The Week That Was, april 27, 2014

     After 16 years as the secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and the chief executive of its commercial arm, the R&A, Peter Dawson has decided to call it a day. He’ll officially step down in September 2015. During his time in office, Dawson



skillfully managed the business side of international golf. He helped to open new markets for the game, attracted deep-pocketed corporate sponsors, enhanced the status (and boosted the profits) of the Open Championship, and helped to identify new sources of revenue for the sport of golf. And just weeks ago, in what may turn out to be his last major initiative, he set the stage for a long-overdue vote that will likely admit women to the Royal & Ancient. Unfortunately, all too often he served as a defender of the status quo, and he presided over an unprecedented decline in golf’s popularity among amateur golfers. Dawson’s retirement may be an opportunity for golf to chart a fresh new course, but history suggests that we’re in for more of the same.

     In lieu of assessing themselves for millions of dollars’ worth of capital improvements, the 600 members of a golf club in Cary, North Carolina have chosen to sell their 200-acre property to Concert Golf Partners. Peter Nanula’s Newport Beach, California-based investment group has agreed to buy MacGregor Downs Country Club, reportedly for $3.4 million. The 47-year-old venue features an 18-hole, Willard Byrd-designed golf course, a clubhouse, and the usual recreational amenities, all of which need to be modernized. Nonetheless, the club’s members reportedly weighed offers from at least three other suitors. With MacGregor Downs in the fold, Nanula’s group has acquired seven golf properties over the past three years. It has four facilities in Florida and others in Oklahoma and suburban Washington, DC.

     China’s golf markets may be growing rapidly, but a new analysis indicates that they aren’t as large as some people believe. In 2012, according to Research & Markets, China had 386,000 “core” golfers, an increase of 7.8 percent over the number it had in 2011. Based on the belief that “core” golfers account for between 35 to 42 percent of a nation’s total golf population, R&M estimates that the total number of golfers in China is somewhere between 920,000 and 1.1 million. Thanks to rising incomes and improved standards of living, R&M concludes, the number will grow by about 12 percent annually over “the next several years.”

     A new survey suggests that British golf properties would generate more play if they were friendlier to their customers, offered affordably priced lessons, and were more welcoming to women and beginners. “Growing Golf in the U.K.,” a study commissioned by Syngenta, took the pulse of 1,477 golfers and 2,145 non-golfers. In a summary of the results, Golf Club Management said that a large number of respondents specifically desire “relaxed, family-friendly facilities,” flexible membership options, informal dress codes, and “the freedom to do things such as use a smartphone in the clubhouse.” The survey also highlights the role a thriving junior program can have on a facility’s bottom line and notes that as many as 8.5 million people in the U.K. might be inclined to give golf a try.

     Romspen Investment Corporation, the new owner of four former Carolina Trail golf courses, might be advised to stick to a business it knows better than golf operations. The Canadian financier has alienated some of the trail’s long-time customers by refusing to honor memberships sold by former owner Jeff Silverstein -- thousands of dollars worth of memberships, in some cases. “They are throwing away the guys that are there day in and day out,” a former member complained to the Charlotte Observer. The response, from a Romspen vice president: “I don’t think they should be upset with us. We weren’t party to the deal that they made.” In other words, since Romspen isn’t legally bound to recognize Silverstein’s contracts, all bets are off. Clearly, Romspen doesn’t view itself as the trail’s long-term owner/operator. It may be adept at lending and investing, but customer relations doesn’t appear to be its strong suit.

     Without Tiger Woods to attract casual viewers, this year’s Masters recorded its worst ratings in a decade. The final round of the 78th edition of the sport’s premier invitational was viewed in 7.8 percent of U.S. homes, the lowest number since 2004 (7.3 percent) and down by 2.4 percent from 2013. The ratings weren’t helped when Phil Mickelson failed to make the cut, or by the lack of drama on the back nine. Not that Bubba Watson minds.

     Is it possible that a failing golf venue in Colorado or Washington -- or even a successful one, for that matter -- might follow the money and become a combination golf/marijuana club?

     Billy Casper Golf has assumed control of the golf operations at Seven Oaks Golf Course, an 18-hole layout located on the campus of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. Golfweek currently ranks Seven Oaks at #22 on its list of the nation’s best campus courses. The parkland-style track, designed by Robert Trent Jones in the mid 1930s, opened in two phases, in 1956 and 1965. BCG, which markets itself as “the largest domestic owner-operator of golf courses, country clubs, and resorts,” has three other golf properties in New York: Pine Ridge Golf Club in Coram, Beekman Golf Course in Hopewell Junction, and Hudson Hills Golf Course in Ossining. It appears that the university will continue to maintain the grounds at Seven Oaks.

