The Year That Was, december 29, 2013

Part 1: Of Mice & Men

     After crunching numbers with statisticians from Clarkson University, in 2013 Barney Adams concluded that golf participation in the United States will fall dramatically -- perhaps by as much as 50 percent -- over the next 30 years or so. “The long-term forecast stinks,” said the founder of Adams Golf. Adams’ prediction has been dismissed by golf’s institutional powers, but a question lingers: What if he’s right? Because if he is, the implications for golf are grave. Today we bemoan the fact that we have only about 25 million golfers. Would you like to try on 20 million for size? Do you think we could squeeze into a 15?

      You know you’ve reached the pinnacle of your profession when you can claim commissions from both Mike Keiser and Donald Trump. And that’s only part of what Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw did in 2013. On top of agreeing to design tracks for Keiser in Wisconsin and Trump in Virginia, Coore & Crenshaw broke ground on a layout in Nova Scotia, worked up a routing for a PGA Tour-worthy track in Texas, and saw its course in China crack Golf magazine’s top 100.

     While most other golf developers remain curled up in the fetal position, the nation’s most courageous developer continues to thrive. Mike Keiser announced a sixth course for Bandon Dunes, mused about creating a Bandon-like complex on a mystery site north of the existing resort, outlined plans to build “the Pine Valley of the Midwest” in Wisconsin, broke ground on a second course at Cabot Links, and secured approval for the pseudo-municipal complex he aims to build south of Bandon Dunes. When does he get his career achievement award?

     As the demand for “lifestyle” golf has waned, celebrity and “signature” architects have scrambled to find new sources of income. In 2013, Jack Nicklaus agreed to put his name on sunglasses, golf balls, and a line of apparel produced by Perry Ellis International. PEI asserted that its contract would “take Jack’s legacy to the next level,” but that’s true only if the next level is a step down.

     Why is George O’Grady still the CEO of the European Tour? If O’Grady truly believes that “any hint” of racism “has no place on the European Tour,” he should have disciplined Sergio Garcia for making Tiger Woods the butt of an offensive joke about fried chicken. Even a short, ultimately meaningless suspension would have signaled that the business of professional golf takes this issue seriously. Instead, O’Grady forgave and forgot, ensuring that golf’s darkest proclivity would live on. Is it any wonder that golf has trouble attracting minorities?

     At the age of 77, Gary Player became the oldest athlete to pose nude for ESPN the Magazine.

     In 2013, Donald Trump enhanced his reputation as a golf developer with few peers. He wrapped up his overhaul of the Blue Monster at Doral, gave the green light to his second course in Aberdeenshire, completed the major construction at the city of New York’s layout in Ferry Point Park, broke ground on a Gil Hanse-designed track in Dubai, proposed to build a Coore & Crenshaw course in Virginia, and floated an idea for a third company-owned course in New York. If he hadn’t wasted so much time tilting at Scottish windmills, he might have achieved even more.

Part 2: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

     In 2013, only 119 years after it was established, the U.S. Golf Association figured out that slow play is bad for golf.

     The PGA Tour rendered its verdict on anchored putting, revealed plans for TPC Shanghai, and, most importantly, identified new worlds to conquer. The new worlds are in Europe and Asia, as Tim Finchem and his fellow empire builders initiated efforts to take control of the financially drained European Tour and decided to underwrite 12 events in China beginning in 2014. Since they already control the Canadian Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamerica, it’s easy to see the broad outlines of a World PGA Tour taking shape. And yes, Greg Norman is justifiably steamed.

     It was bad enough that Sergio Garcia made a self-acknowledged “totally stupid” joke about serving fried chicken to the only African-American golfer on the PGA Tour. What made it worse was

that he went over to the dark side at a big dinner party attended by virtually every VIP in golf, and not one of them raised a public stink. This sad incident is no laughing matter, because the joke is ultimately on us.

     As part of an effort to provide its sports network with live programming, in 2013 Fox Sports 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 price, according to Golf Digest, is $93 million a year for 12 years, a windfall if there ever was one. If things don’t get better for golf pretty darned soon, the USGA’s only excuse will be a poverty of ideas.

     By becoming an advisor to China’s national golf program, Greg Norman found yet another way to market himself. In related sports news, Dennis Rodman became an advisor to North Korea’s national basketball program.

     In an attempt to shore up its bottom line, ClubCorp went public. The nation’s largest owner of private golf properties raised $252 million, money that it’ll use to retire some of the debt that’s slowed its growth.

     The First Tee concluded a fundraising campaign that raised more than $100 million, money that will enable it to teach its “core values” to 10 million children by 2017. Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed “force for good in today’s society” has failed to grow the game, as today our nation has fewer junior golfers (2.5 million) than it did in the mid 1990s (2.8 million), before the group was created.

     In 2013, Pacific Links International established itself as a force that U.S. golf can’t ignore. The Chinese-Canadian company added to its U.S. portfolio by purchasing its first course in California and agreeing to buy its third in Las Vegas, and it inked a deal to provide its vacation club members with access to more than two dozen properties in the PGA Tour’s TPC network. And more growth is on the horizon, because within three years the company aims to offer its members an international stable of 200 properties.

     An estimated 200 golf properties changed hands in 2013, and three of the transactions can legitimately be described as blockbusters. The government of Singapore’s investment arm reportedly paid $1.5 billion for properties that include PGA West, La Quinta Resort & Club, and the Great White track at Doral. Omni Hotels & Resorts picked up five top-of-the-market resorts, among them the Homestead in Virginia, Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Texas, and La Costa Resort & Spa in California. And, in a deal that was scheduled to close by the end of the year, Arcis Equity Partners agreed to buy American Golf Corporation, which owned close to 100 U.S. properties.

