Troon Golf can check another U.S. state off its to-do list. Troon Privé, the company’s private-club division, has been hired to manage its first property in Rhode Island, Alpine Country Club in Cranston. Alpine, which Troon describes as “one of the premier country clubs” in the state, features a Geoffrey Cornish-designed, 18-hole golf course that opened in 1961. As it does at its other properties, Troon has set out to provide “an enhanced lifestyle experience” for the club’s members and guests. According to a listing at its website, Troon currently operates courses in 32 states.
Billy Casper Golf has been tabbed to operate the longest golf course in Indiana, a 7,754-yard behemoth at Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville. The 18-hole, Ron Kern-designed course is also among the state’s most difficult, as it features 125 bunkers, fairways lined by thick, tall grasses, and, according to an online reviewer, “wickedly contoured greens.” Mike Merchant, the club’s owner, calls the playing experience “sweet misery.” Peter Hill, the chairman of BCG, believes the course is “one of the best in central Indiana” and promises to “enhance golfers’ experiences time and again.” BCG operates two other golf properties in the Hoosier State, Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend and Sand Creek Country Club in Chesterton, neither of which pose comparable challenges.
After a year of trying, the city of Phoenix, Arizona and Arizona State University have hammered out a 30-year agreement for the management of Papago Golf Course. The contract solves programs for both parties, as the city needs an experienced, dependable operator for its most popular golf venue and ASU needs a home for its men’s and women’s golf teams. Papago, which features an 18-hole, Billy Bell-designed course, is on track to earn nearly $500,000 this year, according to the Arizona Republic. ASU will begin to operate the course in July, and it’s agreed to complete the facility’s long-delayed clubhouse within three years. Since 1989, the university’s golf teams have played at ASU Karsten Golf Course, a Pete Dye-designed track that slated for development.
The only golf venue in an Illinois state park has been turned over to the private sector. Green Golf Partners, an Indiana-based company, has been enlisted to manage the Ken Killian-designed Eagle Creek Golf Course, a facility in Findlay sometimes called the National Golf Course at Eagle Creek. The 18-hole track is the main attraction at Lake Shelbyville State Park, a 34,000-acre spread with a resort that’s been plagued by miseries -- mold, most recently -- since it opened in the late 1980s. “Finding an experienced golf course manager is an important first step for Eagle Creek Resort,” a state official said in a press release. Green Golf manages 13 U.S. golf properties, six of them in Illinois. The latter group includes the University of Illinois Golf Course outside Champaign, Danville Country Club in Danville, and Kemper Lakes Golf Club in suburban Chicago.
The First Tee of Northern Nevada has agreed to short- and long-term contracts that will enable it to operate a deeply troubled, municipally owned golf facility in Reno. The city will shed no tears as it walks away from Rosewood Lakes Golf Course, which has reportedly lost $4.6 million since 2007. The First Tee’s short-term lease agreement, which begins this month, remains in effect until local road construction impacts the site of by 18-hole track. The long-term lease kicks when the road is built, as long as the First Tee believes it can successfully operate a nine-hole track on the property. By turning the course over to the First Tee, the city expects to save roughly $620,000 a year.
After years of searching, the city of Augusta, Georgia appears to have identified an operator for its financially distressed 18-hole golf course. The city is negotiating a five-year contract with Orlando, Florida-based Cypress Golf Management, which believes it can turn a profit at Augusta Municipal Golf Course -- known locally as “the Patch” -- by late 2016 or early 2017. Doing so may be a challenge, as Cypress has promised that greens fees will remain in the mid $20s, cart included. “The mission is to provide affordable golf,” a councilmember told the Augusta Chronicle. Cypress is led by Bill Stine, one of the founders of International Golf Maintenance Company and Meadowbrook Golf. The company currently manages one property in Georgia (Durham Lakes Country Club in Fairburn) and six in Florida, among them Hernando Oaks Golf Club in Brooksville, Remington Golf Club in Kissimmee, and Twisted Oaks Country Club in Beverly Hills.
The city of La Junta, Colorado has assumed control of its municipal golf course. In recent years, the nine-hole track had been operated by a group of members who were having trouble making ends meet. “It is our goal to make this among the best municipal golf courses in Colorado,” a city administrator told the La Junta Tribune-Democrat. The course, which was designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, opened in 1940.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
The Week That Was, may 25, 2014
A distressing decline in sales of golf equipment has pinched the bottom line at Dick’s Sporting Goods. The publicly traded company reports that sales at its 79 Golf Galaxy stores fell by 10.4 percent in the past quarter -- a “whopping” amount, according to Forbes -- and haven’t shown any signs of recovering in the current quarter. “We really don’t know what the bottom is in golf,” the company’s chief executive said in a comment published by Bloomberg Businessweek. “The industry has a real issue.” Dick’s also has an issue, because sales of golf and hunting goods constitute almost one-third of its annual revenues. Forbes reports that Dick’s expects its hunting sales to stabilize but “has no such hopes for its golf division.”
When it comes to marketing appeal, golfers don’t compare to young, good-looking stars in tennis, soccer, auto racing, and other sports that induce sweat. At least that’s the view of SportsPro, which placed just three golfers -- Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy -- on its just-issued list of the world’s 50 most marketable athletes. The top 50 skews overwhelmingly toward athletes under 30 who appeal to international (particularly European) audiences, and everyone on the list is said to have immediate marketing potential. They have two things in common: Talent and, perhaps more importantly, talented agents. Before it names Scott, at #12, SportsPro lists an auto racer, a cricketer, an NFL quarterback, three professional soccer players, two tennis pros, a track-and-field star, a female swimmer, and an NBA power forward. Spieth checks in at #19, McIlroy at #24. Conspicuously absent, of course, are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who’ll presumably soon be serving as pitch men for laxatives and adult diapers.
This hasn’t been a good year for Tiger Woods. His body has taken a beating, and now his bank account will too. A sports memorabilia company, Gotta Have It Golf, Inc., has won a $668,000 judgment against Woods, after persuading a jury in Florida that Woods failed to honor a licensing agreement. In an article for the National Law Review, lawyers from Proskauer Rose LLP note that “the award may move north of $1 million once interest has been factored in.” Funny thing about the article, though: It’s four paragraphs long, and it carries six bylines. Now you know why your legal bills are so high.
Fred Funk, a 16-time winner on the PGA and Champions tours, will create his first “signature” design in Windsor, Colorado, at a 2,800-home community that aims to become a “resort destination for die-hard golfers.” Funk’s 18-hole track will be centerpiece of RainDance National Golf Club, a property being developed by Water Valley Land Company. “There truly is no limit for the potential of RainDance on the national stage now that we have teamed up with Mr. Funk and his talented crew,” Water Valley’s principal said in a press release. Funk’s crew mainly consists of Harrison Minchew, who’ll co-design the golf course. “This particular piece of land has got my attention,” Minchew told Golf Course Architecture, “and I don’t want to screw it up because it’s so good.” RainDance will take shape on property just a short drive from Water Valley Pelican Lakes community, which features a 27-hole, Ted Robinson-designed complex. Lind hasn’t yet set a date for the groundbreaking.
One of Jack Nicklaus’ former colleagues has purchased his first golf property, and it comes with a pedigreed course. An affiliate of Michael Zmetrovich’s Z Golf Properties has paid an undisclosed amount for Briggs Ranch Golf Club, a 13-year-old venue in San Antonio, Texas. The club, which features a Tom Fazio-designed course, is part of a 2,200-acre community with some of the area’s pricier houses. “What attracted me to Briggs Ranch was the quality of the golf course,” Zmetrovich said in a comment published by the San Antonio Express-News. “It's a great golf experience in a growing marketplace with a year-round playing environment and a great group of members.” Zmetrovich, a former vice president of Nicklaus Companies, has since 2005 managed a Fazio-designed layout at Coral Creek Club in Placida, Florida. He bought Briggs Ranch from Gil Hodge, who continues to own the community’s defunct Golf Club of Texas. One of Hodge’s original partners, former British Open champion Bill Rogers, called the sale to Z Golf “a blessing for the club.”