     The you-know-what has hit the fan in Escondido, California. In a dirty trick worthy of the Christie State House and the Nixon White House, the owner of Escondido Country Club spread chicken manure on abandoned fairways located nearest to the houses that line the defunct golf course. The homeowners, who’ve blocked Stuck in the Rough LLC’s plans to develop the golf-course property, raised a stink about the stench, and air-quality officials in San Diego County are investigating. Michael Schlesinger, the LLC’s CEO, insists that he’s employing an “industry-standard landscaping program,” but he’ll have to pay fines if he’s deemed to be a deliberate public nuisance. As lawyers so often tell us, payback can be a bitch.

Operations, april 25, 2014

     Western Golf Properties has been selected to replace Troon Golf as the manager of Revere Golf Club, a 36-hole facility in the Sun City Anthem community outside Las Vegas, Nevada. WGP, which is to assume control of the 400-acre club in June, has promised to “increase the property’s exposure to area residents and inbound visitors,” in part by delivering “the best golf and dining experience in the region.” Like most Del Webb-created golf properties, Revere features courses co-designed by Billy Casper and Greg Nash. Del Webb sold the club to a group led by Troon Golf in 2002, reportedly for $21.8 million, and Troon’s group sold it to Newport Beach, California-based CORE Realty Holdings LLC in 2007, reportedly for $28 million. A press release announcing WGP’s appointment didn’t explain why the management change is being made.

     Just weeks after it established a presence in Texas, Mosaic Clubs & Resorts has picked up a contract on a facility much closer to home. Mosaic, the high-end off-shoot of Affiniti Golf Partners, has begun managing Golf Club of Georgia, a 23-year-old property located practically right around the corner from its headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia. The club features a pair of 18-hole, Arthur Hills-designed courses, one of which (the Lakeside track) was named by Golf Digest as the nation’s best new private course for 1991. “This club has a very special culture and brand, one known for a stable of excellent players, notable golf tournaments, and the high caliber of its members,” Mosaic’s chairman, Whitney Crouse, said in a press release. Mosaic operates two other golf properties in Georgia, Waterfall Club in Clayton and the Manor Golf & Country Club in Alpharetta, and another in South Carolina.

     Arnold Palmer Golf Management has laid a claim on its third property in metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada. The Dallas, Texas-based firm has been tapped to manage Reflection Bay Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus “signature” layout in Lake Las Vegas, a ritzy desert community that was flattened by the Great Recession. Reflection Bay, which opened in 1998, has been closed since 2009, but Golf Digest ranked it among the nation’s top 100 public courses for five years in the mid 2000s. Raintree Investment Corporation bought the track late last year and expects to reopen it before the end of 2014. Raintree also owns the Falls, a Tom Weiskopf-designed track in Lake Las Vegas, but the course will ll likely be converted to houses. The Palmer-branded management firm, an entity owned by Century Golf Partners, operates nearly 50 golf properties in 16 states. It has two other properties in greater Las Vegas, Rhodes Ranch Golf Club and Tuscany Golf Club.

     After three years of self-operation, a course once described as “a Pinehurst of the Prairie” has turned to professional management. Kent Freudenberg has hired Irwin Management Group, a “boutique” firm led by Hale Irwin, to run Awarii Dunes, his Jim Engh-designed layout in Axtell, Nebraska. Irwin’s primary goals, according to the Kearney Hub, are to “raise the national awareness of the course” and to generate more play, particularly among local golfers. As Irwin put it, “We want to create a buzz.” IGM manages Terradyne Country Club in Andover, Kansas, and late last year it offered to buy Dalton Ranch Golf Club, an 18-hole track outside Durango, Colorado.

     Thanks in part to a sales pitch that works wonders on financially strapped municipal officials -- “If you’re an owner of a golf course, private club, or resort, Billy Casper Golf will make you money” -- Billy Casper Golf has landed a five-year contract to manage the unprofitable city-owned golf complex in Prescott, Arizona. BCG will assume control of most golf-related activities at the 36-hole Antelope Hills Golf Course next month. The facility has reportedly lost between $234,500 and $323,450 in each of the past four fiscal years, but BCG, which will receive $84,000 a year for its services, has guaranteed the city annual payments of $1.3 million. Prescott reviewed bids from seven other management companies, among them OB Sports and Landscapes Golf Group.

