Later this year, the most prolific course designers in China are expected to open their first course in Vietnam.
I’m talking about Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley, the architects behind two of the world’s most talked-about golf resorts, Mission Hills Shenzhen and Mission Hills Haikou on Hainan Island. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based duo is now making headway in Southeast Asia, as it’s been commissioned to design a pair of 18-hole golf courses for an emerging golf community in the Cu Chi District of Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s largest metropolis.
C. T. Sphinx Golf Club, which will occupy 500 acres in Tan Thong Hoi Commune, will be flanked by 200 European-, Mediterranean-, and Asian-style villas, and its 108,000-square-foot clubhouse will include restaurants, meeting space, boutique shops, and entertainment areas for children. One course will be public, the other private.
The community is being developed by an affiliate of a local conglomerate, C. T. Group, which controls three dozen entities engaged in real estate development, retailing, entertainment, and other enterprises. Tran Kim Chung, the company’s president, is said to have studied at Harvard.
Vietnam is touting itself as “the next Thailand” for golf tourism, and it just so happens that Schmidt and Curley have designed three courses in Thailand: the Plantation course at Siam Country Club in Pattaya, Amata Spring Country Club in suburban Bangkok, and Chiangmai Highlands Golf Club in Chiangmai.
Their first course at C. T. Sphinx is under construction and could open in late 2013. C. T. Group hasn’t yet announced when the second course will be built.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The Week That Was, january 27, 2013
Economically speaking, 2013 and 2014 are going to look like a slightly improved version of 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund. The fund’s latest World Economic Outlook predicts a 3.5 percent increase in global growth this year and a 4.1 percent increase next year, just a tick stronger than the tepid 3.2 percent increase posted in 2012. Nonetheless, the fund’s chief economist has reason to believe that “optimism is in the air,” perhaps because he knows that “global growth could be stronger than projected” if world-wide financial conditions continue to improve. But before you get a contact high, remember that global economic growth was ranging between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent a year before the planet fell into the grip of the Great Recession.
It’s worth noting that all economics, like all politics, is local, and that some nations rise while others sink. So let me call your attention to this report from Bloomberg, which notes that Dubai’s economy is posting its fastest rate of growth since 2007. Over the next three years, the nation expects to record growth rates ranging between 4.1 percent and 5.4 percent, which is comfortably above what the IMF predicts for the planet as a whole. And if you think that Dubai is hopping, Bloomberg points out that Saudi Arabia’s economy has grown at an average rate of 7.7 percent over the past two years.
We all thought Phil Mickelson was simply passing a little self-deprecating humor when he said, after blowing the U.S. Open in 2006, “I am such an idiot.” But maybe he was telling the truth. Mickelson, who earned something like $47 million last year, kicked off
the week by complaining about the unfairness of his tax burden, which he estimates to be in excess of 60 percent. “There are going to be some drastic changes for me,” he told reporters, “because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state, and you know, it doesn't work for me right now.” Then, after accountants suggested that only idiots would pay such a ridiculously high tax rate, he was forced to issue what passes these days as an apology. “I’ve made some dumb, dumb mistakes,” he acknowledged, “and obviously, talking about this stuff was one of them.” Unfortunately, Mickelson couldn’t leave well enough alone. For some inexplicable reason, he had to put his foot in his mouth again. He had to say, “I’ve never had a problem paying my fair share.” Who in his right mind is buying that lame declaration? Didn’t Mickelson’s reluctance to pay his share, fair or not, get him into this sorry mess in the first place? Stop the world, Phil Mickelson needs to get off. It’s not easy being a poor little rich man.
Home buyers in the United States have cooled to the idea of living along the fairways of a golf course. Citing research by the National Association of Home Builders, the Dallas Morning News reports that almost two-thirds of prospective purchasers say “a golf course community [is] definitely something they don’t want.” In fact, the newspaper says, the only amenity less desired is an in-house elevator. “There has been a major shift in lifestyle,” a home builder told the newspaper. What are home buyers looking for? Community gardens.
If a recent news account is a true reflection of reality, golf clubs in northwestern England are experiencing acute levels of financial suffering. “A perfect storm of recession, bad weather, and lifestyle changes have battered traditional revenue streams,” reports the Manchester Evening News, “and it is a case of adapt or die for many historic courses.” The newspaper says that most of the area’s clubs are taking “drastic measures” to stay alive, including eliminating initiation fees, slashing maintenance budgets, and eliminating superfluous personnel. It’s a tale we’ve heard many times since the onset of the Great Recession, and this one, like the others, notes the nefarious influence of overbuilding. “There was the boom in golf clubs in the 1980s, when every farmer who had a patch of land built nine holes,” recalls an official of the Club Managers Association. “Now we’ve probably got more golf clubs than we need.” Probably? More like definitely.
A recently published survey has determined that England’s golf clubs are “more accessible and inclusive than ever before.” Given the current state of the U.K.’s golf business, of course, the phrase accessible and inclusive is probably best understood as losing money and desperate for members. “These are very difficult times for golf clubs,” an official with England Golf points out, “both in terms of the economy and overcoming the effects of the wettest summer for 100 years.” On the bright side, the group believes that the British golf industry has “a product which could be in demand if packaged correctly.”
The mortgage lending division of Textron Financial Corporation has relieved itself of five headaches. Late last year, the Providence, Rhode Island-based lender sold troubled assets in four states to affiliates of a $31 billion hedge fund, New York City-based Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. The collection consists of Legacy Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida; Bermuda Run Country Club in Advance, North Carolina; Firethorne Country Club in Marvin, North Carolina; Steel Canyon Golf Club in Sandy Springs, Georgia; and Temple Hills Country Club in Franklin, Tennessee. The purchase signals a major move into golf by Och-Ziff, which had acquired another distressed property, Ford’s Colony Country Club in Williamsburg, Virginia, earlier in 2012. Och-Ziff calls its golf operation Stratford Golf Partners.
Speaking of big golf transactions, the sale of PGA West, the Great White course at Doral, and two other U.S. golf properties to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund may not be completed anytime soon. The hang-up: The Internal Revenue Service suspects that the seller, an entity affiliated with Paulson & Company, is trying to stiff the people of the United States out of $331 million in tax liabilities.
Another ostensibly communist nation in Southeast Asia may be cashing in on the ultimate decadent capitalist sport. Nearly 40,000 South Korean tourists visited Laos during the first nine months of 2012, an increase of 50 percent from the number recorded in 2011. The Bangkok Post credits “the lure of new golf courses” for this increase, although it unfortunately doesn’t specify how many of the vacationers actually played golf during their visits. The newspaper has determined, however, that South Korean investors now operate “several” courses in the impoverished nation and that the greens fees there are “a fraction” of what they are back home. If you’re wondering, a grand total of 3 million tourists found their way to Laos last year, an increase of 14 percent from 2011. They had their choice of five golf properties, according to a British source.
By now, you no doubt know that 2012 was the hottest year on record in the United States. What you may not know is that our nation hit 34,008 daily record highs against only 6,664 daily record lows, according to data collected by the New York Times. Or that one-third of our population sweated through 10 or more days of temperatures above 100 degrees. Or that our 10 warmest years have all been recorded within the past 15 years. Or that last year we suffered through 11 weather-related disasters that will cost us $1 billion or more. Or that our weather-related experiences in 2012 are just a preview of things to come.
It’s worth noting that all economics, like all politics, is local, and that some nations rise while others sink. So let me call your attention to this report from Bloomberg, which notes that Dubai’s economy is posting its fastest rate of growth since 2007. Over the next three years, the nation expects to record growth rates ranging between 4.1 percent and 5.4 percent, which is comfortably above what the IMF predicts for the planet as a whole. And if you think that Dubai is hopping, Bloomberg points out that Saudi Arabia’s economy has grown at an average rate of 7.7 percent over the past two years.
We all thought Phil Mickelson was simply passing a little self-deprecating humor when he said, after blowing the U.S. Open in 2006, “I am such an idiot.” But maybe he was telling the truth. Mickelson, who earned something like $47 million last year, kicked off
the week by complaining about the unfairness of his tax burden, which he estimates to be in excess of 60 percent. “There are going to be some drastic changes for me,” he told reporters, “because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state, and you know, it doesn't work for me right now.” Then, after accountants suggested that only idiots would pay such a ridiculously high tax rate, he was forced to issue what passes these days as an apology. “I’ve made some dumb, dumb mistakes,” he acknowledged, “and obviously, talking about this stuff was one of them.” Unfortunately, Mickelson couldn’t leave well enough alone. For some inexplicable reason, he had to put his foot in his mouth again. He had to say, “I’ve never had a problem paying my fair share.” Who in his right mind is buying that lame declaration? Didn’t Mickelson’s reluctance to pay his share, fair or not, get him into this sorry mess in the first place? Stop the world, Phil Mickelson needs to get off. It’s not easy being a poor little rich man.
Home buyers in the United States have cooled to the idea of living along the fairways of a golf course. Citing research by the National Association of Home Builders, the Dallas Morning News reports that almost two-thirds of prospective purchasers say “a golf course community [is] definitely something they don’t want.” In fact, the newspaper says, the only amenity less desired is an in-house elevator. “There has been a major shift in lifestyle,” a home builder told the newspaper. What are home buyers looking for? Community gardens.
If a recent news account is a true reflection of reality, golf clubs in northwestern England are experiencing acute levels of financial suffering. “A perfect storm of recession, bad weather, and lifestyle changes have battered traditional revenue streams,” reports the Manchester Evening News, “and it is a case of adapt or die for many historic courses.” The newspaper says that most of the area’s clubs are taking “drastic measures” to stay alive, including eliminating initiation fees, slashing maintenance budgets, and eliminating superfluous personnel. It’s a tale we’ve heard many times since the onset of the Great Recession, and this one, like the others, notes the nefarious influence of overbuilding. “There was the boom in golf clubs in the 1980s, when every farmer who had a patch of land built nine holes,” recalls an official of the Club Managers Association. “Now we’ve probably got more golf clubs than we need.” Probably? More like definitely.
A recently published survey has determined that England’s golf clubs are “more accessible and inclusive than ever before.” Given the current state of the U.K.’s golf business, of course, the phrase accessible and inclusive is probably best understood as losing money and desperate for members. “These are very difficult times for golf clubs,” an official with England Golf points out, “both in terms of the economy and overcoming the effects of the wettest summer for 100 years.” On the bright side, the group believes that the British golf industry has “a product which could be in demand if packaged correctly.”
The mortgage lending division of Textron Financial Corporation has relieved itself of five headaches. Late last year, the Providence, Rhode Island-based lender sold troubled assets in four states to affiliates of a $31 billion hedge fund, New York City-based Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. The collection consists of Legacy Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida; Bermuda Run Country Club in Advance, North Carolina; Firethorne Country Club in Marvin, North Carolina; Steel Canyon Golf Club in Sandy Springs, Georgia; and Temple Hills Country Club in Franklin, Tennessee. The purchase signals a major move into golf by Och-Ziff, which had acquired another distressed property, Ford’s Colony Country Club in Williamsburg, Virginia, earlier in 2012. Och-Ziff calls its golf operation Stratford Golf Partners.
Speaking of big golf transactions, the sale of PGA West, the Great White course at Doral, and two other U.S. golf properties to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund may not be completed anytime soon. The hang-up: The Internal Revenue Service suspects that the seller, an entity affiliated with Paulson & Company, is trying to stiff the people of the United States out of $331 million in tax liabilities.
