The drought in California is getting worse. It’s become so bad, in fact, that it’s hard to imagine any new golf construction being approved for the foreseeable future, and it seems only a matter of time before existing courses are forced to operate under mandated water restrictions. “This could potentially be the driest water year in 500 years,” a University of California at Berkeley professor told the Daily Beast. The state has stopped delivering water to local agencies that serve 25 million people and roughly 750,000 acres of farm land, and the Associated Press reports that 17 small, rural communities in Sonoma and Santa Cruz counties are “in danger of running out of water within four months.” It’s important to note that the drought isn’t exclusively California’s problem, as water resources in Texas, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, and other states are also running perilously low. One thing’s for sure, though: If they ever start trucking bottled water to residents of parched California communities, the state’s golf courses are going to go brown fast.
Larry Packard, the nation’s oldest golf course architect, died last week at his home in Florida. He was 101. During his 40-year career, Packard had a hand in designing or redesigning hundreds
of U.S. courses, most of them in the Midwest, and sources say that he also created tracks in China, Japan, South Korea, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Egypt. He also served as the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, and Golfweek credits him with transforming it “from a social organization to a professional trade group that debated serious architectural issues.” He won the ASGCA’s Donald Ross Award in 1993 and personally selected the group’s emblematic red tartan blazer. Dick Phelps, a long-time friend, once described Packard’s work as “doing beautiful courses for the masses.” That’s certainly true, but Packard’s showpiece is the chic Innisbrook resort in Palm Harbor, Florida, where he produced three well-regarded 18-hole courses and a nine-hole track. He lived in the accompanying community.
The Deal Pipeline has the inside scoop on Phil Mickelson’s pending purchase of Stone Canyon Club, in suburban Tucson, Arizona. The financial journal hasn’t posted its story on line, but it reports that Mickelson and his agent, Steve Loy, will pay just $20 for the bankrupt club and its Jay Morrish-designed golf course, fitness center, and 25-acre cactus farm. On top of that, the prospective owners say the deal is off unless at least 80 percent of Stone Canyon’s members -- that would be 138 of 172 -- agree to continue paying their monthly fees for three years. So why are Mickelson and Loy driving such a hard bargain? Maybe it’s because they’ve promised to build a $4 million clubhouse for a golf property that hasn’t turned an annual profit since it opened, in 2000.
Barely a year after insisting that they were in it for the long haul, a group of Vancouver-based investors is walking away from Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club. The group has agreed to sell the five-year-old track, a minimalist icon outside Merritt, British Columbia, to Newmark Properties, a home builder. Newmark believes it can turn the course, which has had trouble generating play since it opened, into a destination for golfers whose tastes aren’t limited to layouts that play firm and fast. “My goal is to open up this little gem to the public, get a lot of people familiar with it, and get them up there playing it,” a Newmark official told the Vancouver Sun. Sagebrush was co-designed by Dick Zokol, Rod Whitman, and Armen Suny and is often cited as a prime example of sustainable design and construction. Golf Digest named it as Canada’s best new course when it opened and currently ranks it as one of the nation’s top 100.
A moribund golf community in suburban Indianapolis, Indiana appears to have found new life. Chatham Hills, which breathed its initial breath nearly a decade ago, will feature 1,500 houses, a Pete Dye-designed 18-hole golf course, a nine-hole par-3 track, parks, and other attractions. Its developer, Henke Development Group -- it created the nearby Bridgewater Club, which also has a Dye-designed layout -- needs a rezoning before construction can begin, but it nonetheless believes it can break ground on the golf complex in the fall of this year.
Joe Steranka, a former CEO of the PGA of America, has joined Billy Casper’s public-relations firm. Steranka has become the chief global strategist for Buffalo Communications, a 13-year-old company that’s looking to branch out beyond golf and into what it calls “the broader sports and lifestyle categories worldwide” -- areas such as travel, fashion, and real estate. “The value of sports as content for media companies and a marketing platform for brands is increasing exponentially,” Steranka said in a press release. “This means there are tremendous opportunities, both at home and around the world, to expand Buffalo in golf and other markets.” Steranka served as the PGA’s of America’s CEO from 2005 to 2012. During his term, the group organized China’s first golf trade show, developed Golf 2.0, and made golf an Olympic sport.
Greg Norman has found another endorsement deal he couldn’t pass on. He’s agreed to serve as “a global brand ambassador” for Cobra Puma Golf, which says that he’ll play “an intricate role in the development of our products and overall business.” Cobra Puma, a subsidiary of a German company that’s owned by a French company, has similar promotional arrangements with Ricky Fowler, Lexi Thompson, David Feherty, and Ian Poulter.
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