The Dutch company that aims to build a “floating” golf course in the Maldives may also build one in Miami. Dutch Docklands has reportedly met twice with Miami’s mayor, in the hope of winning his endorsement of a plan to create a 500- to 1,000-acre artificial island in Biscayne Bay. The island would sprout houses, hotels, office space, shopping areas, and maybe a golf course. “We hope to come to an agreement this week, the chairman of the city’s Dutch Chamber of Commerce told Miami Today. If things don’t work out in Miami, Dutch Dockland may look to do its first U.S. venture in New York City, Cincinnati, or the Florida Keys. In the Maldives, Dutch Docklands hopes to construct the world’s first “floating” 18-hole golf course, along with a nine-hole “academy” course, with development assistance from Troon Golf. The firm hasn’t announced a designer for the complex, but last year it was said to have short-listed a half-dozen candidates.
Vietnam’s richest and most talked-about professional tournament won’t be played as scheduled next month. The Volvik-Sky Lake Vietnam Masters, a $500,000 event that the Asian Tour believes will “accelerate the development of the game in Vietnam and across Asia,” has been rescheduled for January 2014. The tour provided no explanation for the delay, except to say that it comes at the request of the event’s sponsors, a South Korean ball manufacturer and Sky Lake Golf Club in metropolitan Hanoi. The event’s promoter, David Ciclitira of Parallel Media Group, predicted earlier this year that the tournament would show “the strength of professional golf in Asia.” Agence France Presse calls the postponement “the latest unwanted development for the sport in Asia,” as it comes on the heels of the cancellation of the Singapore Open. This isn’t how the Asian Tour expected to celebrate its 10th season.
Can a game that combines golf and soccer give a financial shot in the arm to under-performing golf properties? The game is called FootGolf, and it’s played like golf, except that players kick soccer balls into over-sized cups. For only $4,000, the city of Sacramento, California has established a FootGolf layout at its Haggin Oaks Golf Complex, and it’ll soon open one at its Bing Maloney Golf Course. The Sacramento Business Journal points out that Haggin Oaks’ traditional course mostly attracts men aged 50 and older, while the FootGolf operation attracts kids and young adults of both sexes. “It’s added a whole new element to our business,” said Mike Woods, the course’s director of golf. Woods has determined that the FootGolf track will generate $100,000 in annual revenues if it can average 30 players a day, a number that already seems to be within reach. His challenge now is to convert some of his FootGolf customers, 90 percent of whom have never been on a golf course, into golfers.
The door on Phil Mickelson’s opportunity to buy in FireRock Country Club has officially closed. As expected, the members of the 14-year-old club in Fountain Hills, Arizona have taken possession of what a member calls “an exceptional piece of real estate with arguably the best views in the Phoenix area.” In addition, the new owners have hired the private-club division of Troon Golf to manage their Gary Panks-designed golf course. MCO Properties, which developed FireRock and its accompanying community, walked away with $5.5 million.
The second golf course at Cabot Links is under construction, thanks in part to a loan from the government of Nova Scotia. The province has committed $8.25 million to the venture, on the grounds that it will establish the area as a world-class golf destination and create jobs and new economic opportunities for its residents. “The community of Inverness hit a hole in one with Cabot Links,” the province’s tourism minister said. Golf magazine recently named Cabot Links’ existing course, which opened just last year, as one of the world’s top 100. The forthcoming course, a Coore & Crenshaw design, is scheduled to open in 2015.
After three false starts, Tiger Woods is finally expected to make his architectural debut next summer. Woods’ initial design is emerging at Diamante, a resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico that already features Davis Love III’s highly rated Dunes course. Joe Passov of Golf magazine reports that four of the holes on Woods’ El Cardonal layout have been shaped, and grassing is expected to begin any day. “I call the design style ‘Old California,’” Woods said. Passov doesn’t think Woods has necessarily set out to create a great course, but he believes that the track will be “walkable and playable, with variety and strategy.” Of course, Woods may simply be trying to lower expectations. When it opens, his layout will be as closely scrutinized as Donald Trump’s course in Scotland was.
Officials in Westport, Connecticut have decided to hire a private-sector group to maintain their 18-hole golf course. The town has begun to negotiate a contract with Valley Crest Golf Course Maintenance and could have funding in place sometime next month. “The primary reason for moving to a contract golf management company is the depth of experience they bring,” the town’s parks and recreation director, Stuart McCarthy, told the Westport News. Golf Digest named Longshore Club Park Golf Course as one of the best places to play in America in 2008, but the town has apparently rested on its laurels since then. The News reports that “substandard conditions have become a contentious issue for town golfers.” Longshore’s 5,845-yard track was designed by Orrin Smith and opened in 1922. No details have been announced about the improvements that Valley Crest is expected to make, but a town official told the newspaper that there was “urgency involved in rehabilitating the course.”
Annika Sorenstam, the greatest female golfer of all time, will receive the 2014 Old Tom Morris Award. She’ll be the fifth woman to receive the honor, which has been presented annually since 1983 by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. “Annika thrilled us as a champion golfer and has inspired us through her compassion in giving back to others in a variety of charitable endeavors,” said the GCSAA’s president, Patrick R. Finlen. During her 15-year career, Sorenstam won $22 million. Though she hasn’t played competitively for five years, she still leads the LPGA’s career money list by more than $4 million. In 2013, the GCSAA gave the Old Tom to Michael Hurdzan. The previous female winners were Patty Berg, Nancy Lopez, Judy Rankin, and Dinah Shore.
The company that owns Matchmaker.com has acquired an online dating site for golfers. Avalanche LLC paid an undisclosed amount for Golfmates.com, in large part because the golf demographic mingles nicely with the company’s 17 other dating-related websites. “We paid attention to the likes and interests of our members and discovered that golf was extremely popular,” Meir Strahlberg, the CEO of Avalanche, said in a press release. “Now, under our direction, we will be able to continue to grow the site while offering our current members the opportunity to date, find a relationship, and share their love of golfing.” Avalanche also owns dating websites for Latin and military singles and other niche markets, but its most cleverly named property is a site for Jewish singles, Jewcier.com.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Transactions, august 23, 2013
One by one, the remaining assets of Lehman Brothers are finding new owners. The next to be sold will likely be Ironbridge, a partially built community in Colorado just a short drive from both Vail and Aspen. A local investment group has agreed to purchase the 533-acre spread, which features a 10-year-old, 18-hole golf course. “We think we can do a lot of great things for the neighborhood,” John Young, one of the prospective owners, told the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, “and we have put together a group of investors who believe in this project.” One of those investors partners is Jim Light, who co-owns Roaring Fork Club in nearby Basalt and who’s developed multiple golf properties in Florida, South Carolina, California, and other states. The partners plan to give Ironbridge a new name, Blue Heron Club, to finish its residential build-out, and to take some of the bite out its Arthur Hills-designed golf course. The layout is said to be among the state’s toughest.
A Chinese-owned entity has assumed control of Moon Valley Country Club, in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. C-Bons International Golf Group is contributing $4.5 million to the purchase of the 52-year-old club, according to the Phoenix Business Journal, while the residents of the accompanying community are kicking in $1.5 million. Moon Valley filed for bankruptcy protection last summer. C-Bons appears to be an affiliate of C-Bons Holding (International) Ltd., a conglomerate based in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Forbes has determined that the parent company’s president, Liang Sheng Liang, is worth $590 million. C-Bons, which owns Western Skies Golf Club in nearby Gilbert, has installed Borders Golf Group to manage Moon Valley’s Dick Wilson-designed golf course.
An embattled police pension fund has found a Chinese buyer for its financially challenged golf communities in northwestern Louisiana. Years ago, in actions that provoked outrage among some of its members, the Municipal Police Employees Retirement System paid more than $44 million to buy and renovate Golf Club at StoneBridge in Bossier City and Olde Oaks Golf Course outside Shreveport. Eugene Ji, a Baton Rouge-based consultant on Chinese trade, paid $3 million for the properties, which have been on the market since 2007. “It’s a good price,” Ji told the Baton Rouge Business Report. “It’s a challenge to take something that has been losing for over 10 years and see if we can turn that around.” Ji has no experience in the golf business. MPERS had previously tried to auction the properties but could find no bidders.
The people who own Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China are closing in on the purchase of a resort community in Queensland, Australia. An affiliate of Hong Kong-based Golden Horse Holdings, Ltd. has agreed to buy Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort, a 260-acre property along the Sunshine Coast. Noosa Springs features overnight accommodations, meeting space, eateries, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Graham Papworth. Alan and Phil Starkey, who opened Noosa Springs in 1997, have been trying to sell it for two years. Dragon Lake spreads across 3,460 acres and features a pair of 27-hole golf complexes, at least one of which was designed by Brit Stenson of IMG Golf. Golden Horse is said to be intent on making its presence felt internationally and has recently made investments in Japan, Thailand, and Singapore.