Troon Golf, which operates nearly 100 golf properties in 33 U.S. states, has signed its first contract in Alabama. The firm’s Troon Privé division has begun to manage Pine Tree Country Club, in Birmingham, a 46-year-old venue with an 18-hole, George Cobb-designed golf course. “Troon manages golf courses the right way and provides all club members and their guests with the ultimate lifestyle,” said the Pine Tree’s general manager, Don Shirey, a former player on the PGA Tour who’s worked for Troon for more than a decade. “I want to introduce our Troon concept and further elevate that perception.” Pine Tree, which lists an initiation fee of $5,000, describes itself as “one of the best secrets in Birmingham.” Troon describes it as “one of the South’s premier golf properties” and promises that “its stature will certainly be enhanced.”
Martial law always seems to take the fun out of a nation’s golf business. The military coup in Thailand, for example, has ended all thoughts of staging this year’s Thailand Open, a $1 million event that was already postponed once. “It is our hope that the tournament will be staged next year,” one of the event’s organizers told an Indian news service. If you listen closely, you can also hear the air going out of Thailand's golf tourism business.
When it comes to marketing appeal, golfers don’t compare to young, good-looking stars in tennis, soccer, auto racing, and other sports that induce sweat. At least that’s the view of SportsPro, which placed just three golfers -- Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy -- on its just-issued list of the world’s 50 most marketable athletes. The top 50 skews overwhelmingly toward athletes under 30 who appeal to international (particularly European) audiences, and everyone on the list is said to have immediate marketing potential. They have two things in common: Talent and, perhaps more importantly, talented agents. Before it names Scott, at #12, SportsPro lists an auto racer, a cricketer, an NFL quarterback, three professional soccer players, two tennis pros, a track-and-field star, a female swimmer, and an NBA power forward. Spieth checks in at #19, McIlroy at #24. Conspicuously absent, of course, are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who’ll presumably soon be serving as pitch men for laxatives and adult diapers.
This hasn’t been a good year for Tiger Woods. His body has taken a beating, and now his bank account will too. A sports memorabilia company, Gotta Have It Golf, Inc., has won a $668,000 judgment against Woods, after persuading a jury in Florida that Woods failed to honor a licensing agreement. In an article for the National Law Review, lawyers from Proskauer Rose LLP note that “the award may move north of $1 million once interest has been factored in.” Funny thing about the article, though: It’s four paragraphs long, and it carries six bylines. Now you know why your legal bills are so high.
Fred Funk, a 16-time winner on the PGA and Champions tours, will create his first “signature” design in Windsor, Colorado, at a 2,800-home community that aims to become a “resort destination for die-hard golfers.” Funk’s 18-hole track will be centerpiece of RainDance National Golf Club, a property being developed by Water Valley Land Company. “There truly is no limit for the potential of RainDance on the national stage now that we have teamed up with Mr. Funk and his talented crew,” Water Valley’s principal said in a press release. Funk’s crew mainly consists of Harrison Minchew, who’ll co-design the golf course. “This particular piece of land has got my attention,” Minchew told Golf Course Architecture, “and I don’t want to screw it up because it’s so good.” RainDance will take shape on property just a short drive from Water Valley Pelican Lakes community, which features a 27-hole, Ted Robinson-designed complex. Lind hasn’t yet set a date for the groundbreaking.
One of Jack Nicklaus’ former colleagues has purchased his first golf property, and it comes with a pedigreed course. An affiliate of Michael Zmetrovich’s Z Golf Properties has paid an undisclosed amount for Briggs Ranch Golf Club, a 13-year-old venue in San Antonio, Texas. The club, which features a Tom Fazio-designed course, is part of a 2,200-acre community with some of the area’s pricier houses. “What attracted me to Briggs Ranch was the quality of the golf course,” Zmetrovich said in a comment published by the San Antonio Express-News. “It's a great golf experience in a growing marketplace with a year-round playing environment and a great group of members.” Zmetrovich, a former vice president of Nicklaus Companies, has since 2005 managed a Fazio-designed layout at Coral Creek Club in Placida, Florida. He bought Briggs Ranch from Gil Hodge, who continues to own the community’s defunct Golf Club of Texas. One of Hodge’s original partners, former British Open champion Bill Rogers, called the sale to Z Golf “a blessing for the club.”
Troon Golf, which operates nearly 100 golf properties in 33 U.S. states, has signed its first contract in Alabama. The firm’s Troon Privé division has begun to manage Pine Tree Country Club, in Birmingham, a 46-year-old venue with an 18-hole, George Cobb-designed golf course. “Troon manages golf courses the right way and provides all club members and their guests with the ultimate lifestyle,” said the Pine Tree’s general manager, Don Shirey, a former player on the PGA Tour who’s worked for Troon for more than a decade. “I want to introduce our Troon concept and further elevate that perception.” Pine Tree, which lists an initiation fee of $5,000, describes itself as “one of the best secrets in Birmingham.” Troon describes it as “one of the South’s premier golf properties” and promises that “its stature will certainly be enhanced.”
Martial law always seems to take the fun out of a nation’s golf business. The military coup in Thailand, for example, has ended all thoughts of staging this year’s Thailand Open, a $1 million event that was already postponed once. “It is our hope that the tournament will be staged next year,” one of the event’s organizers told an Indian news service. If you listen closely, you can also hear the air going out of Thailand's golf tourism business.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Desolation Row, may 23, 2014
A pair of whiskey producers in Fort Worth, Texas wants to put one of the city’s oldest golf properties out of business. Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson, the owners of Firestone & Robertson Distilling Company, have agreed to buy Glen Garden Country Club, a 102-year-old venue that once claimed Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson as members. If the sale is consummated, F&R will build a visitors’ center and begin distilling bourbon and its award-winning blended whiskey on the property. “In our business, having land is very important,” Firestone told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The sellers, Clarence Dowdy and Malcolm Tallmon, had hoped to sell Glen Garden to a group willing to maintain its John Bredemus-designed golf course.
It appears that Hurricane Katrina will soon claim another victim. Brechtel Park Golf Course, a municipal track in suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, was ravaged by the storms of 2005 and has been abandoned since 2011. The city says it’s “continuing to review options” regarding the 18-hole layout, but the New Orleans Advocate’s reporting indicates that it’ll eventually be “reborn as something different.” The city had hoped to find an operator who’d reopen Brechtel, but the local private sector wasn’t convinced that that nearly 50-year-old track would ever turn a profit.
In the face of a money crunch, military officials in Anchorage, Alaska have downsized their 54-hole golf complex. The Eagleglen course at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson won’t open this year, and its future is up in the air. The news doesn’t come as a surprise, as it’s been rumored for months, but it’s particularly distressing to those who believe that Eagleglen’s Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed track is the state’s best. JBER’s golf operation has been losing players and money for the better part of a decade. Its courses attracted roughly 75,150 rounds in 2003, according to statistics provided by the base, but only 47,092 last year. The decline in play has cost the base $2.2 million over the past five years. To calm agitated local golfers, the base has promised to improve the Hill and Creek tracks at its Moose Run Golf Course.
Just days after its lender initiated foreclosure proceedings, a bankrupt country club in Jackson, Mississippi officially kicked the bucket. Colonial Country Club, which had operated since 1946, was trapped between a rock and a hard place: too many competing courses and not enough golfers. “It used to be one of the busiest courses in the state,” one of the club’s employees told WAPT-TV. “I never thought it would come to this.” Before its demise, Colonial managed to sell a golf property it owned in Jackson, Deerfield Golf Club.
Microsoft plans to build a billion-dollar data center on a part of a golf course in West Des Moines, Iowa. Nine of the 18 holes at Willow Creek Golf Course will be sold to pave the way for what’s known to local insiders as “Project Alluvion.” According to the Des Moines Register, the course’s owner is looking to buy land for nine new holes.
You can kiss goodbye to Deerfield Country Club. After a 50-year run, the club and its 18-hole, executive-length golf course in Deerfield Beach, Florida will make way for a technology park. Gator Development Group sold the club last year, to a group that believes its business park will attract companies like Google and Amazon to Broward County.
