"Where have the nine-hole and super-twilight rates gone?"

Sean Martin asks a few questions of the golf course industry as we head into 2012. Namely, will we see more creativity and urgency to get golfers on the course?

Some of my local courses are getting creative. Not enough, though. More are beginning to embrace Twitter and Facebook. Kudos to them.

One morning, a local course sent an email saying their afternoon was light on tee times. They were offering discounted rates for anyone who wanted to play that afternoon. I thought it was a great idea. Golf, at least for me, has become more of a spontaneous activity. Unpredictable work and personal schedules, as well as the fact that playing golf has been pushed down our list of priorities, mean my friends and I no longer plan tee times 7-10 days in advance. I don’t think we’re alone in that regard.

Any nominations for creative facilities working to get golfers out to play?

"I think we are paid too much money – compared to police and teachers and nurses."

Winner in Thailand and now the world No. 2, Lee Westwood talks to James Corrigan about becoming the first Briton to break through the £25 million barrier and sounds way too grounded. Thanks to reader Chris for this:

One of the charges he and his fellow multi-millionaire colleagues often face, however, does not concern the contents of his trophy cabinet, but instead his bank account. "We play for a staggering amount of money, no doubt about it and I've always stressed we are very very fortunate," he said. "I think we are paid too much money – compared to police and teachers and nurses. But then compare it to footballers. I think the only thing you can probably justify it by is that when golfers have a bad day, we don't get paid anything, but when we have a great day we get paid a lot. It's part of the pressure involved. There isn't a wage as such."

"The world changed."

Jennifer Bjorhus reports on another high-profile course closing, this time 8-year-old Tom Lehman-designed Windsong Farm outside of Minneapolis. Quite a statement from the banker...

"The world changed," said club member and shareholder Mark Lewis.

Lewis, a semiretired businessman in Edina, said Windsong Farm was insolvent and unable to renegotiate its loan with Commerce Bank. Two of Windsong Farm's seven employees will remain through the end of the month, he said.

Lewis blamed the club's demise on poor timing and the difficulty of finding new members to pay annual fees of $7,500 in a lumbering economy.

Windsong's 130 equity members and 100 golfing members, who don't hold stock, weren't enough to make the club work financially, Lewis said. He said he doubts the 130 investors will recoup their investment.

James Senske, CEO of Commerce Bank in Geneva, Minn., said the bank won't comment on customer relationships.

"Like many other banks, some customers of Commerce Bank have been hit hard by the current ongoing economic recession," Senske said in a statement. "In these challenging times for its customers, the bank continues to maintain a strong capital position and remains committed to serving its customers in the normal course of business."

Update on 2011-12-14 21:38 by Geoff

**Brad Klein with a few thoughts on Windsong Farm's closure.