     Beginning in January 2015, Los Angeles County’s parks and recreation department will attempt to do something that a succession of private-sector managers could not: Turn a profit at Norwalk Golf Course. The county may be undertaking a mission impossible, for the Los Angeles Wave reports that the nine-hole track, in suburban Los Angeles, “has never made a profit” since it opened in the early 1960s. Los Angeles County currently operates the nation’s largest municipal golf system, with 17 properties that feature 19 courses. Its revitalization plan for Norwalk involves $3.5 million worth of upgrades that it hopes SoCal’s golfers will take a liking to.

     For the second time, the District of Columbia’s elected representative has introduced legislation that could turn the capital city’s golf courses over to professional operators. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton wants the secretary of the interior to “conduct a study” to determine whether Washington, DC’s federally owned courses -- Langston Golf Course, Rock Creek Golf Course, and East Potomac Golf Course -- would be better off under the control of private-sector managers who’d agree to finance desperately needed capital improvements. Norton tried to get similar legislation passed in 2007, without any luck.

     Integrity Golf Company has been directed to restore confidence among the members of a Japanese-owned golf property in Greensboro, North Carolina. Forest Oaks Country Club closed briefly earlier this month, after its Raleigh-based management company, ES2 Sports & Leisure, declared for bankruptcy protection. ES2, which operated the property as Proehlific Club at Forest Oaks, had been in place for just a year before it got caught in a financial squeeze. Tadashi Hattori, one of Forest Oaks’ co-owners, is familiar with Integrity’s abilities, for it manages a golf property he owns in Orlando, Florida, Hunter’s Creek Golf Club. “The future of Forest Oaks Country Club could not be brighter,” Hattori wrote in a letter to the club’s members, “and we are excited to be able to restore the club to the level of service all our members deserve as soon as the court allows.” Integrity’s portfolio includes 20 golf properties in Florida (among them Golden Bear Golf Club in Windermere) and a handful of others in Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

     Silver Companies is taking resumes from companies interested in operating Cannon Ridge Golf Club. The 11-year-old facility, part of the Celebrate Virginia community in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has been closed for more than a year, and Silver is said to be at work on “a business plan to make Cannon Ridge profitable.” Bobby Weed, who co-designed the course with former PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, is currently overseeing a renovation that’s expected to wrap up later this year. The course is expected to reopen sometime next year.

     The company that will build Mike Keiser’s Sand Valley golf complex in central Wisconsin has secured a lease on one of the state’s premier golf properties. Last month, Oliphant Golf took over the Golf Courses of Lawsonia, a historic 36-hole complex owned by the Green Lake Conference Center, in Green Lake. Oliphant is intimately familiar with the courses, as it’s provided maintenance services for them since 2011. Lawsonia’s centerpiece is its Links course, a William Langford design that checks in at #52 on Golfweek’s list of the nation’s best classic courses. The conference center describes the facility’s Woodlands track, a Rocky Roquemore design, as “a modern target course” and “an unforgiving ogre.”

The Week That Was, april 13, 2014

     After bottoming out in 2012, the prices of U.S. golf properties are rising quickly. According to figures provided by Marcus & Millichap’s National Golf & Resort Properties Group, the average price of an operating, regulation-length golf course increased by 57 percent last year, to $4.25 million. “The golf-course sales market looks to be recovering and stabilizing,” M&M’s Steven Ekovich told Bloomberg. “Bank financing is slowly returning, the average sales price is rebounding, there are fewer foreclosures and bank repossessions, and more courses are back to producing positive cash flow.” U.S. golf properties are still valued at far less than they were in 2006, when they hit a peak of $7.33 million, but course owners who’ve managed to hold on through the darkest days of the Great Recession appear to again have a reason to believe.

     A California-based, Chinese-owned golf-course owner has been accused of running a Ponzi scheme. The Securities & Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against World Capital Market, Inc. and other entities controlled by Ming Xu, alleging that they defrauded tens of thousands of investors in a bogus venture that involved cloud computing services. The Riverside Press-Enterprise quotes from the complaint: “This matter involves an ongoing pyramid scheme, Ponzi scheme, and misappropriation of investor funds through an unregistered securities offering that targets members of the Asian-American and Hispanic-American communities, as well as foreign investors.” The SEC estimates that the scheme raised $65 million, part of which was used in 2013 to purchase Golf Club at Glen Ivy in Corona and Links at Summerly in Lake Elsinore. Both properties are currently being operated by a receiver.