Was Felicita Golf Course undermined more by its owner’s ambitions or his line of business? The way Richard Angino sees it, both factors contributed to the demise of his 18-hole golf course in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Angino had aimed to bring a little of Augusta National to the state capital, and as a result his course charged more than the market could bear. “If Augusta costs $10 more than the other golf course,” he explained to a local television station, “the central Pennsylvania individuals would rather save that $10.” But Angino readily concedes that his work as a medical malpractice attorney brought more harm to Felicita, as local doctors and their network of friends refused to play there. “I think there are quite a few people who don't like Richard Angino,” he acknowledged. Angino hopes “to do something with the property,” according to WHTM-TV, but he hasn’t figured out what.
The owners of a layout once described as Indianapolis, Indiana’s “best-kept golfing secret” have filed for bankruptcy protection. Curt Johnson and Gregory Hole, who operate as Hole In One, Inc., reportedly owe $2.5 million to various creditors. Their 18-hole, Ron Kern-designed golf course remains open, but the Indianapolis Star reports that its revenues have fallen by 20 percent since 2011, from $721,000 to $579,000.
In Elizabethtown, North Carolina, a golf course whose greens had been cooking in the summer sun has met its end. Carolina Sands Golf Club, a 52-year-old venue owned by Don and April Britt, succumbed to the elements last month, after many of its customers departed for greener pastures. A foreclosure sale has taken place, according to the Fayette Observer, and a group of local residents has expressed an interest in the property. One of the course’s former owners described some of the course’s greens as “good,” others as “fair,” and a few as “really bad.”
It appears that Hurricane Katrina will soon claim another victim. Brechtel Park Golf Course, a municipal track in suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, was ravaged by the storms of 2005 and has been abandoned since 2011. The city says it’s “continuing to review options” regarding the 18-hole layout, but the New Orleans Advocate’s reporting indicates that it’ll eventually be “reborn as something different.” The city had hoped to find an operator who’d reopen Brechtel, but the local private sector wasn’t convinced that that nearly 50-year-old track would ever turn a profit.
In the face of a money crunch, military officials in Anchorage, Alaska have downsized their 54-hole golf complex. The Eagleglen course at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson won’t open this year, and its future is up in the air. The news doesn’t come as a surprise, as it’s been rumored for months, but it’s particularly distressing to those who believe that Eagleglen’s Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed track is the state’s best. JBER’s golf operation has been losing players and money for the better part of a decade. Its courses attracted roughly 75,150 rounds in 2003, according to statistics provided by the base, but only 47,092 last year. The decline in play has cost the base $2.2 million over the past five years. To calm agitated local golfers, the base has promised to improve the Hill and Creek tracks at its Moose Run Golf Course.
Just days after its lender initiated foreclosure proceedings, a bankrupt country club in Jackson, Mississippi officially kicked the bucket. Colonial Country Club, which had operated since 1946, was trapped between a rock and a hard place: too many competing courses and not enough golfers. “It used to be one of the busiest courses in the state,” one of the club’s employees told WAPT-TV. “I never thought it would come to this.” Before its demise, Colonial managed to sell a golf property it owned in Jackson, Deerfield Golf Club.
Microsoft plans to build a billion-dollar data center on a part of a golf course in West Des Moines, Iowa. Nine of the 18 holes at Willow Creek Golf Course will be sold to pave the way for what’s known to local insiders as “Project Alluvion.” According to the Des Moines Register, the course’s owner is looking to buy land for nine new holes.
You can kiss goodbye to Deerfield Country Club. After a 50-year run, the club and its 18-hole, executive-length golf course in Deerfield Beach, Florida will make way for a technology park. Gator Development Group sold the club last year, to a group that believes its business park will attract companies like Google and Amazon to Broward County.
Was Felicita Golf Course undermined more by its owner’s ambitions or his line of business? The way Richard Angino sees it, both factors contributed to the demise of his 18-hole golf course in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Angino had aimed to bring a little of Augusta National to the state capital, and as a result his course charged more than the market could bear. “If Augusta costs $10 more than the other golf course,” he explained to a local television station, “the central Pennsylvania individuals would rather save that $10.” But Angino readily concedes that his work as a medical malpractice attorney brought more harm to Felicita, as local doctors and their network of friends refused to play there. “I think there are quite a few people who don't like Richard Angino,” he acknowledged. Angino hopes “to do something with the property,” according to WHTM-TV, but he hasn’t figured out what.
The owners of a layout once described as Indianapolis, Indiana’s “best-kept golfing secret” have filed for bankruptcy protection. Curt Johnson and Gregory Hole, who operate as Hole In One, Inc., reportedly owe $2.5 million to various creditors. Their 18-hole, Ron Kern-designed golf course remains open, but the Indianapolis Star reports that its revenues have fallen by 20 percent since 2011, from $721,000 to $579,000.
In Elizabethtown, North Carolina, a golf course whose greens had been cooking in the summer sun has met its end. Carolina Sands Golf Club, a 52-year-old venue owned by Don and April Britt, succumbed to the elements last month, after many of its customers departed for greener pastures. A foreclosure sale has taken place, according to the Fayette Observer, and a group of local residents has expressed an interest in the property. One of the course’s former owners described some of the course’s greens as “good,” others as “fair,” and a few as “really bad.”
Sunday, May 18, 2014
The Week That Was, may 18, 2014
Things have gone from bad to worse at Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club, as Calvin Payne, the owner of the critically acclaimed golf venue outside Merritt, British Columbia, has sued Dick Zokol, one of the club’s founders, for more than $42 million. Payne’s filing comes just weeks after an expected sale of Sagebrush failed to materialize. In his lawsuit, Payne contends that Zokol deliberately undermined the sale, failed to complete the club’s construction on time or on budget, fell far short in selling memberships, and “mismanaged the project in every respect.” Golf Digest currently ranks Sagebrush as one of Canada’s top 100, and the club is often cited as a premier example of sustainable design and construction. But it’s also been a financial catastrophe, and money troubles usually bring out the worst in people.
The seemingly well-laid plan to open the doors of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews to women may not be a slam dunk after all. Peter Dawson and his colleagues at the world’s most marvelous golf club have been counting votes, and the numbers have made them a little queasy. As a result, the Royal & Ancient will likely change the bylaw that restricts voting to members who actually show up at the club’s annual get-together. “There could be a ‘no’ vote if they restrict the vote to only those who turn up at the business meeting,” a club member told Golfweek. “You could have a scenario where those against could marshal enough people to defeat the motion.” Of course, that’s not how the club explains the action it plans to take. Here’s Dawson’s version: “There is a view in the club, and quite a strong one, that postal voting should be allowed.” To be sure, Dawson is just being prudent. After all, the outcome of such an historic, transformative vote can’t be left to chance.
Could golf development in China, already in the midst of a worrisome decline, slow to a veritable crawl? It’s a distinct possibility, seeing as how the nation’s long-running real estate bull market “finally seems to be stalling,” according to the New York Times. If real estate sales continue to weaken, golf courses tied to residential development -- and in the People’s Republic, there’s really no other kind -- will become white elephants, just as so many have become in the United States. And then what?
The son of a deceased Pittsburgh-area superintendent has filed lawsuits against some of the golf industry’s major chemical suppliers, alleging that their products killed his father. Rich Walsh, a former television sportscaster in the city, has reportedly named companies including Monsanto, Bayer, John Deere Landscapes, and Syngenta as culprits, alleging that their pesticides contributed to his father’s leukemia. In response, the companies contend that Walsh has no evidence to support his claims. It’s difficult to determine exactly what Walsh is trying to achieve, but he’s certainly raising awareness about the dangers that superintendents face in their jobs. According to a report by WTAE-TV, former golf course superintendents have a higher incidence of four types of cancer -- brain, lymphoma, prostate, and large intestine -- than the rest of the U.S. population. Tom Walsh died in February 2009, at the age of 56. He’d worked at golf courses in metropolitan Pittsburgh for 38 years.
Herb Kohler doesn’t intend to cut any corners on his forthcoming golf course in Wisconsin. Kohler’s fifth Pete Dye-designed course in suburban Sheboygan, a complement to the highly regarded tracks at Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run, “could one day rank as one of the top 50 in the world,” according to the Sheboygan Press. “We believe it can be as good or better than the Straits course,” Destination Kohler’s general manager said at a recent public meeting. Kohler aims to open the 18-hole layout in the summer of 2017. If you’re wondering, Golf Digest currently ranks the Straits track at #16 on its list of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses.