A family of Chinese hoteliers have acquired one of Ireland’s largest and best-known golf properties. The Kang family reportedly paid €20 million ($26.7 million) for Fota Island Resort, a 780-acre spread with three 18-hole golf courses in County Cork. “It’s a real vote of confidence in the Cork economy,” a real estate agent involved in the sale told the Irish Times. John Fleming had reportedly invested more than €90 million (more than $120 million) in Fota Island before he went broke. The Kangs were among several Chinese and Asian groups that showed interest in the property, but the Times reports that the finalists included two entities from Ireland and one from Australia.
The only Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course in Indiana has new owners. Prairie View Golf Club in suburban Indianapolis -- a track that “could exist comfortably in golf meccas such as Pinehurst and Hilton Head,” according to Golf magazine -- has been sold to a group consisting of Gary Aletto and Cohoat & O’Neal Management Corporation. Cohoat & O’Neal operates Woodwind Golf Club in Westfield and The Golf Preserve at Franklin in Frankfort. One of its principals, “Doc” O’Neal, is a former president of Crooked Stick Golf Club and the developer of The Bridgewater Club, two of the capital city’s premier golf properties. Aletto’s group bought the 206-acre property from James F. Ackerman’s Cardinal Golf LLC, which opened the golf course in 1997. The sale was facilitated by Terence Vanek of the National Golf & Resort Properties Group.
A Los Alamitos, California-based plastic surgeon has purchased Arizona Golf Resort in suburban Phoenix. Matthew Luxenberg reportedly paid $6.3 million for the 120-acre property, which includes a 186-room hotel, meeting space, and a Jack Snyder-designed, 18-hole golf course. The seller was LNR Property Corporation, the former investment arm of Lennar Corporation. LNR was recently acquired by Starwood Capital Group. Tidan USA, an affiliate of an investment firm based in Montreal, Canada, paid more than $22 million for the resort in 2007.
The pension fund of an engineers’ union in California has sold 1,200 acres at the Rancho Murieta golf community to a homeowners’ group. Rancho Murieta has 2,500 houses and an equestrian center, but its centerpiece is a country club with a 36-hole golf complex. The new owner, a entity led by developer John Sullivan of Cosumnes River Land, plans to build a to-be-determined number of houses on 700 vacant acres. “People who live here love it,” Sullivan told the Sacramento Bee. Operating Engineers Local 3 uses part of Rancho Murieta as a training ground for operators of heavy construction equipment. Apprentices in the training program built the community’s golf courses, which were designed by Bert Stamps and Ted Robinson. Arnold Palmer redesigned the Stamps course in 1986.
Caesars Entertainment Corporation has officially abandoned its plan to build a casino in Macau. The proof: The debt-riddled, Las Vegas-based company has agreed to sell the site of its planned gaming center. Pearl Dynasty Investments, Ltd. will pay $438 million for the 175-acre Caesars Golf Course, presumably to replace it with houses or some kind of commercial activity. The price seems to be a king’s ransom, but various sources say the site is the last remaining open space on the Cotai Strip and thus has great value. Caesars paid $577 million for what was then known as Orient Golf Club in 2007 (at the time, Caesars was known as Harrah’s), but it couldn’t squeeze a gaming license out of local government officials. Macau the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, and it reportedly generates five times the gambling revenues of the Las Vegas Strip.
A Chinese-owned entity has assumed control of Moon Valley Country Club, in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. C-Bons International Golf Group is contributing $4.5 million to the purchase of the 52-year-old club, according to the Phoenix Business Journal, while the residents of the accompanying community are kicking in $1.5 million. Moon Valley filed for bankruptcy protection last summer. C-Bons appears to be an affiliate of C-Bons Holding (International) Ltd., a conglomerate based in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Forbes has determined that the parent company’s president, Liang Sheng Liang, is worth $590 million. C-Bons, which owns Western Skies Golf Club in nearby Gilbert, has installed Borders Golf Group to manage Moon Valley’s Dick Wilson-designed golf course.
An embattled police pension fund has found a Chinese buyer for its financially challenged golf communities in northwestern Louisiana. Years ago, in actions that provoked outrage among some of its members, the Municipal Police Employees Retirement System paid more than $44 million to buy and renovate Golf Club at StoneBridge in Bossier City and Olde Oaks Golf Course outside Shreveport. Eugene Ji, a Baton Rouge-based consultant on Chinese trade, paid $3 million for the properties, which have been on the market since 2007. “It’s a good price,” Ji told the Baton Rouge Business Report. “It’s a challenge to take something that has been losing for over 10 years and see if we can turn that around.” Ji has no experience in the golf business. MPERS had previously tried to auction the properties but could find no bidders.
The people who own Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China are closing in on the purchase of a resort community in Queensland, Australia. An affiliate of Hong Kong-based Golden Horse Holdings, Ltd. has agreed to buy Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort, a 260-acre property along the Sunshine Coast. Noosa Springs features overnight accommodations, meeting space, eateries, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Graham Papworth. Alan and Phil Starkey, who opened Noosa Springs in 1997, have been trying to sell it for two years. Dragon Lake spreads across 3,460 acres and features a pair of 27-hole golf complexes, at least one of which was designed by Brit Stenson of IMG Golf. Golden Horse is said to be intent on making its presence felt internationally and has recently made investments in Japan, Thailand, and Singapore.
A family of Chinese hoteliers have acquired one of Ireland’s largest and best-known golf properties. The Kang family reportedly paid €20 million ($26.7 million) for Fota Island Resort, a 780-acre spread with three 18-hole golf courses in County Cork. “It’s a real vote of confidence in the Cork economy,” a real estate agent involved in the sale told the Irish Times. John Fleming had reportedly invested more than €90 million (more than $120 million) in Fota Island before he went broke. The Kangs were among several Chinese and Asian groups that showed interest in the property, but the Times reports that the finalists included two entities from Ireland and one from Australia.
The only Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course in Indiana has new owners. Prairie View Golf Club in suburban Indianapolis -- a track that “could exist comfortably in golf meccas such as Pinehurst and Hilton Head,” according to Golf magazine -- has been sold to a group consisting of Gary Aletto and Cohoat & O’Neal Management Corporation. Cohoat & O’Neal operates Woodwind Golf Club in Westfield and The Golf Preserve at Franklin in Frankfort. One of its principals, “Doc” O’Neal, is a former president of Crooked Stick Golf Club and the developer of The Bridgewater Club, two of the capital city’s premier golf properties. Aletto’s group bought the 206-acre property from James F. Ackerman’s Cardinal Golf LLC, which opened the golf course in 1997. The sale was facilitated by Terence Vanek of the National Golf & Resort Properties Group.
A Los Alamitos, California-based plastic surgeon has purchased Arizona Golf Resort in suburban Phoenix. Matthew Luxenberg reportedly paid $6.3 million for the 120-acre property, which includes a 186-room hotel, meeting space, and a Jack Snyder-designed, 18-hole golf course. The seller was LNR Property Corporation, the former investment arm of Lennar Corporation. LNR was recently acquired by Starwood Capital Group. Tidan USA, an affiliate of an investment firm based in Montreal, Canada, paid more than $22 million for the resort in 2007.
The pension fund of an engineers’ union in California has sold 1,200 acres at the Rancho Murieta golf community to a homeowners’ group. Rancho Murieta has 2,500 houses and an equestrian center, but its centerpiece is a country club with a 36-hole golf complex. The new owner, a entity led by developer John Sullivan of Cosumnes River Land, plans to build a to-be-determined number of houses on 700 vacant acres. “People who live here love it,” Sullivan told the Sacramento Bee. Operating Engineers Local 3 uses part of Rancho Murieta as a training ground for operators of heavy construction equipment. Apprentices in the training program built the community’s golf courses, which were designed by Bert Stamps and Ted Robinson. Arnold Palmer redesigned the Stamps course in 1986.
Caesars Entertainment Corporation has officially abandoned its plan to build a casino in Macau. The proof: The debt-riddled, Las Vegas-based company has agreed to sell the site of its planned gaming center. Pearl Dynasty Investments, Ltd. will pay $438 million for the 175-acre Caesars Golf Course, presumably to replace it with houses or some kind of commercial activity. The price seems to be a king’s ransom, but various sources say the site is the last remaining open space on the Cotai Strip and thus has great value. Caesars paid $577 million for what was then known as Orient Golf Club in 2007 (at the time, Caesars was known as Harrah’s), but it couldn’t squeeze a gaming license out of local government officials. Macau the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, and it reportedly generates five times the gambling revenues of the Las Vegas Strip.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
The Week That Was, august 18, 2013
Tim Finchem and his fellow empire builders at the PGA Tour are angling to take control of the financially weak European Tour. “Talks have already taken place at an informal basis,” says the Telegraph, which characterizes Europe as “a golfing wasteland as far as professional events are concerned.” The European Tour, which has been drained of life by the continent’s dreary economies, wasn’t able to fill its schedule this year, and it’s been without a chairman for months. By contrast, the PGA Tour is hale and hearty and seeking new worlds to conquer. It already controls the Canadian Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamerica, and it’ll soon have events in China and Malaysia. In a prepared statement, Finchem called the Telegraph’s report “inaccurate” but didn’t deny the tour’s interest in its European counterpart. He also reiterated his belief that “the integration of professional golf can create additional value for our players, sponsors, and fans.” Translation: A World PGA Tour is inevitable.