     When it comes to spending on golf construction, few private developers would dare run up a tab like the City of New York. Citing figures provided by the city’s budget office, the New York Daily News reports that the municipal layout in the Bronx will cost taxpayers $181.4 million plus $54.6 million for a waterfront esplanade and various other items. The total amount: $236 million, an amount that qualifies it as “one of the most expensive golf courses ever built.” (Thankfully, taxpayers won’t have to foot the cost of the track’s $10 million clubhouse.) The Daily News identifies just two golf properties that cost more: Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, California ($260 million) and Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey ($250 million). New York City’s course, a Jack Nicklaus “signature” track, is scheduled to open in the spring of 2015.

     Thanks to what’s been called a “frugality campaign to curb excess,” fewer wealthy government officials are showing up at China’s golf courses these days. As a result, says China Daily, some high-priced spreads have been compelled “to swing toward the middle class.” Since late 2012, the newspaper reports, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has forced people in a position of power to return any membership cards they received as gifts from the owners of golf clubs. Such gifts can, after all, be viewed as a form of bribery. “If officials accept membership cards,” explained the editor of a golf magazine, “they will be more likely to abuse their power to seek gains for the businesspeople who provide them.” The purification initiative has led to a loss of play at some Chinese courses, presumably because even the rich think that golf costs too much.

     Continuing a process it initiated last year, a Canadian lender has taken possession of four Charlotte-area golf properties that had been part of Jeff Silverstein’s financially distressed Carolina Trail. Toronto-based Romspen Investment Corporation now owns Tradition Golf Club in Charlotte, the Divide Golf Club in Mathews, Birkdale Golf Club in Huntersville, and Highland Creek Golf Club in Charlotte. The company has vowed to restore all four courses to what it described as their “rightful place” among the area’s top daily-fee venues, but it ticked off some of its customers by announcing that it won’t honor any memberships that the Carolina Trail previously sold. Romspen also extended loans to one other course in the Carolina Trail, Waterford Golf Club in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It’s reportedly in the process of buying Waterford out of foreclosure.

     Under IMG’s ownership, the annual Golf Business Forum is taking on a decidedly different character. Gone is the emphasis on development that was prevalent when KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice ran the event, and so is the parade of architects -- Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, and Annika Sorenstam among them -- who attracted so many attendees. The familiar faces have been replaced with speakers who have only an indirect relationship to golf, among them representatives of HSBC, YouTube, McLaren Applied Technologies, Etihad Airways, and Dubizzle. In addition, the topics to be discussed at this year’s event -- it’ll be held in Abu Dhabi later this month -- have changed dramatically. They include “the business case for golf sponsorship,” “golf’s future as a televised product,” “how to pitch your business idea,” and “how the next generation of performance data analysis technology is changing professional sport.” Some things never change, but the Golf Business Forum isn’t one of them.

     Just weeks ago, a socio-cultural commentator claimed that farming was “the new golf.” Before that, “the new golf” was at various times gardening, meditation, yoga, or triathalon competitions. The latest: bicycling. “Cycling is the new golf,” contends the Canberra Times. The newspaper describes the sport as “a trend that’s being observed Australia-wide,” especially among white-collar professionals looking to network. Here’s the technical analysis: At the turn of the past century, according to data provided by Bicycle Network Victoria, Australia was home to 1.3 million golfers and 649,000 bicyclers. Today, the numbers have essentially reversed. In 2011-12, Australia had 860,500 golfers and nearly 1.37 million bicyclers. Nobody knows if the trend will hold, but anyone hunting for “the new golf” knows that cycling sure beats yoga.

     Can the golf business capitalize on a truly awesome celebrity golf sighting? Beyonce, the mega-star singer and actress, hit the links during a vacation at Casa de Campo in the Dominican

Republic. She and her husband, Jay Z, posted pictures to prove it. Her outfit may not conform to accepted golf traditions, but it would be a mistake to discourage her. She’s a certified trend-setter, Golf Digest says she has 11 million Instagram followers.