The 17th golf property in Escalante Golf’s fast-growing portfolio is a pricey, old-timey, financially suspect golf club in the wine country of northern California. Escalante has purchased Sonoma Golf Club, which was established in 1928 and has been available for several years. The seller, Crescent Real Estate Equities, had owned the 177-acre property since 1998. “The veil of uncertainty has been lifted, and the club can now move forward,” said an Escalante spokesman. Sonoma charges an initiation fee of $150,000, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, an amount that appears to be more than the market can currently bear. Nearly 100 members are said to be on the club’s quit list, an issue that Escalante plans to address by offering new membership options. The club features an 18-hole, classic-style course designed by Sam Whiting. Sam Snead once said it was his favorite course.
Donald Trump is bucking for another legal battle over an off-shore wind farm in Scotland, like the one that led him to abandon his development plans in Aberdeenshire. During his first visit to Turnberry, the historic resort he recently purchased, he vowed to block a wind farm that a government agency wants to build off the Ayrshire coast. “If they did allow it, I would fight very hard to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Trump said in a comment published by the Daily Record. “I would certainly bring a lawsuit and try to stop it. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I will fight it.” And here’s the kicker: Trump has acknowledged that he was aware of plans to build the wind farm before he bought Turnberry.
The seemingly well-laid plan to open the doors of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews to women may not be a slam dunk after all. Peter Dawson and his colleagues at the world’s most marvelous golf club have been counting votes, and the numbers have made them a little queasy. As a result, the Royal & Ancient will likely change the bylaw that restricts voting to members who actually show up at the club’s annual get-together. “There could be a ‘no’ vote if they restrict the vote to only those who turn up at the business meeting,” a club member told Golfweek. “You could have a scenario where those against could marshal enough people to defeat the motion.” Of course, that’s not how the club explains the action it plans to take. Here’s Dawson’s version: “There is a view in the club, and quite a strong one, that postal voting should be allowed.” To be sure, Dawson is just being prudent. After all, the outcome of such an historic, transformative vote can’t be left to chance.
Could golf development in China, already in the midst of a worrisome decline, slow to a veritable crawl? It’s a distinct possibility, seeing as how the nation’s long-running real estate bull market “finally seems to be stalling,” according to the New York Times. If real estate sales continue to weaken, golf courses tied to residential development -- and in the People’s Republic, there’s really no other kind -- will become white elephants, just as so many have become in the United States. And then what?
The son of a deceased Pittsburgh-area superintendent has filed lawsuits against some of the golf industry’s major chemical suppliers, alleging that their products killed his father. Rich Walsh, a former television sportscaster in the city, has reportedly named companies including Monsanto, Bayer, John Deere Landscapes, and Syngenta as culprits, alleging that their pesticides contributed to his father’s leukemia. In response, the companies contend that Walsh has no evidence to support his claims. It’s difficult to determine exactly what Walsh is trying to achieve, but he’s certainly raising awareness about the dangers that superintendents face in their jobs. According to a report by WTAE-TV, former golf course superintendents have a higher incidence of four types of cancer -- brain, lymphoma, prostate, and large intestine -- than the rest of the U.S. population. Tom Walsh died in February 2009, at the age of 56. He’d worked at golf courses in metropolitan Pittsburgh for 38 years.
Herb Kohler doesn’t intend to cut any corners on his forthcoming golf course in Wisconsin. Kohler’s fifth Pete Dye-designed course in suburban Sheboygan, a complement to the highly regarded tracks at Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run, “could one day rank as one of the top 50 in the world,” according to the Sheboygan Press. “We believe it can be as good or better than the Straits course,” Destination Kohler’s general manager said at a recent public meeting. Kohler aims to open the 18-hole layout in the summer of 2017. If you’re wondering, Golf Digest currently ranks the Straits track at #16 on its list of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses.
The 17th golf property in Escalante Golf’s fast-growing portfolio is a pricey, old-timey, financially suspect golf club in the wine country of northern California. Escalante has purchased Sonoma Golf Club, which was established in 1928 and has been available for several years. The seller, Crescent Real Estate Equities, had owned the 177-acre property since 1998. “The veil of uncertainty has been lifted, and the club can now move forward,” said an Escalante spokesman. Sonoma charges an initiation fee of $150,000, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, an amount that appears to be more than the market can currently bear. Nearly 100 members are said to be on the club’s quit list, an issue that Escalante plans to address by offering new membership options. The club features an 18-hole, classic-style course designed by Sam Whiting. Sam Snead once said it was his favorite course.
Donald Trump is bucking for another legal battle over an off-shore wind farm in Scotland, like the one that led him to abandon his development plans in Aberdeenshire. During his first visit to Turnberry, the historic resort he recently purchased, he vowed to block a wind farm that a government agency wants to build off the Ayrshire coast. “If they did allow it, I would fight very hard to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Trump said in a comment published by the Daily Record. “I would certainly bring a lawsuit and try to stop it. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I will fight it.” And here’s the kicker: Trump has acknowledged that he was aware of plans to build the wind farm before he bought Turnberry.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Transactions, may 16, 2014
In an attempt to shore up its weakened bottom line, Caesars Entertainment has sold one of its highest-profile golf assets: Atlantic City Country Club, a 117-year-old property in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The financially squeezed gaming colossus sold the club and its John Reid-designed, 18-hole golf course to Ottinger Family Group, an entity led by Chip Ottinger, Jr. Ottinger owns two other golf properties in the vicinity, Ballamor Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township and Scotland Run Golf Club in Williamstown. Caesars, which has owned the Atlantic City club since 1997, still owns at least five other U.S. golf properties, including Cascata Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada; Cottonwoods Golf Course in Tunica, Mississippi; and Chariot Run Golf Course in Laconia, Indiana. Last year, the company sold its golf course on Macau to Asian investors.
A Chinese investor has acquired a 120-year-old, golf-focused resort on Wellesley Island in New York. Ximin Shi reportedly paid $5.2 million for Thousand Islands Country Club, a 976-acre spread that includes 20 villas, a marina, and a pair of 18-hole golf courses, one of which (the Old course) is credited to Seth Raynor. Wellesley Island is located in the St. Lawrence River, along the Canadian border, and a century ago it was a favored vacation spot for New York’s upper crust. The resort was established by George Boldt, a hotelier who popularized Thousand Island salad dressing while working as the general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Shi owns two other golf properties in upstate New York: Pioneer Hills Golf Club in Ballston Spa and Greenview Country Club in suburban Syracuse. He bought Thousand Islands from heirs of the late Thomas H. Schwalm, the fellow who co-founded the company that created SoBe beverages.
A Vancouver-based Chinese investor has purchased his first golf property, an 18-hole track in Sechelt, British Columbia. In a transaction that closed in March, Owen Wang paid an undisclosed price for Sechelt Golf & Country Club, which was designed and built by Olson Beatty & Hnatiuk and opened in the early 1990s. “I love to play golf,” Wang told the Sechelt Coast Reporter. “I’ve played on over 500 courses around the world.” The club is located on property owned by the District of Sechelt. Wang has hired Wayne Carlton, a golf architect allied with Graham Cooke’s firm, to oversee a renovation of the course and its clubhouse. He also plans to build a 150-room hotel and a spa on the property.
A golf complex featuring one of the most talked-about holes in America has a new owner. Meadows Farms Golf Course, a 27-hole facility in suburban Fredericksburg, Virginia, now belongs to an LLC led by Kenny Dotson, a local builder and developer. Meadows Farms’ claim to fame is the third hole on its Longest Hole Nine, an 841-yard behemoth that’s said to be the longest in the nation. Dotson’s LLC bought the 265-acre property from Meadows Farms, Inc., which owns and operates a group of garden-center stores in the Washington, DC area. Meadows Farms’ founder, Bill Meadows, co-designed the 21-year-old course with Bill Ward, Jr. A sales price hasn’t been announced. The new owners have hired Billy Casper Golf to manage the course.
