About 35 golf courses in Butler and Warren counties are seeing fewer rounds and reporting losses. Crooked Tree GC in Mason closed last month and reported losing $150,000 to $200,000 a year, while Middletown had to subsidize its municipal golf course, Weatherwax Golf Club, about $400,000 for 2014, which includes a $225,000 debt payment for improvements made in the 1990s.

November 27 will be the final day golfers can play the Mason, Ohio golf course, after the small ownership group opted to close the 25-year-old property. The golf course has been losing $150,000 to $200,000 a year before mortgage payments, with annual rounds dropping from 33,000 to 25,000.