Desolation Row, april 11, 2014

     Nick Faldo’s first golf course in Vietnam has succumbed to the elements. Ocean Dunes Golf Club, an amenity for a Novotel hotel in Phan Thiết (Bình Thuận Province), has been purchased by Rang Dong Group, the owner of the nearby Sea Links resort community. “This is a real shame,” according to GolfAsian, because it leaves the area with just one golf course, the Ron Fream-designed track at Sea Links. Ocean Dunes had operated since 1996. Anyone who wishes to experience a Faldo design in Vietnam must now visit Laguna Lăng Cô Golf Club, a year-old venue outside Hue.

     Eastern Hills Country Club, a bankrupt venue in suburban Dallas, Texas, will likely be sold later this month. The bidding for the 154-acre property is expected to start at $4 million, an amount that would easily cover the club’s $2.4 million in debts. Eastern Hills features an 18-hole, Ralph Plummer-designed course that opened in 1954. It was shuttered in January, and the Realtor handling the sale told the Dallas Morning News that it’s “not viable to continue as a country club.” Most residents in the accompanying community expect houses to emerge on the fairways.

     If they don’t soon settle their tax debt, the owners of a high-end private venue in Sandpoint, Idaho risk losing their Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course. Pend Oreille Bonner Development, the owner the Idaho Club, reportedly owes Bonner County $1.4 million in unpaid taxes for the three-year period beginning in 2008 plus additional money for taxes owed since 2011. Pend Oreille has until mid May to resolve matters with the county. If it can’t, the county can initiate an auction of the golf club and 200 remaining residential lots. Nicklaus’ course at the Idaho Club is a massive redesign of a public track that opened in 1985, as Hidden Lakes Golf Club.

     A residential developer in Dublin, Ohio has its eyes on Riviera Golf Club. Davidson Phillips, Inc. aims to build 284 single-family houses on Riviera’s 168-acre property, which is located within a stone’s throw of Jack Nicklaus’ Country Club at Muirfield Village. Davidson Phillips and the club’s owner, the American Italian Golf Association, have been negotiating a sale since 2012. The transaction won’t be completed without a successful rezoning of the property, which has served as the club’s home since 1970. Both the buyer and seller expect the club to operate through the 2014 season.

     Just months after its operator abruptly departed, a well-regarded municipal golf course in the Amman Valley of Wales is trying to map out its future. Garnant Golf Club has been on shaky financial ground for years, and its owner, the Carmarthenshire County Council, has been forced to cover more than £200,000 ($333,000) worth of losses since 2011. In January, the venue’s operator, an affiliate of Wrexham-based Clay’s Golf, announced that it had “unfortunately ran out of cash” and abandoned the remaining years on its 25-year lease. The course’s future is up in the air, and the South Wales Guardian reports that the council is weighing “a number” of options, including a takeover bid from club members. Top 100 Golf Courses of the World calls the 17-year-old course, a Roger Jones design, “one of the best municipal golfing facilities in Wales.”

     A homeowners’ group in Louisville, Kentucky has concluded that it can live without its 18-hole golf course. The Indian Springs Community Association plans to convert its 20-year-old, Kingsley Stratton-designed track to open space. The association acquired the course just months ago, in exchange for dropping its opposition to development plans proposed by its former owner. “We would’ve loved to have kept it as a golf course,” the association’s president told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “That was our original intention, but it just isn’t financially viable.” The course, which the developers said was losing about $400,000 a year, was closed in February.

     City officials in Kent, Washington have unanimously voted to rid themselves of a financial headache: their nine-hole, par-3 golf course. “I’m not going to trade police or street repairs for a golf course that is supposed to be sustaining itself and should be sustaining itself,” a councilmember explained to the Kent Reporter after the vote. The newspaper says that the nearly 60-year-old layout offers “stunning views of Mount Rainier,” and local developers think it’s an ideal spot for apartments, a hotel, and a collection of stores. The track is part of the Riverbend Golf Complex, whose 18-hole course will be maintained and outfitted with a set of forward tees. Riverbend reportedly loses about $300,000 a year, has accumulated $2.6 million in debt, and needs more than $6 million worth of capital improvements. The city believes a developer will cough up at least $8 million for the land occupied by the par-3 course.

     This year’s golf season may be the swan song for a 67-year-old venue in Liverpool, New York. Richard and Ron Ajemian, the co-owners of Liverpool Public Golf & Country Club, have reportedly accepted a purchase offer from a local developer. The developer has until the end of October to close on the transaction. The Ajemians, the sons of the course’s original owner, believe the purchaser wants to build houses on the property.