For the time being, at least, the year-long soap opera surrounding the sale of Chamisa Hills Country Club has mercifully ended. After making sales pitches to several prospective buyers who came and went, Harry Apodaca has found buyers for his 27-hole golf complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Jhett Browne and Bob Gallagher, the owners of a local grocery-store chain. Browne and Gallagher paid “around $1 million,” the Albuquerque Journal says, for what they now call the Club at Rio Rancho. A vital issue remains unresolved, however: A pending price increase for water that would, if imposed, prevent the club from ever operating profitably. The new owners hope to negotiate more favorable rates. If they can’t, the soap opera will resume.
A married couple from St. Petersburg, Florida has taken possession of Feather Sound Country Club, which features a golf course that was co-designed by Joe Lee and Bob Cupp. Dale F. Schmidt, an insurance man, and his wife, Cheryl Haigley, reportedly paid $5.15 million for the 36-year-old property. The seller was an entity controlled by investors associated with Fore Golf, which has been retained as the club’s operator. The new owners expect to make what’s been described as “significant enhancements” to Feather Sound. “They’re serious about bringing the club back to its former prominence,” a spokesperson told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. The sale was facilitated by Marcus & Millichap’s National Golf and Resort Properties Group, which is also trying to sell a course in Maryland for Fore Golf.
Fulfilling a long-time dream, a pair of golf pros from Pennsylvania has purchased a shuttered 18-hole golf course in Elkton, Maryland. Wes Hollis and Hugo Mazzalupi paid an undisclosed price for Patriots Glen Golf Club, a 13-year-old facility that had been foreclosed upon by its lender. “We’ve been looking to buy a golf course for 10 to 15 years, probably,” Hollis told the Cecil Whig. The property, now known as Patriots Glen National Golf Club, has been closed since the spring of 2013. The new owners hope to reopen it on the Fourth of July.
New ownership is breathing new life into a five-hole course in Fresno, California. Jim Perez and Kevin Cameron have given Islewood Golf Course a new name, Bluff Pointe Golf Course & Learning Center, and they plan to transform its rudimentary layout into a nine-hole, executive-length track. “I always thought this needed to be a nine-hole course,” Perez told the Fresno Bee. “Pretty much everyone plays either nine holes or 18 holes, not five.” One thing won’t change, however: Bluff Pointe will remain an affordably priced facility for juniors, seniors, and beginners.
Dave and Beth Schroer have sold their nine-hole, par-3 golf course in Homer, Alaska to a couple from Anchorage. Dave Schroer designed and built Shoreline Golf Course himself, after he retired from teaching in the early 1980s. In a letter to the Homer News, he said his goal had been “to bring affordable recreation” to his small community. The reason for the sale, he wrote, “is that at almost age 86 I have run out of gas.” Shoreline, which has been in business since 1986, was purchased by Scott and Esa Woodland.
A Chinese investor has acquired a 120-year-old, golf-focused resort on Wellesley Island in New York. Ximin Shi reportedly paid $5.2 million for Thousand Islands Country Club, a 976-acre spread that includes 20 villas, a marina, and a pair of 18-hole golf courses, one of which (the Old course) is credited to Seth Raynor. Wellesley Island is located in the St. Lawrence River, along the Canadian border, and a century ago it was a favored vacation spot for New York’s upper crust. The resort was established by George Boldt, a hotelier who popularized Thousand Island salad dressing while working as the general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Shi owns two other golf properties in upstate New York: Pioneer Hills Golf Club in Ballston Spa and Greenview Country Club in suburban Syracuse. He bought Thousand Islands from heirs of the late Thomas H. Schwalm, the fellow who co-founded the company that created SoBe beverages.
A Vancouver-based Chinese investor has purchased his first golf property, an 18-hole track in Sechelt, British Columbia. In a transaction that closed in March, Owen Wang paid an undisclosed price for Sechelt Golf & Country Club, which was designed and built by Olson Beatty & Hnatiuk and opened in the early 1990s. “I love to play golf,” Wang told the Sechelt Coast Reporter. “I’ve played on over 500 courses around the world.” The club is located on property owned by the District of Sechelt. Wang has hired Wayne Carlton, a golf architect allied with Graham Cooke’s firm, to oversee a renovation of the course and its clubhouse. He also plans to build a 150-room hotel and a spa on the property.
A golf complex featuring one of the most talked-about holes in America has a new owner. Meadows Farms Golf Course, a 27-hole facility in suburban Fredericksburg, Virginia, now belongs to an LLC led by Kenny Dotson, a local builder and developer. Meadows Farms’ claim to fame is the third hole on its Longest Hole Nine, an 841-yard behemoth that’s said to be the longest in the nation. Dotson’s LLC bought the 265-acre property from Meadows Farms, Inc., which owns and operates a group of garden-center stores in the Washington, DC area. Meadows Farms’ founder, Bill Meadows, co-designed the 21-year-old course with Bill Ward, Jr. A sales price hasn’t been announced. The new owners have hired Billy Casper Golf to manage the course.
For the time being, at least, the year-long soap opera surrounding the sale of Chamisa Hills Country Club has mercifully ended. After making sales pitches to several prospective buyers who came and went, Harry Apodaca has found buyers for his 27-hole golf complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Jhett Browne and Bob Gallagher, the owners of a local grocery-store chain. Browne and Gallagher paid “around $1 million,” the Albuquerque Journal says, for what they now call the Club at Rio Rancho. A vital issue remains unresolved, however: A pending price increase for water that would, if imposed, prevent the club from ever operating profitably. The new owners hope to negotiate more favorable rates. If they can’t, the soap opera will resume.
A married couple from St. Petersburg, Florida has taken possession of Feather Sound Country Club, which features a golf course that was co-designed by Joe Lee and Bob Cupp. Dale F. Schmidt, an insurance man, and his wife, Cheryl Haigley, reportedly paid $5.15 million for the 36-year-old property. The seller was an entity controlled by investors associated with Fore Golf, which has been retained as the club’s operator. The new owners expect to make what’s been described as “significant enhancements” to Feather Sound. “They’re serious about bringing the club back to its former prominence,” a spokesperson told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. The sale was facilitated by Marcus & Millichap’s National Golf and Resort Properties Group, which is also trying to sell a course in Maryland for Fore Golf.
Fulfilling a long-time dream, a pair of golf pros from Pennsylvania has purchased a shuttered 18-hole golf course in Elkton, Maryland. Wes Hollis and Hugo Mazzalupi paid an undisclosed price for Patriots Glen Golf Club, a 13-year-old facility that had been foreclosed upon by its lender. “We’ve been looking to buy a golf course for 10 to 15 years, probably,” Hollis told the Cecil Whig. The property, now known as Patriots Glen National Golf Club, has been closed since the spring of 2013. The new owners hope to reopen it on the Fourth of July.
New ownership is breathing new life into a five-hole course in Fresno, California. Jim Perez and Kevin Cameron have given Islewood Golf Course a new name, Bluff Pointe Golf Course & Learning Center, and they plan to transform its rudimentary layout into a nine-hole, executive-length track. “I always thought this needed to be a nine-hole course,” Perez told the Fresno Bee. “Pretty much everyone plays either nine holes or 18 holes, not five.” One thing won’t change, however: Bluff Pointe will remain an affordably priced facility for juniors, seniors, and beginners.
Dave and Beth Schroer have sold their nine-hole, par-3 golf course in Homer, Alaska to a couple from Anchorage. Dave Schroer designed and built Shoreline Golf Course himself, after he retired from teaching in the early 1980s. In a letter to the Homer News, he said his goal had been “to bring affordable recreation” to his small community. The reason for the sale, he wrote, “is that at almost age 86 I have run out of gas.” Shoreline, which has been in business since 1986, was purchased by Scott and Esa Woodland.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
The Week That Was, may 11, 2014
As he begins his farewell tour, the chief executive of the R&A clearly has reservations about the future of golf in nations where the game is well established. “In mature golf markets, it will be pretty hard for golf to keep the market share it had of people’s leisure time years ago,” Peter Dawson said in a comment published by Reuters. “We’re still growing, but the growth will be in new countries, and established countries will have to fight to keep their market share.” Unfortunately, Dawson doesn’t give himself enough nearly credit for helping to put golf into this distressing predicament. While he sat in the industry’s principal seat of power, golf avidly marketed itself to newcomers in emerging nations instead of taking on the much harder task of maintaining the game’s popularity among those already familiar with the sport. It’s a pity that Dawson and so many other brilliant minds failed to recognize the dangers lurking along the path of least resistance.