     Despite complaints from a surprisingly small number of architects, in 2013 the Old Course at St. Andrews was renovated. So far, the modifications don’t appear to have damaged the layout’s standing with critics or its ranking among the world’s elite.

     The long-simmering debate over men-only golf clubs came to a boil in Scotland, as the nation’s top government official refused to attend the Open Championship in protest of Muirfield’s discriminatory membership. In response, the Royal & Ancient promised to reconsider its practice of awarding golf’s premier championship to all-male clubs such as Muirfield, Royal Troon, and Royal St. George’s. That was in August. The R&A still hasn’t announced its decision.

Part 3: Words of Wisdom

    “If golf were invented today, it would be a nine-hole game.” -- Jerry Tarde, Golf Digest’s editor in chief

     “We’re scared to open our mouths in case we say something that isn’t kosher in 2013. Somebody should tell us what to say, because no one is quite sure what’s right and wrong.” -- Colin Montgomerie, in defense of Sergio Garcia

     “We believe food is going to be the new golf” -- Davis Senza, the CEO of Cliffs Communities’ new management group

Part 4: Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics

     The number of U.S. golfers continues to fall, though the pace of the decline has eased. According to a brief from Pellucid Corporation, the golf industry lost nearly 2 million players in 2011 and 400,000 in 2012. Pellucid estimates the total number still standing is something over 24 million, while the National Golf Foundation counts 25.3 million.

     In 2013, U.S. golf courses didn’t get the weather-related bump they got in 2012. Through September, the number of rounds played nationally was down by 5.2 percent, and the National Golf Foundation suggests that the industry will record a 4 percent decline at year’s end.

     The hottest golf market on earth is no longer churning out courses the way it used to. In China, 52 new courses opened in 2010, 45 in 2011, and 39 in 2012, according to figures provided by Forward Management Group. The Chinese deserve credit for opening roughly 600 courses since 1984, but at the current pace the nation’s inventory won’t hit 1,000 until 2023.

     If a Canadian group’s calculations about net worth are accurate, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods are, among golfers, in a class of

their own. Palmer is worth $675 million, according to The Richest, while Woods is worth $600 million. Greg Norman checks in at number three ($300 million), followed closely by Jack Nicklaus ($280 million) and distantly by Phil Mickelson ($180 million).

     In a reflection of continued hard times for golf architects, Greg Norman cut his design fee by roughly 30 percent, from $1.25 million to $900,000, according to Forbes Life.

     Nearly 1,300 U.S. golf properties have been sold since 2007, said the National Golf Foundation.

Part 5: May They Rest in Peace

     Lloyd Clifton capitalized on Florida’s residential boom of the late 1980s and 1990s like few of his contemporaries. His architectural career is exemplified by the work he did at the Villages, a huge retirement community near Leesburg, where he and his partners in Clifton Ezell & Clifton Golf Design Group have so far produced or co-produced 11 “championship” venues and 30 nine-hole, executive-length tracks. They’ve also designed more than 40 other courses in the state, among them Grey Oaks Golf & Country Club in Naples, Hunters Creek Golf Course in Orlando, and Remington Golf & Country Club in Kissimmee. Clifton was 89.

     Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, one of the best-known and most-liked people in Europe’s golf business, died in Marbella, Spain at the age of 82. “In many ways, he has been the ‘soul’ of golf in Europe,” the vice chairman of the European Tour said in an obituary. Ortiz-Patiño’s major legacy is Club de Golf Valderrama, his destination golf course in Andalusia, the venue where the Ryder Cup matches were first played in continental Europe. Those matches, in 1997, put the Costa del Sol on the world’s golf map.

     David Pfaff, who worked for both Pete Dye and Landmark Land Company, established his own firm in the mid 1990s but didn’t really make a name for himself until last year, when Royal Isabela Golf Course in Puerto Rico was unveiled. The Golf Channel called the track “possibly the most interesting golf course in the world,” and Forbes said “it is impossible not to be moved” by it. Pfaff was hoping to design Royal Isabela’s second course, but he died while on a golf holiday in New Mexico at the age of 74.

     Dave Thomas was a major influence on the golf industry in Great Britain and Europe. He turned pro in 1949 and played on four

Ryder Cup teams before arthritis prematurely ended his career. Later, as a golf architect, he designed or redesigned a reported 100 courses, among them the Belfry’s Brabazon track, which has hosted four Ryder Cup championships -- more than any other layout on earth. It also seems that he enjoyed himself when he wasn’t working. “He was good company and over-indulged, certainly on good food and good wine,” recalled Peter Alliss, an occasional design collaborator. “How he lived to be 79 is a miracle of the human spirit.”

      Ernie Vossler had a hand in creating one of the most enviable development portfolios in golf history. With colleagues at Landmark Land Company and Landmark Golf Company, Vossler developed at least a dozen golf courses at some of the best-known golf communities in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, among them PGA West, La Quinta Resort & Club, and Mission Hills Country Club. Elsewhere, the group’s creations included Kiawah Island in South Carolina, Palm Beach Polo & Country Club in Florida, and Oak Tree Golf Club in Oklahoma. Vossler died at 84, after an eight-year battle with dementia.