The Week That Was, january 12, 2014

     The first golf course at Sand Valley, Mike Keiser’s forthcoming golf complex in Rome, Wisconsin, will be co-designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. “My model for them is a combination of Pine Valley, Sand Hills, and National Golf Links, on the dunes of Long Island,” Keiser told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Those three are my models -- not to duplicate, but just to be inspired by.” If construction begins in September, as Keiser expects, the course will open to its 120 founding members in 2016 and to the hoi polloi in 2017. Keiser believes that his 1,500-acre property can accommodate as many as five courses, and he said that he’d consider Tom Fazio and Jack Nicklaus as designers for Sand Valley’s future tracks. However, he also acknowledged that Fazio and Nicklaus are on “the broad list,” not the short list.

     In a transaction that closed in mid December 2013, CF Arcis LLC acquired the financially challenged Tartan Fields Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Arcis reportedly paid $5.87 million for the 16-year-old private club, which has been in the hands of a receiver since 2009, when it defaulted on a loan. Tartan Fields features an 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course. It’s the centerpiece of a community developed by Tom Anderson, who once also owned Golf Club of Dublin. Arcis is an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, a New York City-based firm that invests in undervalued and distressed assets. Last year, the partners also bought three golf properties from BrightStar Golf Group, including Pradera Golf Club in suburban Denver, Colorado and TPC Snoqualmie Ridge in suburban Seattle, Washington. In addition, in a transaction that was supposed to close late last year, they agreed to buy American Golf Company’s golf portfolio.

     The “new vogue” among China’s wealthy, according to China Daily, is running. The newspaper says that the elites are “trading the relatively relaxing sport of golf” for “grueling races” that enable them “to post online photos of themselves crossing finish lines, dribbling sweat.” When it comes to making a meaningful statement about where China’s golf business is headed, such reports signify little. Nonetheless, the newspaper’s observation is worth noting for future reference.

     As part of an effort to conserve local liquid assets, a pair of private golf clubs in Maumelle, Arkansas may soon be forced to pay for water that they currently draw out of Lake Willastein for free. “I’m pro business,” an alderman who supports the measure told KARK-TV, “but also, businesses need to stand on their own.” Some local residents believe that the clubs have become too reliant on the lake’s water, which is a public resource that can be exhausted. The clubs have recoiled from the alderman’s price proposals, which would require them to pay $2,000 for the first 6 million gallons they use, but they may settle for a compromise offered by the city’s mayor: $600 for 6 million gallons.

     A bankrupt golf course in Reno, Nevada has found a new owner. Tom Duncan has reportedly paid $5.5 million for LakeRidge Golf Club, a 45-year-old facility that features a Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course. “We couldn’t be more thrilled,” Duncan told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “It’s a premier golf course anywhere.” LakeRidge had been owned by Hash Lane Holdings LLC, a group controlled by the late Nate Topol. Hash Lane went belly up in June 2013. Duncan closed on LakeRidge in late 2013. He also owns Wolf Run Golf Club in Reno and Dayton Valley Golf Club in nearby Dayton, and he manages two other courses in the area.

     Troon Golf has added a sixth golf property to its Moroccan portfolio. Palmeraie Development Group has hired Troon to manage PalmGolf Club Marrakech, whose original 18-hole layout was designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1992. (A third nine, designed by Stephane Talbot, opened in 2008.) Bruce Glasco, the managing director of Troon’s international operations, called the contract a “testament to our ongoing desire to exceed expectations” and ability to deliver “an unrivalled visitor experience.” PDG is familiar with Troon’s capabilities, as it employs the Scottsdale, Arizona-based firm at Les Jardins de l’Atlas in Marrakech and has hired it to manage the forthcoming California Golf Resort in Casablanca. Troon’s other properties in Morocco include Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort in El Jadida and Oued Fes Golf Course in Fes.

     As expected, OB Sports has finalized the contract to operate the city of Tucson’s five golf courses. Under the agreement, according to KOLD-TV, OB Sports will assume management of the courses on February 1.

     Late last year, the world’s oldest golf society narrowly avoided having an unpleasant appointment with the harsh realities of modern life. The 279-year-old Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh, which has from the beginning limited its membership to men, held a vote on whether it should open its doors to women. The result: Of the 416 members who cast a ballot, 56 percent voted to maintain the status quo. The vote was monitored closely by golf clubs in Scotland, for it was feared that if Royal Burgess chose to admit women, the nation’s other all-male clubs -- Muirfield, Royal Troon, and Royal St. George’s among them -- might be forced to as well.