After more than a decade of selling hamburgers to hungry Chinese, a former McDonald’s executive has agreed to sell the sizzle of the PGA Tour. Greg Gilligan has agreed to become the managing director of PGA Tour (Beijing) Management Consulting Company, Ltd., which appears to be a newly created entity. He’ll coordinate his marketing and outreach efforts with the tour’s international business affairs and global commerce groups. “We consider China to be an important market for golf and the PGA Tour and believe this is the right time to make an increased commitment to the marketplace,” Tim Finchem, the tour’s commissioner, said in a press release. “We know that establishing a consistent presence in Beijing will enhance our existing business relationships and help to establish new ones.” Gilligan, who speaks fluent Mandarin, has worked in the People’s Republic for 16 years. He’s also served as the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
While golf’s institutional powers ponder ways to make golf fun, the British firm that combined a practice center with a party scene may be coming to a town near you. TopGolf International, Inc., which counts Callaway Golf Company among its investors, has hit on a winning formula by blending elements of a driving range, a video game, a bar, a restaurant, and a concert hall. Its six existing facilities in Texas, Virginia, and Illinois are a proven hit with teenagers, young adults (especially young adult men), and families, so it’s laid plans to open two more this year and perhaps a dozen in 2014. “TopGolf has aggressive expansion plans,” a company spokesperson told a business publication in Sacramento, California, a likely future location. One other thing: No experience is necessary at TopGolf. More than half of the players at the firm’s facilities don’t consider themselves to be golfers.
Fears over health threats posed by Chinese food are reverberating around the planet, and they’re having a direct impact on golf courses in Hong Kong. Two years ago, the land-scarce territory hatched a plan to build much-needed housing on some of its last remaining farms. Now, after concluding that their primary food supplier can’t be trusted, local residents are thinking that it might be wise to preserve those farms and do the construction on government-owned property currently occupied by Hong Kong Golf Club’s trio of 18-hole courses. The 440-acre site could yield more than 100,000 units. Local elected officials have passed a non-binding motion to develop the property, but the club’s wealthy, well-connected members may be able to avoid extinction by pulling a few strings in the halls of power. Besides, if the club were to close, the future of the Hong Kong Open, one of Asia’s premier annual golf events and an attractive promotional tool for the city, would be in jeopardy.
The new owners of Newport Dunes at Palmilla Beach have hired Troon Golf to manage their Arnold Palmer-designed golf course. Koontz McCombs, a development group founded by Red McCombs, bought the moribund, 722-acre community in Port Aransas, Texas earlier this year. The property’s master plan calls for the construction of waterfront houses, three hotels, meeting space, and other attractions. A clubhouse is under construction and scheduled to open sometime this fall. “Our goal is to create an extraordinary golf experience at Newport Dunes at Palmilla Beach,” Bart Koontz, the company’s CEO, said in a press release. “We think that Troon is the perfect partner to manage the course, as they bring an unparalleled level of expertise and experience in the golf business.” Troon manages more than 200 golf properties in 30 U.S. states and 27 foreign nations. It has six other properties in Texas, including Cimarron Hills Golf & Country Club in Georgetown, the Rawls Course at Texas Tech in Lubbock, and the Resort at Tapatio Springs in Boerne.
The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, whose seven golf courses have been ailing since the onset of the Great Recession, has hired a consultant to diagnose the trouble and, hopefully, find a cure. Don’t expect a miracle, though. Like other municipalities, Minneapolis is stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Its courses need costly capital improvements but no longer generate the income to pay for them. “It’s long overdue,” the superintendent of the city’s park board said of the operations audit being conducted by Jim Keegan. “We’ve not invested in the golf courses. We haven’t changed who we’ve served.” Keegan, of Castle Rock, Colorado-based Golf Convergence, has already identified one major problem. Golf, he told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, ranks 15th on local residents’ favorite recreational activities.
The world is collapsing around Jeff Silverstein’s golf operation in greater Charlotte, North Carolina. Last month, Birkdale Golf Club had to close briefly due to non-payment of state taxes. Now, Skybrook Golf Club and Charlotte Golf Links have been taken over by court-appointed receivers and appear to be headed to foreclosure. In addition, lawsuits have been filed by parties seeking payment for overdue bills, and the U.S. Department of Labor is reportedly investigating employee complaints about unpaid wages. Skybrook and the Links are currently being managed by Billy Casper Golf, which will stabilize their operations and prepare them for a likely sale. “We’re getting our arms around the situation,” BCG’s Rich Katz told the Charlotte Observer. Silverstein, the principal of IRI Golf Group and other entities, has faced similar problems with his courses in Texas and Arizona and managed to overcome them. Can he do it again?
Just months after a $125,000 embezzlement scheme was settled, the members of Oakmont Golf Club have hired KemperSports to manage their property. The semiprivate club, which features a pair of 18-hole, Ted Robinson-designed courses, is the centerpiece of a seniors-only community in Santa Rosa, California. Fairfield Homes, the community’s developer, opened Oakmont as a private club in the early 1960s. Steve Skinner, the CEO of KemperSports, calls Oakmont club “a property with a rich history in the local market,” but many of the club’s members would like to forget parts of it. For 14 months, beginning in 2011, they were victimized by a golf operations manager who was later sentenced to a year in prison. Before KemperSports’ arrival, Oakmont had been managed for nearly a decade by Empire Golf.
Citing information provided by Mindshare’s Global Sports Index, China Daily reports that there are 39.7 million “TV viewers of golf” in China, “a bigger golf audience than the United Kingdom and the United States combined.” To put this number in perspective, NBC’s Sunday broadcast of this year’s U.S. Open attracted 8.4 million viewers, the largest number since 2007.
After more than a decade of selling hamburgers to hungry Chinese, a former McDonald’s executive has agreed to sell the sizzle of the PGA Tour. Greg Gilligan has agreed to become the managing director of PGA Tour (Beijing) Management Consulting Company, Ltd., which appears to be a newly created entity. He’ll coordinate his marketing and outreach efforts with the tour’s international business affairs and global commerce groups. “We consider China to be an important market for golf and the PGA Tour and believe this is the right time to make an increased commitment to the marketplace,” Tim Finchem, the tour’s commissioner, said in a press release. “We know that establishing a consistent presence in Beijing will enhance our existing business relationships and help to establish new ones.” Gilligan, who speaks fluent Mandarin, has worked in the People’s Republic for 16 years. He’s also served as the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
While golf’s institutional powers ponder ways to make golf fun, the British firm that combined a practice center with a party scene may be coming to a town near you. TopGolf International, Inc., which counts Callaway Golf Company among its investors, has hit on a winning formula by blending elements of a driving range, a video game, a bar, a restaurant, and a concert hall. Its six existing facilities in Texas, Virginia, and Illinois are a proven hit with teenagers, young adults (especially young adult men), and families, so it’s laid plans to open two more this year and perhaps a dozen in 2014. “TopGolf has aggressive expansion plans,” a company spokesperson told a business publication in Sacramento, California, a likely future location. One other thing: No experience is necessary at TopGolf. More than half of the players at the firm’s facilities don’t consider themselves to be golfers.
Fears over health threats posed by Chinese food are reverberating around the planet, and they’re having a direct impact on golf courses in Hong Kong. Two years ago, the land-scarce territory hatched a plan to build much-needed housing on some of its last remaining farms. Now, after concluding that their primary food supplier can’t be trusted, local residents are thinking that it might be wise to preserve those farms and do the construction on government-owned property currently occupied by Hong Kong Golf Club’s trio of 18-hole courses. The 440-acre site could yield more than 100,000 units. Local elected officials have passed a non-binding motion to develop the property, but the club’s wealthy, well-connected members may be able to avoid extinction by pulling a few strings in the halls of power. Besides, if the club were to close, the future of the Hong Kong Open, one of Asia’s premier annual golf events and an attractive promotional tool for the city, would be in jeopardy.
The new owners of Newport Dunes at Palmilla Beach have hired Troon Golf to manage their Arnold Palmer-designed golf course. Koontz McCombs, a development group founded by Red McCombs, bought the moribund, 722-acre community in Port Aransas, Texas earlier this year. The property’s master plan calls for the construction of waterfront houses, three hotels, meeting space, and other attractions. A clubhouse is under construction and scheduled to open sometime this fall. “Our goal is to create an extraordinary golf experience at Newport Dunes at Palmilla Beach,” Bart Koontz, the company’s CEO, said in a press release. “We think that Troon is the perfect partner to manage the course, as they bring an unparalleled level of expertise and experience in the golf business.” Troon manages more than 200 golf properties in 30 U.S. states and 27 foreign nations. It has six other properties in Texas, including Cimarron Hills Golf & Country Club in Georgetown, the Rawls Course at Texas Tech in Lubbock, and the Resort at Tapatio Springs in Boerne.
