Meadowbrook At Clayton: Is it a hidden gem?

Meadowbrook had another loss in 2022. It had been for eight years straight that the municipal golf course was in the red since it was donated to the Clayton in 2015. Should the city take Meadowbrook’s operation more seriously to stop it from continuing to drain the city funds? Dayton, a city just a 19-mile drive away, closed two municipal golf courses in 2020 for financial reasons. Would it be better if Clayton also closed its own? This may have been one of the expectations of Clayton residents when they saw Meadowbrook’s 2022 financial performance in the City of Clayton’s annual report. By the end of that year, Meadowbrook had a cumulative accounting loss of over two million dollars. A study found that Dayton could generate enormous savings by going solar on their closed municipality-owned golf courses. Given the financial and marketing challenges faced by Clayton, would the City be better off by following suit? This case examines the financials of Meadowbrook At Clayton, explores possible ways to overcome its marketing and promotion challenges, and proposes a brief business plan for the municipal golf course to follow in the near future. This case is most applicable in advanced strategic management and business capstone courses. It could also be used in an entrepreneurship or entrepreneurial finance class if the class consists of many marketing/management students who could lend their expertise to teams working on the case. Although it is highly recommended for use in upper-undergraduate and/or graduate-level courses, the case is also a good candidate for discussion in business and/or government workshops.