Will golf make its triumphant return to the Olympics in Great Britain instead of Brazil? Don’t rule it out. A British newspaper says that panicked executives from the International Olympic Committee have “secretly” approached British officials to determine if London, which hosted the summer games in 2012, could stage them again in 2016. “It’s very unlikely, but it would be the logical thing to do,” an unnamed source told the Evening Standard. For months, the IOC has been complaining about the pace of construction in Rio de Janeiro, and the ownership disputes and construction delays that have slowed progress on the games’ Gil Hanse-designed golf course have been well documented. At least for now, however, the IOC insists that it won’t take the event from Brazil, a snub that would be unprecedented. A spokesman for the group told the Associated Press that the newspaper’s report contains “not a shred of truth.”
Directly and indirectly, the golf business was worth nearly $806 million to the state of Utah in 2012, according to a study by the Stanford Research Institute. The study, commissioned by the Golf Alliance for Utah, also determined that the state’s golf industry supported more than 9,600 jobs, provided more than $250 million in wages to its employees, and generated $11.2 million for charities. “We’re here to stay,” the director of the state’s PGA section told Fairways magazine, “and we’re serving a high percentage of our citizens.” Generally speaking, Utah’s golf industry favorably compares to its better-promoted ski industry. The golf business is said to be slightly larger, but skiers hit the slopes more than golfers hit the links (4 million to 3.7 million).
Thanks in part to an early spring, golf-course owners and operators in the United Kingdom registered a welcome increase in play during in the first quarter of this year. The number of rounds played were up by 6 percent from the same period in 2013, suggests a report by Sports Marketing Surveys. “A first-quarter increase of near on 6 percent is a good omen for golf participation for the rest of the year,” an SMS analyst said in a press release. “We know from our experience that if golfers are out on the course playing before the Masters, then the game can expect to play a larger part of their year, with further rounds to follow suit.” According to SMS, much of the increase was posted in March, when the number of rounds played in the U.K. was up by 30 percent.
Is John Paulson considering another golf investment in Puerto Rico? The world’s credit-rating agencies may have little or no faith in Puerto Rico’s economic future, but Paulson, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, thinks the U.S. territory is on the verge of becoming “the Singapore of the Caribbean.” Speaking at a recent investment forum, he claimed that Puerto Rico was “at the beginning of a turnaround” and that its capital city, San Juan, will soon become “the most vibrant financial center” in the region. Last year, Paulson bought a majority interest in the Bahia Beach resort community, which includes a Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course and a St. Regis hotel, and Bloomberg reports that he’s “on track to invest $1 billion in the territory over the next two years.” Puerto Rico has close to 20 golf properties, and it’s possible that some of them are looking very attractive to a man of such faith.
Late last year, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. put the finishing touches on his first (and still only) golf course in Colombia. Mesa de Yeguas Country Club, which is said to offer “great drama,” is the centerpiece of a gated, upscale community outside Anapoima, a city known for having “the best climate in the country.” The course, which draws much of its clientele from Bogota -- the capital city is an hour’s drive east -- opened its first nine holes opened in 2010, and its second nine was scheduled to open in December.
If you have an urge to join the One Percent, maybe you should think about playing more golf. Tom Corley, the self-help guru who thinks the key to getting rich is to mimic the habits of rich people, has determined that 23 percent of wealthy Americans have been members of country clubs. “Quite simply, who you associate with is who you become,” notes the Street. For those who’d like to get rich quicker, Corley has other habits worth emulating: Wake up earlier, read more, stop eating junk food, exercise, create a to-do list, and shut off the TV.
Will golf make its triumphant return to the Olympics in Great Britain instead of Brazil? Don’t rule it out. A British newspaper says that panicked executives from the International Olympic Committee have “secretly” approached British officials to determine if London, which hosted the summer games in 2012, could stage them again in 2016. “It’s very unlikely, but it would be the logical thing to do,” an unnamed source told the Evening Standard. For months, the IOC has been complaining about the pace of construction in Rio de Janeiro, and the ownership disputes and construction delays that have slowed progress on the games’ Gil Hanse-designed golf course have been well documented. At least for now, however, the IOC insists that it won’t take the event from Brazil, a snub that would be unprecedented. A spokesman for the group told the Associated Press that the newspaper’s report contains “not a shred of truth.”
Directly and indirectly, the golf business was worth nearly $806 million to the state of Utah in 2012, according to a study by the Stanford Research Institute. The study, commissioned by the Golf Alliance for Utah, also determined that the state’s golf industry supported more than 9,600 jobs, provided more than $250 million in wages to its employees, and generated $11.2 million for charities. “We’re here to stay,” the director of the state’s PGA section told Fairways magazine, “and we’re serving a high percentage of our citizens.” Generally speaking, Utah’s golf industry favorably compares to its better-promoted ski industry. The golf business is said to be slightly larger, but skiers hit the slopes more than golfers hit the links (4 million to 3.7 million).
Thanks in part to an early spring, golf-course owners and operators in the United Kingdom registered a welcome increase in play during in the first quarter of this year. The number of rounds played were up by 6 percent from the same period in 2013, suggests a report by Sports Marketing Surveys. “A first-quarter increase of near on 6 percent is a good omen for golf participation for the rest of the year,” an SMS analyst said in a press release. “We know from our experience that if golfers are out on the course playing before the Masters, then the game can expect to play a larger part of their year, with further rounds to follow suit.” According to SMS, much of the increase was posted in March, when the number of rounds played in the U.K. was up by 30 percent.
Is John Paulson considering another golf investment in Puerto Rico? The world’s credit-rating agencies may have little or no faith in Puerto Rico’s economic future, but Paulson, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, thinks the U.S. territory is on the verge of becoming “the Singapore of the Caribbean.” Speaking at a recent investment forum, he claimed that Puerto Rico was “at the beginning of a turnaround” and that its capital city, San Juan, will soon become “the most vibrant financial center” in the region. Last year, Paulson bought a majority interest in the Bahia Beach resort community, which includes a Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course and a St. Regis hotel, and Bloomberg reports that he’s “on track to invest $1 billion in the territory over the next two years.” Puerto Rico has close to 20 golf properties, and it’s possible that some of them are looking very attractive to a man of such faith.
Late last year, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. put the finishing touches on his first (and still only) golf course in Colombia. Mesa de Yeguas Country Club, which is said to offer “great drama,” is the centerpiece of a gated, upscale community outside Anapoima, a city known for having “the best climate in the country.” The course, which draws much of its clientele from Bogota -- the capital city is an hour’s drive east -- opened its first nine holes opened in 2010, and its second nine was scheduled to open in December.
If you have an urge to join the One Percent, maybe you should think about playing more golf. Tom Corley, the self-help guru who thinks the key to getting rich is to mimic the habits of rich people, has determined that 23 percent of wealthy Americans have been members of country clubs. “Quite simply, who you associate with is who you become,” notes the Street. For those who’d like to get rich quicker, Corley has other habits worth emulating: Wake up earlier, read more, stop eating junk food, exercise, create a to-do list, and shut off the TV.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Vital Signs, may 9, 2014
The golf business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is stuck in “a period of complete stagnation,” according to a report from KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice. In a recently released survey, KPMG notes that the number of golfers in the EMA increased by more than 5 percent annually between 1990 and 2008, the year of the world-wide economic crash. Since then: Nada. KPMG also notes that the number of courses in the EMA -- an area that includes two entire continents -- has grown by less than 1 percent annually since 2008. By comparison, golf construction and development in the region grew by an average of 3.3 percent annually between 1990 and 2008. At the end of last year, KPMG says, the EMA had roughly 4.5 million “affiliated” golfers (along with roughly 1.5 million “unaffiliateds”) and 7,300 total golf facilities, including practice centers.
