Demand for golf remains high as entire Union County course goes up for sale

Stonebridge Golf Club General Manager Nick Jacobi said more and more people are playing.

“I give lessons on the side. We have two independent instructors here that just teach, and we’re giving more lessons than we’ve ever given. The demand, again, I’m 41 years old, been playing golf for 35 years, this is the highest demand I’ve ever seen in my lifetime for golf,” Jacobi said.

He said demand at the course has increased 25% since the COVID-19 pandemic began, which Mackenzie Moser, vice president with the Moser Group, said is a growing trend.

“It’s pretty rare. We’ve never had golf courses prior to the last couple of years,” Moser said about the real estate group’s recent activity in the golf industry.

Golf is seeing a national resurgence, according to the National Golf Foundation. In 2021, the foundation said U.S.-based golf courses saw the most rounds ever. Through May of 2022, the foundation’s data says demand is dipping compared to 2021, but is still an overall increase compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

Here in North Carolina, Moser said it is still rare to list an entire course, despite this being the third one since the pandemic started.

“This is a unique opportunity that doesn’t come up very often,” Moser added, while touring the course on a golf cart with Jacobi.

Jacobi said since COVID-19 spread across the country, demand to play and learn golf in Union County has exploded. For example, the course’s driving range has 1.5 million balls hit a year.

“Stonebridge for example was already busy prior to COVID, doing roughly 40,000 rounds a year, which puts it as one of the busier golf courses in Charlotte area. Now, we’re pushing 50,000 rounds a year, so, the increase is roughly 20-25%,” Jacobi added.

Moser said the group plans on selling the course to an investor or golf management company that would continue operating it as a golf course.

“You never know what a day at the Moser Group or a day in real estate could be. We could be in a helicopter looking at properties, or you always have to have boots that you might be on a muddy site, construction sites,” Moser added about the group’s recent business in growing Union County.

Moser, who first started as in intern, is following in her dad’s footsteps after he founded the company 28 years ago. 

“Growing up I would come in here just as a kid— My dad was my best friend, that I would just go with him to different properties, and got to see with the car washes and community meetings— seeing how he built a family business,” Moser said about her father.

Now, after a tough upbringing and then several ventures as an entrepreneur, her dad, Dennis Moser, has created a full service commercial real estate business, which is watching Union County grow around it.

“It’s really cool to be a part of the community and see everything as the landscapes are changing and as people are moving from other areas to this region. As you see, Charlotte a major metropolitan area, continue to expand out,” Moser said.

Since 2010, Union County has added roughly 37,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The growth has put a demand on land and builders. In 2021, new home building permits were surpassing numbers not seen since 2019, according to county data.