Another ostensibly communist nation in Southeast Asia may be cashing in on the ultimate decadent capitalist sport. Nearly 40,000 South Korean tourists visited Laos during the first nine months of 2012, an increase of 50 percent from the number recorded in 2011. The Bangkok Post credits “the lure of new golf courses” for this increase, although it unfortunately doesn’t specify how many of the vacationers actually played golf during their visits. The newspaper has determined, however, that South Korean investors now operate “several” courses in the impoverished nation and that the greens fees there are “a fraction” of what they are back home. If you’re wondering, a grand total of 3 million tourists found their way to Laos last year, an increase of 14 percent from 2011. They had their choice of five golf properties, according to a British source.
By now, you no doubt know that 2012 was the hottest year on record in the United States. What you may not know is that our nation hit 34,008 daily record highs against only 6,664 daily record lows, according to data collected by the New York Times. Or that one-third of our population sweated through 10 or more days of temperatures above 100 degrees. Or that our 10 warmest years have all been recorded within the past 15 years. Or that last year we suffered through 11 weather-related disasters that will cost us $1 billion or more. Or that our weather-related experiences in 2012 are just a preview of things to come.
Friday, January 25, 2013
The Critical List, january 25, 2013
A Stanley Thompson-designed golf course in northwestern Ontario, Canada is available for next to nothing, but nobody seems to want it. The course, which has been closed since 2003, is part of the Minaki Lodge, a century-old resort located roughly 120 miles east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Minaki property is being redeveloped with cottages and condos, a process that will consume one of the course’s nine holes. As for the remaining eight, the developers appear willing to sell them for a dollar, and a local resident has said that it would be “a travesty” to lose the course. So far, though, a buyer hasn’t stepped up.
Revenues at Etowah Valley Country Club have fallen by 50 percent since the onset of the Great Recession, and the family that owns the property was forced to file for bankruptcy protection late last year. “It’s a bad situation,” Frank Todd, Jr., a family member, acknowledged to a local newspaper. The club, which spreads across 240 acres outside Hendersonville, North Carolina, features a 27-hole golf complex that was designed by Ed Ault and opened in 1967. It’s been for sale since 2011, and it lost a quarter of its members in 2012. “We’re going to work as hard as we possibly can to pull it out, to keep it going, but we need a little help from this economy,” Todd said. “We need a turnabout.” The club, which has been owned by the Todds since 1967, earns no income from real estate sales. It includes a lodge, a dining room, and a croquet field.
The fate of Airport Greens Golf Course in suburban Cleveland, Ohio is being negotiated by a law firm and a Cuyahoga County prosecutor. Gary LaConte, whose family built the course more than 20 years ago, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he’s been “begging” the county to change the terms of his lease since 2006, when the area’s golf business went south, and that he needs financial relief. “It’s been a struggle, and we’re just trying to ask them for mercy and put this in a position where it’s realistic,” he said. Late last year, an official in the prosecutor’s office characterized the parties as being “too far apart at the moment” for a deal to be struck.
Budget-slashers in West Yorkshire, England are hoping to close the city of Leeds’ municipal golf courses. The all-but-broke metropolis has reportedly cut spending by £145 million ($229 million) over the past two years, but it needs to find an additional £51 million ($80 million) in savings this year. On the chopping block are the Middleton Park and Gotts Park courses, which are said to operate at a loss and are expected to experience further declines in play. “There is no evidence that those who use the courses would be unable to access other facilities in the city,” concludes an economic report prepared for city officials. “Returning the golf courses to parkland will achieve savings and also open up large areas of land to general public use.” The city will announce its budget next month.
Golf professional James Drinkall has grown weary of sinking money into Allerthorpe Park Golf Club, and the York Press has concluded that the property’s future “lies in the balance.” The club, in East Yorkshire, England, closed earlier this month, and a liquidator has been appointed to find another operator. “The financial situation at Allerthorpe Park Golf Club had never been great since 2008,” the liquidator said, “and in fact the directors have personally financed it to the tune of almost £500,000 [$790,000] -- something that was never part of the plans and simply couldn’t continue.” Drinkall, in collaboration with his wife and parents, assumed a lease on Allerthorpe and its 18-hole golf course in 2008.
Lancaster Country Club, in the Dutch country of Pennsylvania, is unofficially for sale and, in the words of a local newspaper, “facing an unknown future.” The club, which has been in business since 1909, has reportedly had cash-flow problems for a couple of years, and it’s currently being operated by a receiver for a bank that’s considering a foreclosure. A few prospective purchasers have emerged, some of whom aim to use the property for purposes other than golf.
The future of Ballinger Lake Golf Course, which has been closed since November 2012, remains in doubt. The course’s owner, the city of Mountlake Terrace, Washington, is considering three options for the property: finding a new private-sector operator, managing the course itself, or converting the site to open space. The previous operators of the nine-hole course left unexpectedly, bailing out on a lease that ran through December 2015. The track was losing players, a local newspaper suggests, because it “needed to be maintained better and faced stiff competition from nicer 18-hole courses in the area.”
The city of Elizabethton, Tennessee has agreed to cough up $160,000 to cover cash-flow problems at its municipal golf course. The city’s councilmembers, who complained to the Johnson City Press that they had “little choice but to vote for the cash infusion,” voted 7-1 to support the course. The dissenting councilmember told the newspaper that she voted against the measure because “the only time we ever hear from the golf course is when they want money.”
Centennial Country Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan was shuttered in late 2012, and a local newspaper says that its future is “doubtful.” Bob Johnson, who plans to buy the club, aims to turn its 18-hole, Warner Bowen-designed golf course into a public park, or maybe a dog park. The 27-year-old course “has not made money in over 15 years,” Johnson told the newspaper, mostly because it’s too short (5,738 yards) for serious golfers. I also have the sense that Johnson isn’t a big believer in the golf business. “You look at Groupons, and you can play golf pretty much anywhere for nothing,” he said. “Private clubs are going by the wayside unless they have huge memberships.” Johnson plans to run his catering business from the club’s banquet center.
Revenues at Etowah Valley Country Club have fallen by 50 percent since the onset of the Great Recession, and the family that owns the property was forced to file for bankruptcy protection late last year. “It’s a bad situation,” Frank Todd, Jr., a family member, acknowledged to a local newspaper. The club, which spreads across 240 acres outside Hendersonville, North Carolina, features a 27-hole golf complex that was designed by Ed Ault and opened in 1967. It’s been for sale since 2011, and it lost a quarter of its members in 2012. “We’re going to work as hard as we possibly can to pull it out, to keep it going, but we need a little help from this economy,” Todd said. “We need a turnabout.” The club, which has been owned by the Todds since 1967, earns no income from real estate sales. It includes a lodge, a dining room, and a croquet field.
The fate of Airport Greens Golf Course in suburban Cleveland, Ohio is being negotiated by a law firm and a Cuyahoga County prosecutor. Gary LaConte, whose family built the course more than 20 years ago, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he’s been “begging” the county to change the terms of his lease since 2006, when the area’s golf business went south, and that he needs financial relief. “It’s been a struggle, and we’re just trying to ask them for mercy and put this in a position where it’s realistic,” he said. Late last year, an official in the prosecutor’s office characterized the parties as being “too far apart at the moment” for a deal to be struck.
Budget-slashers in West Yorkshire, England are hoping to close the city of Leeds’ municipal golf courses. The all-but-broke metropolis has reportedly cut spending by £145 million ($229 million) over the past two years, but it needs to find an additional £51 million ($80 million) in savings this year. On the chopping block are the Middleton Park and Gotts Park courses, which are said to operate at a loss and are expected to experience further declines in play. “There is no evidence that those who use the courses would be unable to access other facilities in the city,” concludes an economic report prepared for city officials. “Returning the golf courses to parkland will achieve savings and also open up large areas of land to general public use.” The city will announce its budget next month.
Golf professional James Drinkall has grown weary of sinking money into Allerthorpe Park Golf Club, and the York Press has concluded that the property’s future “lies in the balance.” The club, in East Yorkshire, England, closed earlier this month, and a liquidator has been appointed to find another operator. “The financial situation at Allerthorpe Park Golf Club had never been great since 2008,” the liquidator said, “and in fact the directors have personally financed it to the tune of almost £500,000 [$790,000] -- something that was never part of the plans and simply couldn’t continue.” Drinkall, in collaboration with his wife and parents, assumed a lease on Allerthorpe and its 18-hole golf course in 2008.
Lancaster Country Club, in the Dutch country of Pennsylvania, is unofficially for sale and, in the words of a local newspaper, “facing an unknown future.” The club, which has been in business since 1909, has reportedly had cash-flow problems for a couple of years, and it’s currently being operated by a receiver for a bank that’s considering a foreclosure. A few prospective purchasers have emerged, some of whom aim to use the property for purposes other than golf.
The future of Ballinger Lake Golf Course, which has been closed since November 2012, remains in doubt. The course’s owner, the city of Mountlake Terrace, Washington, is considering three options for the property: finding a new private-sector operator, managing the course itself, or converting the site to open space. The previous operators of the nine-hole course left unexpectedly, bailing out on a lease that ran through December 2015. The track was losing players, a local newspaper suggests, because it “needed to be maintained better and faced stiff competition from nicer 18-hole courses in the area.”
The city of Elizabethton, Tennessee has agreed to cough up $160,000 to cover cash-flow problems at its municipal golf course. The city’s councilmembers, who complained to the Johnson City Press that they had “little choice but to vote for the cash infusion,” voted 7-1 to support the course. The dissenting councilmember told the newspaper that she voted against the measure because “the only time we ever hear from the golf course is when they want money.”
Centennial Country Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan was shuttered in late 2012, and a local newspaper says that its future is “doubtful.” Bob Johnson, who plans to buy the club, aims to turn its 18-hole, Warner Bowen-designed golf course into a public park, or maybe a dog park. The 27-year-old course “has not made money in over 15 years,” Johnson told the newspaper, mostly because it’s too short (5,738 yards) for serious golfers. I also have the sense that Johnson isn’t a big believer in the golf business. “You look at Groupons, and you can play golf pretty much anywhere for nothing,” he said. “Private clubs are going by the wayside unless they have huge memberships.” Johnson plans to run his catering business from the club’s banquet center.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
new zealand Peninsula Looks to 2015
Early this year, ground may finally be broken on the new home of Peninsula Golf Club.
The financially struggling club has been hoping to make a fresh start for more than three years, in large part because it can’t afford to make desperately needed improvements to its 55-year-old facility in Orewa, a coastal city roughly 25 miles north of Auckland.
Barring any further delays, by sometime in late 2014 or early 2015 the club will move to a nearby 200-acre location that features a 27-hole complex, a practice center, and a modern clubhouse, not to mention an extra sweetener: $10 million in spending money.
Moving day can’t come soon enough for most of Peninsula’s members. Today their club has fewer members than it did in 2007, and they’ve grown weary of the flooding issues that prevent them from playing on their course for up to three weeks a year. Both the course and the clubhouse need multimillion-dollar makeovers.
Peninsula’s new complex, consisting of an 18-hole regulation-length course and a nine-hole track for children and beginners, is being designed by Puddicombe Golf, a firm based in Alberta, Canada. Grant Puddicombe, the firm’s managing director, will oversee the construction.
Puddicombe Golf, which was established by Sid Puddicombe, has designed courses in four Canadian provinces but does most of its work in Alberta, where it’s produced such properties as RedTail Landing in Edmonton, WhiteTail Crossing in Mundare, and Coal Creek in Ryley. The firm rarely works in foreign countries, but it’s nonetheless established a presence in New Zealand, where it’s worked (or is currently working) on renovations with at least a half-dozen clubs.
