The announcement of the Longwood Golf Course closing to the public this summer has brought controversy between the university and the community.
The 9-hole course will be continued to be used by the men’s and women’s golf teams for practice, as well as the cross country teams and physical education classes. However, the public will no longer be able to use the golf course after June 30 this year.
There are two other golf courses in the area, the 9-hole Farmville Municipal Golf Course and the 18-hole Manor golf course.
The President of Longwood University, W. Taylor Reveley IV, stated that the closing of the Longwood Golf Course was a consideration which had been talked about for years. The decision was ultimately made by the Board of Visitors and Reveley.
As far as the reason for closing the course, Reveley said that the main reason was because of the course’s diversion from the focus of the university.
“The biggest thing is, if you look all across the country, there are about 2,500 four-year institutions of higher education colleges. Of those 2,500, only about 50, so only about two percent, of all colleges and universities, public or private, operate a golf course. That’s the biggest reason. It’s just not the type of thing universities tend to be in the business of doing,” said Reveley.
Reveley explained that a particular factor, which was taken into consideration was the fact that lawmakers and public policy makers in Washington and Richmond would not see the upkeep of a golf course to be necessary for the university’s primary public focus.
“They don’t see that as a good thing. They see that as not quite being focused on the core of our public purpose. So that’s what’s really going on. It’s true that the Longwood Golf Course does not break even financially….but even if it did, from a public policy standpoint, this would still be a decision that we would be making. If, in a different universe, Farmville did not have two other golf courses nearby, we’d certainly, because we want to do everything we can to be good for the community, think about it a little differently,” said Reveley.
There are currently 93 members at the Longwood Golf Course. Of these 93, only 12 are students and 15 are faculty and staff.”
“We certainly paid attention to student use of the course and the fact that it’s not robust right now. It hadn’t been robust for a long time,” said Reveley.
Although there are other options for courses, members of the Longwood Golf Course from the community have stated their opposition to the course closing.
Dr. James Kidd and Dr. Jim Simms, both retired Hampden-Sydney College faculty and members of the Longwood Golf Course, felt the reasoning behind the closing of the golf course is not sufficient enough for a complete closing.
“I love the sense of community, the sense of a family. It’s very unpretentious, it’s not ‘country club’ atmosphere. It’s convenient and in town. The price is right. It’s a beautiful course. It really fits my limited game very nicely. It’s a real gathering place for people in the community I never would meet otherwise,” stated Kidd, who has been playing at the course since 1981.
Simms explained that both Kidd and himself felt that the other courses in the area “didn’t stack up to it (Longwood Golf Course).”
“It’s (The Manor golf course) too difficult for me to play. I mean, I play it, but it’s too difficult for me to play. There are too many carry’s, you have to hit the ball too well. For an old man now, I hit a lot of shots that aren’t quite so good. That course (Longwood Golf Course) fits me up here,” said Simms, who has been a member at the course since the 1970’s.
According to Reveley, the golf course currently has a revenue of roughly $90,000 and costs around $150,000 to operate.
Simms stated that he and other members of the course wrote a letter to the Board of Visitors, which was sent along to Reveley. The letter contained an offer for the members to increase the amount of membership dues they pay, as well as collecting funding in order to assist in keeping the Longwood Golf Course open.
“Give us the chance to make it work. That’s the thing they’re not doing. They’re not saying ‘Well, okay. We’ll think about it. Go ahead and try.’ They’re just closing it,” said Simms of the university’s decline of their offer.
Reveley stated that keeping the course open would still not be ideal for the focus of the university, regardless of any philanthropy.
“Two things: one big and one more focused. Even if we had a huge amount of philanthropy pour in to support the course, that still cuts against the grain of all the public policy considerations that lawmakers in Washington or Richmond would have. That’s the biggest reason….the other thing is that it’s much easier said than done to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in a year. Especially given the number of people who seem to be particular active on this run,” said Reveley.
The Rotunda reached out to the Office of Administration and Finance, but were declined comment.
The current cost of membership with The Manor is $1,000 for an initiation fee and $175 for monthly dues. The Longwood Golf Course currently charges members $400 for membership, according to the university website.
As far as how the golf teams will be affected, both Kevin Fillman, the head men’s golf coach, and Shannon Briggs, the head women’s golf coach, stated that losing a golf course would be a disadvantage to the teams, but that the move to The Manor would ultimately bring positive benefits.
“As someone who wants the game of golf to grow, especially in the younger generations, losing a facility as a whole will hurt on the public side of things. The Longwood Golf Course is a very good golf course to learn the game on. So it’ll hurt from that perspective a little bit,” said Fillman.
Fillman stated that the landscape, terrain and overall designs of the courses were different and allowed players to practice of different types of courses.
Fillman and Briggs agreed that the main reason why people may be wary of The Manor course is due to the intimidation of the size of the course, as well as loyalty to the Longwood course.
According to Fillman, the golf teams currently pay $7,500 out of the team budget in order to play at The Manor. Fillman did not anticipate a rise in cost when the teams made the complete move to The Manor.
As far as the difficulty of the course, Briggs stated that there were several tees which players would choose to play from.
Several tees are placed at each hole in order to provide different points from which players could play a game. These tees mark the level of difficulty of each specific course path.
As far as closing the course, Fillman and Briggs were not involved in the final decision.
‘I would have definitely liked to have been involved in it, and been involved in the meetings, and given my perspective from the golf side of things. Honestly, people above me were making the decisions, and that’s what they do. That’s their job. Once they inform me now, I’ve got to figure out what we need to do,” said Fillman.
Briggs stated that she believed communication was important in order to keep the community involved and more positive about the closing of the course.
“There’s definitely a loss there. We have to be sensitive to those individuals, not only coaches and team members at Longwood, but also this is a huge community impact that I think needs to be recognized, so that we can kind of communicate the overall plans, so they don’t feel left out or in the cold with the severance of losing the course. I think communication is key,” said Briggs.
One of the ideas which has been proposed for the use of Longwood Golf Course in the future has been botanical gardens or an arboretum. Reveley assured that these were simply ideas and nothing had been decided on or fully discussed.
“It’s not that there are elaborate plans of what it’s going to become. This golf course which has served really notably and has this great history….We’re at a point in the life of Longwood, at a point in higher education where running a golf course is just not core, not central to what a university in America in 2016 does,” said Reveley.
Although Reveley stated that there was a possibility that another golf course could be built in the far future, he emphasized that it would be unlikely to happen due to the uncommon nature of universities owning golf courses.
Reveley stated, “This is a decision that I’ve given lots of thought to, that’s been in the air at Longwood for years, some would say even decades. It is sad to see something that has played a really important part of the university’s life, see that chapter close. But I do think this is the right decision now.”
The community showed mixed reactions to Longwood University's announcement on their decision to close the Longwood Golf Course.
The community showed mixed reactions to Longwood University's announcement on their decision to close the Longwood Golf Course.