     L. B. Wilson, the operator of three golf properties in North Carolina, has turned out the lights at his financially stressed golf course in Hope Mills. “I can’t afford to keep it up,” he told the Fayette Observer. Hope Mills Golf Club opened in the 1930s, and the Observer identifies its 18-hole track as “the oldest golf course in Cumberland County.” Wilson plans to continue operating Sandy Ridge Golf Club in Dunn, a venue he opened in 1989, but he’s put Greensbridge Golf Course, in Garland, on the market. “I’m trying to cut down to where I have only one course to look after,” he said. Wilson predicts that Hope Mills will “never be a golf course again,” largely because the city owns much of the property.

     Government officials in Royal Oak, Michigan appear eager to pull the plug on Normandy Oaks Golf Course. The nine-hole, privately managed track attracted only 9,839 rounds last year, less than half the number played at the city’s other nine-hole course. Royal Oak’s city manager believes golf is a dying sport and thinks the Normandy Oaks property could bring $14 million or more on the open market -- enough to fund the construction of several recreational items on the city’s wish list. “There is probably the potential to bring in from its sale enough to complete everything in our parks and recreation master plan,” he told the Royal Oak Patch. If the city manager’s comment sounds like a volley in a public-relations battle, maybe it’s because the course can’t be sold without approval from the city’s voters.

     The deeply troubled JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa is again headed for a public auction. The auction is scheduled to take place in June. What’s available is a nine-year-old venue with 575 hotel rooms, a spa, and a 27-hole golf complex whose design is usually credited to Arnold Palmer. Starr Pass has been on a financial precipice since 2011, when its owner, a group led by Christopher Ansley, defaulted on a $145 million loan. Shortly thereafter, the resort was turned over to a receiver. Three sales were scheduled in 2012, but all were postponed. Inside Tucson Business reports that Ansley “planned to build up and then flip the resort,” but his plans were undermined by the Great Recession. Is this what people mean when they say that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry?

The Week That Was, april 6, 2014

     In Queensland, Australia, a Great White Shark is on the prowl for investor prey. Greg Norman, who’s been commissioned to design an 18-hole golf course for the forthcoming Great Keppel Island resort, has also agreed to serve as an “ambassador” for the developer, Tower Holdings, which has set out to secure financing. “My golf courses are an economic indicator of when money is starting to flow,” the West Palm Beach, Florida-based architect told the Australian. GKI was approved last year, after a seven-year battle against anti-development interests. Norman, one of the richest people in the golf industry, hasn’t announced whether he plans to invest in the venture.

     One of Thailand’s best-known and most besieged golf venues has a new owner. Thanit Rattakamchai has purchased Blue Canyon Country Club, a 23-year-old, 36-hole facility in Phuket. The club is known for good golf -- Tiger Woods once called its Yoshikazu Kato-designed Canyon course “one of the best I have ever played on” -- but in recent years its commercial potential has been sapped by financial distress, legal proceedings, possible criminal activity, and overall bad vibes. The Phuket News reports that local golfers are celebrating the departure of the seller, a group led by Sia Leng Yuen, and are hoping that Thanit, who’s been described as “a low-profile” businessman, will fund long-overdue course improvements.

     First, the bad news: The golf industry in Great Britain lost 150,000 players last year, according to a survey by SMS, Inc., and the total number of golfers in the region has fallen below 3.5 million for the first time in a decade. SMS blames the decline on “infrequent” golfers (those who play fewer than 12 rounds a year), who aren’t playing as much as they once did. Now, the good news: SMS has also determined that the number of “avid” golfers in Great Britain (those who play at least once a week) is growing. It increased by nearly 89,000 players last year.

     Accordia Golf Company, the largest golf-course owner/operator in Japan, plans to move the majority of its golf properties into a publicly traded investment fund. The Tokyo-based firm has agreed to sell 90 of its 133 golf properties to Singapore-based Daiwa Securities Group, reportedly for ¥111.7 billion ($1.08 billion). If the price is correct, Accordia’s courses are being valued at roughly $12 million each. The nation’s golf clubs “are expected to see a gradual decline in players as the country deals with an aging population,” notes Japan Property Central, which believes that Accordia is “attempting to reduce its exposure by selling off its assets.” Daiwa plans to list the fund on the Singapore Exchange later this year.