The cost of Peninsula’s relocation is being covered by PLDL, Ltd., which plans to build 500 to 600 houses on Peninsula’s current 110-acre property.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The financially struggling club has been hoping to make a fresh start for more than three years, in large part because it can’t afford to make desperately needed improvements to its 55-year-old facility in Orewa, a coastal city roughly 25 miles north of Auckland.
Barring any further delays, by sometime in late 2014 or early 2015 the club will move to a nearby 200-acre location that features a 27-hole complex, a practice center, and a modern clubhouse, not to mention an extra sweetener: $10 million in spending money.
Moving day can’t come soon enough for most of Peninsula’s members. Today their club has fewer members than it did in 2007, and they’ve grown weary of the flooding issues that prevent them from playing on their course for up to three weeks a year. Both the course and the clubhouse need multimillion-dollar makeovers.
Peninsula’s new complex, consisting of an 18-hole regulation-length course and a nine-hole track for children and beginners, is being designed by Puddicombe Golf, a firm based in Alberta, Canada. Grant Puddicombe, the firm’s managing director, will oversee the construction.
Puddicombe Golf, which was established by Sid Puddicombe, has designed courses in four Canadian provinces but does most of its work in Alberta, where it’s produced such properties as RedTail Landing in Edmonton, WhiteTail Crossing in Mundare, and Coal Creek in Ryley. The firm rarely works in foreign countries, but it’s nonetheless established a presence in New Zealand, where it’s worked (or is currently working) on renovations with at least a half-dozen clubs.
The cost of Peninsula’s relocation is being covered by PLDL, Ltd., which plans to build 500 to 600 houses on Peninsula’s current 110-acre property.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
The Week That Was, january 20, 2013
The North Sea has claimed part of Donald Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The fierce storms battering the Scottish coast in recent weeks have weakened the dunes near the course’s fourth hole, causing part of a walking path to collapse. Some local residents who resent Trump are feeling positively gleeful about the incident -- in a
conversation with the Daily Mail, one of them called it “beautifully ironic” -- but a spokesperson for Trump believes the damage will be “easy to correct.” I don’t know whether that’s true or not. What I do know is that the sands on links courses shift constantly, which is why dunes need to be “stabilized” during golf construction. Heck, when the spring storms arrive in northeastern Scotland, such mini-landslides may very well occur on parts of another hole. It goes with the territory. The dunes occasionally slip away. “We’re delighted with how the course stood up to these extreme weather conditions,” the spokesperson said in comments published by the Scotsman. The course, which is currently closed for the winter, is expected to reopen in April, as scheduled.
Officials of some British golf clubs fear that the recent liquidation of Allerthorpe Park Golf Club, in East Yorkshire, England, may be a harbinger of further closings in the immediate future. “I would not be surprised to see one or two more,” said the general manager of Fulford Golf Club. “There’s a lot of problems in the golf industry.” The biggest problem, of course, is an old bugaboo: Supply is greater than demand. In addition, the York Press says, golf clubs in York and North Yorkshire have struggled of late with “the ravages of a depressed economy” and “a summer and winter where the weather has severely blighted vital income.”
Jiro may dream of sushi, but PGM Holdings no longer dreams of becoming Japan’s biggest golf-management company. PGM has abandoned its attempt to acquire a controlling interest in Accordia Golf Company, which currently operates 132 golf properties, as it couldn’t acquire enough of Accordia’s stock. Bloomberg reports that the takeover attempt has been a coup for Accordia’s shareholders, since the price of the company’s stock has increased by more than 50 percent since mid November, when the battle began. What’s more, in an effort to hold onto its stockholders, Accordia has reportedly more than tripled the amount of the dividend it had originally planned to pay.
Superstorm Sandy has claimed one more victim: Middle Bay Golf Club in Oceanside, New York. The club, which features an Alfred Tull-designed course that opened in the mid 1950s, is located along the southern coast of Long Island, in an area that was devastated by the storm. To revive itself, Middle Bay needed to cover an estimated $3.5 million in damages, but it simply couldn’t summon the will to do so, especially after it lost about one-third of its 230 members. “They were as badly hit by the storm as the club was,” the club’s general manager told Newsday. “A lot of our members living in the area haven’t even been able to go back to their own homes yet.”
It’s way too early to call this a trend, but a posh golf club in Florida is bragging about the number of new members it attracted last year. Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, which reportedly has an initiation fee of $125,000 (plus $11,500 in annual dues), signed “about 50” new members in 2012, bringing its total membership to 165. (Reality check: That’s barely half of where the club eventually hopes to be.) The Sarasota Herald-Tribune also notes that Founders Golf Club in Sarasota boosted its membership by 15 percent last year (to a record high of 228), although its memberships cost only $17,500. The newspaper, which believes that “upscale club membership represents a unique barometer of the region’s overall fiscal health,” concludes that the clubs have grown because they “trimmed the cost of dues, expanded the types of memberships, and crafted more social and casual activities.”
An unexpectedly large rent increase may threaten the future of Magdalene Fields, the northernmost golf club in England. Since 1996, the Berwick-based club has paid an annual fee of £8,500 (about $13,500) to Northumberland County, but this year the county wants to boost the amount to £18,000 (about $28,500) -- an increase of 118 percent, according to the Berwick Advertiser. “We’re simply not the sort of golf club which has that sort of money,” the club’s secretary told the newspaper. In fact, the club reportedly lost £19,000 (more than $30,000) in 2012, in part because rainy weather forced it to close 18 times. The club, which was established in 1903, is said to be exploring its legal options.
The Wisconsin section of the PGA has exacted a little revenge on the city of Madison. For the past 22 years, the group’s annual junior championship has been held at Yahara Hills Golf Course in Madison. But this year, in a major departure from tradition, the event will be played at a county-owned golf course in Milwaukee. Why the switch? Because last year Madison decided not to renew the contracts of the four PGA pros who ran its golf courses.
It turns out that Tom Doak may not design the forthcoming 2.5-acre putting course at Bandon Dunes. Bandon Western World says that Doak has been hired to create the course, but the oceanfront golf venue in Oregon is also considering Jim Urbina, one of Doak’s former associates, for the job. “At this point we’re not sure about the designer,” a spokesperson for Bandon Dunes said in a telephone message. “It could be Doak or Urbina. There are still a lot of hoops that need to be jumped through before we start moving dirt.” In either case, Mike Keiser, the resort's owner, still expects construction to begin sometime this year or next.
These days, the members of Royal Sydney Golf Club don’t want anyone to have a blast on their golf course. A recently published military history claims that an unexploded artillery shell is lurking somewhere beneath the eighth fairway of the club’s Centenary course. The book’s author doesn’t think the shell will explode anytime soon -- it was fired by a Japanese submarine during World War II -- but he counseled that “if they ever reclaimed the land and builders started to put in high-density housing, then I wouldn’t want to be around.”
I need to make a correction. Two Sundays ago, I reported that the government of Singapore’s investment arm had agreed to buy four golf properties from Paulson & Company. I correctly identified two of the properties -- PGA West in La Quinta, California and the Great White course at Doral Golf Resort in Miami, Florida -- but was wrong about the others. The sale will include two other properties in La Quinta: La Quinta Resort & Club (two 18-hole courses) and Cirtus Club at La Quinta (one 18-hole course). Yes, Singapore is buying the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix and the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa on Maui in Hawaii, but its purchase doesn’t include the resorts’ golf courses. I apologize for the error.
There are no boa constructors or guillotines, but last week the always entertaining Alice Cooper told the Los Angeles Times why he took up golf (“I had to find an addiction that was not going to kill me”), reveled in the pleasures of playing courses that are usually off-limits to goth-rockers (“They can’t keep me off, because in most cases I’m better than the guy who wants to keep me off”), and made a case for golf being the ultimate democratic sport (“It doesn’t matter if you’re the president of the United States, a gardener, or a garbage man, if you can help a guy hit the ball straight, all bets are off about who you are or what you do”). Cooper admits that his game is on the decline, but he seems to be content with the way his life turned out. When it comes to careers, he noted, “I would much rather be a rock singer than a golfer.”
conversation with the Daily Mail, one of them called it “beautifully ironic” -- but a spokesperson for Trump believes the damage will be “easy to correct.” I don’t know whether that’s true or not. What I do know is that the sands on links courses shift constantly, which is why dunes need to be “stabilized” during golf construction. Heck, when the spring storms arrive in northeastern Scotland, such mini-landslides may very well occur on parts of another hole. It goes with the territory. The dunes occasionally slip away. “We’re delighted with how the course stood up to these extreme weather conditions,” the spokesperson said in comments published by the Scotsman. The course, which is currently closed for the winter, is expected to reopen in April, as scheduled.
Officials of some British golf clubs fear that the recent liquidation of Allerthorpe Park Golf Club, in East Yorkshire, England, may be a harbinger of further closings in the immediate future. “I would not be surprised to see one or two more,” said the general manager of Fulford Golf Club. “There’s a lot of problems in the golf industry.” The biggest problem, of course, is an old bugaboo: Supply is greater than demand. In addition, the York Press says, golf clubs in York and North Yorkshire have struggled of late with “the ravages of a depressed economy” and “a summer and winter where the weather has severely blighted vital income.”
Jiro may dream of sushi, but PGM Holdings no longer dreams of becoming Japan’s biggest golf-management company. PGM has abandoned its attempt to acquire a controlling interest in Accordia Golf Company, which currently operates 132 golf properties, as it couldn’t acquire enough of Accordia’s stock. Bloomberg reports that the takeover attempt has been a coup for Accordia’s shareholders, since the price of the company’s stock has increased by more than 50 percent since mid November, when the battle began. What’s more, in an effort to hold onto its stockholders, Accordia has reportedly more than tripled the amount of the dividend it had originally planned to pay.
Superstorm Sandy has claimed one more victim: Middle Bay Golf Club in Oceanside, New York. The club, which features an Alfred Tull-designed course that opened in the mid 1950s, is located along the southern coast of Long Island, in an area that was devastated by the storm. To revive itself, Middle Bay needed to cover an estimated $3.5 million in damages, but it simply couldn’t summon the will to do so, especially after it lost about one-third of its 230 members. “They were as badly hit by the storm as the club was,” the club’s general manager told Newsday. “A lot of our members living in the area haven’t even been able to go back to their own homes yet.”
It’s way too early to call this a trend, but a posh golf club in Florida is bragging about the number of new members it attracted last year. Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, which reportedly has an initiation fee of $125,000 (plus $11,500 in annual dues), signed “about 50” new members in 2012, bringing its total membership to 165. (Reality check: That’s barely half of where the club eventually hopes to be.) The Sarasota Herald-Tribune also notes that Founders Golf Club in Sarasota boosted its membership by 15 percent last year (to a record high of 228), although its memberships cost only $17,500. The newspaper, which believes that “upscale club membership represents a unique barometer of the region’s overall fiscal health,” concludes that the clubs have grown because they “trimmed the cost of dues, expanded the types of memberships, and crafted more social and casual activities.”
An unexpectedly large rent increase may threaten the future of Magdalene Fields, the northernmost golf club in England. Since 1996, the Berwick-based club has paid an annual fee of £8,500 (about $13,500) to Northumberland County, but this year the county wants to boost the amount to £18,000 (about $28,500) -- an increase of 118 percent, according to the Berwick Advertiser. “We’re simply not the sort of golf club which has that sort of money,” the club’s secretary told the newspaper. In fact, the club reportedly lost £19,000 (more than $30,000) in 2012, in part because rainy weather forced it to close 18 times. The club, which was established in 1903, is said to be exploring its legal options.
