Salmon Run General Manager Ed Murdock is optimistic the golf course will survive its financial difficulties and prosper. The Pilot/Jef Hatch

Salmon Run golf course is close to financial collapse and is asking the city of Brookings to delay the beginning of lease payments for the land for two years.

The golf course joins others across the nation that are in crisis because of slumping membership, and the continuing recession.

The course lost an average of $41,000 annually from 2006 to 2010, according to its 2012 business plan. Lease payments to the city were to begin in 2010, but Salmon Run gained a two-year extension from the city due to financial problems.

Now it’s asking for a further extension until February 2014. If granted, it would mean the city has lost $110,000 in revenue over the four-year period.

“There are many courses around the country that are at the brink of closing, including Salmon Run,” golf course General Manager Ed Murdock wrote in a letter to Brookings City Manager Gary Milliman.

City Council members will discuss the request for an amended lease during Monday’s 7 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 898 Elk Drive.

Milliman said Thursday he is not recommending whether or not the council should honor the request.

The Claveran Group built the 18-hole course, located about 3.5 miles up the South Bank Chetco River Road, in 1998 on 182 acres of land donated to the city specifically for golf course purposes by South Coast Lumber Co. The Claveran Group consists of Lorraine Berkowitz and her father, Felix Claveran, both of Brookings, and seven out-of-state members.

The city put off the first lease payment until 2010 to give the fledgling course a chance to mature and for the Claveran Group to pay down its construction debt.

The course cost from $5 million to  $6 million to build, Murdock said during an interview.

Steve Muir of California, a member of the Claveran Group, has paid the construction loan but has not been repaid for the expense.

Murdock expressed confidence the lease payment extension will be approved.

“I can’t imagine the city council would not want the golf course in the community,” Murdock said.

However, the business plan doesn’t paint a positive picture for 2012. A net loss of $61,200 is anticipated for that year before a turn-around in 2013 with net revenues of $23,600. Projections call for net revenues of $104,800 by 2015.

In the business plan, Murdock said the Brookings Harbor area doesn’t have enough golfers to support a course so players from other areas must be attracted. However, “non-resident rounds” have been steadily decreasing, he said.

Murdock noted that golf courses nationwide are suffering from the economic slump, with more courses having closed than opened during the past three years.

The closest other courses to Brookings are Cedar Bend in Gold Beach, and Del Norte and Kings Valley in Crescent City, all of which are nine-hole courses.

Cedar Bend’s revenue in the past year was down “substantially,” board member Darrell Allen said. Revenue from green fees has declined 8 to 12 percent during that period, he said.

Cedar Bend usually employs four people to maintain greens and three people to staff the clubhouse. However, volunteers are doing most of the work now with only one person employed on a part-time basis.

“We’ve been sluggish for three or four years,” Allen said.

Likewise, Kings Valley manager Cliff Miller said they weathered the bad economy for a few years but “this year it has been pretty bad. This year it got ahold of us.”

There’s little overhead to cut, Miller said, because he runs the clubhouse and one other employee does all the mowing and greens care.

“We are just hanging on,” Miller said.

The Pilot could not reach a representative of Del Norte Golf Course for comment, but Miller said that course “is not doing any better” than his. 

Murdock proposes a number of changes to get Salmon Run back on solid financial ground. Among those is developing a permanent water source, the lack of which has been a problem for several years.

The Claveran Group, a limited liability corporation formed to build the course, is seeking an allocation of the city’s current water rights on the Chetco River. The business plan estimates cost of new pipe and electrical system with pump at $75,000.

 Adding lodging for those from out of town is another option, according to the business plan. An area with parking lot, electricity and a septic system already exists and Salmon Run officials believe it would be “relatively simple” to bring in park models for rental.

“A few local lodging providers are interested in putting the units in and managing them,” according to the business plan. A lease for lodging would need city approval.

A permanent clubhouse also is being considered. The current clubhouse is for sale, and if it were sold the proceeds could be used to start a new clubhouse in the current maintenance building, the plan notes.

Beyond that, Murdock said some aspects of the course and driving range must be upgraded. The current range, for example, is not as long as it should be and discussions about lengthening it are under way.

“A full driving range could be one item that would produce revenue immediately,” Murdock said.

The cost for lengthening the driving range to 300 yards is estimated at $20,000 to $50,000.

Murdock added that many players complain Salmon Run is too short and too difficult, the latter because of narrow fairways. A longer course would allow players to use their driver more often, which Murdock said is a common desire.

Creating better tee boxes and bunkers, along with improved green conditions, are being discussed as other ways to improve Salmon Run. Those improvements are estimated to cost $83,000.

“These are things we’d love to do,” Murdock said. “The problem is getting financing.”