     Two of the oldest golf properties in Louisville, Kentucky are now one. The properties -- Big Spring Country Club and Harmony Landing Country Club -- merged earlier this month, amid reports that they were having trouble finding members. By combining their assets, the clubs believe they can cut expenses, offer more value to potential members, and secure their financial futures. Louisville Business First reports that Harmony Landing lost $930,000 over a four-year period beginning in 2009. Big Spring appears to be on firmer financial ground, as it’s reportedly turned profits in three of the past four years. Big Spring opened in 1926, Harmony Landing in 1929. Both are said to have golf courses originally designed by George Davies.

     The Villages is having a senior moment. The 20,000-acre spread outside Ocala, Florida, a haven for retirees, has become the nation’s fastest-growing community, according to CNN and U.S. government data. It grew by 5.2 percent between July 2012 and July 2013, to a current population of more than 101,000. The Villages, which is being developed by entities controlled by Gary Morse, has gained notoriety among active adults because it has 32 nine-hole, executive-length courses and 11 regulation-length venues, most of them 27-hole complexes. The golf construction hasn’t ended, because Morse has more courses in his master plan.

     Another court battle over renewable energy may be on Donald Trump’s dance card. Trump fought bitterly against a proposed off-shore wind farm in Scotland, and now it appears that more than a dozen land-based turbines could be built in Doonbeg, Ireland, not far from his recently acquired Lodge at Doonbeg. Bloomberg reports that Trump is “prepared for another fight if necessary.” George Sorial, a top official of the Trump Organization, told the news service that his boss will “fight and object with [the] same vigor as we did in Scotland.” Trump abandoned his development plans for “the world’s greatest golf course” when he lost his battle in Scotland. Might he also do so in Ireland?

     The effect of Tiger Woods’ withdrawal from the Masters will be felt far beyond Augusta, Georgia. Television ratings always suffer when Woods doesn’t appear in a tournament, and Bloomberg says that some gambling parlors in Las Vegas expect the total amount of money wagered on this year’s event to fall by 20 percent. The Masters is “by far” the most popular golf tournament for bettors, according to a representative of the Las Vegas Hotel’s SuperBook. “It’s basically double the next one, which is the U.S. Open,” he said. In Woods’ absence, Rory McIlroy has been installed as the Masters’ favorite, at 8-1 odds.

Transactions, april 4, 2014

     An investor based in Dalian, China has acquired an 18-hole golf course in greater Myrtle Beach. Shengwen Lan reportedly paid $1.5 million for Crown Park Golf Club, a 13-year-old venue in Longs, South Carolina. Lan also agreed to assume roughly $500,000 worth of equipment leases. The Myrtle Beach Sun-News reports than Lan operates through entities called Dailian Jiayiruitai Group Company, Dailian Virtue & Faith Realty Company, and, for the purchase of Crown Park, Rose Park LLC. Previously, he purchased a 100-acre parcel adjacent to the club that will eventually sprout houses. Crown Park’s course was designed by Robbie Byers, a member of the family that sold the property.

     Nick Faldo’s golf course in Hutchinson, Kansas, an 18-hole track that went dark in 2009, may enjoy a second life. The course, part of the aborted Cottonwood Hills community, has been sold to an investment group led by Drayton Alldritt, a banker based in Wichita. Alldritt and his partners, operating as S&S Cottonwood LLC, aim to reopen the course next year and eventually build a clubhouse for it. S&S Cottonwood bought the 619-acre community from a Tennessee-based bank that controlled its mortgage, reportedly for a price just north of $1.67 million. The community had been initiated by Lane Neville, one of Alldritt’s long-time acquaintances. Faldo once called Cottonwood Hills “a design that will truly stand the test of time.” The course operated for just two years before its demise.

     ClubCorp Holdings hasn’t officially announced the amount it paid for Prestonwood Country Club, but the Dallas Morning News reports that the price was $11.2 million. Eric Affeldt, ClubCorp’s CEO, claims that the 36-hole facility will be “reinvented,” a word that that marketers likely put into his mouth. The company has fallen in love with the word reinvent and now uses it whenever it does a makeover.

     A fast-growing company in Ohio has acquired its fourth golf property. New Era Golf Ohio has reportedly paid $2.3 million for New Albany Links, an 18-hole track that serves as the centerpiece of a golf community in suburban Columbus. The seller was a group led by Joe Ciminello, who owns the accompanying community. New Era, which was established in 2012, markets a membership plan that offers playing privileges at New Albany and its other courses: Glenross Golf Club in Delaware, Royal American Golf Club in Galena, and Bent Tree Golf Club in Sunbury. The firm is currently negotiating to add the financially troubled Golf Club of Dublin to its collection. The club in Dublin, which bills itself as “the only true links golf experience in the Midwest,” is controlled by its lender, General Electric Credit Equities.

