For years, Beaver Valley Golf Club has been bleeding money.
The 18-hole golf course located in Martinvale was put up for sale three years ago. Some kicked the tires, but nobody was willing to buy.
Martinvale is about 20 kms southeast of Morell.
The last asking price was $475,000 for the 175-acre property and the clubhouse, says Martin Myers, who maintained the machinery while his son, Norman, operated the course.
Beaver Valley, which is nestled amongst gently rolling farmland, opened as a nine-hole trek in 1996 and expanded to 18 holes in 1999.
Myers notes the course was not high-end. Twenty bucks would buy a round of golf.
Membership came in around $600. A loyal membership of roughly 100 or so golfers was maintained over the years.
Myers said the course never was a great moneymaker.
But with the number of green fee rounds declining in recent years, the decision was made to put the course up for sale in 2009.
Now Beaver Valley is simply being shut down.
“We just had to stop the bleeding - losing too much money,’’ said Myers.
The course remains for sale.
Myers says there are too many courses in P.E.I. for the number of golfers. Supply far outweighs demand.
Other golf courses in the province are also struggling to survive.
Summerside Golf and Country Club is facing an uncertain future, Dallas Desjardins, the club’s general manager warned earlier this month.
The province is shortening the season on Dundarave Golf Course and is putting the money-losing course and the three other provincially-owned and operated courses up for sale.
The government also announced a plan for a request for proposals to seek interest from the private sector to operate the courses, which Tourism Minister Robert Henderson said would likely go out in the fall.
