Their golf course is becoming a data center. But first, an emotional farewell  | News

Dauphin Highlandsa popular public golf course near Harrisburg, Pa., opened on Labor Day in 1995. Tim Birney, now 77, was on the tee sheet that day. He still remembers being taken by the natural beauty of Bill Love’s design, which sits on a 228-acre pastoral plot overlooking the Susquehanna River.

“It seemed like it had been there forever,” Birney told me.

Maybe, but it won’t be to be there forever

Monday was Dauphin Highlands’ last day of operations as the golf course prepared to make way for construction of a 400,000-square-foot, $10 billion data center. Many residents, especially golfers, were hoping the day would never come, but it did — the result of the Dauphin County General Authority’s decision to sell the parcel to the Texas-based data center developer. for $45 million.

Authorities said the course was losing money and had accumulated $13 million in debt; Local officials also said the deal will result in tens of millions of dollars in community benefits for the local municipality, including public safety and municipal infrastructure improvements.

The sacrifice: one less golf course for area golfers.

Monday at Dauphin Highlands was part celebration, part funeral. More than 300 golfers came to the property for a final round; some shared stories of dear pasts, while others became emotional, as if they had lost an old friend.

Birney, who has been the director of instruction at Dauphin Highlands since 2012, was in the final group of the day, which meant that he and his playing partners – Fred DeCock, who had played with Birney on that opening day in 1995, and Joe Navin – aimed at bare flagsticks; the souvenir hunters in the groups ahead of them had touched the flags.

“That’s good,” Birney joked. “I know where the greens are from my 30 years of playing here.”

Birney also knows the history of the place. Before it was a golf course, the land served as a corporate retreat for Bethlehem Steel Corporation, an employee getaway complete with river views and a clubhouse. But when the steel market collapsed, Birney said, Bethlehem Steel sold the land to the county. That was in 1992; three years later, the county converted the site into a golf course.

Birney does not know exactly how many lessons he gave Dauphin. “Thousands,” he said, many of which he counts among his fondest memories. “I meet people all the time who are like, ‘I had a lesson from you 10 or 15 years ago, and I remember the dollar bill in the sand,'” a reference to one of Birney’s favorite exercises in which he had his students practice. bunker shots to try to get a divot the size of a dollar.

The Dauphin pro shop on Tuesday told the sad story. Hundreds of now questionable scorecards fill a cardboard box on the floor. A lone hat sat on a table where there had once been dozens. The suitable bay has been cleaned; same for the shelves, except for a few golf gloves on a rack under the “Buy 1 Get 1” sign. The home page on the course website it was replaced by a graphic that read in part: “The final putt may leave, but the friendships, traditions and memories made here live on.”

Some of these relationships were formed through the course’s lively clinics and leagues, available to men and women of all ages. The staff was also close. On Tuesday, the course organized a thanksgiving dinner for its employees, catered by a local Italian restaurant.

Construction of the data center is not expected to begin until next year, but Birney said test drilling has already begun. That didn’t stop him and his friends from enjoying their last round of licks on Monday. When they arrived at the area from the 15th and 16th holes, Birney said they were greeted by a familiar sight: a flock of wild turkeys and a herd of deer, which were drawn there, Birney said, by an acorn tree.

“We see that every night,” Birney said. “I don’t know if these AI babies are going to eat deer and wild turkeys. I don’t know where they’re going to go, because they’re taking 240 acres of green space.”

Among the tears shed Monday, some belonged to Birney, who said he broke down when he spoke on the phone with his manager at Troon Golf, which oversees Dauphin Highlands. Birney’s message to his boss: “It’s been an honor and a privilege to work here.”

As Birney recounted the conversation, he choked again.

“It’s very upsetting,” he said.