The Wisconsin section of the PGA has exacted a little revenge on the city of Madison. For the past 22 years, the group’s annual junior championship has been held at Yahara Hills Golf Course in Madison. But this year, in a major departure from tradition, the event will be played at a county-owned golf course in Milwaukee. Why the switch? Because last year Madison decided not to renew the contracts of the four PGA pros who ran its golf courses.
It turns out that Tom Doak may not design the forthcoming 2.5-acre putting course at Bandon Dunes. Bandon Western World says that Doak has been hired to create the course, but the oceanfront golf venue in Oregon is also considering Jim Urbina, one of Doak’s former associates, for the job. “At this point we’re not sure about the designer,” a spokesperson for Bandon Dunes said in a telephone message. “It could be Doak or Urbina. There are still a lot of hoops that need to be jumped through before we start moving dirt.” In either case, Mike Keiser, the resort's owner, still expects construction to begin sometime this year or next.
These days, the members of Royal Sydney Golf Club don’t want anyone to have a blast on their golf course. A recently published military history claims that an unexploded artillery shell is lurking somewhere beneath the eighth fairway of the club’s Centenary course. The book’s author doesn’t think the shell will explode anytime soon -- it was fired by a Japanese submarine during World War II -- but he counseled that “if they ever reclaimed the land and builders started to put in high-density housing, then I wouldn’t want to be around.”
I need to make a correction. Two Sundays ago, I reported that the government of Singapore’s investment arm had agreed to buy four golf properties from Paulson & Company. I correctly identified two of the properties -- PGA West in La Quinta, California and the Great White course at Doral Golf Resort in Miami, Florida -- but was wrong about the others. The sale will include two other properties in La Quinta: La Quinta Resort & Club (two 18-hole courses) and Cirtus Club at La Quinta (one 18-hole course). Yes, Singapore is buying the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix and the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa on Maui in Hawaii, but its purchase doesn’t include the resorts’ golf courses. I apologize for the error.
There are no boa constructors or guillotines, but last week the always entertaining Alice Cooper told the Los Angeles Times why he took up golf (“I had to find an addiction that was not going to kill me”), reveled in the pleasures of playing courses that are usually off-limits to goth-rockers (“They can’t keep me off, because in most cases I’m better than the guy who wants to keep me off”), and made a case for golf being the ultimate democratic sport (“It doesn’t matter if you’re the president of the United States, a gardener, or a garbage man, if you can help a guy hit the ball straight, all bets are off about who you are or what you do”). Cooper admits that his game is on the decline, but he seems to be content with the way his life turned out. When it comes to careers, he noted, “I would much rather be a rock singer than a golfer.”
Friday, January 18, 2013
The Pipeline, january 18, 2013
A recently retired London-based hedge-fund manager has hired Bob Harrison to design a links course on a small island in the Inner Hebrides. Greg Coffey aims to build the course on a coastal slice of his 11,668-acre Ardfin Estate, which lies along the southeastern coast of Scotland’s Jura Island. Harrison isn’t well known in the United States, but he spent the better part of two decades serving as the “ghost” architect in Greg Norman’s Australian practice and is largely responsible for its best work. Last year, he called Jura “my favorite place on earth” and said the site he’s been given is “the most beautiful I have ever seen.” It’s easy to understand why Harrison is so excited, as Coffey's commission offers him a chance to become internationally known, in a league with minimalists such as Tom Doak or Coore & Crenshaw. Only one problem: The track will serve as Coffey’s personal course, which means that it won’t get the sizzle that accrues from being named to best-of lists.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the August and September 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Local officials in Tasmania have endorsed Greg Ramsay’s proposal to build a destination-worthy golf course on 365 acres of government-owned property on the South Arm peninsula, along the island’s southern coast. Ramsay, the golf guru and tourism promoter who conceived Barnbougle Dunes, hopes to break ground on the layout by the end of this year, presuming that he can secure the remaining approvals he needs. Ramsay hasn’t offered any details about what he aims to build on South Arm, but he’s working with a crew of designers who have minimalist sympathies: Mike Nuzzo, Line Mortensen, and the team of Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford. Unlike the land at Barnbougle Dunes, the land on the peninsula doesn’t appear to be made-to-order for golf, seeing as how last year Ramsay told the Hobart Mercury that his proposal offers “a wonderful opportunity for re-vegetating a degraded site back to great beauty.” Degraded site or not, if Ramsay builds it, they will come.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the April and October 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The first nine holes of a 27-hole golf complex northeast of Mianyang, in China’s Sichuan Province, could be open for play before the end of the year. The complex, which has been designed by Phil Ryan, an Australian architect, will be the featured attraction of a 940-acre resort community that’s taking shape near Chenkangtun Reservoir. A press release says the lake is “beautiful” and the site of the golf course “spectacular.” It doesn’t say when Chengdu Hongyuan Investment Company, Ltd. plans to open the other nines, but it notes that they’ll each stretch to roughly 3,700 yards.
Colin Montgomerie will put his “signature” on the first “international-standard” golf course in Goa, the Indian state made famous by wandering hippies in the 1960s. The track will be the featured attraction of a to-be-named resort that will take shape on 301 acres outside Pernem, along Goa’s border with Maharashtra. The property, which will include a cluster of villas, a Four Seasons hotel, and a spa, is being developed by New Delhi-based Leading Hotels, Ltd. and Mumbai-based Magus Hotels. The golf course is being co-designed by Brit Stenson, who operates out of IMG’s office in Cleveland, Ohio. Mark Adams of IMG’s office in Singapore recently told me that the firm has been given “one of the best sites we have seen in Asia,” and he believes the final result will be “the best golf course in India.” Construction is expected to begin next year.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
David McLay Kidd’s new golf course in Nicaragua will soon have some competition. A travel writer reports that the first nine holes of a planned 18-hole track at Montecristo Lifestyle Estates is expected to open this summer. Mike Young, an architect based in Athens, Georgia, has designed a 7,060-yard “core” track for the community, which is said to be taking shape on 2,000 acres along the nation’s Pacific coast, the Costa Azul, about 40 miles west of Managua. “The golf course,” Young says, “is going to not only introduce a new way of life to this culture but also offer numerous opportunities to people here that don’t necessarily exist today.” No word on when the second nine opens, but the entire 18-hole layout was originally supposed to open in 2008.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Mike Keiser, the majority owner of the Bandon Dunes resort, may soon be able to offer the world’s golfers yet another reason to visit Oregon’s windswept Pacific coast. Keiser thinks he can break ground on his long-planned “municipal” golf complex in 2014, seeing as how he’s getting closer to wrapping up the land swap that he’s been negotiating for years. “This will be all about the local players, especially juniors,” Keiser told a local newspaper. Of course, there’s one other nagging detail that may gum up the construction schedule: Gil Hanse, the complex’s designer, is going to be preoccupied in Brazil for the next 12 to 18 months.
Only Slightly Off Topic
No doubt, you’ve already heard that 2012 was the hottest year ever in the contiguous United States. But lately, unusually severe weather-related events have been taking place all over the planet. When it comes to weather, says the New York Times, “extreme has become the new commonplace.” The Times has catalogued some of the strangeness: In Australia, where every decade since the 1950s has been hotter than the one that preceded it, bush fires are raging. In England, 2012 has gone down as the wettest year since record-keeping began more than 100 years ago. In Siberia, where temperatures have dipped as low as 50 degrees below zero, transportation officials had to cancel bus service between cities out of fear that breakdowns could lead to deaths from exposure to extreme cold. In Brazil, where a “punishingly hot” summer has evaporated reservoirs, energy analysts worry that they may need to ration electricity for the first time since 2002. “Each year we have extreme weather, but it’s unusual to have so many extreme events around the world at once,” an official of the World Meteorological Organization told the newspaper. Such weather extremes can’t be ignored. It’s only a matter of time before we begin to measure their impact on the golf business.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the August and September 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Local officials in Tasmania have endorsed Greg Ramsay’s proposal to build a destination-worthy golf course on 365 acres of government-owned property on the South Arm peninsula, along the island’s southern coast. Ramsay, the golf guru and tourism promoter who conceived Barnbougle Dunes, hopes to break ground on the layout by the end of this year, presuming that he can secure the remaining approvals he needs. Ramsay hasn’t offered any details about what he aims to build on South Arm, but he’s working with a crew of designers who have minimalist sympathies: Mike Nuzzo, Line Mortensen, and the team of Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford. Unlike the land at Barnbougle Dunes, the land on the peninsula doesn’t appear to be made-to-order for golf, seeing as how last year Ramsay told the Hobart Mercury that his proposal offers “a wonderful opportunity for re-vegetating a degraded site back to great beauty.” Degraded site or not, if Ramsay builds it, they will come.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the April and October 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The first nine holes of a 27-hole golf complex northeast of Mianyang, in China’s Sichuan Province, could be open for play before the end of the year. The complex, which has been designed by Phil Ryan, an Australian architect, will be the featured attraction of a 940-acre resort community that’s taking shape near Chenkangtun Reservoir. A press release says the lake is “beautiful” and the site of the golf course “spectacular.” It doesn’t say when Chengdu Hongyuan Investment Company, Ltd. plans to open the other nines, but it notes that they’ll each stretch to roughly 3,700 yards.
Colin Montgomerie will put his “signature” on the first “international-standard” golf course in Goa, the Indian state made famous by wandering hippies in the 1960s. The track will be the featured attraction of a to-be-named resort that will take shape on 301 acres outside Pernem, along Goa’s border with Maharashtra. The property, which will include a cluster of villas, a Four Seasons hotel, and a spa, is being developed by New Delhi-based Leading Hotels, Ltd. and Mumbai-based Magus Hotels. The golf course is being co-designed by Brit Stenson, who operates out of IMG’s office in Cleveland, Ohio. Mark Adams of IMG’s office in Singapore recently told me that the firm has been given “one of the best sites we have seen in Asia,” and he believes the final result will be “the best golf course in India.” Construction is expected to begin next year.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
David McLay Kidd’s new golf course in Nicaragua will soon have some competition. A travel writer reports that the first nine holes of a planned 18-hole track at Montecristo Lifestyle Estates is expected to open this summer. Mike Young, an architect based in Athens, Georgia, has designed a 7,060-yard “core” track for the community, which is said to be taking shape on 2,000 acres along the nation’s Pacific coast, the Costa Azul, about 40 miles west of Managua. “The golf course,” Young says, “is going to not only introduce a new way of life to this culture but also offer numerous opportunities to people here that don’t necessarily exist today.” No word on when the second nine opens, but the entire 18-hole layout was originally supposed to open in 2008.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Mike Keiser, the majority owner of the Bandon Dunes resort, may soon be able to offer the world’s golfers yet another reason to visit Oregon’s windswept Pacific coast. Keiser thinks he can break ground on his long-planned “municipal” golf complex in 2014, seeing as how he’s getting closer to wrapping up the land swap that he’s been negotiating for years. “This will be all about the local players, especially juniors,” Keiser told a local newspaper. Of course, there’s one other nagging detail that may gum up the construction schedule: Gil Hanse, the complex’s designer, is going to be preoccupied in Brazil for the next 12 to 18 months.
