Operations, april 12, 2013

     The city of Fernandina Beach, Florida has issued an ultimatum to Billy Casper Golf: Fix the greens on our golf course by August 1 or else. “We can’t go into membership renewal season with the way the course looks today,” Fernandina Beach’s city manager griped at a recent public meeting. Billy Casper has been managing the 27-hole complex for more than two years, and several months ago a group of golfers vented their frustration about maintenance practices at the property, in particular what the Fernandina Beach News Leader called “an overwhelming weed problem” on the greens “that has yet to be resolved.” A Billy Casper official has acknowledged that the complex is “ugly to look at and ugly to play on,” but he told the city’s golfers, “I assure you that the golf course will get better.” Unfortunately, the city hasn’t adequately defined the “or else” part of its ultimatum. It’s not clear what recourse it has if Billy Casper doesn’t make good on its promise.

     In search of youth, the members of Pauma Valley Country Club in suburban San Diego, California have turned over their golf operations and marketing efforts to Sequoia Golf Group. “We’re confident that through innovative marketing and strategic initiatives we can attract the next generation of country club members,” Sequoia’s Joe Guerra said in a press release. To lure the next generation, it may be time to spiff up the club’s Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course. The 53-year-old track was once ranked among the state’s best, but today it’s showing its age. A master plan by Todd Eckenrode has been gathering dust for nearly a decade.

     The city of Walla Walla, Washington has begun searching for a new private-sector manager for its golf course. The city decided to end its relationship with the long-time operator of Veterans Memorial Golf Course late last year, due to what the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin described as “months of delinquent rent, utility, and other payments.” Until a new manager is found, the city will operate the Frank James-designed, 6,646-yard track. “We didn’t look forward to taking back over the course for an interim period,” the city’s attorney told the newspaper, “but we were prepared to.” The course has been in business since in 1948.

     Earlier this year, the drought-stricken city of Comanche, Oklahoma lost the operator of its municipal golf course because he couldn’t afford to pay for enough water to keep the layout green. “We couldn’t just continue to give him water for free,” Comanche’s city manager told the Lawton Constitution. “Water has turned into a valuable commodity.” Under the terms of a freshly signed contract with a new operator, the city has agreed to provide 8 million free gallons of water before it begins collecting charges. Seeing as how the average Midwestern course can easily use 30 million or more gallons of water annually, I’m willing to bet that Comanche’s new operator is praying for rain.

     After reviewing options laid out by a consultant, the city of Portland, Maine has decided not to privatize its golf complex. The facility consists of an 18-hole, Wayne Stiles-designed course that opened in the mid 1920s and a nine-hole course, co-designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Bill Robinson, that opened in the mid 1960s. The facility has seen better days, and at some point in the near future it’s going to need “a lot of capital investment,” according to the Portland Daily Sun. “Our goal is to make the golf course as good as it can be,” the city official in charge of the complex told the Portland Press Herald. The first renovations, however, need to be done to the course’s image. The city’s consultant has determined that the “market perception of Riverside is generally mixed,” with local residents complaining that the facility is “unwelcoming to players that were not regulars.” If the city needs to figure out why rounds are down at the facility, it might start there.

     A recently awarded management agreement in New Jersey has been challenged. Meticulous Golf Management contends that it was wrongly denied the contract for SunEagles Golf Course, which is located on the former Fort Monmouth army base in Eatontown. The firm says that it offered more in annual payments than the winning bidder, Atlantic Golf Management, and wants the award rescinded. “You go out to bid for the most money on a lease, not for the least amount of money,” Meticulous’ Bob Kraft told the Asbury Park Press. “We bid higher. They awarded $250,000, we bid $286,000.” The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority, the group that’s overseeing the base’s redevelopment, must respond to the challenge by sometime in late April. Atlantic has been operating SunEagles’ A. W. Tillinghast-designed golf course since the fall of 2011.

     One of the premier golf courses in Alabama has a new operator. Honours Golf Company has been hired to manage Kiva Dunes Golf Club, the featured attraction of a waterfront community on the state’s gulf coast. Jim Edgemon, the managing partner of the group that’s developing Kiva Dunes, said Honours was selected “to help us streamline our club operations and enhance our guests’ experience.” Honours manages 11 golf properties in Alabama and five others in Florida, North Carolina, and Mississippi, and these days its aggressively seeking to add to its portfolio. At Kiva Dunes, it’s responsible for a 7,092-yard, Jerry Pate-designed course that Golfweek ranks as Alabama’s top public venue.

     Landscapes Unlimited has added three golf properties to its management portfolio. The oldest member of the group is Broadmoor Country Club in Indianapolis, Indiana, which features a Donald Ross-designed golf course that opened in 1922. Twin Brooks Country Club in Watchung, New Jersey is of similar vintage, as its Alec Ternyei-designed layout opened in 1926. The third property, Golf Club at Devils Tower in Hulett, Wyoming, opened its Dick Phelps-designed course in 1997. With the new acquisitions, Landscapes Unlimited owns and/or operates 28 golf properties in 16 U.S. states.

     Once upon a time, Ricky Proehl was part of the St. Louis Rams’ “greatest show on turf.” Today, the two-time Super Bowl winner has begun maintaining turf. Operating as Proehlific Sports & Leisure, Proehl has assumed management of Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. The turf Proehl is now tending was laid by Ellis Maples and later modified by Davis Love III. Forest Oaks, which once hosted an annual event on the PGA Tour, has also changed its identity. For the foreseeable future, it’ll be called Proehlific Club at Forest Oaks.