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The state of Georgia is looking at getting out of the golf business - handing several courses over to private owners and raising the ire of some South Georgians over plans to shutter another.

The proposal is part of a broad effort by the Department of Natural Resources to shed expenses and comply with budget cuts ordered by Gov. Sonny Perdue. Several state parks could also be closed as the agency looks to trim its spending.

Getting rid of the golf courses could save the state up to $450,000, depending on how deep the cuts go and how far the department goes with the plan to privatize most of the courses and close the Fargo Golf Course in South Georgia.

"All of our golf courses lose money," Natural Resources Commissioner Noel Holcomb said. "We have one that basically breaks even."

Holcomb acknowledged that might be an obstacle if the state tries to sell off the courses, though he said private owners would likely raise prices to make the locations profitable.

The move against Fargo, though, has drawn the ire of nearby Georgians who treasure their access to the course in a remote area of the state. Fargo is in the swampy woods about 28 miles south of Homerville.

Fargo resident and Superior Pine Products Co. official David Infinger said a sense of betrayal and loss comes with word the nine-hole course could be closed.

"That's where I learned to play golf," said Infinger, who is in charge of timber production for Superior Pine. "It makes me mad just to think about it."

The course and land for the Suwannee River Visitor Center were donated by Superior Pine when the late Bill Oettmeier Jr. was president. The course was laid out by Oettmeier's father who didn't like having to drive all the way to Valdosta to play golf, Bill Oettmeier Jr. had told the Times-Union. Until the course was donated to the state, it was operated privately by Superior Pine on an honor system in which golfers dropped green fees in a box.

Though they ultimately approved the department's recommendations, members of the agency's board questioned whether the state should risk angering a company that had donated land to the state.

"I just don't think it looks good for us to get involved in something like this and then, eight years later, walk away from it," board member Thomas Wheeler said.

As for state parks, the agency has proposed closing or changing the operations of as many as six parks and seven historic sites. Department officials said it's too soon to say which parks might have to be closed to come up with the necessary cuts, but the move could save the state around $500,000-$700,000.

But audience members like Tom Mills, a board member for Friends of Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, asked the DNR to avoid shuttering the parks. Mills said his family visited 30 of the locations in 30 days earlier this year and came away impressed.

"Every park is so unique," he said. "Every resource is so special. So what do you close?"

Mills pressed for the board to find some other way, including raising park fees, to avoid the cuts, a move board members say would require legislative approval.

"I think they have to look at other avenues," Mills said in an interview after the meeting.