The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, whose seven golf courses have been ailing since the onset of the Great Recession, has hired a consultant to diagnose the trouble and, hopefully, find a cure. Don’t expect a miracle, though. Like other municipalities, Minneapolis is stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Its courses need costly capital improvements but no longer generate the income to pay for them. “It’s long overdue,” the superintendent of the city’s park board said of the operations audit being conducted by Jim Keegan. “We’ve not invested in the golf courses. We haven’t changed who we’ve served.” Keegan, of Castle Rock, Colorado-based Golf Convergence, has already identified one major problem. Golf, he told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, ranks 15th on local residents’ favorite recreational activities.
The world is collapsing around Jeff Silverstein’s golf operation in greater Charlotte, North Carolina. Last month, Birkdale Golf Club had to close briefly due to non-payment of state taxes. Now, Skybrook Golf Club and Charlotte Golf Links have been taken over by court-appointed receivers and appear to be headed to foreclosure. In addition, lawsuits have been filed by parties seeking payment for overdue bills, and the U.S. Department of Labor is reportedly investigating employee complaints about unpaid wages. Skybrook and the Links are currently being managed by Billy Casper Golf, which will stabilize their operations and prepare them for a likely sale. “We’re getting our arms around the situation,” BCG’s Rich Katz told the Charlotte Observer. Silverstein, the principal of IRI Golf Group and other entities, has faced similar problems with his courses in Texas and Arizona and managed to overcome them. Can he do it again?
Just months after a $125,000 embezzlement scheme was settled, the members of Oakmont Golf Club have hired KemperSports to manage their property. The semiprivate club, which features a pair of 18-hole, Ted Robinson-designed courses, is the centerpiece of a seniors-only community in Santa Rosa, California. Fairfield Homes, the community’s developer, opened Oakmont as a private club in the early 1960s. Steve Skinner, the CEO of KemperSports, calls Oakmont club “a property with a rich history in the local market,” but many of the club’s members would like to forget parts of it. For 14 months, beginning in 2011, they were victimized by a golf operations manager who was later sentenced to a year in prison. Before KemperSports’ arrival, Oakmont had been managed for nearly a decade by Empire Golf.
Citing information provided by Mindshare’s Global Sports Index, China Daily reports that there are 39.7 million “TV viewers of golf” in China, “a bigger golf audience than the United Kingdom and the United States combined.” To put this number in perspective, NBC’s Sunday broadcast of this year’s U.S. Open attracted 8.4 million viewers, the largest number since 2007.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Vital Signs, august 16, 2013
A warning from the National Golf Foundation: The swelling population of retiring baby boomers isn’t going to give golf operations a significant bump. “Golf courses and golf businesses should curb their expectations,” the NGF advises, “because this generation of retirees may not be golfing as much as their predecessors.” To be sure, the NGF isn’t telling us to turn out the lights because the party is over. But not so long ago, the group believed that advancing armies of baby boomers would lift golf to dreamy heights. Today, the impact of the baby boomers “is expected to be less than we hoped for.” So how can golf courses generate more play? According to the NGF, there’s only one route out of our current predicament. “In order for the industry to sustain success and enjoy future growth,” it says, “it is vital for golf businesses to focus on increasing frequency of play by current golfers and getting new golfers to play the game.” Yes, it’s a message we’ve heard many times previously. And still, it doesn’t seem as if anyone is listening.
If our business truly seeks growth, it might start by focusing on female golfers. Women are more than half of the U.S. population, but they make up only 19.3 percent of our golfers and they play only 16.6 percent of our rounds. Could it be that the good old boys who run golf can’t see the opportunity right under their noses?
Although the number of rounds played is falling in this weather-dreary year, the National Golf Foundation has concluded that “most of the signs are positive” for golf equipment manufacturers. Wholesale shipments of golf clubs increased in 2012 and they were up again in the first quarter of 2013 -- units by 1 percent, revenues by 9 percent. “Golfers, like consumers in general, seem to be moving on from the recession,” the NGF believes, “and signs point towards maintained spending in the future.” In fact, the NGF is wondering if it may be time “to lose the recessionary mindset and become more bullish on the prospect for increasing sales.” A year ago, on the heels of a welcome boost in bottom lines throughout the industry, such a suggestion might have been accepted far and wide. This year, with rounds down by double digits and people wondering if 2012 was a mirage, it’s a much harder sell.
Traveling golfers have become a vital component of Ireland’s tourism business. Research from Fáilte Ireland indicates that 163,000 vacationers played golf in Ireland last year, contributing €202 million ($269.4 million) to the nation’s economy. Since 2009, in fact, Ireland’s golf tourism has grown at an average rate of 6 percent a year while tourism in general has fallen by 3 percent. “Golf is already an important part of the tourism industry,” the nation’s minister of tourism and sport said in a press release, “and there’s room to increase revenue further.” Fáilte Ireland has also determined that golfers spend more than twice the amount of other vacationers and that North Americans are, on average, the biggest spenders, dropping roughly €1,800 ($2,400) during their visits.
It appears that Nebraska’s golf contractors were plenty busy this summer. The town of Sidney, which had hoped to make improvements to its municipal golf course, received just one response to its request for proposals. “We thought there would be guys who were hungry for work,” Andy Staples, a golf course architect, told the Sidney Sun-Telegraph. “It turns out that not only are these guys not hungry for work, they’re overloaded and could not commit to this project.” The town has set a new construction schedule and plans to reissue its RFP.
Sometime this year, South Korea’s golf industry is expected to reach a milestone: the opening of its 500th golf course. At the end of last year, according to the Korea Leisure Industry Institute, the nation had 468 courses, up from 440 in 2011 and 369 in 2009. What’s more, the amount of play at South Korea’s courses is increasing. The Korea Times reports that 27.6 million people “visited” public and membership courses in 2012, up from 26.5 million in 2011 and 25.5 million in 2009. Presumably, they played at least one round during their visits.
Ready to retire? Looking for a great place to live? Have you considered Ecuador? Yes, again this year the land of the Incas checks in as International Living’s top spot for retirees. Although Ecuador may not have any golf courses worth relocating for (it has only seven or eight in total), the next four nations on the magazine’s list -- Panama, Malaysia, Mexico, and Costa Rica -- offer numerous golf opportunities, not to mention a low cost of living and decent medical care.
If our business truly seeks growth, it might start by focusing on female golfers. Women are more than half of the U.S. population, but they make up only 19.3 percent of our golfers and they play only 16.6 percent of our rounds. Could it be that the good old boys who run golf can’t see the opportunity right under their noses?
Although the number of rounds played is falling in this weather-dreary year, the National Golf Foundation has concluded that “most of the signs are positive” for golf equipment manufacturers. Wholesale shipments of golf clubs increased in 2012 and they were up again in the first quarter of 2013 -- units by 1 percent, revenues by 9 percent. “Golfers, like consumers in general, seem to be moving on from the recession,” the NGF believes, “and signs point towards maintained spending in the future.” In fact, the NGF is wondering if it may be time “to lose the recessionary mindset and become more bullish on the prospect for increasing sales.” A year ago, on the heels of a welcome boost in bottom lines throughout the industry, such a suggestion might have been accepted far and wide. This year, with rounds down by double digits and people wondering if 2012 was a mirage, it’s a much harder sell.
Traveling golfers have become a vital component of Ireland’s tourism business. Research from Fáilte Ireland indicates that 163,000 vacationers played golf in Ireland last year, contributing €202 million ($269.4 million) to the nation’s economy. Since 2009, in fact, Ireland’s golf tourism has grown at an average rate of 6 percent a year while tourism in general has fallen by 3 percent. “Golf is already an important part of the tourism industry,” the nation’s minister of tourism and sport said in a press release, “and there’s room to increase revenue further.” Fáilte Ireland has also determined that golfers spend more than twice the amount of other vacationers and that North Americans are, on average, the biggest spenders, dropping roughly €1,800 ($2,400) during their visits.
It appears that Nebraska’s golf contractors were plenty busy this summer. The town of Sidney, which had hoped to make improvements to its municipal golf course, received just one response to its request for proposals. “We thought there would be guys who were hungry for work,” Andy Staples, a golf course architect, told the Sidney Sun-Telegraph. “It turns out that not only are these guys not hungry for work, they’re overloaded and could not commit to this project.” The town has set a new construction schedule and plans to reissue its RFP.
Sometime this year, South Korea’s golf industry is expected to reach a milestone: the opening of its 500th golf course. At the end of last year, according to the Korea Leisure Industry Institute, the nation had 468 courses, up from 440 in 2011 and 369 in 2009. What’s more, the amount of play at South Korea’s courses is increasing. The Korea Times reports that 27.6 million people “visited” public and membership courses in 2012, up from 26.5 million in 2011 and 25.5 million in 2009. Presumably, they played at least one round during their visits.