Only Slightly Off Topic
No doubt, you’ve already heard that 2012 was the hottest year ever in the contiguous United States. But lately, unusually severe weather-related events have been taking place all over the planet. When it comes to weather, says the New York Times, “extreme has become the new commonplace.” The Times has catalogued some of the strangeness: In Australia, where every decade since the 1950s has been hotter than the one that preceded it, bush fires are raging. In England, 2012 has gone down as the wettest year since record-keeping began more than 100 years ago. In Siberia, where temperatures have dipped as low as 50 degrees below zero, transportation officials had to cancel bus service between cities out of fear that breakdowns could lead to deaths from exposure to extreme cold. In Brazil, where a “punishingly hot” summer has evaporated reservoirs, energy analysts worry that they may need to ration electricity for the first time since 2002. “Each year we have extreme weather, but it’s unusual to have so many extreme events around the world at once,” an official of the World Meteorological Organization told the newspaper. Such weather extremes can’t be ignored. It’s only a matter of time before we begin to measure their impact on the golf business.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
india Faldo Notches a Mega-Project
The age of “signature” golf architecture hasn’t yet fully arrived in India. But Nick Faldo is doing his best to open the door for it.
Faldo has been commissioned to design an 18-hole, “championship-standard” track for Sushant Megapolis, a 2,504-acre planned community that’s to be built in Greater Noida, the fast-growing, corporation-fueled satellite city outside New Delhi. The commission is the former British golf pro’s second in India, as his firm has also been slated to produce an 18-hole course for the Lavasa resort community in metropolitan Pune, in the state of Maharashtra.
Sushant Megapolis is a high-profile venture that will serve as a big stage for Faldo’s work. It’s been master-planned to include a slew of houses, a biotechnology park, an “education zone” with schools for children of all ages, a “medicity” with “highly skilled and specialized doctors,” a sports academy with an equestrian center and polo fields, a handful of lakes and musical fountains, and a tennis academy branded by Mahesh Bhupathi, a Wimbledon doubles champion.
The community’s developer, New Delhi-based Ansal Properties & Infrastructure, Ltd., calls the place “an employment-oriented, self-sustaining town of the future” and “a perfect blend of nature’s glory, modern infrastructure, elegance, and luxury.” If sales take off, the community can grow to 9,000 acres.
API is developing a nearly identical community, Sushant Golf City, in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. The community will eventually feature an 18-hole course that’s been designed by Martin Hawtree, the third-generation British architect who created Donald Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Last year Pranav Ansal, API’s managing director, told an Indian construction journal that the course’s first nine holes have been opened.
As for Faldo’s course outside Pune, it appears to be stuck in development mud. Faldo, who’s based in Windsor, England, got the commission in 2009 and has yet to break ground on the planned 18-hole course and Faldo-branded golf academy.
Faldo is likewise waiting for API to set a construction schedule for the course at Sushant Megapolis. One of his associates recently told me that the firm is under contract but “awaiting further instruction.” That could explain why news of the commission hasn’t yet been posted on Faldo’s website.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Faldo has been commissioned to design an 18-hole, “championship-standard” track for Sushant Megapolis, a 2,504-acre planned community that’s to be built in Greater Noida, the fast-growing, corporation-fueled satellite city outside New Delhi. The commission is the former British golf pro’s second in India, as his firm has also been slated to produce an 18-hole course for the Lavasa resort community in metropolitan Pune, in the state of Maharashtra.
Sushant Megapolis is a high-profile venture that will serve as a big stage for Faldo’s work. It’s been master-planned to include a slew of houses, a biotechnology park, an “education zone” with schools for children of all ages, a “medicity” with “highly skilled and specialized doctors,” a sports academy with an equestrian center and polo fields, a handful of lakes and musical fountains, and a tennis academy branded by Mahesh Bhupathi, a Wimbledon doubles champion.
The community’s developer, New Delhi-based Ansal Properties & Infrastructure, Ltd., calls the place “an employment-oriented, self-sustaining town of the future” and “a perfect blend of nature’s glory, modern infrastructure, elegance, and luxury.” If sales take off, the community can grow to 9,000 acres.
API is developing a nearly identical community, Sushant Golf City, in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. The community will eventually feature an 18-hole course that’s been designed by Martin Hawtree, the third-generation British architect who created Donald Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Last year Pranav Ansal, API’s managing director, told an Indian construction journal that the course’s first nine holes have been opened.
As for Faldo’s course outside Pune, it appears to be stuck in development mud. Faldo, who’s based in Windsor, England, got the commission in 2009 and has yet to break ground on the planned 18-hole course and Faldo-branded golf academy.
Faldo is likewise waiting for API to set a construction schedule for the course at Sushant Megapolis. One of his associates recently told me that the firm is under contract but “awaiting further instruction.” That could explain why news of the commission hasn’t yet been posted on Faldo’s website.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
The Week That Was, january 13, 2013
It didn’t take long for the city of Dallas, Texas and its development partners to settle on a designer for their new golf course. The commission for the recently announced Trinity Forest Golf Course has gone to Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the hottest design team on the
planet. The partners made their reputation by fashioning “naturalist” layouts -- Sand Hills Golf Club in Nebraska, the Lost Farm track at Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania, the Trails course at Bandon Dunes -- but they’re going in a distinctly different direction this time, as the property they’ll be working with in Dallas is a landfill. That being said, Coore thinks the site has “great character,” is “inherently appealing for classic golf,” and has “the potential to yield an outstanding golf course.” I don’t know about you, but I’m wondering about the fee that Coore and Crenshaw have negotiated. As I reported just three weeks ago, an official from AT&T, one of the venture’s sponsors, has said that the course’s architect will be paid only enough to “cover their time and costs and nothing else.”
Borrowing ideas from St. Andrews in Scotland and the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina, Mike Keiser has conceived the next attraction for Bandon Dunes: A putting course that will occupy nearly 2.5 acres at the famed oceanfront golf venue in Oregon. “It will be the eighth wonder of golf,” Keiser told a local newspaper. The layout will be designed by Tom Doak, who’s already produced two of Bandon Dunes’ courses, and Keiser expects construction to begin sometime this year or next.
The hottest development controversy in golf these days has ignited passions in County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. Government officials have endorsed a plan to build Bushmills Dunes, a 356-acre resort that will include a David McLay Kidd-designed golf course, but the National Trust, one of the U.K.’s biggest and best-funded historic preservation groups, has lodged a legal challenge that it hopes will thwart the development. Alistair Hanna, the New York City-based developer of Bushmills Dunes, contends that the golf course -- Kidd has guaranteed that it’ll rank among the world’s top 50 -- will make Northern Ireland the “gold standard” in links golf and create hundreds of jobs in a place that could desperately use them. The trust fears that the resort will have an unfavorable impact on Giant’s Causeway, a popular tourist destination and Northern Ireland’s only Unesco world heritage site. The Guardian says that the battle “could become a defining event for Northern Ireland” that “will have consequences not just for the causeway but, potentially, for the U.K.’s other 27 Unesco-listed sites.” A year or so ago, Mike Keiser was thinking about investing in Bushmills Dunes, but he likely won’t make any commitments until the heat dies down.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the October 2011 and June 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Speaking of David McLay Kidd, his forthcoming golf course in Leatherhead, England is also going through a tough slog these days. Longshot, Ltd., the developer, has secured local approvals for the 370-acre Cherkley Court project and has withstood a subsequent appeal, but a group of environmentalists has persuaded higher officials to review the previous decisions. “It is in the public interest to mount a legal challenge,” a protester told the Epsom Guardian. Ollie Vigors, one of Longshot’s principals, has characterized the protesters as “a small minority of people who will stop at nothing to get our planning permission quashed with no grounds for doing so.” A year or so ago, Kidd told me that the golf course will be “very natural” and “ragged at the edges.” Longshot was hoping to break ground on it this month, but my guess is that the construction will be delayed.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the December 2011 and September 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Donald Trump has revealed his strategy for blocking the construction of an off-shore wind farm within view of his golf resort in Scotland: He’s going to “lawyer” his opponents into submission. Trump wants a public hearing on a green-energy proposal to build a group of wind turbines off the coast of Aberdeenshire, and he’s threatened to tie up the proceedings in court for a decade if government officials don’t agree to his demands. Citing his company’s “experience in legal matters,” last week one of Trump’s lieutenants warned that “we have the resources to hold this up for a very long time.” You’ve got to hand it to Trump: He really knows how to win friends and influence people.
In an attempt to attract younger members, Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club may allow prospects under the age of 48 to pay their $50,000 initiation fee in installments. “This is a market we’d like to go after,” the club’s general manager explained to the Rancho Santa Fe Review. The proposal has generated some debate, but newspaper says that the club, in suburban San Diego, California, is “losing members faster than they are gaining them.” One problem in particular: These days the club attracts only 17 percent of the families who move into the community, down from 30 percent in days gone by.
Rees Jones, the “Open Doctor,” has won this year’s Donald Ross Award, for his contributions to our business. “Rees’ influence in the golf industry is profound,” said Bob Cupp, the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. The ASGCA has been making the award since 1976, but only six architects have previously been winners. The group consists of Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Geoffrey Cornish, Mike Hurdzan, and Jones’ father, Robert Trent Jones.
Jay Blasi, an 11-year veteran at Robert Trent Jones, Jr.’s design firm, has hung out his own shingle. His new firm, according to a press release, will dedicate itself to “restoring, renovating, and creating timeless courses through a hands-on approach.” While working for Jones, Blasi made a name for himself by transforming a gravel pit in suburban Tacoma, Washington into Chambers Bay Golf Club. Links magazine called his work “one of the greatest debuts in golf history” and marveled over the layout’s bumpy terrain, saying that it was “meticulously crafted as to look as if swept by the wind.” While he awaits his first solo design commission, Blasi will be working on renovations of two courses not far from his office in Los Gatos.
David Gould of Fox News has tallied his eight favorite waterfront golf venues, presumably to entice people like you and me to play them. Don’t expect any real surprises. The group includes the Pacific Dunes track at Bandon Dunes in Oregon (“the ‘it’ golf course for people who know what’s up and are looking to avoid the status-conscious excess of other American courses”), the Plantation course at the Kapaula resort in Hawaii (“breeze-washed terrain that opens up to soul-stirring middle- and long-distance views of the endless Pacific”), the Ocean course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina (“stunning, daring, boldly featured, and nearly impossible to play”), and, of course, Pebble Beach Golf Links in California (“you can play golf the world over, but seldom will the sea treat you to as dramatic a performance”).
planet. The partners made their reputation by fashioning “naturalist” layouts -- Sand Hills Golf Club in Nebraska, the Lost Farm track at Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania, the Trails course at Bandon Dunes -- but they’re going in a distinctly different direction this time, as the property they’ll be working with in Dallas is a landfill. That being said, Coore thinks the site has “great character,” is “inherently appealing for classic golf,” and has “the potential to yield an outstanding golf course.” I don’t know about you, but I’m wondering about the fee that Coore and Crenshaw have negotiated. As I reported just three weeks ago, an official from AT&T, one of the venture’s sponsors, has said that the course’s architect will be paid only enough to “cover their time and costs and nothing else.”
Borrowing ideas from St. Andrews in Scotland and the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina, Mike Keiser has conceived the next attraction for Bandon Dunes: A putting course that will occupy nearly 2.5 acres at the famed oceanfront golf venue in Oregon. “It will be the eighth wonder of golf,” Keiser told a local newspaper. The layout will be designed by Tom Doak, who’s already produced two of Bandon Dunes’ courses, and Keiser expects construction to begin sometime this year or next.
