London's public golf system is losing one of its courses.
City council voted Tuesday to close River Road Golf Course and sell the property near Veterans Memorial Parkway.
The 18-hole course, which is owned by the city, had been in operation since 1992 but has struggled with financial losses for years. A report compiled by consulting firm KPMG as part of a standard service and program review on behalf of the city last February recommended River Road's closure. The report found the east-end course experienced a 37.5 per cent decrease in the number of rounds played since 2012. It also had an operating loss of more than $71,000 in 2018, which was larger than the profit generated by the city's other two golf courses - Thames Valley and Fanshawe.
The three city-owned courses have been sharing revenue over the years, allowing the two more profitable courses to bail out River Road financially.
While demand for tee times jumped last year as more Londoners sought outdoor activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it still wasn't enough to stop River Road from losing money.
Roughly four dozen golfers lobbied politicians last week to keep the course open with some threatening to take their memberships to private courses should River Road be closed. Only four councillors voted against the closure in the end - Paul Van Meerbergen, Anna Hopkins, Steve Lehman, and Michael van Holst.
The city plans to put the money from the sale of the land River Road sits on into a reserve fund for the other two remaining city-owned courses. They are expected to need $6 million in infrastructure upgrades over the next decade.