Ready to retire? Looking for a great place to live? Have you considered Ecuador? Yes, again this year the land of the Incas checks in as International Living’s top spot for retirees. Although Ecuador may not have any golf courses worth relocating for (it has only seven or eight in total), the next four nations on the magazine’s list -- Panama, Malaysia, Mexico, and Costa Rica -- offer numerous golf opportunities, not to mention a low cost of living and decent medical care.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
The Week That Was, august 11, 2013
The people who conceived and aired professional ice hockey’s failed experiment with a glowing blue puck have come to the golf business. As part of an effort to stock its forthcoming sports network with live programming, Fox Sports has purchased the rights to broadcast the U.S. Golf Association’s national championships, including the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women’s Open, and the U.S. Senior Open. The contract, which runs for 12 years, begins in 2015. “The decision is consistent with our strategy for delivering golf in new and innovative ways, which can be achieved with a partner that has a completely fresh perspective on the game,” a spokesperson for the USGA wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press. More importantly, Fox Sports put enough money on the table to get the USGA’s complete attention. The exact amount hasn’t been announced, although some reports say it could be $100 million a year, an amount that dwarfs what the USGA has been collecting. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says that the USGA’s current television partners, NBC Sports and ESPN, are paying roughly $37 million annually, while other news sources estimate the number to be in the neighborhood of $50 million. Is it too soon to wonder exactly how the USGA will spend the money from this windfall?
You could see this one coming a mile away: Fox Sports wants Greg Norman, who never met a camera he didn’t like, to be the face of its golf programming. “Yes, they have offered me the job,” Norman wrote in an e-mail to Golf Digest. Norman, whose conservative politics and steadfast support for freewheeling capitalism have made him a Fox favorite, is said to be in the midst of contract negotiations. Don’t expect a hitch, because these guys were made for each other.
The number of rounds played at U.S. golf facilities during the first half of this year was down by 9.7 percent from the number posted in 2012. Every type of golf facility -- private courses, daily fee courses, resort courses, municipal courses -- showed a decline in play, according to PGA PerformanceTrak, and the industry’s overall revenues were down by 6.9 percent. Only six states, five of them western states, managed to register increases in the number of rounds played. “It is clear the below-average weather at the start of the typical golf season had an impact on year-to-date performance,” the group’s June newsletter concludes. Where do we go from here?
If you thought Donald Trump’s golden touch and impeccable taste were all Doral needed to restore its fading image, maybe you don’t appreciate how great the place would be with a smoke-filled, whiskey-scented casino. “If gambling ever comes to Florida,” Trump told the Tampa Bay Times, “Doral is the single best location.” The PGA Tour may not agree, but Trump will cross that bridge when he comes to it. For now, he’s put a well-connected lobbyist on retainer to present his case to the state’s legislators. “If Miami doesn’t do casinos,” Trump believes, “that would be a terrible mistake.” You stay classy, Donald Trump.
GolfNow, the Golf Channel’s tee-time reservation service, is growing the old-fashioned way: by buying up its competitors. GolfNow has purchased a British service, BRS Golf, which reportedly books for more than 750 golf properties in the United Kingdom and Ireland. GolfNow works for more than 5,000 golf courses in six countries and says that it took reservations for more than 8 million rounds of golf last year. “The addition of BRS Golf represents a significant step in expanding GolfNow’s ability to help golf courses market and operate more efficiently,” Jeff Foster of GolfNow said in a press release. The terms of the transaction are being kept secret. Online discounters such as GolfNow and BRS account for 14 percent of the tee times booked these days, according to Forbes, a number that suggests a myriad of opportunities for growth. My question: Are they helping the world’s courses stay financially afloat or slowly sinking them?
Golfsmith International has licensed the use of its name to a company that wants to open a few golf retail shops in and around Seoul, Korea. The local partner is Golfzon Company, a manufacturer of golf simulators that’s now apparently looking to diversify. “We look forward to a long and prosperous partnership that will deliver a unique customer experience,” Golfzon’s CEO, Kim Young-chan, said in a press release. Unfortunately, the prospects for golf retailing in South Korea aren’t nearly as bright as they used to be. Thanks to an ailing economy and an aging population, South Koreans are playing less than they used to, and that inevitably translates into fewer sales of equipment and apparel. Could this venture be a classic example of a company being a day late and a dollar short?
A 710-acre site in the Whitsundays, a gateway to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and other vacation destinations on coastal Queensland, is slated to become a resort community with an 18-hole golf course. The community will be called Regatta Waters, and it’ll have an 18-hole golf course designed by Graham Papworth. Links Living, the property’s previous owner, had hired Papworth to design the golf course for a community it was calling Whitsunday Springs. The Whitsunday Times says that Papworth’s challenge at Regatta Waters will be “to strike a balance between providing a rewarding golfing experience with the demands of the surrounding residential community.” The demands may be substantial, for Latitude aims to build as many as 2,500 housing units.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the May 2013 and June 2013 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
By and large, the first course at Trump International Golf Links Scotland has received favorable, even enthusiastic reviews. But that was before John Paul Newport of the Wall Street Journal made his tee time. Newport has some quibbles with a few aspects of Martin Hawtree’s design, but his true gripe is with the owner’s quest to create a flawless layout. “My main issue is that Trump International isn’t a quirky little ancient links,” he writes. “One of the main joys of playing golf in Scotland is to escape the American-style obsession with trying to make everything perfect as possible.” The way Newport sees it, Trump International’s course comes up short when compared with many ancient Scottish links -- Cruden Bay, Royal Dornoch, and North Berwick among them -- as well as a few courses of recent vintage, namely Kingsbarns, Castle Stuart, and Renaissance Club. While some may think it’s the world’s greatest golf course, for Newport it’s not even the best course in Aberdeenshire.
It’s been a nearly month since the Royal & Ancient promised to review its policy on whether all-male clubs -- Muirfield, Royal Troon, Royal St. George’s -- should be rewarded with golf’s premier professional events, in particular the Open Championship. “We will have a good look at what people are saying and try to take a view about all of this and find the most sensible way forward,” Peter Dawson, the organization’s main decider, said in a comment published by USA Today. So far, though, we haven’t heard a peep from the R&A on this issue. Dawson is probably working on it really diligently, though.
You could see this one coming a mile away: Fox Sports wants Greg Norman, who never met a camera he didn’t like, to be the face of its golf programming. “Yes, they have offered me the job,” Norman wrote in an e-mail to Golf Digest. Norman, whose conservative politics and steadfast support for freewheeling capitalism have made him a Fox favorite, is said to be in the midst of contract negotiations. Don’t expect a hitch, because these guys were made for each other.
The number of rounds played at U.S. golf facilities during the first half of this year was down by 9.7 percent from the number posted in 2012. Every type of golf facility -- private courses, daily fee courses, resort courses, municipal courses -- showed a decline in play, according to PGA PerformanceTrak, and the industry’s overall revenues were down by 6.9 percent. Only six states, five of them western states, managed to register increases in the number of rounds played. “It is clear the below-average weather at the start of the typical golf season had an impact on year-to-date performance,” the group’s June newsletter concludes. Where do we go from here?
If you thought Donald Trump’s golden touch and impeccable taste were all Doral needed to restore its fading image, maybe you don’t appreciate how great the place would be with a smoke-filled, whiskey-scented casino. “If gambling ever comes to Florida,” Trump told the Tampa Bay Times, “Doral is the single best location.” The PGA Tour may not agree, but Trump will cross that bridge when he comes to it. For now, he’s put a well-connected lobbyist on retainer to present his case to the state’s legislators. “If Miami doesn’t do casinos,” Trump believes, “that would be a terrible mistake.” You stay classy, Donald Trump.
GolfNow, the Golf Channel’s tee-time reservation service, is growing the old-fashioned way: by buying up its competitors. GolfNow has purchased a British service, BRS Golf, which reportedly books for more than 750 golf properties in the United Kingdom and Ireland. GolfNow works for more than 5,000 golf courses in six countries and says that it took reservations for more than 8 million rounds of golf last year. “The addition of BRS Golf represents a significant step in expanding GolfNow’s ability to help golf courses market and operate more efficiently,” Jeff Foster of GolfNow said in a press release. The terms of the transaction are being kept secret. Online discounters such as GolfNow and BRS account for 14 percent of the tee times booked these days, according to Forbes, a number that suggests a myriad of opportunities for growth. My question: Are they helping the world’s courses stay financially afloat or slowly sinking them?
Golfsmith International has licensed the use of its name to a company that wants to open a few golf retail shops in and around Seoul, Korea. The local partner is Golfzon Company, a manufacturer of golf simulators that’s now apparently looking to diversify. “We look forward to a long and prosperous partnership that will deliver a unique customer experience,” Golfzon’s CEO, Kim Young-chan, said in a press release. Unfortunately, the prospects for golf retailing in South Korea aren’t nearly as bright as they used to be. Thanks to an ailing economy and an aging population, South Koreans are playing less than they used to, and that inevitably translates into fewer sales of equipment and apparel. Could this venture be a classic example of a company being a day late and a dollar short?