The hottest development controversy in golf these days has ignited passions in County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. Government officials have endorsed a plan to build Bushmills Dunes, a 356-acre resort that will include a David McLay Kidd-designed golf course, but the National Trust, one of the U.K.’s biggest and best-funded historic preservation groups, has lodged a legal challenge that it hopes will thwart the development. Alistair Hanna, the New York City-based developer of Bushmills Dunes, contends that the golf course -- Kidd has guaranteed that it’ll rank among the world’s top 50 -- will make Northern Ireland the “gold standard” in links golf and create hundreds of jobs in a place that could desperately use them. The trust fears that the resort will have an unfavorable impact on Giant’s Causeway, a popular tourist destination and Northern Ireland’s only Unesco world heritage site. The Guardian says that the battle “could become a defining event for Northern Ireland” that “will have consequences not just for the causeway but, potentially, for the U.K.’s other 27 Unesco-listed sites.” A year or so ago, Mike Keiser was thinking about investing in Bushmills Dunes, but he likely won’t make any commitments until the heat dies down.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the October 2011 and June 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Speaking of David McLay Kidd, his forthcoming golf course in Leatherhead, England is also going through a tough slog these days. Longshot, Ltd., the developer, has secured local approvals for the 370-acre Cherkley Court project and has withstood a subsequent appeal, but a group of environmentalists has persuaded higher officials to review the previous decisions. “It is in the public interest to mount a legal challenge,” a protester told the Epsom Guardian. Ollie Vigors, one of Longshot’s principals, has characterized the protesters as “a small minority of people who will stop at nothing to get our planning permission quashed with no grounds for doing so.” A year or so ago, Kidd told me that the golf course will be “very natural” and “ragged at the edges.” Longshot was hoping to break ground on it this month, but my guess is that the construction will be delayed.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the December 2011 and September 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Donald Trump has revealed his strategy for blocking the construction of an off-shore wind farm within view of his golf resort in Scotland: He’s going to “lawyer” his opponents into submission. Trump wants a public hearing on a green-energy proposal to build a group of wind turbines off the coast of Aberdeenshire, and he’s threatened to tie up the proceedings in court for a decade if government officials don’t agree to his demands. Citing his company’s “experience in legal matters,” last week one of Trump’s lieutenants warned that “we have the resources to hold this up for a very long time.” You’ve got to hand it to Trump: He really knows how to win friends and influence people.
In an attempt to attract younger members, Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club may allow prospects under the age of 48 to pay their $50,000 initiation fee in installments. “This is a market we’d like to go after,” the club’s general manager explained to the Rancho Santa Fe Review. The proposal has generated some debate, but newspaper says that the club, in suburban San Diego, California, is “losing members faster than they are gaining them.” One problem in particular: These days the club attracts only 17 percent of the families who move into the community, down from 30 percent in days gone by.
Rees Jones, the “Open Doctor,” has won this year’s Donald Ross Award, for his contributions to our business. “Rees’ influence in the golf industry is profound,” said Bob Cupp, the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. The ASGCA has been making the award since 1976, but only six architects have previously been winners. The group consists of Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Geoffrey Cornish, Mike Hurdzan, and Jones’ father, Robert Trent Jones.
Jay Blasi, an 11-year veteran at Robert Trent Jones, Jr.’s design firm, has hung out his own shingle. His new firm, according to a press release, will dedicate itself to “restoring, renovating, and creating timeless courses through a hands-on approach.” While working for Jones, Blasi made a name for himself by transforming a gravel pit in suburban Tacoma, Washington into Chambers Bay Golf Club. Links magazine called his work “one of the greatest debuts in golf history” and marveled over the layout’s bumpy terrain, saying that it was “meticulously crafted as to look as if swept by the wind.” While he awaits his first solo design commission, Blasi will be working on renovations of two courses not far from his office in Los Gatos.
David Gould of Fox News has tallied his eight favorite waterfront golf venues, presumably to entice people like you and me to play them. Don’t expect any real surprises. The group includes the Pacific Dunes track at Bandon Dunes in Oregon (“the ‘it’ golf course for people who know what’s up and are looking to avoid the status-conscious excess of other American courses”), the Plantation course at the Kapaula resort in Hawaii (“breeze-washed terrain that opens up to soul-stirring middle- and long-distance views of the endless Pacific”), the Ocean course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina (“stunning, daring, boldly featured, and nearly impossible to play”), and, of course, Pebble Beach Golf Links in California (“you can play golf the world over, but seldom will the sea treat you to as dramatic a performance”).
Friday, January 11, 2013
The Cold, Hard Facts, january 11, 2013
In 2011, the U.S. golf industry had a direct economic impact of $68.8 billion and a total economic impact of $176.8 billion, according to Golf 20/20. “The economy has endured two significant recessions the past decade, and golf has fared well,” concluded an official from Golf 20/20. A press release points out that golf’s “core industries” -- things like golf facility operations and retail sales -- by themselves pack a stronger economic punch than spectator sports, the performing arts, and the amusement and recreation industries. It’s also worth noting that our business was responsible for 1.98 million jobs and $55.6 billion in wages.
Despite the wettest summer in 100 years, a survey by Sport England has determined that 850,500 people in England played golf at least once a week during the 12-month period that ended in October 2012. The number is said to be “steady” in comparison to the one posted in 2011 and proof of “how popular golf is when the weather is right,” according to an official with the England Golf Partnership. Monthly figures indicate that play increased during the relatively mild winter of 2011-12 but decreased when the rains came, particularly in April and June. “The weather has clearly influenced participation, and obviously that’s not something we can control,” the official said. “It is disappointing that the atrocious weather in spring and much of the summer coincided with the peak playing period.”
The 393 golf clubs in New Zealand are “losing members in the thousands,” according to a story by one of the nation’s television stations. 3 News says that New Zealand’s clubs have collectively lost 17,000 members over the past nine years, a fact labeled as “quite a concern” by the CEO of New Zealand Golf. The station also notes that New Zealand has the second-largest number of golf courses per capita in the world, a statement that might lead curious readers to wonder which nation finished higher. The answer comes from Aussie Golfer, which, citing a 2007 study by Golf Digest, says that Scotland has the largest number of golf courses per capita. The United States finished eighth on the list posted by Aussie Golfer, behind Australia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, and Wales.
In a report produced for the city of Portland, Maine, National Golf Foundation Consulting says that the average number of rounds played at an 18-hole course in the United States is now 32,497, down from more than 50,000 in 2000. An economist from the University of Maine told city officials that an 18-hole U.S. course rings up, on average, $1.46 million in revenues annually. Maine’s 18-hole courses generate somewhat less, about $1.32 million, probably due to the brevity of the state’s golf season.
Golfers who vacation in Ireland spend about three times as much as a typical tourist, according to research from Fáilte Ireland. Historically, most of the golfers who’ve vacationed in Ireland have come from the United States and the United Kingdom, but today they’re coming from other places as well. “We now see traffic coming from mainland Europe and China,” the general manager of a course in Kinsale told the Irish Examiner. “[In 2012] we had, for the first time, bookings from Turkey, and the Scandinavian market is also growing at a good pace.” The newspaper reported that golf travelers help to support 7,300 jobs in Ireland, and a tourism minister notes that “golfing visitors tend to play at more than one location, which creates a more dispersed pattern of spending.”
The U.S. golf business raised $3.9 billion for charities in 2011, according to Golf 20/20 and the National Golf Foundation. Most of the money was provided by 12 million golfers who played in 143,000 fund-raising golf tournaments at 11,800 facilities.
In an article decidedly unfriendly to the golf business, PolicyMic reports that the U.S. Department of Defense operates 234 golf courses in the United States and in other nations. The article estimates that the military spends more than $140 million a year to maintain its courses -- a piddling amount, if you think about it -- and contends that “continuing to spend a single dollar supporting the military’s golf courses is indefensible.” The article’s bottom line: “Our servicemen and women can surely unwind in some other way.”
Even though North Korea once had a leader (Kim Jong-il) who reportedly notched five holes in one the first time he played golf, the nation today has just 42 “registered” golfers, according to Golf magazine. North Korea has a population of 25 million.
Despite the wettest summer in 100 years, a survey by Sport England has determined that 850,500 people in England played golf at least once a week during the 12-month period that ended in October 2012. The number is said to be “steady” in comparison to the one posted in 2011 and proof of “how popular golf is when the weather is right,” according to an official with the England Golf Partnership. Monthly figures indicate that play increased during the relatively mild winter of 2011-12 but decreased when the rains came, particularly in April and June. “The weather has clearly influenced participation, and obviously that’s not something we can control,” the official said. “It is disappointing that the atrocious weather in spring and much of the summer coincided with the peak playing period.”
The 393 golf clubs in New Zealand are “losing members in the thousands,” according to a story by one of the nation’s television stations. 3 News says that New Zealand’s clubs have collectively lost 17,000 members over the past nine years, a fact labeled as “quite a concern” by the CEO of New Zealand Golf. The station also notes that New Zealand has the second-largest number of golf courses per capita in the world, a statement that might lead curious readers to wonder which nation finished higher. The answer comes from Aussie Golfer, which, citing a 2007 study by Golf Digest, says that Scotland has the largest number of golf courses per capita. The United States finished eighth on the list posted by Aussie Golfer, behind Australia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, and Wales.
In a report produced for the city of Portland, Maine, National Golf Foundation Consulting says that the average number of rounds played at an 18-hole course in the United States is now 32,497, down from more than 50,000 in 2000. An economist from the University of Maine told city officials that an 18-hole U.S. course rings up, on average, $1.46 million in revenues annually. Maine’s 18-hole courses generate somewhat less, about $1.32 million, probably due to the brevity of the state’s golf season.
Golfers who vacation in Ireland spend about three times as much as a typical tourist, according to research from Fáilte Ireland. Historically, most of the golfers who’ve vacationed in Ireland have come from the United States and the United Kingdom, but today they’re coming from other places as well. “We now see traffic coming from mainland Europe and China,” the general manager of a course in Kinsale told the Irish Examiner. “[In 2012] we had, for the first time, bookings from Turkey, and the Scandinavian market is also growing at a good pace.” The newspaper reported that golf travelers help to support 7,300 jobs in Ireland, and a tourism minister notes that “golfing visitors tend to play at more than one location, which creates a more dispersed pattern of spending.”
The U.S. golf business raised $3.9 billion for charities in 2011, according to Golf 20/20 and the National Golf Foundation. Most of the money was provided by 12 million golfers who played in 143,000 fund-raising golf tournaments at 11,800 facilities.
In an article decidedly unfriendly to the golf business, PolicyMic reports that the U.S. Department of Defense operates 234 golf courses in the United States and in other nations. The article estimates that the military spends more than $140 million a year to maintain its courses -- a piddling amount, if you think about it -- and contends that “continuing to spend a single dollar supporting the military’s golf courses is indefensible.” The article’s bottom line: “Our servicemen and women can surely unwind in some other way.”
Even though North Korea once had a leader (Kim Jong-il) who reportedly notched five holes in one the first time he played golf, the nation today has just 42 “registered” golfers, according to Golf magazine. North Korea has a population of 25 million.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
montenegro Limon Zest
Will a small Dutch company become the biggest player in Montenegro’s slow-growing golf business?
LPGD, an affiliate of Limon Investments, has signed a 90-year lease on 195 acres of government-controlled property in Kavac, along the Bay of Kotor, where it plans to build Tivat National Golf Club. In addition, the company is trying to negotiate permission to build Danilovgrad Golf & Country Club along the Zeta River outside Danilovgrad, a northwestern suburb of Podgorica, the nation’s capital. Both facilities will feature an 18-hole, regulation-length golf course and a nine-hole “academy” course.
But those are merely the side dishes on LPGD’s plate. The company aims to put Montenegro on the world’s golf map with Luštica Golf & Leisure Resort, which has been master-planned with an eye-popping six golf courses. Chris Liebreks, the principal of Limon Investments, believes Luštica will be “one of Europe’s biggest and most beautiful golf and holiday destinations” and that it’ll attract up to 200,000 tourists a year all by itself.
