Public New York golf course formerly on Air Force base slated to close at season’s end

A golf course in the Central New York region that was originally built for officers and civilian employees is slated to close at season’s end, according to a recent report.

Mohawk Glen Golf Course in Rome, New York, was built as a nine-hole course for those assigned to Griffiss Air Force Base, but once the base closed in 1995, a local owner maintained the property.

Now, according to a story in the Rome Daily Sentinel, the course will be permanently closed at the end of the season. Owner Michael DeSalvio said Oneida County will purchase the land.

The county and Mohawk Valley EDGE have been working in the area after receiving a $23 million grant in March to transform the nearby Triangle Site to be more industry-friendly.

“We’ll be open for the rest of the season,” DeSalvio said, usually closing when snow starts falling. He noted that he will not be selling Delta Knolls Golf Center on Elmer Hill Road.

When the base was still open, play was heavy on the par-36 track. During its operational years, Griffiss was its own community.

The base had barracks, its own church and numerous amenities that made it completely self-contained.

“It was a city within a city,” said state Senate Deputy Minority Leader Joseph Griffo, who served as Rome’s mayor from 1992 to 2003. “It had every amenity. Every amenity you would have in a city, it was there.”

So when Griffiss Air Base closed in 1995, it took approximately 8,000 jobs and 10,000 people with it, Griffo said. Suddenly, the “city within a city” now had a big question mark hanging over its future.

But because of the spark in commerce, the region has become attractive again, meaning the land had added value.

DeSalvio told the Sentinel he hadn’t planned on closing the golf course for another few years, but the county approached him with the offer.

“I was thinking I would go a little longer,” DeSalvio told the paper. “It’s been really good here.”