A 710-acre site in the Whitsundays, a gateway to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and other vacation destinations on coastal Queensland, is slated to become a resort community with an 18-hole golf course. The community will be called Regatta Waters, and it’ll have an 18-hole golf course designed by Graham Papworth. Links Living, the property’s previous owner, had hired Papworth to design the golf course for a community it was calling Whitsunday Springs. The Whitsunday Times says that Papworth’s challenge at Regatta Waters will be “to strike a balance between providing a rewarding golfing experience with the demands of the surrounding residential community.” The demands may be substantial, for Latitude aims to build as many as 2,500 housing units.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the May 2013 and June 2013 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
By and large, the first course at Trump International Golf Links Scotland has received favorable, even enthusiastic reviews. But that was before John Paul Newport of the Wall Street Journal made his tee time. Newport has some quibbles with a few aspects of Martin Hawtree’s design, but his true gripe is with the owner’s quest to create a flawless layout. “My main issue is that Trump International isn’t a quirky little ancient links,” he writes. “One of the main joys of playing golf in Scotland is to escape the American-style obsession with trying to make everything perfect as possible.” The way Newport sees it, Trump International’s course comes up short when compared with many ancient Scottish links -- Cruden Bay, Royal Dornoch, and North Berwick among them -- as well as a few courses of recent vintage, namely Kingsbarns, Castle Stuart, and Renaissance Club. While some may think it’s the world’s greatest golf course, for Newport it’s not even the best course in Aberdeenshire.
It’s been a nearly month since the Royal & Ancient promised to review its policy on whether all-male clubs -- Muirfield, Royal Troon, Royal St. George’s -- should be rewarded with golf’s premier professional events, in particular the Open Championship. “We will have a good look at what people are saying and try to take a view about all of this and find the most sensible way forward,” Peter Dawson, the organization’s main decider, said in a comment published by USA Today. So far, though, we haven’t heard a peep from the R&A on this issue. Dawson is probably working on it really diligently, though.
Friday, August 9, 2013
The Pipeline, august 9, 2013
With the development of TPC Beijing looking more and more like a lost cause, the PGA Tour has settled on a new location for its first golf property in the People’s Republic. The tour is negotiating with an unnamed group to establish the facility in Shanghai, the world’s largest city and an appropriate stage for high-profile professional tournaments. The centerpiece of TPC Shanghai will be a golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and construction is set to begin as soon contracts are signed. What all this means is that TPC Beijing, which was to feature a Gil Hanse-designed course, is on its way to becoming a distant memory. “It’s pretty much a non-existing project,” reports Steve Wenzloff, the tour’s vice president of design services. Presuming it actually comes to life, TPC Shanghai will be just the second Tournament Players Club to be licensed outside the United States. The other one is in Cancun, Mexico.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the June 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The new owners of Rochester Place Golf Club, in Belle River, Ontario, have hired Jeff Mingay to scope out forthcoming improvements to their 18-hole golf course. Paul St. Pierre and his brother, Guy, believe that Mingay, an architect with minimalist sympathies, can put the 34-year-old course “on par with some of the region’s best golf clubs,” says the Windsor Star. Paul St. Pierre told the newspaper that Mingay will “develop the entire new look of the course” and that “it’s going to be pretty easy for us to make this an interesting golf course.” Mingay, who’s based in nearby Windsor, apprenticed with Rod Whitman and has had a hand in several high-profile Canadian courses, including Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club in British Columbia and Cabot Links in Nova Scotia.
The property owners at Old Bahama Bay say that their Arnold Palmer-designed course is getting “rave reviews” from their friends and neighbors who’ve given it a test run. And while they still don’t know when the long overdue course will open to the public, they promise that it’ll eventually be “the crown jewel of Caribbean golf.” Old Bahama Bay, which occupies 225 acres in a remote part of Grand Bahama Island, was once part of Ginn sur Mer, a venture that flamed out with the rest of Bobby Ginn’s mini-empire. Once upon a time, Palmer’s course was to be complemented by a Jack Nicklaus “signature” layout, but these days that venture feels like a dream that will never come true.
What’s India’s next major golf destination? The state of Gujarat, if you believe the Indian Golf Union. These days Gujarat has 14 courses, according to the Times of India, but the IGU, as part of its mission to grow the game, hopes state officials can be persuaded to allocate land for the development of several new public layouts. “Gujarat is definitely taking a lead in golf,” the IGU’s director general, A Parmar, told the newspaper. “Golfing activities have picked up in the state, with youngsters showing keen interest in the sport.” Before the state makes property available, however, the IGU needs to overcome a major obstacle: golf’s image in India. The Times, like virtually all of India’s media, believes golf is “the game rich people play,” and government officials are always reluctant to support such enterprises.
Government officials in Vietnam have updated the nation’s golf inventory. Vietnam currently has 29 operating courses, they say, along with 22 under construction and 29 others that have been approved but not yet begun. The nation’s agreed-upon limit is 90 courses.
Subrata Roy, the Indian billionaire, dispatched underlings to Macedonia last month, to hammer out details related to the “Dubai-like summer resort complex” he aims to build on 600 acres in and around the village of Ljubanista, near Lake Ohrid. The nation’s finance minister didn’t appear to be especially pleased with the outcome of the meetings -- “We’ve managed to solve some dilemmas and to reach an agreement on certain things,” he noted dryly -- but he nonetheless believes that construction will begin next year. Roy’s venture, which Radio Free Europe has described as being “opulent and ambitious,” is being called Saharayan Makeeduniya, or Saharaja Macedonia. At build-out, it’ll include several casinos and “world-class hotels” (including a “floating hotel”), a lakefront entertainment district, houses, a marina, a spa, and an “international-standard” golf course.
Some information in the previous post originally appeared in the January 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
In Heath, Texas, an eastern suburb of Dallas, a 791-acre resort community is winding its way through the entitlement process. “What we’re trying to do here,” a councilmember told the Rockwall Herald Banner, “is come up with a first-class development.” Heath Golf & Yacht Club, which has frontage along Lake Ray Hubbard, has been master-planned to include 1,227 housing units and a 27-hole golf complex. Its developer, Rob Whittle, had hoped to break ground on the community this fall, but he’s received resistance from residents who object to the amount of public money that would be invested into his venture. In response, the city has taken the bold move of delaying its vote on the public improvement district that Whittle wants it to create.
This fall, after at least four years in the entitlement process, Leonhard Astl hopes to finally break ground on his 18-hole golf course in Walchsee, Austria. Moarhof Golf Club will take shape in a grassy mountain valley roughly 40 miles west of Salzburg, on property leased from farmers. Scot Sherman, one of the course’s co-designers, has called the site “one of the most beautiful I have ever seen anywhere,” and he believes the course can be built without moving a lot of earth. “We are lucky to work with land where many golf holes are just there,” he noted in a press release. Sherman and his design partner, Swedish golf pro Anders Forsbrand, expect the construction to stretch over several seasons.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the April 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Any day now, the Nicklaus Design course at Penati Golf Resort in Slovakia will get a companion: a layout designed by Jonathan Davison of Create Golf. Penati, which was originally called Gold Golf & Country Club, is emerging on 300 acres in Senica, a town roughly 60 miles north of Bratislava, the nation’s capital, and it aims to become “the best golf resort in Central Europe.” Last fall, Davison said that his course was taking shape on property that has “every ingredient a golf course architect dreams about,” including a sand base, and that it would “leave a lasting impression on anyone who plays it.” If the Slovak Golf Association’s accounting is accurate, Penati is the nation’s 12th golf property.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the June 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The new owners of Rochester Place Golf Club, in Belle River, Ontario, have hired Jeff Mingay to scope out forthcoming improvements to their 18-hole golf course. Paul St. Pierre and his brother, Guy, believe that Mingay, an architect with minimalist sympathies, can put the 34-year-old course “on par with some of the region’s best golf clubs,” says the Windsor Star. Paul St. Pierre told the newspaper that Mingay will “develop the entire new look of the course” and that “it’s going to be pretty easy for us to make this an interesting golf course.” Mingay, who’s based in nearby Windsor, apprenticed with Rod Whitman and has had a hand in several high-profile Canadian courses, including Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club in British Columbia and Cabot Links in Nova Scotia.
The property owners at Old Bahama Bay say that their Arnold Palmer-designed course is getting “rave reviews” from their friends and neighbors who’ve given it a test run. And while they still don’t know when the long overdue course will open to the public, they promise that it’ll eventually be “the crown jewel of Caribbean golf.” Old Bahama Bay, which occupies 225 acres in a remote part of Grand Bahama Island, was once part of Ginn sur Mer, a venture that flamed out with the rest of Bobby Ginn’s mini-empire. Once upon a time, Palmer’s course was to be complemented by a Jack Nicklaus “signature” layout, but these days that venture feels like a dream that will never come true.