What’s more, he’s keen to get on with it. “This project can start within one year,” Liebreks said at a news conference last year. “Our funders to invest in this venture are already very eager to start up with it.”
These projects are major undertakings for a firm that hardly anyone has ever heard of, especially when one considers that Montenegro doesn’t as yet have a single golf course. But LPGD has shown not just a commitment to golf development in Montenegro -- Liebreks has been laying a foundation for his golf projects for a decade -- but a willingness to take on partners as necessary. LPGD is undertaking Tivat National with a Montenegrin firm, Boka Group, and Luštica with a German firm, PDI.
Tivat National is expected to open in the spring of 2015. Its golf complex, like the one in Danilovgrad, will be designed by Steve Marnoch, an architect based in Derbyshire, England. Both facilities are expected to be part of resort communities with upscale housing, hotels, and spas.
The designers of Luštica’s golf courses haven’t yet been determined. The community, which will include houses and seven hotels, will take shape near the town of Seljanovo, not far from where Orascom Development Holding plans to build Luštica Bay and its Gary Player “signature” golf course. The neighborhood is also the home of Porto Montenegro, an uber-exclusive marina community that’s being developed by Peter Munk, a wealthy Canadian. LPGD had to out-bid Munk for the concession on Tivat National.
LPGD’s projects are fully supported by Montenegro’s government, which has been trying to spark golf development for years, in an effort to promote tourism. While its efforts haven’t yet produced a golf course, the nation nonetheless believes it can support as many as 15.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report. The World Edition profiled Luštica Bay in August 2012.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The Week That Was, january 6, 2013
The government of Singapore’s investment arm appears to be closing in on its purchase of four high-profile U.S. golf venues. Last week, a deal was sealed to ensure that PGA West, the premier property under contract, will remain affiliated with the PGA of America until 2061. This licensing agreement is a key to PGA’s West’s value and one of the reasons that Singapore is willing to pay a $1.5 billion for Paulson & Company’s golf portfolio. In addition to PGA West, which features six “signature” 18-hole golf courses, John Paulson’s hedge fund is also selling the Greg Norman-designed Great White course at Doral Golf Resort in Miami, Florida; Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, with two 18-hole courses; and Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa on Maui in Hawaii, which has three 18-hole courses plus two others at the adjacent Makena Beach & Golf Resort. The Singapore Investment Corporation agreed to buy Paulson’s properties at a recent auction. If the transaction closes, it’ll likely be the biggest sale of the year.
Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, one of the grand old men of golf, died last week in a hospital in Marbella, Spain. I didn’t know him personally but I certainly knew of him, for he was one of the best-known and best-liked people in Europe’s golf business. “In many ways, he has been the ‘soul’
of golf in Europe,” said the vice chairman of the European Tour, in a Tour-produced obituary. Ortiz-Patiño leaves an important legacy: Club de Golf Valderrama, his destination golf course in Andalusia, the venue where the Ryder Cup matches were first played in continental Europe. Those matches, in 1997, along with numerous other high-prestige events that were played on Valderrama’s Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course, put the Costa del Sol on the world’s golf map. A former golf writer for the Times summed up Ortiz-Patiño’s life this way: “Jimmy Patino had impeccable manners, endless charm, lots of money, and a determination to achieve whatever he set his mind to.” He was 82.
If you’re thinking that 2013 will be the year when Cuba finally starts to build some golf courses, you may have another think coming. Rob Sequin of the Havana Journal has concluded that all of the nation’s much-ballyhooed golf ventures have come to “a complete standstill” and that Cuba is “far, far away from breaking ground on any new golf courses.” Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Greg Norman is peeved again, this time at Medalist Golf Course in Hobe Sound, Florida, which had the nerve to hire another architect to oversee some renovations. “It’s really a slap in the face at the end of the day,” Norman told Golf Digest. “It hurts a lot, to tell the truth.” To ease the pain, Norman, who once served as Medalist’s president, has demanded that the club return some of his memorabilia and stop marketing the track as a Greg Norman/Pete Dye co-design.
Speaking of Golf Digest, did you ever wonder about course #101 -- the “bubble” course that just missed being named to the magazine’s top 100 in the United States? Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore.
CIDCO has finally opened its golf course in suburban Mumbai, India, just five years later and seven holes fewer than originally planned. The golf course -- a “swanky” track, according to the Indian Express -- is in Kharghar, one of the 14 “nodes” of Navi Mumbai, a planned community that CIDCO is developing. The company had hoped to open an 18-hole course in 2008, but concerns about the loss of forests and the relocation of long-time residents in the area shrunk the amount of land available. So the current layout, co-designed by Phil Ryan and Robert Cairns of Victoria, Australia-based Pacific Coast Design, features just 11 holes. CIDCO hopes to complete the 18-hole track someday, but it likely won’t happen anytime soon.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the November 2008 and October 2010 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Hacienda Santa Martina Nature Club & Golf Course, in suburban Santiago, Chile, has opened the second nine of its 18-hole golf course. The track has been designed by Randy Thompson, an architect based in Chile who apprenticed with Robert Von Hagge. Thompson has also produced courses in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
A golf club in Maryland has sued a nearby power company, alleging that its golf course has been damaged by coal fly ash produced by the utility. The lawsuit, filed by Walden Golf Club, claims that the water in its well contains abnormally high levels of toxins including aluminum, lead, vanadium, and nickel and that Constellation Power Generation allowed those metals to seep into the local ground water. “A golf course with toxic soil, dead or dying grass, and no access to non-contaminated irrigation water is valueless,” the lawsuit declares. The club has asked for $20 million in compensation.
In Friday’s blog, I mentioned that a California-based LLC has agreed to buy Club at Cordillera, in Colorado. I’m thinking that the transaction has closed, because the new owners have announced that Troon Golf will manage the facility.
Congratulations to Roland Nagel of Kirksville, Missouri, who played golf for the first time last week. “It was a good experience,” Nagel said after playing five holes at Kirksville Country Club. “I hit the ball better than what I thought I would.” I’d love to wish Nagel a long and happy relationship with our sport, but I don’t think it’s likely. He’s 91, and he isn’t sure if he’ll ever play again. He just wanted to check off an item on his bucket list. “I’m getting old,” he told a local newspaper. Aren't we all.
Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, one of the grand old men of golf, died last week in a hospital in Marbella, Spain. I didn’t know him personally but I certainly knew of him, for he was one of the best-known and best-liked people in Europe’s golf business. “In many ways, he has been the ‘soul’
of golf in Europe,” said the vice chairman of the European Tour, in a Tour-produced obituary. Ortiz-Patiño leaves an important legacy: Club de Golf Valderrama, his destination golf course in Andalusia, the venue where the Ryder Cup matches were first played in continental Europe. Those matches, in 1997, along with numerous other high-prestige events that were played on Valderrama’s Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course, put the Costa del Sol on the world’s golf map. A former golf writer for the Times summed up Ortiz-Patiño’s life this way: “Jimmy Patino had impeccable manners, endless charm, lots of money, and a determination to achieve whatever he set his mind to.” He was 82.
If you’re thinking that 2013 will be the year when Cuba finally starts to build some golf courses, you may have another think coming. Rob Sequin of the Havana Journal has concluded that all of the nation’s much-ballyhooed golf ventures have come to “a complete standstill” and that Cuba is “far, far away from breaking ground on any new golf courses.” Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Greg Norman is peeved again, this time at Medalist Golf Course in Hobe Sound, Florida, which had the nerve to hire another architect to oversee some renovations. “It’s really a slap in the face at the end of the day,” Norman told Golf Digest. “It hurts a lot, to tell the truth.” To ease the pain, Norman, who once served as Medalist’s president, has demanded that the club return some of his memorabilia and stop marketing the track as a Greg Norman/Pete Dye co-design.
Speaking of Golf Digest, did you ever wonder about course #101 -- the “bubble” course that just missed being named to the magazine’s top 100 in the United States? Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore.
CIDCO has finally opened its golf course in suburban Mumbai, India, just five years later and seven holes fewer than originally planned. The golf course -- a “swanky” track, according to the Indian Express -- is in Kharghar, one of the 14 “nodes” of Navi Mumbai, a planned community that CIDCO is developing. The company had hoped to open an 18-hole course in 2008, but concerns about the loss of forests and the relocation of long-time residents in the area shrunk the amount of land available. So the current layout, co-designed by Phil Ryan and Robert Cairns of Victoria, Australia-based Pacific Coast Design, features just 11 holes. CIDCO hopes to complete the 18-hole track someday, but it likely won’t happen anytime soon.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the November 2008 and October 2010 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Hacienda Santa Martina Nature Club & Golf Course, in suburban Santiago, Chile, has opened the second nine of its 18-hole golf course. The track has been designed by Randy Thompson, an architect based in Chile who apprenticed with Robert Von Hagge. Thompson has also produced courses in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
A golf club in Maryland has sued a nearby power company, alleging that its golf course has been damaged by coal fly ash produced by the utility. The lawsuit, filed by Walden Golf Club, claims that the water in its well contains abnormally high levels of toxins including aluminum, lead, vanadium, and nickel and that Constellation Power Generation allowed those metals to seep into the local ground water. “A golf course with toxic soil, dead or dying grass, and no access to non-contaminated irrigation water is valueless,” the lawsuit declares. The club has asked for $20 million in compensation.
In Friday’s blog, I mentioned that a California-based LLC has agreed to buy Club at Cordillera, in Colorado. I’m thinking that the transaction has closed, because the new owners have announced that Troon Golf will manage the facility.
Congratulations to Roland Nagel of Kirksville, Missouri, who played golf for the first time last week. “It was a good experience,” Nagel said after playing five holes at Kirksville Country Club. “I hit the ball better than what I thought I would.” I’d love to wish Nagel a long and happy relationship with our sport, but I don’t think it’s likely. He’s 91, and he isn’t sure if he’ll ever play again. He just wanted to check off an item on his bucket list. “I’m getting old,” he told a local newspaper. Aren't we all.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Transactions, january 4, 2013
Toll Golf, an affiliate of the big home builder, has agreed to buy Snowmass Club outside Aspen, Colorado. “It’s a high-quality facility,” explained Toll Golf’s president, “and in a high-quality location.” The original golf course at Snowmass was co-designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay and opened in 1980. In 2003, however, the layout was completely redesigned by Jim Engh. The club is being sold by Aspen Skiing Company, an entity controlled by the Crown family of Chicago. Last year Crown Golf Properties, the family’s golf operations group, sold its other golf property in Colorado, River Valley Ranch Golf Club in Carbondale. Toll Golf operates two dozen golf properties in Florida, Virginia, California, Nevada, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and other states, but Snowmass will be the only stand-alone golf property in its portfolio. The transaction is expected to close later this month.
Slowly but surely, the financial mess centered on Cordillera Golf Club is being cleaned up. At an auction late last year, a California-based investment group, Wind Rose Holdings LLC, agreed to buy the tony golf community in Edwards, Colorado, reportedly for $14.2 million. The sale, presuming it closes, ends Cordillera’s bankruptcy proceedings as well as all pending litigation between David Wilhelm, the community’s developer, and the club’s 600-plus members. Wind Rose intends to purchase Cordillera’s trio of 18-hole golf courses -- tracks designed by Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, and Hale Irwin -- but the community’s Dave Pelz-designed “short” course will be turned over to the homeowners’ association. In recent years only the Fazio course has been open for play, and that will likely also be the case in 2013. For those of you who keep track of who’s trying to buy what, Donald Trump was among the three bidders for the property.
