Operations, february 7, 2014

     Sometime this month, KemperSports is expected to begin operating another one of Chicagoland’s top golf facilities. The Northbrook, Illinois-based firm has been tapped to manage Cantigny Golf, a 36-hole complex in Wheaton that’s hosted the Publinks championship, the Chicago Open, and, this year, the Illinois State Amateur Championship. The 25-year-old property features a 27-hole, Roger Packard-designed complex and a nine-hole “youth” course. “The course has a great reputation among regional golfers,” said Steve Skinner, KemperSports’ CEO, “and we look forward to enhancing the guest experience and continuing the fantastic junior programs developed by Cantigny’s team.” KemperSports manages close to a dozen other golf properties in Chicago and its suburbs, among them Harborside International Golf Center, Royal Melbourne Country Club, and Bull Valley Golf Club.

     Troon has been selected to manage the first golf course in the smallest of the seven United Arab Emirates. The Nicklaus Design layout will be the featured attraction of Al Zorah, a 1,335-acre spread along the Persian Gulf in Ajman. The community was announced with great fanfare in 2007 but pushed to the back burner less than two years later, when the Great Recession took the wind out of the emirate’s financial sector. Al Zorah is being developed by Ajman’s government with private-sector partners. At build-out, it’s expected to feature lots of houses, a “city center” with offices, retail space, and a public square, a half-dozen waterfront hotels, four marinas, and an 18-hole, championship-length golf course. The course is under construction, and its first nine will likely open next year. “We are looking forward to working alongside the ownership group and Nicklaus Design to realize the potential this stunning area has to become an all-new option for international golfers flocking to the UAE,” said Bruce Glasco, the managing director of Troon’s international operations. Troon operates five other golf venues in the UAE, including Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, and the Els Club in Dubai.

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the January 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     A company known primarily for its food-and-beverage services will manage a pair of under-performing municipal golf courses in St. Paul, Minnesota. Prom Management Group has agreed to operate the city’s Phalen and Como courses, which have been a financial drain for years. The details of a proposed five-year contract are still being negotiated, but PMG will likely pay the city at least $65,000 annually, make routine capital improvements, and cover any losses that the courses produce. PMG got its start as a catering company, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that it currently works the hospitality side of more than 30 golf tournaments across the nation, along with other sports events. The firm also runs the concessions at three golf courses in the Minneapolis area, but the contract with St. Paul is its first move into golf operations.

     Century Golf Partners is bailing out on its contract to operate a municipal golf course in Alton, Illinois. The city has installed a temporary operator for Spencer T. Olin Golf Course and is preparing to negotiate a lease with an as-yet unidentified party. Century Golf had agreed to run the course until 2018.

     The municipal golf courses in Liverpool, England are being turned over to professional managers for the next quarter-century. The 27-hole Allerton complex will be run by Glendale, the firm that manages the city’s parks, cemeteries, and gardens, while the 18-hole North course will be run by an entity affiliated with Maghull Group, the owner of Formby Hall Golf Resort & Spa. By enlisting the private sector, the city hopes to save £1.7 million (almost $2.8 million) over the next five years. The new operators will assume their positions in April.

     Mosaic Clubs & Resorts, a freshly minted firm with grand ambitions, has been tapped to operate a financially challenged golf club in Florence, South Carolina. Mosaic, which was formerly known as Affiniti Golf Partners, has assumed control of the Country Club of South Carolina, a 46-year-old property that features an 18-hole, Ellis Maples-designed golf course. The former private club is the centerpiece of 900-acre master-planned community. Affiniti Golf Partners was founded by Whitney Crouse and Steve Willy in 1998. The firm’s name (and its mission) changed last fall, when Crouse and Willy teamed up with Hud Hinton, a former CEO of Troon Golf. The firm aims to operate “the world’s most prestigious private and resort clubs” and promises to deliver “first-class golf experiences, unsurpassed service, state-of-the-art marketing and websites, superior staff training, and exceptional client attention.” Mosaic also manages two properties in Georgia, Waterfall Club in Clayton and the Manor Golf & Country Club in Alpharetta, and Affiniti manages a dozen golf properties in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New York.

     The town of Belleair, Florida has extended the management contract at Belleview Biltmore Golf Club. Green Golf Partners will receive a 10-year lease that obliges it to pay the town $160,000 a year in rent and 6.5 percent of the club’s gross revenues in excess of $1.6 million. One wrinkle in the arrangement: If the city sells the club, a possibility it’s already entertained, GGP will be compensated for its losses. GGP took the helm of the club’s Donald Ross-designed course last year, at the time of the town’s purchase.

     Mark Woodward, a two-time selection as a member of Golf, Inc.’s power elite, has joined OB Sports Golf Management. A 40-year veteran of the golf business, Woodward has been a golf course superintendent, a facility manager, a director of a municipal golf operation, a CEO of a national golf association, a business development manager for a golf construction company, and the owner of a golf consulting business and remodeling firm. Golf, Inc. recognized him as one of the industry’s most powerful people in 2008 and 2009 and as one of its most admired operators in 2006. “Mark is one of the most well-rounded operators in our industry,” said Phil Green, the chief operating officer of OB Sports. “He thoroughly understands all facets of the golf operation.” At OB Sports, Woodward will serve as a senior vice president of operations.