The Week That Was, november 11, 2012

Debt-riddled Caesars Entertainment Corporation plans to sell its golf course on the Cotai strip in Macau. The company bought the course, originally known as Orient Golf Club, in 2007, with the intent of building a casino on it. Unfortunately, the company couldn’t secure a gaming license from Chinese authorities. “With limited prospects of gaining a casino license, it doesn’t make sense for them to hang on to that land,” a gaming analyst told the Macau Daily Times.

Chronic unemployment and an unremittingly rotten economy have taken a toll on Spain’s professional golf tour, which has lost virtually all of its highest-profile events, including the Andalucia Masters and the World Match Play Championship. “We are going through a big crisis in this country, and we have to work very hard in order to keep the game going,” the head of Spain’s golf federation told Reuters. “It’s going to be difficult to recover this situation in the future.”

Worrisome levels of arsenic have been found at the Links at Boynton Beach in Florida. An official with the state’s department of environmental protection declined to speculate about how the cancer-causing agent found its way into the course’s ground water, but a news report notes that “landscapers and golf courses often apply pesticides laced with arsenic to the grass.” The course, which is owned by Palm Beach County, has been operated by the city of Boynton Beach since 1984.

Golf courses in metropolitan San Diego, California are boosting their food-and-beverage income by selling premium beer from small-batch providers. “The golf business is changing,” explained an official from one of the area’s courses. “You have to look at it from a different perspective. We’re looking at golfers 25 to 40 years of age with disposable cash. Memberships don’t cut it any longer.”

For the time being, at least, the city of Lakeland, Tennessee has tabled its plan to buy Stonebridge Golf Club. Textron Financial, the course’s owner, has offered to sell the property for $1.525 million, provided that the city agrees to the deal by November 30. City officials didn’t react well to the pressure.

The village of Gurnee, in Illinois, has found a new operator for Bittersweet Golf Course. GolfVisions Management has secured a five-year contract that will bring it $33,000 annually in years one and two and $36,000 annually in the remaining years.

Don’t get overly excited about the fact that Green Mountain National Golf Course, in Killington, Vermont, made a profit this year. The town’s auditor doesn’t believe the track will ever repay its debt. “Municipalities should not be in the business of running golf courses,” he contends.

The Lester George-designed course at Ballyhack Golf Club is most certainly no goat track, but it’s got goats. Four of them, to be exact. And by next spring, the Scottish-inspired layout in Roanoke, Virginia will have 20 more.

Government officials on Canada’s Prince Edward Island are getting closer to ridding themselves of their golf headaches. Four companies have expressed an interest in buying or leasing the province’s quartet of golf courses, which reportedly lose $1 million a year.

What’s notable about the Nicklaus and Palmer courses at PGA West? They’re said to be among the 10 easiest courses on the PGA Tour.

Next year, golfers who live in River Vale, New Jersey will continue to enjoy discounted rates at the township’s golf course. “I’m not sure raising the rate is going to translate into more revenue,” the township’s mayor argued at last week’s council meeting. “I have some concerns that we will price our residents out of playing here.” The township’s business administrator believes that residents currently play for what amounts to a 50 percent discount.

No such luck for golfers in Needles, California. Next year, the price of an annual pass at the city’s River’s Edge Golf Course will increase by $50, to $850.

Golfers in suburban Asheville, North Carolina are complaining about the condition of Black Mountain Golf Course. The course’s operator, Billy Casper Golf, begs to differ.

Mitt Romney may have lost the election, but he overwhelmingly won the votes of white men. Does that make him, unofficially at least, the president of the golf business?