The Week That Was: August 29, 2010

florida ClubLink's Southern Comfort

Canada's largest golf operator has purchased seven golf properties at a seniors-only community in Sun City Center, Florida.

Mississauga-based ClubLink Enterprises, a publicly traded firm, coughed up $8.7 million for two 27-hole complexes (including Sandpiper Golf Club), three regulation-length 18-hole courses (including Club Renaissance), and two executive-length 18-hole courses (including Kings Point Executive Golf Course). North Lakes Golf Club, one of the 18-hole tracks in acquired by ClubLink, closed last year.

"This acquisition establishes a firm foothold in Florida for us, and we are actively pursuing other opportunities on both sides of the border," said ClubLink's CEO.

ClubLink owns 33 golf properties in Canada, including Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario; Rattlesnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ontario; and Club de Golf Fontainebleau in Blainville, Quebec.

WCI Communities, the seller, is making its way out of bankruptcy and is trying to shed assets. The golf courses in Sun City Center have been on the block for more than a year. Last summer, WCI tried to sell three of them to the community association.

Sun City Center is located roughly 35 miles south of Tampa and was originally developed by Del Webb Communities. The Financial Post reports that the value of houses in the community has fallen by more than one-third since 2007. According to the Post, an "older" unit in the community currently sells for as little as $50,000.

india Arjun's Army?

Last week, Arjun Atwal became the first Indian to win a title on U.S. PGA Tour, and an Indian news agency is wondering how much sizzle his victory will add to the growth of golf in his homeland.

The director of the Professional Golf Tour of India believes that Atwal's victory, at the Wyndham Championship, "is sure to lift golf's profile further in India. It is already one of the fastest-growing sports in the country."

India, a nation of 1.15 billion people, currently has only about 200 golf courses, but dozens more are in the works. AFP says that golf is "well-suited to modern India, as vast new towns and housing developments spring up to cater for the country's educated and professional middle classes."

One of those vast new towns is DLF City in Gurgaon, one of New Delhi's four satellite cities. The city is home to DLF Golf & Country Club, which features a high-profile, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course that hosted the Johnnie Walker Classic, a European Tour event, in 2008.

DLF's owners recently hired Gary Player to design a second 18-hole track for the club, and AFP reports that other developers are planning to build similar communities "to promote the aspirational lifestyle sought by many Indians."

switzerland Andermatt Advances

Samih Sawiris' new resort in the Swiss Alps is coming along nicely, a report from Bloomberg suggests.

The resort is taking shape in Andermatt, the town where Elvis Presley learned to ski. Today Andermatt has a population of 1,350 -- as Bloomberg notes, it's the prototypical "sleepy Swiss village" -- but by the time Sawiris is done with it, it'll have six high-end hotels, 490 housing units, a shopping area, a sports center, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Kurt Rossknecht, a German architect.

The first houses are expected to come on line in late 2013 or early 2014. If you're interested, the cheapest one will set you back $1 million or more.

Bloomberg calls Sawiris, the principal of Orascom Development Holding AG, "an Egyptian billionaire with a penchant for risk." He's probably best known as the developer of the famed El Gouna golf resort on the Red Sea in Egypt, but he's got other golf properties in his portfolio and he plans to build new courses in Montenegro and Morocco.

hawaii Here Come the Chinese

A Chinese investment group has agreed to buy a golf course on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The group, operating as Hawaiian Golf Properties LLC, is buying Kapolei Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Kapolei. The course, which opened in 1995, saw more than 66,000 rounds last year, and it's said to be on track to post a small increase this year.

The seller is a Japanese company, Kapolei People’s, Inc., led by Nobuo Nakamura.

The sale is expected to close on September 10, according to Pacific Business News.

around the world Clothes Calls

Tiger Woods is in a slump, and his troubles on the PGA Tour are being mirrored in the sales of his clothing line.

Sales of Woods-branded clothing, famously produced by Nike, Inc., are down this year, while -- surprise, surprise! -- sales of golf apparel in general are up. This is a signal, Bloomberg says, that “"consumers are returning to the course, just not to Woods.”

Golf Discount Superstore, an online retailer, tells the news service that it’s seen a “definite decline” for Woods-labeled shirts, pants, and jackets, and Golfsmith says that the line’s volume dropped by 7.5 percent through the first six months of 2010.

“When Tiger’s doing well, people watch and buy his brand,” an official with Interbrand’s global golf practice told Bloomberg. “When he’s not, people decide not to watch and they buy something else.”