How to Buy a Golf Course: The 9-Point Checklist We Used

We had built driving ranges before. We had never taken on a golf course. So when a call came in about a property in the Phoenix area with a range and a 9-hole course attached, the honest answer to "should we buy it?" was that we did not know yet.

What follows is how we worked that out. If you are learning how to buy a golf course, or you own a range and wonder what a buyer will look at, this is the checklist we actually used at Desert Mirage, the course that is now Golf Ranch Glendale.

We filmed the visit and the decision:

Start with the market, then the property

Before we toured the property itself, we spent a day visiting other golf facilities around the area. The point was not to copy anyone. It was to see what golfers in that market already had, what was busy and what a new range would have to beat.

That context changes how you read a listing. A driving range for sale in a strong golf market is a different bet from the same property somewhere golf is an afterthought. Spend the day before you spend the money.

Ask who the place is for

The first thing we noticed when we walked the course was how welcoming it felt. A first-time golfer would be comfortable there. So would an experienced player, or a parent bringing their kids. That mix is exactly the audience a modern range is built around, and it is hard to create from scratch if the bones of the place push people away.

We also looked closely at the grass and the greens. Conditioning tells you a lot about how the course has been run, and good conditioning is expensive to recover once it slips.

Walk the maintenance side, not just the course

Owners show buyers the first tee. Ask to see the cart area and the maintenance shed. That is where the real running costs of a course live, and where a buyer finds out what has been deferred.

Golf course maintenance equipment

We went through the fleet piece by piece: the mowers, a dedicated greens mower, the work carts that could double as a picker with the right attachment, and the older equipment parked at the back. One of the machines had a flat tire. None of that is a deal breaker, but it tells you what you will be replacing in year one.

A quick check on a greens mower is to cut a piece of paper with the blades. If it cuts cleanly, the blades are sharp. Equipment on a busy course gets used constantly, so blades need sharpening often, and the state of that equipment is a good read on how much care the course has had.

Sand, and more of it than you think

As golfers, we had never thought about how much sand it takes to run a course. A 9-hole course needs a lot of it, for the bunkers and for the greens. If the bunkers need redoing, that is a real cost to put in your model before you make an offer.

Fuel, carts and storage

Two things surprised us. The first was fuel delivery. Every machine on a course needs gas, so the course needs a way to store and receive it on site. It is easy to forget until you are standing next to the tank.

The second was the carts. In the Arizona heat, carts need covered storage, and at this property they were staged in a back area away from the first tee. When golfers check in, you want the carts right there. That was a fixable problem, but it was on our list from the first walkthrough.

What is in the back rooms

The maintenance garage looked a lot like the one we had at our Grand Prairie range. Further in, we found a club fitting and regripping station, which told us the previous operators had offered regripping at some point. At a range, everyone needs new grips eventually, so that was a service worth keeping.

Check what the build will have to change

Buying is only half the decision. The other half is what you will have to rebuild, and whether you can do it without shutting the business down.

Netting and poles

The netting we inherited at Desert Mirage was about 30 years old and had holes everywhere. Replacing it meant taking down the poles, moving them and setting them again with a crane as we reshaped the outfield. If a property's netting is old, price a full replacement into the purchase, not a patch.

Parking

A course and a range share one parking lot, and both need it at the same time. We added roughly 30 spaces in one area plus another 70 to 80 in the rest of the lot. Without that expansion, we would not have been able to fill both the tee sheet and the tee line.

Keeping the course open during the work

The 9-hole course stayed open for the entire build. That is good for revenue, but it creates problems you have to plan for. Golfers had to reach the first tee through a construction site, so we poured a new cart path before the netting work could begin. If a hole has to close for a week, you may need to discount tee times.

The decision

We had never run a golf course, and buying one was a big jump for us. Working through this list is how to buy a golf course without guessing, and it gave us enough confidence to go ahead. Construction started in October, the range reopened about 90 days later as Golf Ranch Glendale, and the course stayed open the whole time.

If you own a range and have ever typed "sell my driving range" into a search bar, the list above is the honest answer to what comes next. It is what a buyer who plans to reinvest will look at first. Golf Ranch now runs ranges in several states, and Glendale was our first with a golf course attached.

Frequently asked questions

What should you check before you buy a golf course?
Look past the first tee. Check the maintenance equipment, sand needs, fuel storage, cart storage, netting and parking, and ask whether the course can stay open while you renovate.

Can a golf course stay open during a renovation?
Ours did. We kept the 9-hole course open for the whole build by pouring a new cart path to the first tee, and planned for discounted tee times if a hole had to close.

Is it worth buying a golf course with old equipment?
It can be. Old equipment is a known cost you can price in. What matters more is whether the property already welcomes the golfers you want to serve.

See what Desert Mirage became: visit Golf Ranch Glendale and grab a free bucket on us.