The Week That Was, december 1, 2013

     An elected official in Washington, DC has introduced legislation that could transform RFK Stadium into a world-class sports and entertainment venue, complete with a redesigned Langston Golf Course capable of hosting high-profile professional tournaments. With visions of Super Bowls, Final Fours, World Cups, and U.S. Opens dancing in his head, Councilmember Vincent Orange thinks the stadium and surrounding property can accommodate a 100,000-seat domed stadium, hotels, an indoor water park, a sound stage for movie producers, and other revenue-producing attractions. According to an online report, he’s “talking with Donald Trump” about the venture, and “they both hope to get Tiger Woods involved.” It’s important to note that Orange has merely floated an idea and that, given the condition of the capital city’s economy, nothing will likely come of it. But it’s nice to see people dreaming big again, isn’t it?

     Phil Mickelson wants to buy a bankrupt golf property in suburban Tucson, Arizona. Inside Tucson Business reports that Mickelson and Steve Loy, his business partner/agent, have submitted an offer on Stone Canyon Club, the centerpiece of a private subdivision within the Rancho Vistoso planned community in Oro Valley. Stone Canyon features a 13-year-old golf course that its architect, Jay Morrish, has described as “the best desert course I’ve ever designed.” Entities affiliated with Mickelson and Loy already own four golf properties in Arizona, among them McDowell Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, and The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines in Payson. Earlier this year, they failed in an attempt to acquire FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills.

     By this time next month, OB Sports Golf Management will likely begin the task of digging the city of Tucson, Arizona’s golf operations out of an extremely deep financial hole. More than a dozen management firms came a-calling when the city began its search for a private-sector operator, and OB Sports has been given the first crack at negotiating a contract. In return for an annual fee of $240,000, it’s promised to immediately boost the number of rounds played at the city’s five properties from around 180,000, the number they currently generate, to almost 189,900. By 2018, the company believes the number will increase to 205,471 and the courses will show a profit of roughly $713,000. It’ll be a while before the city can cover its accumulated losses, however, because the Arizona Daily Star reports that the golf operation is currently $8 million in the red.

     Brutal, cutthroat, risky, and sad -- those are among the words that characterize the current state of Australia’s golf design business, according to Darius Oliver. “It would be fair to say that making a living from course design in Australia has never been more difficult,” writes the architecture editor of Australian Golf Digest. Citing data provided by Jeff Blunden of Sandringham, Victoria-based JBAS, Oliver reports that roughly 80 new golf courses opened Down Under during the 1980s, 61 in the 1990s, and 49 between 2000 and 2009. He believes that “there may be fewer than 25 new courses built this decade.” And with the pipeline running ever drier, the nation’s increasingly pessimistic architects don’t expect a recovery anytime soon. “I can’t see a boom in golf construction like we saw 10 to 15 years ago happening again for a very long time,” said Ben Davey, who, like many of his Australian colleagues, has focused his marketing efforts on China. The grass is still a little greener there.

     Turkey appears to have a Tiger by the tail. Tiger Woods has committed to playing in the Turkish Airlines Open for the next three years, reportedly for a guaranteed appearance fee of almost $3 million a pop. The world’s most famous golfer pocketed $3 million for participating in the event this year, and the nation’s golf promoters believe it was money well spent. “You get your money back with him and more,” the head of the Turkish Golf Federation note in a report published by SB Nation. As recently noted, Turkey will get a major return on its investment if it can nab either the Ryder Cup in 2022 or the European Tour’s championship event in 2016.

     Kutscher’s, the last remaining Borscht Belt resort in the Catskills, has been purchased by an Indian group that intends to make it a destination for “yoga sciences,” “biodynamic restaurants,” “ayurvedic” medical treatments, and other “health-driven activities.” Oy vey. The heirs of Milton and Helen Kutscher have sold their 1,300-acre spread outside Monticello, New York -- Mel Brooks, Milton Berle, Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, and many others used to entertain there -- to a company controlled by Subhash Chandra, the media mogul who’s worth $2.35 billion, according to Forbes. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but Chandra’s Veria Lifestyle bought a run-down hotel, houses, a bingo hall, sports centers, and an 18-hole, William F. Mitchell-designed golf course that dates from 1958. The buildings will soon be demolished, and the new Nature Cure Lifestyle Management Center is scheduled to debut in the spring of 2014. The golf course will continue to operate and may be spiffed up.

     Just weeks after he bought one of the two 18-hole golf courses The Communities at Branson Creek, Johnny Morris has bought the other. In late October, the billionaire owner of the Bass Pro Shops chain purchased Murder Rock Golf & Country Club in greater Branson, Missouri. Now he’s followed up by acquiring the community’s Tom Fazio-designed Branson Creek layout, which spent more than a decade (2000 to 2011) atop Golf Digest’s list of the top public courses in the state. Morris intends to operate the courses as amenities for his nearby Big Cedar Lodge, which features a nine-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” course. All three of Morris’ courses are currently closed for renovations. A press release from Big Cedar Lodge promises that Branson Creek will reopen in the late spring of next year, but the others appear to be closed indefinitely. The Top of the Rock course at the lodge has been shuttered since 2010, if not before.

     Billy Casper Golf is negotiating an early exit from a municipal management contract in Black Mountain, North Carolina. “Everybody is in favor of severing the relationship,” the town’s mayor told the Asheville Citizen-Times after council members voted unanimously to end the relationship, which was supposed to last until September 2016. The town put BCG in charge of it 18-hole track in September 2011, hoping that professional management would generate profits. Instead, the course has lost $254,000, and BCG has worn out its welcome. The newspaper reports that the town is obliged to pay a severance fee of about $100,000, although the amount could conceivably be reduced.

     So far this year, Jack Nicklaus has introduced a line of golf balls and announced an endorsement deal for over-priced sunglasses. Now he’s licensed his good name to Perry Ellis International, which aims to sell Nicklaus-branded clothing and accessories in North America. “They are a company with ideas that are fresh and innovative,” said Nicklaus, without specifying what those ideas might be. “This is an important step for my brand as we look to expand into a variety of lifestyle categories in a quality way.” PEI, which mistakenly believes the contract will “take Jack’s legacy to the next level,” already has similarly innovative licensing arrangements with Callaway Golf, Ben Hogan, the PGA Tour, and the Champions Tour.