The Week That Was, january 26, 2014

     Political strife in Bangkok has forced promoters to postpone one of Asia’s premier golf events. The Thailand Open, which was scheduled to take place at Thana City Golf & Sports Club in mid March, has been victimized by a 60-day, government-imposed state of emergency. “This is in the best interests of the players, spectators, sponsors,” said a spokesperson for World Sport Group, the event’s organizer. The Thailand Open has been played since 1965, and this year it was to kick off Asia’s golf season. It’ll be rescheduled for a date later in 2014, presuming that anti-government protests in Thailand don’t take an even darker turn.

     The Royal & Ancient may not be ready to take the Open Championship away from male-only clubs, but one of golf’s long-time sugar daddies appears to be. HSBC, a sponsor of the Open Championship as well as other high-profile international tournaments, says it would prefer that golf’s biggest event be held at clubs that admit women. “When you are showcasing one of the world’s greatest tournaments,” Giles Morgan said in a comment published by Golfweek, “it would be much more palatable if the events were played where there was not the sense of segregation. We would like to see [this issue] get solved, so we don’t keep talking about it.” Morgan, who oversees the giant banking firm’s sponsorship activities, also noted that he’s made his discomfort clear to the R&A -- “They are acutely aware that things need to change and move on” -- and that he’s grown weary of defending the R&A policies: “I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m having to justify our sponsorship.” Is this the beginning of the end for Muirfield, Royal Troon, and Royal St. George’s, the three all-male clubs in the R&A rota? Because the lessons of history are clear: When those who pull the financial strings start to apply pressure, even the most tradition-bound businesses can be forced to change.

     The PGA of American has figured out a way to capitalize on its Get Golf Ready sessions. The Florida-based institutional power has licensed Get Golf Ready-branded golf clubs that will be marketed to graduates of its learn-to-golf program. “These starter sets,” said Ted Bishop, the group’s president, “are a fantastic way to launch a lifetime of love for playing the game.” The clubs will be produced by Dallas, Texas-based Dynamic Golf Resources. Terms of the deal weren’t announced.

     The premier golf-management firm on South Carolina’s Grand Strand has persuaded Natalie Gulbis to serve as its public face. “In many ways, she represents what Myrtle Beach golf is all about,”
 

said Bob Mauragas, the CEO of National Golf Management. Mauragas’ firm has inked the LPGA Tour star, “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant, and one-time Sports Illustrated swimsuit model to a one-year contract, though both parties have expressed a desire to extend it.

     One of Great Britain’s most prominent family-owned companies plans to build a European Tour-worthy golf course at its headquarters in Staffordshire, England. The 18-hole, 7,150-yard layout will take shape on part of a 240-acre parcel in Rocester owned by JCB, Ltd., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction equipment. Though the track will allow a limited amount of public play, it’ll be operated primarily for corporate use, to serve as a showcase for JCB’s products and capabilities. The company’s CEO has called it “the biggest marketing tool available to JCB in its history,” and he expects his salespeople to use it to schmooze a parade of customers and prospective customers. Robin Hiseman of European Golf Design will create the $49 million layout, which is expected to debut in 2018.

     Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the January 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     A public auction for Gaillardia Golf & Country Club is no longer necessary. Concert Golf Partners has assumed control of the tony but financially troubled Oklahoma City, Oklahoma private club, which had been initiated in the mid 1990s by Edward King Gaylord, the city’s foremost newspaper publisher. Gaillardia features an 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed course (later remodeled by Tom Kite) that’s hosted a pair of men’s senior championships. Concert acquired the first mortgage on Gaillardia last summer and apparently didn’t wish to risk being out-bid by another buyer. In recent weeks it took the initiative by purchasing the second mortgage on the property and reaching a settlement with the club’s former owner, a group led by Phil Herrington. “It’s always been a fabulous club. It was just wrongly capitalized,” Concert’s CEO, Peter Nanula, told the Oklahoman. “The club is now debt free, with a long-term, stable future.” Concert will officially take over Gaillardia next month.

     It only took Edwin Watts Golf Shops about 10 weeks to find a new owner. The Fort Walton Beach, Florida-based retail chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection in early November 2013, has been purchased by Worldwide Golf, a West Coast golf retailer whose claim to fame is a 90-day, 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. The acquisition gives Worldwide a presence in golf markets across the nation, as it also operates Roger Dunn Golf Shops in California and Hawaii, the Golf Mart in California, Vans Golf Shops in Arizona, Uinta Golf Shops in Utah, and the Golfers’ Warehouse chain in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

     Mike Keiser’s forthcoming Sand Valley complex won’t be the only golf property that KemperSports manages in Adams County, Wisconsin. The Northbrook, Illinois-based firm has been tapped to operate the 18-hole Castle Course at Northern Bay Resort in Arkdale. The course, which opened in 2005, features 11 holes designed by Matt Mootz, one of the resort’s original owners, and seven replica holes created by Tour 18 Design Group. “We felt the need to create a partnership with a firm that specializes in high-end golf resort management,” said Darrel Malek, the managing partner of the entity that purchased Northern Bay out of bankruptcy protection in 2010. These days KemperSports manages three other venues in the Dairy State, all of them municipal tracks owned by the cities of Janesville and La Crosse.

     Dan Rooney, the air force pilot who created Patriot Golf Day, will receive this year’s Donald Ross Award from the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Since 2007, the money raised on Patriot Golf Day has helped to provide scholarships for nearly 5,500 military families. “Major Dan Rooney’s focus and dedication to helping the families of fallen heroes and wounded veterans through golf is inspirational,” said the ASGCA’s president, Rick Robbins. Rooney, a PGA pro who served three combat tours in Iraq, is also the majority owner of the Patriot Golf Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a facility whose motto is “Great Golf for the Greater Good.” Since it was established, in 1976, the Donald Ross Award has been given to such people as Herbert Warren Wind, Dinah Shore, Gene Sarazen, Jaime Ortiz-Patino, Tim Finchem, and Ron Whitten.