While some communities are arguing, right or wrong, about turning urban golf courses into housing, what has played out in Pennsylvania’s state capital is something altogether different.
Monday marked the final day of play at Dauphin Highlands Golf Course in Harrisburg, ending a run that began in 1995. The Bill Love-designed public course is giving way not to homes or another recreational use, but to a massive data center campus.
Dauphin Highlands was listed for sale in 2025 for more than $45 million as the Dauphin County General Authority wrestled with $13 million in debt. The property ultimately sold for $45 million to Harrisburg I LLC, with Texas-based developer Corscale planning a $10.5 billion Highlands data center campus on the site.
The data
center still needs additional approvals and permits, but there is no such uncertainty surrounding the golf course. Its run is over.
That brought golfers out for one final trip around a place that had been part of their lives for years.
"This is like a top-tier public course," Doc Greenlee told WGAL-TV. "Like, you can compare this to a lot of other areas in Pennsylvania … this is up there on layout and conditions and the way they take care of it. So, it's going to be a little bit of a shame to see this go."
For Greenlee, who grew up playing Dauphin Highlands, the loss went well beyond having one fewer place to tee it up.
"I owe a lot to this course and it's sad to see it go, but it's one of the best in the area by far," he said. "It's bittersweet. It's kind of like a funeral out here."
The redevelopment has generated mixed feelings locally. Corscale recently offered Swatara Township a $120 million community benefits package, roughly six times the township's budget. Developers have said work could begin in 2027, with the data centers potentially completed in 2028.
For golfers who spent Monday squeezing in one last round at Dauphin Highlands, however, the numbers attached to what comes next did little to soften what was disappearing.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek and the golf coordinator for the USA Today Network.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Pennsylvania golf course closed down to make way for AI data center
