Bill Evans has played some of the most challenging golf courses in the world, from New Jersey’s Pine Valley Golf Club to Ireland’s Ballybunion Golf Club. Now he’s tackling what may be the most daunting 18 holes of all: his own.

“I never thought I would own a golf course in my life,” says Evans, who runs his own real estate and business investment company in Atlanta. But in March, after combing the market for nearly five years, he scored the perfect deal: a Bobby Weed-designed course outside of the city. Voted Georgia’s “best new public golf course” in 1989, the property came with a clubhouse and 200 acres of rolling hills along the Flint River. Evans managed to pick it up for less than $1 million.

“It will be a great, low-key place to play,” says Evans. He plans to increase profitability by redesigning some holes to cut maintenance costs, then upgrading the clubhouse before offering memberships to a limited number of duffers.

According to industry insiders, there are two reasons why this may be a good time to go shopping for a golf course: The golf business is showing signs of slowly coming out of a seven-year slump, and courses across the country are selling at a discount.

Golf course development surged during the 1990s, as real estate developers slapped down fairways and greens as a way to increase the value of residential properties surrounding the links. An average of 300 courses was built every year; the trend peaked in 2000 with the opening of nearly 400 golf courses, according to the National Golf Foundation.

All well and good when golf was being hailed as the new “it” sport for baby boomers as well as youngsters inspired by Tiger Woods. But then players-to-be discovered how difficult, expensive, and time-consuming the game is. From 2001 to 2005, the number of rounds played in the U.S. declined nearly 4 percent, from 518.1 million to 499.6 million.

The golf slump has caused many owners to slash playing fees or even sell their courses at a markdown. By some estimates, golf course prices are down by as much as 20 percent since early 2000. “There are a lot of distressed properties out there,” says Jeff Woolson, managing director of commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis’ golf division.

But now the grass is starting to look greener. The supply of links is slowly shrinking—last year, the number of course closures outpaced the number of course openings for the first time in 60 years, with 27 more courses closing than opening. At the same time, the number of rounds played inched up almost 1 percent, thanks to an unusually warm and dry winter. “We’re correcting now,” says Joe Rice, a spokesman for the National Golf Owners Association. “We’re starting to see a bit of an uptick.”

For potential buyers, the appeal of owning a course ranges from the all-important status factor to the opportunity to turn a profit. Business moguls such as Reebok International founder Paul Fireman, who spent $129 million building Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey, elect to hire famous architects to create new golf course masterpieces on prime property. But buyers of existing courses can have many of the same benefits—quality control, convenience, and status—at a fraction of the cost. Courses generally go for anywhere between $1.5 million to $15 million. At the bargain end, a lucky duffer could be the proud owner of an 18-hole course in Pinson, Alabama, surrounded by a forest and complete with pro shop, restaurant, and water hazards, for $1.45 million. (See more in the slideshow.)

Of course, anything golf-related comes with ample hassles and expenses. Owners must manage employees as well as the books; like farmers, they have to contend with water issues, inclement weather, and equipment upkeep (think broken sprinkler heads). Maintenance for an 18-hole course starts at about $450,000 a year and can cost as much as several million dollars.

Despite the challenges, the right property can be a good investment, says Van Tengberg, a San Diego-based lawyer who specializes in the acquisition, development, and financing of golf courses. Look for poorly managed—and therefore undervalued—properties near places such as Scottsdale, Arizona, Los Angeles, and New York City. Issues including difficult zoning laws, constraints on the water supply, and lack of open space mean it is less likely that new, competing courses will open nearby.

Another approach: Hire an architect to turn an inexpensive, mediocre public course into a higher-end private club. A buyer can also alter a course to make it cheaper to operate (for instance, turn sand bunkers into grass hollows) or to free up land for residential development. “It might be worth far more as a real estate investment than as a golf course,” Tengberg says.
 
Agents estimate that there are currently about 200 courses for sale across the country. And business is showing signs of picking up. In 2006, Woolson sold seven courses; it’s the best year he’s ever had. Three years ago, Hilda Allen, an agent based in Adel, Georgia, moved a total of six courses. This year, she’s already sold three and has five more sales pending. “There’s a lot of money out there,” Allen says.

Susan Breitenbach, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group, says she’s seen more interest in the past month than in the entire previous year for Three Ponds, a $75 million, 60-acre waterfront estate with its own Rees Jones-designed 18-hole course in Bridgehampton, New York. The reason? “It’s hard to get into golf clubs out here,” she says. “You can’t reproduce it in the Hamptons. It’s like going to a major resort—but owning it.”