging Commission confirmed to The State that it has purchased Hidden Valley Golf Club, situated just outside the small town of Gaston, for $450,000. The 18-hole course, which sits on 187 acres about 30 minutes southwest of downtown Columbia, has operated as a private club since 1964.

Per its website, the course is a par 72 and winds its way through 6,800 yards.

“We were approached about the possibility of purchasing the golf course,” said Randy Gibson, the recreation commission’s executive director. “I think the members of the club were basically ready to find a buyer.”

He explained that with Indian Trail Golf Course in Batesburg-Leesville recently being sold and with West Columbia’s former Indian River Golf Club, now Salina Golf Club, becoming a private course open only to members, the commission wanted to ensure that Hidden Valley remained a course the public could enjoy.

Gibson said the commission moved to purchase Hidden Valley, which is now Lexington’s only public-owned course, to preserve it as an option for residents. While there are private courses in the Midlands that are open to the public, as Hidden Valley has been, there are many that are open only to members.

“We just felt like you needed to keep that public course open to the public, where you don’t have to be a member and spend a lot each month just to have opportunities to play golf,” he added. “It gives the average golfer a golf course to play at.”

The move has been met with frustration by the Midlands Golf Course Owners Association.

“As tax paying business owners, as well as tax paying citizens, we feel this is a major misappropriation of tax payer’s dollars,” Dian Berry, the association’s president and the general manager of Lexington’s Golden Hills Golf & Country Club, wrote in an email to Gibson. “While we have no issues competing with private businesses, we take major exception competing with the government and our own tax dollars. These dollars can be best invested elsewhere or better yet, returned to the citizens. It is also a concern that the recreation commission’s budget would even allow for such a purchase and ongoing expense.”

Speaking with The State, members of the association expressed concern about competing against a course that won’t have to charge the prices private clubs must to stay afloat, saying this creates an uneven playing field.

“I understand if you want to charge a commensurate price,” said Rock Lucas, owner of Charwood Golf Club in West Columbia. “They’re going to come in here and charge the same thing or less, or maybe a couple dollars more, but not enough with something brand new and flashy and shiny.”

Hidden Valley will indeed see significant upgrades.

Gibson said that once the current operator’s lease ends at the end of this month, the commission plans to close the course for about 18 months, investing between $1.5 million and $2 million to perform renovations, including the installation a new irrigation system and an overhaul of the greens and tee boxes, which he noted probably haven’t been redone in 40 years.

But when the course reopens, the executive director said the rates it charges will be comparable to its local competitors, both private and public, regardless of how nice the renovated course might be.

“Hidden Valley was already in existence, we’re just keeping a public course open to the public,” he said. “We’re not looking to try to undercut price. When we do open the course back up, we’re not trying to undercut anybody. We’re going to have a competitive price with the courses that are open to the public, and we’re looking at making a profit or at least breaking even.”

Gibson noted that any profit turned by the course would go back into it for maintenance and further improvements.

Lucas and Berry said the addition of a new public-owned course is ill-timed for local owners, who are already facing competition from Fort Jackson, which recently opened up its course for public play, and staring down the possibility of the University of South Carolina adding its own new course as part of a facilities expansion it is considering near Williams-Brice Stadium.

To back up its contention that the market isn’t ready for the new and improved Hidden Valley, the association commissioned a demographic study of the area around the course. In its findings, provided to the recreation commission, Edgehill Golf Advisors said income levels in the surrounding area are likely too low to support a renovated course.

Gibson emphasized that the group’s main motivation in taking charge of Hidden Valley is ensuring that it doesn’t go away.

“We had fears that the course would eventually close if we didn’t purchase it,” he said.