Speaking of “complete stagnation,” the National Golf Foundation reports that the number of female golfers in the United States today is the same as it was in 1991 -- roughly 5 million, or 20 percent of the total number of players. In this regard, the United States pales in comparison to Germany, where 39 percent of the golf population is female, not to mention South Korea (38 percent), the Netherlands (35 percent), Sweden (33 percent), and Canada (30 percent). What explains this disparity? “The countries that do well with women are not afraid to break with tradition,” the NGF has concluded. “They’ve held on to important golf customs such as rules, sportsmanship, and honor, but they’ve also joined the 21st century by getting rid of things like dress codes and mandatory 18-hole rounds.” The NGF also points out that U.S. women are actively engaged in sports other than golf, among them skiing (49 percent female), tennis (48 percent), bowling (ditto), billiards (40 percent), fishing (31 percent), and even handgun shooting (29 percent).
Golf has become “the most lucrative game in Nepal,” according to a newspaper in Kathmandu. Golf pushed past cricket and soccer last month, when the Nepal Professional Golfers Association inked a record-setting, $416,000 (Rs 40 million) contract with Surya Nepal, the cigarette and clothing manufacturer that’s sponsored the nation’s professional golf tour since 2008. The new three-year agreement ensures that Nepal will have at least eight events annually. My Republica reports that Nepal, a nation with just one 18-hole golf course, has 60 professional golfers.
The grand old men of golf continue to cash in on their fame. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player occupy three of the top seven positions in this year’s installment of Golf Digest’s Money List, and Greg Norman, who’ll turn 60 next year, checks in at number 10. None of the aforementioned superstars made even $10,000 on professional tours last year, but they were all rewarded handsomely off the course. Palmer took home $40 million, Nicklaus $26 million, Player $16 million, and Norman $14 million. As in previous years, Tiger Woods ($83.1 million) and Phil Mickelson ($52 million) stand head and shoulders above their contemporaries. Only one woman made the list, Paula Creamer at number 48. She earned a total of $5.3 million.
Pacific Links International, a Chinese-owned company, currently offers members of its vacation club access to roughly 100 international golf properties, and over the next three years it intends to establish a major presence in North America. Why is it building such a huge network? Because waves of Chinese vacationers are beginning to travel around the planet, among them golfers eager to play courses they’ve been reading about for years. By 2020, according to an estimate by Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, 5.7 million Chinese will take holidays in the United States, a dramatic increase from the 1.6 million who visited in 2012. “You’ll be seeing huge growth in outbound Chinese travel,” a CLSA analyst said in a comment published by the New York Times. “Visitor numbers in some places are going to treble and quadruple in the next few years.” In total, says CLSA, the number of outbound Chinese travelers will double, to 200 million, by 2020.
In a recent conference call with investment analysts, Eric Affeldt of ClubCorp Holdings mentioned that his company has dozens of possible purchases in its sights. “The opportunity for acquisitions is greater than in the past,” he said in a comment published by Barron’s. “We will continue to make deals, likely at an accelerated pace.” The financial magazine obviously likes what it heard, because it’s given the company’s future two thumbs up. It notes that ClubCorp’s stock price has increased by 30 percent since the firm went public in September 2013, predicts a further increase (to $24, from the current $18), and believes that the company “will benefit from an improving economy, which could bring more members in the door.” Barron’s also thinks ClubCorp may eventually turn itself into a real-estate investment trust, a move that “could unlock value down the road.”
It appears that Australia isn’t the only nation with a growing number of people who think bicycling is “the new golf.” Money magazine reports that Americans have also begun to network at cycling events, which they view as “less time consuming,” “relatively less expensive,” and “a better way to stay in shape” than hitting the links. “Unlike golf, we’re not committing to a couple of hours and all kinds of expenses just to network,” said the president of a telecom company in Wisconsin. “This is a free gathering, very informal, and you’re done in two hours.”
Speaking of “complete stagnation,” the National Golf Foundation reports that the number of female golfers in the United States today is the same as it was in 1991 -- roughly 5 million, or 20 percent of the total number of players. In this regard, the United States pales in comparison to Germany, where 39 percent of the golf population is female, not to mention South Korea (38 percent), the Netherlands (35 percent), Sweden (33 percent), and Canada (30 percent). What explains this disparity? “The countries that do well with women are not afraid to break with tradition,” the NGF has concluded. “They’ve held on to important golf customs such as rules, sportsmanship, and honor, but they’ve also joined the 21st century by getting rid of things like dress codes and mandatory 18-hole rounds.” The NGF also points out that U.S. women are actively engaged in sports other than golf, among them skiing (49 percent female), tennis (48 percent), bowling (ditto), billiards (40 percent), fishing (31 percent), and even handgun shooting (29 percent).
Golf has become “the most lucrative game in Nepal,” according to a newspaper in Kathmandu. Golf pushed past cricket and soccer last month, when the Nepal Professional Golfers Association inked a record-setting, $416,000 (Rs 40 million) contract with Surya Nepal, the cigarette and clothing manufacturer that’s sponsored the nation’s professional golf tour since 2008. The new three-year agreement ensures that Nepal will have at least eight events annually. My Republica reports that Nepal, a nation with just one 18-hole golf course, has 60 professional golfers.
The grand old men of golf continue to cash in on their fame. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player occupy three of the top seven positions in this year’s installment of Golf Digest’s Money List, and Greg Norman, who’ll turn 60 next year, checks in at number 10. None of the aforementioned superstars made even $10,000 on professional tours last year, but they were all rewarded handsomely off the course. Palmer took home $40 million, Nicklaus $26 million, Player $16 million, and Norman $14 million. As in previous years, Tiger Woods ($83.1 million) and Phil Mickelson ($52 million) stand head and shoulders above their contemporaries. Only one woman made the list, Paula Creamer at number 48. She earned a total of $5.3 million.
Pacific Links International, a Chinese-owned company, currently offers members of its vacation club access to roughly 100 international golf properties, and over the next three years it intends to establish a major presence in North America. Why is it building such a huge network? Because waves of Chinese vacationers are beginning to travel around the planet, among them golfers eager to play courses they’ve been reading about for years. By 2020, according to an estimate by Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, 5.7 million Chinese will take holidays in the United States, a dramatic increase from the 1.6 million who visited in 2012. “You’ll be seeing huge growth in outbound Chinese travel,” a CLSA analyst said in a comment published by the New York Times. “Visitor numbers in some places are going to treble and quadruple in the next few years.” In total, says CLSA, the number of outbound Chinese travelers will double, to 200 million, by 2020.
In a recent conference call with investment analysts, Eric Affeldt of ClubCorp Holdings mentioned that his company has dozens of possible purchases in its sights. “The opportunity for acquisitions is greater than in the past,” he said in a comment published by Barron’s. “We will continue to make deals, likely at an accelerated pace.” The financial magazine obviously likes what it heard, because it’s given the company’s future two thumbs up. It notes that ClubCorp’s stock price has increased by 30 percent since the firm went public in September 2013, predicts a further increase (to $24, from the current $18), and believes that the company “will benefit from an improving economy, which could bring more members in the door.” Barron’s also thinks ClubCorp may eventually turn itself into a real-estate investment trust, a move that “could unlock value down the road.”
It appears that Australia isn’t the only nation with a growing number of people who think bicycling is “the new golf.” Money magazine reports that Americans have also begun to network at cycling events, which they view as “less time consuming,” “relatively less expensive,” and “a better way to stay in shape” than hitting the links. “Unlike golf, we’re not committing to a couple of hours and all kinds of expenses just to network,” said the president of a telecom company in Wisconsin. “This is a free gathering, very informal, and you’re done in two hours.”
Sunday, May 4, 2014
The Week That Was, may 4, 2014
Any other week, Donald Trump would have made headlines simply by securing the 2022 PGA Championship for his tony golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. But this week, Trump made an even bigger splash: He purchased the historic Turnberry Resort, an 800-acre spread that overlooks the Firth of Clyde on Scotland’s Ayrshire coast. Trump bought Turnberry from Leisurecorp, a financially troubled real-estate entity owned by Dubai’s government. A price hasn’t been disclosed, but several news reports say that Trump paid in the neighborhood £35 million ($59 million). Turnberry has a 45-hole complex, including one of the world’s elite golf courses: the 108-year-old Ailsa track, which has hosted the Open Championship four times and is expected to host it again sometime during the next decade. Now that Trump has the Open Championship virtually in his back pocket, how long before he finally nabs the U.S. Open he so covets?