     A group led by Chris Sauer has purchased a pair of 18-hole golf courses in Monticello, Minnesota. Sauer told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal that he and his partners paid less than the $2.3 million asking price for Riverwood National Golf Course, which features a regulation-length track and an executive-length track. The courses will be marketed in tandem with Cedar Creek Golf Course in nearby Albertville, a property the group has owned since 2006. “We saw it as a perfect opportunity to give golfers a new experience,” Sauer explained. “Sometimes people get tired of buying a membership and being locked into that one course, so this gives people a membership opportunity for three courses.” Riverwood National had been controlled by a local bank. Its courses were designed by David Kirscht, an architect based in Hopkins, Minnesota.

     A self-described “atrocious golfer” has purchased a Rowland Armacost-designed golf course in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mike Deep, a developer and insurance agent, paid an undisclosed price for Waubeeka Golf Links, an 18-hole layout that opened in 1966. “I didn’t want to see Waubeeka not be a golf course,” he told the Berkshire Eagle. “You just can’t put houses there. It wouldn’t be proper. It’s just too beautiful.” Deep bought the 190-acre property from James Goff and his wife, Jody, who paid $4.2 million for it in 2008. The Goffs invested in what’s been described as “major renovations,” including a redesign of the back nine. They put Waubeeka on the market in 2012, hoping to get $5 million, but last year they dropped their price to $3.5 million.

     City officials in Austin, Texas plan to add a sixth 18-hole course to their municipal operation. They’ve agreed to pay $8.5 million for Grey Rock Golf Club, whose 22-year-old course -- the city’s first high-end, daily-fee track -- was designed by Jay Morrish. Before too long, Grey Rock will serve as a replacement for the city’s Lions Municipal Golf Course, which is located on land owned by the University of Texas and is slated for commercial development. The city has also allocated $1.1 million for improvements to Grey Rock, which is located at Circle C Ranch and was originally known as Golf Club at Circle C. The seller was Wally Deroeck.

     The Links at Sunset Ridge, an 18-hole course in Marcellus, New York, has a new name and a new owner. Mark and Karen Clark have sold the 16-year-old, John Yuhas-designed track to D. J. Van Keuren, who grew up in Marcellus but now lives in Denver, Colorado. Van Keuren plans to improve the course and build some houses around it. “Our goal is to be the best golf course in central New York within the next five years,” he said in a press release. A sales price hasn’t been announced, but the Syracuse Post-Standard reports that the 154-acre property is currently assessed at $1.5 million.

     Spe Go Holdings, an affiliate of Textron Financial Corporation, has disposed of another repossessed golf property. Spe Go has sold Ivy Hills Country Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a group led by Doug Evans. For a price in excess of $550,000, Evans’ LLC acquired a Steve Smyers-designed track that the Cincinnati Business Courier describes as “one of the toughest private golf courses” in the area. In recent years, Spe Go has also sold golf properties in Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and other states.

     Late last year, a group of residential developers in suburban Sioux Falls, South Dakota purchased a golf course near its Spruce Glen community. The developers, operating as Spruce Glen, Inc., bought Rocky Run Golf Course, an 18-hole track that opened in 1940, for an undisclosed price. In a press release, they claimed to be “committed to maintaining this valuable community asset.” In recent years, the city of Dell Rapids has had at least two opportunities to purchase the course but passed on both occasions.

     After submitting a purchase offer that club members declined to match, Cimarron Golf Partners LLC has closed on its purchase of Dalton Ranch Golf Club. The Durango Herald reports that the semiprivate club, in Durango, Colorado, changed hands for $3.4 million. The club’s centerpiece is an 18-hole, Ken Dye-designed golf course that opened in 1991. Steve Irwin, the son of Hale Irwin, is reportedly one of the new owners.

     Robert McNeil, a golf architect for more than 20 years, has become a golf-course owner. The president of The Northeast Golf Company has purchased Woodland Greens Golf Club, which features a Geoffrey Cornish-designed track that opened in 1964. “This is a childhood dream of mine,” McNeil told the Standard Times. “I have been looking for a golf property for years.” The nine-hole layout is in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, just a short drive from McNeil’s office in Saunderstown.