What’s India’s next major golf destination? The state of Gujarat, if you believe the Indian Golf Union. These days Gujarat has 14 courses, according to the Times of India, but the IGU, as part of its mission to grow the game, hopes state officials can be persuaded to allocate land for the development of several new public layouts. “Gujarat is definitely taking a lead in golf,” the IGU’s director general, A Parmar, told the newspaper. “Golfing activities have picked up in the state, with youngsters showing keen interest in the sport.” Before the state makes property available, however, the IGU needs to overcome a major obstacle: golf’s image in India. The Times, like virtually all of India’s media, believes golf is “the game rich people play,” and government officials are always reluctant to support such enterprises.
Government officials in Vietnam have updated the nation’s golf inventory. Vietnam currently has 29 operating courses, they say, along with 22 under construction and 29 others that have been approved but not yet begun. The nation’s agreed-upon limit is 90 courses.
Subrata Roy, the Indian billionaire, dispatched underlings to Macedonia last month, to hammer out details related to the “Dubai-like summer resort complex” he aims to build on 600 acres in and around the village of Ljubanista, near Lake Ohrid. The nation’s finance minister didn’t appear to be especially pleased with the outcome of the meetings -- “We’ve managed to solve some dilemmas and to reach an agreement on certain things,” he noted dryly -- but he nonetheless believes that construction will begin next year. Roy’s venture, which Radio Free Europe has described as being “opulent and ambitious,” is being called Saharayan Makeeduniya, or Saharaja Macedonia. At build-out, it’ll include several casinos and “world-class hotels” (including a “floating hotel”), a lakefront entertainment district, houses, a marina, a spa, and an “international-standard” golf course.
Some information in the previous post originally appeared in the January 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
In Heath, Texas, an eastern suburb of Dallas, a 791-acre resort community is winding its way through the entitlement process. “What we’re trying to do here,” a councilmember told the Rockwall Herald Banner, “is come up with a first-class development.” Heath Golf & Yacht Club, which has frontage along Lake Ray Hubbard, has been master-planned to include 1,227 housing units and a 27-hole golf complex. Its developer, Rob Whittle, had hoped to break ground on the community this fall, but he’s received resistance from residents who object to the amount of public money that would be invested into his venture. In response, the city has taken the bold move of delaying its vote on the public improvement district that Whittle wants it to create.
This fall, after at least four years in the entitlement process, Leonhard Astl hopes to finally break ground on his 18-hole golf course in Walchsee, Austria. Moarhof Golf Club will take shape in a grassy mountain valley roughly 40 miles west of Salzburg, on property leased from farmers. Scot Sherman, one of the course’s co-designers, has called the site “one of the most beautiful I have ever seen anywhere,” and he believes the course can be built without moving a lot of earth. “We are lucky to work with land where many golf holes are just there,” he noted in a press release. Sherman and his design partner, Swedish golf pro Anders Forsbrand, expect the construction to stretch over several seasons.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the April 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Any day now, the Nicklaus Design course at Penati Golf Resort in Slovakia will get a companion: a layout designed by Jonathan Davison of Create Golf. Penati, which was originally called Gold Golf & Country Club, is emerging on 300 acres in Senica, a town roughly 60 miles north of Bratislava, the nation’s capital, and it aims to become “the best golf resort in Central Europe.” Last fall, Davison said that his course was taking shape on property that has “every ingredient a golf course architect dreams about,” including a sand base, and that it would “leave a lasting impression on anyone who plays it.” If the Slovak Golf Association’s accounting is accurate, Penati is the nation’s 12th golf property.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
The Week That Was, august 4, 2013
Bloomberg not only wants us to believe that golf is a leading economic indicator but that our industry “has turned the corner.” The news service’s debatable conclusion rests, at least in part, on the National Golf Foundation’s contention that the number of U.S. golfers will reach 30 million by 2020. What Bloomberg doesn’t say is that the nation had about 27 million golfers in 2010, when the NGF made its prediction, and that the number today is somewhere between 24 and 25 million. It’s possible that the golf business has indeed turned the corner, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the woods.
If courses inspired by British links can find happy homes in Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin, could one also be built in Tennessee? Gary Roger Baird believes it’s possible, and he’s got the blueprints to prove it. “I want to create something that nobody has seen,” the Nashville-based course designer told the Tennessean. Baird has identified property along the Harpeth River in Williamson County that he believes is ideal for what the newspaper calls “the truest rendition of a British Isles links course in the South.” Although Baird has given the 27-hole field of dreams a name -- Tennessee Golf Links & Club -- he hasn’t as yet been able to persuade a developer to purchase the site and fund the construction. And that’s always the acid test, isn’t it?
Developers haven’t completely closed the book on golf’s prospects in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. The area may be among the nation’s most over-built golf markets, but a revised master plan for Grand Vista, a nearly forgotten 5,500-acre community in Surprise, still reserves space for an 18-hole layout. Of course, Toll Brothers’ original concept called for a pair of 18-hole courses, but that was in the mid 2000s, before the divorce between golf and residential development was finalized. So let’s be thankful for small favors.
The city of Phoenix appears to have found an operator for its flagship golf property. The Arizona Republic reports that Arizona State University, the owner of Karsten Golf Course, is seeking a 30-year contract to manage Papago Golf Course. “In terms of successfully operating a golf course and knowing what the hell they’re doing, ASU’s got the track record,” a city official told the newspaper. “They’ve been doing it for 20 years.” If an agreement can be reached, Papago will become the home of ASU’s men’s and women’s golf teams, which need to relocate because the university has decided to close Karsten and offer its acreage to developers. The city council is expected to vote on the matter later this month or early next month.
It didn’t take the new president of Wichita State University long to lay out the future of the school’s golf course: He’s going to close it. John Bardo hasn’t yet announced exactly when Braeburn Golf Course will host its final rounds, but it’s eventually going to be replaced by a business and technology park.
The best deal going for female golfers these days is a two-for-one promotion offered by Eagle Golf. The Dallas, Texas-based firm rolled out the program earlier this year, intending to shut it down after a couple of months, but it’s now decided to keep it in place through the end of the year. “The response from our customers and general managers has been fantastic,” Joe Munsch of Eagle Golf said in a press release. “Our company has a responsibility to help grow the game of golf, and we see this program as an important part of our efforts moving forward.” The promotion is available at 26 of Eagle’s 31 golf properties.
Donald Trump hasn’t yet been linked to a golf venture in India, but he’s entered into a marketing relationship with a Mumbai-based firm that presumably has its eyes open for one. Tribeca Creators, a group led by Kalpesh Mehta and Nitin Bansal, indicates that Trump aims to do “residential, hotel, mixed-use, and golf course projects” in India, with the initial focus being in the metropolitan areas of Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Venture number one is Trump Towers Pune, a condo building that Trump says “will epitomize inspired living and timeless elegance.” It’s scheduled to open in 2015.
Troon Golf has begun tending to the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout at Cimarron Hills Golf & Country Club in suburban Austin, Texas. The 7,302-yard “signature” course curls its way through several hundred houses at Cimarron Hills, a 1,000-acre community owned by Desert Troon Companies. Cimarron Hills is one of two Desert Troon-owned properties managed by Troon, the other being Torreon Golf Club in Show Low, Arizona. Desert Troon also owns Red Mountain Resort & Spa outside St. George, Utah, however. Might it soon become part of Troon’s portfolio?
What’s Herb Kohler charging for the 26 residences he’s building along the 18th hole at St. Andrews’ Old Course? Answer: If you have to ask, you can’t afford one. The units, which are located in a former University of St. Andrews dormitory, range in price from £1.6 million ($2.46 million) to £7.58 million ($11.6 million). The Scotsman says they’re Scotland’s “most expensive residential accommodation.” Kohler bought the building in 2009, reportedly £11.5 million ($17.6 million). He started selling the units in June, and by mid July, according to the newspaper, half of them had either been sold or reserved. Heck, by now they’re probably all gone.
If courses inspired by British links can find happy homes in Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin, could one also be built in Tennessee? Gary Roger Baird believes it’s possible, and he’s got the blueprints to prove it. “I want to create something that nobody has seen,” the Nashville-based course designer told the Tennessean. Baird has identified property along the Harpeth River in Williamson County that he believes is ideal for what the newspaper calls “the truest rendition of a British Isles links course in the South.” Although Baird has given the 27-hole field of dreams a name -- Tennessee Golf Links & Club -- he hasn’t as yet been able to persuade a developer to purchase the site and fund the construction. And that’s always the acid test, isn’t it?
Developers haven’t completely closed the book on golf’s prospects in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. The area may be among the nation’s most over-built golf markets, but a revised master plan for Grand Vista, a nearly forgotten 5,500-acre community in Surprise, still reserves space for an 18-hole layout. Of course, Toll Brothers’ original concept called for a pair of 18-hole courses, but that was in the mid 2000s, before the divorce between golf and residential development was finalized. So let’s be thankful for small favors.
The city of Phoenix appears to have found an operator for its flagship golf property. The Arizona Republic reports that Arizona State University, the owner of Karsten Golf Course, is seeking a 30-year contract to manage Papago Golf Course. “In terms of successfully operating a golf course and knowing what the hell they’re doing, ASU’s got the track record,” a city official told the newspaper. “They’ve been doing it for 20 years.” If an agreement can be reached, Papago will become the home of ASU’s men’s and women’s golf teams, which need to relocate because the university has decided to close Karsten and offer its acreage to developers. The city council is expected to vote on the matter later this month or early next month.
