Golf World - January 16, 2012

No simple answers to the closing
of storied San Antonio landmark

Pecan Valley GC in San Antonio, which opened in 1963, is about the same age that Julius Boros was in 1968 when he survived a week of terrible heat there— and one of Arnold Palmer’s strongest bids to win the only major that eluded him—to become the oldest winner of the PGA Championship. Boros, 48 at the time, had many years of good golf after winning his third major title, including being part of the inspiration for the senior tour a decade later, but Pecan Valley may not enjoy the same longevity.

The privately owned daily-fee course closed Jan. 9, about a week after the San Antonio golf community was stunned to hear about its demise from Foresight Golf, which managed the J. Press Maxwell design for owner Royal Golf Development Inc. Neither Pecan Valley general manager Mike MacRae or Foresight Golf VP Operations Michael Weiland responded to phone messages seeking comment about the closure.

In a script of talking points given to Pecan
Valley employees during the course’s final days,
Foresight Golf, which has managed the facility for
almost four years, said it had not been able to
make a profit. During a busy final weekend—
nearly 150 golfers played on Sunday, Jan. 8—
MacRae told San Antonio’s KENS5.com: “If all
the play we’re getting this weekend had been
consistent over the last couple of years, this
wouldn’t be happening.”
Pecan Valley devotees scoffed at Foresight
Golf’s contention that “the main reason that
Pecan Valley has not been able to turn a profit is
simple: The course is too difficult for the
average golfer and, as a result, Pecan Valley does
not have enough repeat play.” (The course is par
71 of 6,095 yards, with a 125 slope from the
middle tees.)

Chip Puhl, a 66-year-old San Antonio resident and avid golfer, points out conditioning issues. Pecan Valley wasn’t overseeded this winter unlike a popular nearby daily-fee layout, The Republic GC, which Foresight Golf owns and

Boros made history at Pecan Valley GC when he kept Palmer from winning the 1968 PGA title and, at 48, became the major’s oldest champion.

high five
Pecan Valley
hosted a handful
of PGA Tour, PGA
of America and
USGA events.

1967
Texas Open
Winner:
Chi Chi Rodriguez
1968
PGA
Championship
Julius Boros
1969
Texas Open
Deane Beman
1970
Texas Open
Ron Cerrudo
2001
U.S. Amateur
Public Links
Chez Reavie

operates. “That course looks like Augusta
National,” said Puhl.

Puhl played 18 holes at Pecan Valley Jan. 8 and has been busy working with Alamo City golf leaders trying to devise a plan to save the course, which MacRae told KENS5.com, “has not been sold, is not for sale.” There has, however, been talk in San Antonio about “a plan to develop military, wounded-warrior type of housing with a nine-hole course,” said deputy city manager Pat DiGiovanni.

“I have a sinking feeling that we don’t have a viable seller,” said Puhl, who is worried that the property won’t be sold as a golf course. “If we have a viable seller, we have a plan to buy it and manage it.” In Puhl’s dream scenario, the course would be purchased and turned over to the city to be a part of its Alamo City Golf Trail, which includes historic Brackenridge Park GC and six other facilities.