A company controlled by New Zealand’s richest family has purchased Pegasus Golf & Sports Club and its accompanying community in suburban Christchurch. Todd Property Group, the real estate arm of the Todd family, paid an undisclosed price for the property, which includes 300 houses and an 18-hole golf course that was co-designed by Kristine Kerr. The firm has promised to complete the build-out, which will require it to build a town center, a school, and more recreational amenities. The Todd family, led by recently knighted John Todd, is worth $2.7 billion, according to National Business Review. As best I can determine, this is the family’s first golf acquisition.
An affiliate of Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation has paid more than $8 million for a 320-acre parcel in Tahlequah that includes Cherry Springs Golf Course. The property has been a source of friction for the sellers, who are members of the Berry family. “After several years of litigation, fighting over control of the property,” Brian Berry told a tribal newspaper, “we’ve finally come to an opportunity for the Berry family to go their separate ways.” The golf course was designed by Brian’s brother, Burl. The 6,814-yard track opened in 1989.
Two years after it filed for bankruptcy protection, Ford’s Colony Country Club in Williamsburg, Virginia has new owners. The club was purchased late last year by an unnamed group led by Accord Golf Capital and Och-Ziff Real Estate, a New York-based hedge fund. The new owners have hired Traditional Golf Management to operate the property’s three 18-hole courses, all of which were designed by Dan Maples. Traditional reportedly has an interest in Accord Golf Capital.
OnCourse Strategies, an Austin, Texas-based course owner and operator, has acquired its first golf property in Florida. In late 2012 the company paid $2 million for Sarasota’s Serenoa Golf Club, which had been foreclosed upon by its lender. The club features a golf course designed by Mark David Allen and is part of a 383-acre community that was begun by Cy Bispham. “We just saw good value, with a price that had potential to be a good investment for us,” J. Michael Ussery of OnCourse Strategies told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “The whole deal with being able to make a golf course profitable is first getting it at the right price, then having the expertise to operate it efficiently and effectively.” Ussery’s company has eight properties in Texas, among them WindRose Golf Club in Spring and Blackhawk Golf Club in Pflugerville.
Vanguard Golf Management and a partner have acquired Falcon Ridge Golf Course in Mesquite, Nevada. The course, which opened in two phases in the early 2000s, had been in financial trouble. The seller was a group led by Crescent Hardy, who co-designed the 6,550-yard layout with Kelby Hughes. Vanguard owns and/or operates four other golf properties, all of them in Utah. The group includes Thanksgiving Point Golf Club in Lehi and Sky Mountain Golf Course in Hurricane.
Lostwithiel Hotel Golf & Country Club, outside Bodmin in Cornwall, England, has an unidentified new owner. The sale was brokered by GVA, which reports that the club was purchased by “a local entrepreneur with existing experience in the golf and leisure sector.” Thanks for nothing, guys. The so-called entrepreneur bought a 5,984-yard course that opened in 1991, plus a 28-room hotel. The sale was one of four that GVA has completed since October 2012.
In mid November 2012, Jim McNair, Jr. acquired Golf Club at Cedar Creek in Aiken, South Carolina. McNair, the owner of Aiken Golf Club, plans to upgrade Cedar Creek’s 21-year-old, Arthur Hills-designed course. A group of home owners in the accompanying community helped to facilitate McNair’s purchase, as financing was reportedly hard to find.
A group led by Rick Orizotti and Terry O’Keefe has purchased the 400-acre Canyon River golf community in Missoula, Montana. Canyon River is anchored by an 18-hole, 6,966-yard course that was co-designed by Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley and opened in 2006. The community currently has about 60 houses, and the new owners hope to build 200 more.
In late 2012, affiliates of Meadowbrook Golf sold three golf properties in Florida: Tiger Point Golf Club in Gulf Breeze, Club at Hidden Creek in Navarre, and Shalimar Pointe Golf & Country Club in Shalimar. Textron Financial Corporation, Meadowbrook’s lender and a company that’s trying to exit the golf business, had set a deadline in late November for the sales.
Slowly but surely, the financial mess centered on Cordillera Golf Club is being cleaned up. At an auction late last year, a California-based investment group, Wind Rose Holdings LLC, agreed to buy the tony golf community in Edwards, Colorado, reportedly for $14.2 million. The sale, presuming it closes, ends Cordillera’s bankruptcy proceedings as well as all pending litigation between David Wilhelm, the community’s developer, and the club’s 600-plus members. Wind Rose intends to purchase Cordillera’s trio of 18-hole golf courses -- tracks designed by Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, and Hale Irwin -- but the community’s Dave Pelz-designed “short” course will be turned over to the homeowners’ association. In recent years only the Fazio course has been open for play, and that will likely also be the case in 2013. For those of you who keep track of who’s trying to buy what, Donald Trump was among the three bidders for the property.
A company controlled by New Zealand’s richest family has purchased Pegasus Golf & Sports Club and its accompanying community in suburban Christchurch. Todd Property Group, the real estate arm of the Todd family, paid an undisclosed price for the property, which includes 300 houses and an 18-hole golf course that was co-designed by Kristine Kerr. The firm has promised to complete the build-out, which will require it to build a town center, a school, and more recreational amenities. The Todd family, led by recently knighted John Todd, is worth $2.7 billion, according to National Business Review. As best I can determine, this is the family’s first golf acquisition.
An affiliate of Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation has paid more than $8 million for a 320-acre parcel in Tahlequah that includes Cherry Springs Golf Course. The property has been a source of friction for the sellers, who are members of the Berry family. “After several years of litigation, fighting over control of the property,” Brian Berry told a tribal newspaper, “we’ve finally come to an opportunity for the Berry family to go their separate ways.” The golf course was designed by Brian’s brother, Burl. The 6,814-yard track opened in 1989.
Two years after it filed for bankruptcy protection, Ford’s Colony Country Club in Williamsburg, Virginia has new owners. The club was purchased late last year by an unnamed group led by Accord Golf Capital and Och-Ziff Real Estate, a New York-based hedge fund. The new owners have hired Traditional Golf Management to operate the property’s three 18-hole courses, all of which were designed by Dan Maples. Traditional reportedly has an interest in Accord Golf Capital.
OnCourse Strategies, an Austin, Texas-based course owner and operator, has acquired its first golf property in Florida. In late 2012 the company paid $2 million for Sarasota’s Serenoa Golf Club, which had been foreclosed upon by its lender. The club features a golf course designed by Mark David Allen and is part of a 383-acre community that was begun by Cy Bispham. “We just saw good value, with a price that had potential to be a good investment for us,” J. Michael Ussery of OnCourse Strategies told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “The whole deal with being able to make a golf course profitable is first getting it at the right price, then having the expertise to operate it efficiently and effectively.” Ussery’s company has eight properties in Texas, among them WindRose Golf Club in Spring and Blackhawk Golf Club in Pflugerville.
Vanguard Golf Management and a partner have acquired Falcon Ridge Golf Course in Mesquite, Nevada. The course, which opened in two phases in the early 2000s, had been in financial trouble. The seller was a group led by Crescent Hardy, who co-designed the 6,550-yard layout with Kelby Hughes. Vanguard owns and/or operates four other golf properties, all of them in Utah. The group includes Thanksgiving Point Golf Club in Lehi and Sky Mountain Golf Course in Hurricane.
Lostwithiel Hotel Golf & Country Club, outside Bodmin in Cornwall, England, has an unidentified new owner. The sale was brokered by GVA, which reports that the club was purchased by “a local entrepreneur with existing experience in the golf and leisure sector.” Thanks for nothing, guys. The so-called entrepreneur bought a 5,984-yard course that opened in 1991, plus a 28-room hotel. The sale was one of four that GVA has completed since October 2012.
In mid November 2012, Jim McNair, Jr. acquired Golf Club at Cedar Creek in Aiken, South Carolina. McNair, the owner of Aiken Golf Club, plans to upgrade Cedar Creek’s 21-year-old, Arthur Hills-designed course. A group of home owners in the accompanying community helped to facilitate McNair’s purchase, as financing was reportedly hard to find.
A group led by Rick Orizotti and Terry O’Keefe has purchased the 400-acre Canyon River golf community in Missoula, Montana. Canyon River is anchored by an 18-hole, 6,966-yard course that was co-designed by Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley and opened in 2006. The community currently has about 60 houses, and the new owners hope to build 200 more.
In late 2012, affiliates of Meadowbrook Golf sold three golf properties in Florida: Tiger Point Golf Club in Gulf Breeze, Club at Hidden Creek in Navarre, and Shalimar Pointe Golf & Country Club in Shalimar. Textron Financial Corporation, Meadowbrook’s lender and a company that’s trying to exit the golf business, had set a deadline in late November for the sales.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
kenya Here Comes the Big Money
One of the Middle East’s biggest developers has decided to make a splash in Kenya.
Dubai-based Emaar Properties plans to establish an eco-friendly resort, including an 18-hole golf course, in Narok County, in the southwestern part of the nation. The resort, called Enkereri Masa, will take shape in an as-yet unidentified town that’s said to be “on the fringes” of the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. The 580-square-mile Mara, as it’s called, is Africa’s best-known wildlife sanctuary and a popular vacation destination, primarily for safaris. Numerous hotels and campgrounds are operating in the area, but no golf courses of note.
Emaar is best-known as a developer of master-planned communities, some of them with golf courses. Its portfolio is highlighted by two prominent properties in Dubai: Arabian Ranches Golf Club, which features a “signature” course by Ian Baker-Finch (with assistance from Nicklaus Design), and the Montgomeie (Colin Montgomerie with Desmond Muirhead), the featured attraction of the Emirates Hills community.
The company also has a residential division in India, where it’s created Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. It hopes to build other courses in India, as well as tracks in Indonesia, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
Emaar’s latest venture is further evidence of Kenya’s arrival on the international golf scene. The nation currently has, give or take, 42 courses, and perhaps a dozen others are in planning or under construction.
In addition to its golf course, Enkereri Masa will feature a hotel and a spa, both of which could open as early as next year. Emaar is developing the property with the African Dream Collection, Ltd.
Enkereri Masa hasn’t yet been approved, however. Before Emaar and the African Dream get permission to begin construction, they’ll need to prove that their resort won’t damage the environment or drain the local water table.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Dubai-based Emaar Properties plans to establish an eco-friendly resort, including an 18-hole golf course, in Narok County, in the southwestern part of the nation. The resort, called Enkereri Masa, will take shape in an as-yet unidentified town that’s said to be “on the fringes” of the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. The 580-square-mile Mara, as it’s called, is Africa’s best-known wildlife sanctuary and a popular vacation destination, primarily for safaris. Numerous hotels and campgrounds are operating in the area, but no golf courses of note.
Emaar is best-known as a developer of master-planned communities, some of them with golf courses. Its portfolio is highlighted by two prominent properties in Dubai: Arabian Ranches Golf Club, which features a “signature” course by Ian Baker-Finch (with assistance from Nicklaus Design), and the Montgomeie (Colin Montgomerie with Desmond Muirhead), the featured attraction of the Emirates Hills community.
The company also has a residential division in India, where it’s created Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. It hopes to build other courses in India, as well as tracks in Indonesia, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
Emaar’s latest venture is further evidence of Kenya’s arrival on the international golf scene. The nation currently has, give or take, 42 courses, and perhaps a dozen others are in planning or under construction.
In addition to its golf course, Enkereri Masa will feature a hotel and a spa, both of which could open as early as next year. Emaar is developing the property with the African Dream Collection, Ltd.
Enkereri Masa hasn’t yet been approved, however. Before Emaar and the African Dream get permission to begin construction, they’ll need to prove that their resort won’t damage the environment or drain the local water table.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
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