BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University announced today that it will close the Forrest Creason golf course at the end of the year.

A university statement said revenues have declined for decades at the course, and it had an increasing operating deficit. Significant investments would be needed to make the course competitive. There are seven golf courses in the BGSU area.

“This is not a decision we took lightly,” said spokesman Dave Kielmeyer in a statement. “In today’s higher education environment, we simply can’t ask our students to continue to subsidize the golf course.”

The course, which opened in 1965, will be open through December, after which it’s four full-time employees will be transferred to the university’s campus operations department. Originally opened as a nine-hole course, the university added nine more in 1973.

Future plans for the site, at the northeast corner of the university, have not yet been decided.

First Published March 15, 2017, 2:31 p.m.