It didn’t take the new president of Wichita State University long to lay out the future of the school’s golf course: He’s going to close it. John Bardo hasn’t yet announced exactly when Braeburn Golf Course will host its final rounds, but it’s eventually going to be replaced by a business and technology park.
The best deal going for female golfers these days is a two-for-one promotion offered by Eagle Golf. The Dallas, Texas-based firm rolled out the program earlier this year, intending to shut it down after a couple of months, but it’s now decided to keep it in place through the end of the year. “The response from our customers and general managers has been fantastic,” Joe Munsch of Eagle Golf said in a press release. “Our company has a responsibility to help grow the game of golf, and we see this program as an important part of our efforts moving forward.” The promotion is available at 26 of Eagle’s 31 golf properties.
Donald Trump hasn’t yet been linked to a golf venture in India, but he’s entered into a marketing relationship with a Mumbai-based firm that presumably has its eyes open for one. Tribeca Creators, a group led by Kalpesh Mehta and Nitin Bansal, indicates that Trump aims to do “residential, hotel, mixed-use, and golf course projects” in India, with the initial focus being in the metropolitan areas of Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Venture number one is Trump Towers Pune, a condo building that Trump says “will epitomize inspired living and timeless elegance.” It’s scheduled to open in 2015.
Troon Golf has begun tending to the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout at Cimarron Hills Golf & Country Club in suburban Austin, Texas. The 7,302-yard “signature” course curls its way through several hundred houses at Cimarron Hills, a 1,000-acre community owned by Desert Troon Companies. Cimarron Hills is one of two Desert Troon-owned properties managed by Troon, the other being Torreon Golf Club in Show Low, Arizona. Desert Troon also owns Red Mountain Resort & Spa outside St. George, Utah, however. Might it soon become part of Troon’s portfolio?
What’s Herb Kohler charging for the 26 residences he’s building along the 18th hole at St. Andrews’ Old Course? Answer: If you have to ask, you can’t afford one. The units, which are located in a former University of St. Andrews dormitory, range in price from £1.6 million ($2.46 million) to £7.58 million ($11.6 million). The Scotsman says they’re Scotland’s “most expensive residential accommodation.” Kohler bought the building in 2009, reportedly £11.5 million ($17.6 million). He started selling the units in June, and by mid July, according to the newspaper, half of them had either been sold or reserved. Heck, by now they’re probably all gone.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Operations, august 2, 2013
It appears that the city of Brigantine, New Jersey will soon seek an operator for its 18-hole golf course. The Links at Brigantine Beach, a course co-designed by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek, needs an estimated $2.5 million in upgrades and may not attract even 16,000 rounds this season, according to the Press of Atlantic City. What’s more, Brigantine is on the hook for more than $2 million in mortgage payments on the property. To free itself of these financial headaches, the island city is expected to seek counsel from a golf course architect and then, based on his recommendations, look for a management company with deep pockets. The firm that wins the contract can expect to remain in place for at least 20 years.
Just months after the departure of KemperSports, Billy Casper Golf has assumed control of Hiddenbrooke Golf Club in Vallejo, California. “We look forward to Hiddenbrooke re-connecting with the community,” Peter Hill, the CEO of BCG, said in a press release. The community to which Hill refers spreads over 1,300 acres, has sprouted more than 1,200 houses, and features an 18-year-old, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course. Hiddenbrooke is BCG’s 11th daily-fee or private golf property in the Golden State.
CourseCo has agreed to take on a formidable task: Turning a profit at the city of Napa, California’s golf course. Over the past 10 years, according to a report in the Napa Valley Register, Napa Golf Course has operated in the black just once, and the surplus in that year was less than $5,000. “This is relieving the city of a huge financial burden,” Larry Mazzuca, the director of the city’s parks and recreation department, said happily. CourseCo knows what it’s getting into, because it’s operated the course since 1999. The Petaluma, California-based firm has signed a 10-year lease on the property and hopes that beefed-up marketing will attract parties, events, and other new sources of revenue.
A homeowners’ group in Aurora, Colorado has turned over its entire operation, including its 18-hole golf course, to OB Sports. Heritage Eagle Bend, a 750-acre seniors-only community, features more than 1,400 houses, a 35,000-square-foot clubhouse, and a 7,105-yard, Arthur Hills-designed layout. “We look forward to providing the residents, members, and guests of Heritage Eagle Bend with tremendous services, amenities, and playing conditions,” OB Sports president, C. A. Roberts, said in a press release. The community, which is home to 2,800 people, is being developed by Lennar/U.S. Home.
Touchstone Golf and a hotel management firm have teamed up to operate Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa, a 6,800-acre spread in Galena, Illinois. Eagle Ridge’s primary golf attraction, the well-regarded General course, was co-designed by Roger Packard and Andy North. The resort also features three other Packard-designed 18-hole courses as well as vacation houses, an inn, meeting space, a spa, riding trails, and other reasons to get away from it all. Touchstone will oversee the golf operations, while The Brickton Group tends to the rest of the property. “We’re working towards the same goal: a superlative golf and travel experience for anyone who visits the resort,” Mark Luthman, Touchstone’s chief operating officer, said in a press release. In recent months, Austin, Texas-based Touchstone has begun managing StoneRidge Country Club in Poway, California and Monument Hill Country Club in suburban Colorado Springs, Colorado. All told, the company reportedly manages 27 golf properties in 11 states.
Elected officials in Sanford, North Carolina may be ready to throw in the towel on their golf operation. The city has solicited proposals from private-sector parties that might be interested in operating or leasing the municipal golf course, an 18-hole track whose original nine was designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1934. “We need to know how we can do things better, and we may learn something from this,” a councilmember told the Sanford Herald. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Specifically, the city is looking for an individual or group that can boost the course’s revenues, reduce its expenses, and invest in capital improvements. The deadline for responses to the city’s request for information is September 3, 2013.
Just months after the departure of KemperSports, Billy Casper Golf has assumed control of Hiddenbrooke Golf Club in Vallejo, California. “We look forward to Hiddenbrooke re-connecting with the community,” Peter Hill, the CEO of BCG, said in a press release. The community to which Hill refers spreads over 1,300 acres, has sprouted more than 1,200 houses, and features an 18-year-old, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course. Hiddenbrooke is BCG’s 11th daily-fee or private golf property in the Golden State.
CourseCo has agreed to take on a formidable task: Turning a profit at the city of Napa, California’s golf course. Over the past 10 years, according to a report in the Napa Valley Register, Napa Golf Course has operated in the black just once, and the surplus in that year was less than $5,000. “This is relieving the city of a huge financial burden,” Larry Mazzuca, the director of the city’s parks and recreation department, said happily. CourseCo knows what it’s getting into, because it’s operated the course since 1999. The Petaluma, California-based firm has signed a 10-year lease on the property and hopes that beefed-up marketing will attract parties, events, and other new sources of revenue.
A homeowners’ group in Aurora, Colorado has turned over its entire operation, including its 18-hole golf course, to OB Sports. Heritage Eagle Bend, a 750-acre seniors-only community, features more than 1,400 houses, a 35,000-square-foot clubhouse, and a 7,105-yard, Arthur Hills-designed layout. “We look forward to providing the residents, members, and guests of Heritage Eagle Bend with tremendous services, amenities, and playing conditions,” OB Sports president, C. A. Roberts, said in a press release. The community, which is home to 2,800 people, is being developed by Lennar/U.S. Home.
Touchstone Golf and a hotel management firm have teamed up to operate Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa, a 6,800-acre spread in Galena, Illinois. Eagle Ridge’s primary golf attraction, the well-regarded General course, was co-designed by Roger Packard and Andy North. The resort also features three other Packard-designed 18-hole courses as well as vacation houses, an inn, meeting space, a spa, riding trails, and other reasons to get away from it all. Touchstone will oversee the golf operations, while The Brickton Group tends to the rest of the property. “We’re working towards the same goal: a superlative golf and travel experience for anyone who visits the resort,” Mark Luthman, Touchstone’s chief operating officer, said in a press release. In recent months, Austin, Texas-based Touchstone has begun managing StoneRidge Country Club in Poway, California and Monument Hill Country Club in suburban Colorado Springs, Colorado. All told, the company reportedly manages 27 golf properties in 11 states.
Elected officials in Sanford, North Carolina may be ready to throw in the towel on their golf operation. The city has solicited proposals from private-sector parties that might be interested in operating or leasing the municipal golf course, an 18-hole track whose original nine was designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1934. “We need to know how we can do things better, and we may learn something from this,” a councilmember told the Sanford Herald. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Specifically, the city is looking for an individual or group that can boost the course’s revenues, reduce its expenses, and invest in capital improvements. The deadline for responses to the city’s request for information is September 3, 2013.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
