The Week That Was, february 10, 2013

     Before too long, it’s going to cost more to play golf in land-scarce Singapore. A to-be-determined number of the city-state’s 18 golf properties will close over the next few years, to make land available for housing. Singapore’s population, now estimated to be about 5.2 million, is projected to swell to 6.9 million by 2030. “I think we’re all pragmatic and realistic,” the head of the Singapore Golf Association told Channel NewsAsia, “and at the end of the day, if it’s between housing and golf, I think housing obviously takes priority.” Many of the 30,000 club members in Singapore aren’t being quite so agreeable, for they know the relation between supply and demand. Singapore’s government plans to identify the properties on the chopping block in the coming months. The properties will likely be phased out one or two at a time, as their land leases expire.

     My, how times are changing in the golf business! A mostly completed Nicklaus Design layout in Sherrard, Illinois, left for dead during the Great Recession, is being revived. I’m talking about Fyre Lake Golf Course, which has sadly languished since 2007, if not before. Todd Raufeisen, who leads the LLC that purchased Fyre Lake last fall, describes the property as “a beautiful, tremendous asset that has just been a waste” and “a fully matured golf course that hasn’t been played.” While acknowledging that local golfers may not believe him, Raufeisen told the Quad City Business Journal that the course will open “as soon as the weather breaks.”

     A golf course in England is also coming back from the dead. Ingol Golf Club in Preston, which has been closed since 2010, has been leased by two local pros who aim to reopen it in April. The Lancashire Evening Post reports that the course, which was designed by Henry Cotton and opened in 1981, “is being completely re-designed and upgraded.” The club’s owner, Northern Trust Group, had planned to build houses on the property.

     Two years ago, Frank Pont told me that his forthcoming Golfbaan De Swinkelsche in Eindhoven would be “one of the Netherlands’ best new courses built in the last 30 years.” Now the world’s critics can put his promise to the test, because the club’s 18-hole track has made its official debut. (Its nine-hole, par-3 course opened last summer, and the 18-hole layout got some play late last year.) De Swinkelsche took its inspiration from a nearby Harry Colt-designed track at Eindhovensche Golf Course. It was built on sandy soil, but Pont had to provide architectural character to much of the property, as it had been flattened for farming. “The key will be to create a credible wild and natural landscape from scratch,” he told Golf Course Architecture in 2011, when construction began. While he waits for the reviews of De Swinkelsche to be published, Pont will turn his attention to his next project, a renovation of Broadstone Golf Club in Dorset, England. The club features a Colt-redesigned course that Pont believes should be ranked among the U.K.’s top 50, and his challenge, he notes on his website, is “to help it achieve its full potential.”
     The preceding post originally appeared in the February 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Golfers in Liverpool, England fear that forthcoming budget cuts will spell the end of the city’s most affordable golf venues. The city, under pressure to save £32 million (more $50 million), is thinking about closing its 27-hole Allerton and 18-hole North Liverpool courses. By doing so, the city could pocket about £300,000 ($474,000) a year, according to the Liverpool Echo. This is a ridiculously small amount, don’t you think? Maybe that’s why a political opponent suggests that “the desire of the council in closing the golf courses is not to save money but to be able to sell a valuable asset.”

     In the midst of contentious contract negotiations, a private club in British Columbia, Canada has locked its unionized employees. The action affects 19 maintenance workers at Quilchena Golf & Country Club in Richmond. The club, which is said to be “facing financial pressures,” reportedly wants its employees to accept a four-year wage freeze and to make other concessions as well. The club hasn’t yet been willing to comment publicly on the matter, but a union representative told the Vancouver Sun that Quilchena is “trying to break the union and break the spirit of the workers.”

     Last week, three of the nation’s best-known golf management firms added to their portfolios. KemperSports Mangement, which absurdly insists that it’s “the most trusted name in golf,” finalized a 10-year agreement to manage Harborside International Golf Center in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago Business reports that Harborside, which features a pair of 18-hole, Dick Nugent-designed courses, has lost “upward of $800,000 annually in recent years.” Sequoia Golf Management, the group that operates the Canongate Golf chain in Georgia, has been tapped to manage Fort Collins Country Club in Fort Collins, Colorado. The club features an 18-hole course was designed by Henry Hughes and opened in 1960. And finally, Canton Township, Michigan has hired Billy Casper Golf to manage Fellows Creek Golf Course. The contract has been debated for months, as the course had been operated by a local family for 34 years, and many of its long-time customers fear change. Casper received a five-year deal.

     A round of applause, please, for John Deere, which has promised to donate $1 million to the First Tee over the next five years. I wish other companies that have profited so handsomely from golf would be so generous. Do you know that the First Tee, in only 15 years, has introduced more than 7.6 million kids to golf?

     If he could only play one course for the rest of his life, Matt Ginella of the Golf Channel says it would be the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in New York. But one course does not a list make, so he named 39 more of his favorites. The top 10 includes the Pacific Dunes track at Bandon Dunes in Oregon (“the best links golf experience in America”), Forest Dunes Golf Club in Michigan (“You will not be disappointed”), Pasatiempo Golf Club in California (“I’d be more than happy hanging out at the place MacKenzie called home when he died”), and the Straits course at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin (“When the wind isn’t whipping off Lake Michigan,” it “can actually be considered . . . fun!”).