With Bally Haly-Clovelly deal finalized, golfers have 1 less option on the Avalon
Bally Haly relocating from its historic Logy Bay location, with opening scheduled for May
There will be one less option for golfers in the St. John's area this year, with the Bally Haly Country Club closing its historic location in the city's east end and relocating not far away to the former Clovelly club off Stavanger Drive.
But the executive director of Golf Newfoundland and Labrador is praising the deal, saying that reducing the number of courses on the Avalon Peninsula from seven to six will make the golfing market more sustainable.
"There's always been a train of thought that there was one too many [courses] for the market," said Greg Hillier.
"The market didn't grow as fast as the product did," he added.
The deal was concluded in March, with Bally Haly scheduled to open in its is new location next month under the name Bally Haly Country Club at Clovelly Estates.
"It's a really big event for the city, for the golfing community in St. John's, and in Newfoundland," Bally Haly's board president, Paul Rose, said Thursday.
Clovelly's managing director, Judy Dobbin, said in a press release that the consolidation will "create a better balance between supply and demand and help to ensure an excellent golf product is available for many years to come."
The deal was a year in the making and will result in the closing of a course that's been welcoming golfers for more than a century. While a final decision has yet to be made, it's also expected that the curling facility at Bally Haly will close permanently, with most members relocating to the St. John's Curling Club on Mayor Avenue.
Bally Haly is a semi-private club, and the board began exploring options for a new location because of growing concerns about safety as new technology allows players hit the ball farther along the tight confines of the course, threatening other players are adjacent property owners.
More than three-quarters of the 450 members who voted in January endorsed the plan to acquire Clovelly.
It's essentially a land swap, but with Bally Haly also paying a reported $5 million to Clovelly Golf Course Inc., in order to complete the deal. Dobbin did not say what the plans are for the former Bally Haly property, but the Dobbin family has played a prominent role in real estate development in the city and beyond.
Clovelly has twice the footprint of Bally Haly and features a championship course and an executive course. The two courses will be renamed Bally Haly North and Bally Haly South.
The new Bally Haly will be the only semi-private golf course in the extreme east end of the capital city/ Rose said membership has soared to more than 650, with more than 100 on a waiting list.
"All in all we have taken on a very good facility, well maintained and well kept," said Rose.
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