Tiger Woods has earned a second chance to design his first U.S. golf course. Beacon Land Development and Lantern Asset Management have hired Woods to produce an 18-hole track for Bluejack National, a private club in Montgomery, Texas. The club will take shape on property that was formerly home to Blaketree National, a venue that opened in 2001 but closed in 2012. “Bluejack National has one of the best natural settings for golf I have seen,” Woods said in a press release. “The opportunity is here to create a golf course unlike any other in the Houston area, and our goal is for it to be among the best in the nation.” Bluejack National will also feature a Woods-designed “short” course whose routing “will largely be left to the imagination of the players,” according to the press release. The developers expect to break ground on the club this summer and hope to open it in late 2015 or early 2016. Beacon Land’s press release says that Blaketree National “was popular with Houston-area players,” but the Houston Chronicle reports that it was shuttered because “it couldn’t attract enough business from Houston and surrounding areas.”
Today only one nation on earth truly qualifies as a hot spot for golf development, and it just barely makes the grade. In a poll of golf-course architects by KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice, China alone received a gold star from at least half of the respondents. China’s score: 53 percent. The global development chill clearly hasn’t lifted, because only four other nations or regions managed to get votes from at least one-third of the architects. The upshot: Even though KPMG claims that it’s observed “a more positive attitude toward golf development in most regions of the world,” the architects -- all of them members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects or the European Institute of Golf Course Architects -- don’t necessarily agree. What’s distressing is that the places still in the deep-freeze are many of the planet’s established golf markets: the United States and Canada (cited by 10 percent of the respondents), Australia and Oceania (5 percent), South Africa (3 percent), Central Europe (3 percent), and Great Britain and Ireland (3 percent).
Just two months after acquiring Prestonwood Country Club, in Dallas, Texas, ClubCorp Holdings has purchased a pair of Tournament Player Club properties with “signature” golf courses. Joining the ever-expanding ClubCorp family are TPC Michigan, in Dearborn, and TPC Piper Glen in Charlotte, North Carolina. Both properties were formerly owned by Heritage Golf Group. The former features a 25-year-old Jack Nicklaus-designed course, and the latter has a 26-year-old Arnold Palmer-designed course. ClubCorp hasn’t announced what it paid for the properties, but Michigan was reportedly on the market for $3.25 million, Piper Glen for $4 million. In a press release, a ClubCorp official said that the purchases would give his company “an even closer relationship with the PGA Tour and its exceptional brand.” ClubCorp, a publicly traded firm, now owns and/or operates 160 clubs of various types in 25 states, the District of Columbia, Mexico, and China.
They’re happy to play nine holes instead of 18, and they’re especially happy when they can complement their rounds with music and, occasionally, a little pot. No, I’m not talking about the retirees in Sun City communities. I’m talking about millennials, the 18-to-34 generation that the golf industry so desperately needs to woo. After surveying 1,020 of its overwhelmingly male readers, Golf Digest has determined that younger golfers practice more often than older golfers do, care less about playing at top-rated courses, and are more inclined to smoke cigars and drink alcohol (though not beer) while they play. Surprisingly, although the vast majority of millennials (80 percent) currently play at public courses, just over half (51 percent) aim to join a private club someday, perhaps because they believe golf is the best sport for advancing a business career (69 percent). In addition, fewer millennials believe that jeans and cargo pants are appropriate linkswear, and 94 percent say they pay close attention to the rules. Such data isn’t easy to interpret, and for that reason the nation’s millennials may confound golf owners and operators for years to come.
It didn’t take long for Cabot Links to become the crème de la crème of Canadian golf venues. The two-year-old track in Inverness, Nova Scotia is the nation’s top-ranked modern (post-1960) layout, according to Golfweek. The publication’s 40-course list has a distinctly contemporary feel, as 23 of the tracks opened in 2000 or later, while 34 opened in 1990 or later. As one would expect, more than half of the courses were produced by Canadian architects, with Doug Carrick (nine) and Tom McBroom (seven) collecting the most credits. The top of this year’s list is virtually a carbon copy of the 2013 edition, but the remaining 30 courses on the list have been shuffled around considerably. Eleven have moved up or down in the rankings by three or more places, with the biggest upgrades going to Mad River Golf Course in Creemore, Ontario (up by 12 places), the Links at Crowbush Cove on Prince Edward Island (up by six), and Bear Mountain Golf & Country Club in Victoria, British Columbia (also up by six). The biggest downgrades: Taboo Resort in Gravenhurst, Ontario and the Predator course at Predator Ridge in Vernon, British Columbia, each down by six places. Finally, Golfweek’s raters added two new courses to the list, the Ridge course at Predator Ridge and Le Maitre in Mont Tremblant, Quebec.
With his recently unveiled course on the French island of Corsica, Kyle Phillips has gone where few other architects fear to tread: He’s challenging the tyranny of traditional 18-hole golf. Phillips’ 12-green layout is among the attractions at Domaine de Murtoli, a 6,000-acre working farm and rustic vacation spot on the French island’s southern coast. Murtoli’s guests are overwhelmingly recreational golfers, and Phillips’ track gives them plenty of options for three-, six-, nine-, 12-, and 18-hole play. Such a bevy of choices is in keeping with Murtoli’s motto: “Everything is offered, but nothing is imposed.” In some settings, such a course would stick out like a sore thumb, but at Murtoli it may very well fit like a glove.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The ratings drop suffered by the Masters this year has led some golf-industry observers to contemplate life without Tiger Woods. And the prospect isn’t pleasant. Based on estimates provided by media analysts, Josh Sens of Golf magazine concludes that Woods is worth $15 billion to golf -- almost 22 percent of the $68.8 billion that our industry is currently said to be worth. Without Woods, Sens believes, golf would suffer declines across the board -- in television ratings, tee times, golf-related travel, and sales of tickets, equipment, and merchandise. It may be true that golf is capable of getting along fine without Woods, but there’s no reason to wish for his departure anytime soon.
Tiger Woods has earned a second chance to design his first U.S. golf course. Beacon Land Development and Lantern Asset Management have hired Woods to produce an 18-hole track for Bluejack National, a private club in Montgomery, Texas. The club will take shape on property that was formerly home to Blaketree National, a venue that opened in 2001 but closed in 2012. “Bluejack National has one of the best natural settings for golf I have seen,” Woods said in a press release. “The opportunity is here to create a golf course unlike any other in the Houston area, and our goal is for it to be among the best in the nation.” Bluejack National will also feature a Woods-designed “short” course whose routing “will largely be left to the imagination of the players,” according to the press release. The developers expect to break ground on the club this summer and hope to open it in late 2015 or early 2016. Beacon Land’s press release says that Blaketree National “was popular with Houston-area players,” but the Houston Chronicle reports that it was shuttered because “it couldn’t attract enough business from Houston and surrounding areas.”
Today only one nation on earth truly qualifies as a hot spot for golf development, and it just barely makes the grade. In a poll of golf-course architects by KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice, China alone received a gold star from at least half of the respondents. China’s score: 53 percent. The global development chill clearly hasn’t lifted, because only four other nations or regions managed to get votes from at least one-third of the architects. The upshot: Even though KPMG claims that it’s observed “a more positive attitude toward golf development in most regions of the world,” the architects -- all of them members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects or the European Institute of Golf Course Architects -- don’t necessarily agree. What’s distressing is that the places still in the deep-freeze are many of the planet’s established golf markets: the United States and Canada (cited by 10 percent of the respondents), Australia and Oceania (5 percent), South Africa (3 percent), Central Europe (3 percent), and Great Britain and Ireland (3 percent).
Just two months after acquiring Prestonwood Country Club, in Dallas, Texas, ClubCorp Holdings has purchased a pair of Tournament Player Club properties with “signature” golf courses. Joining the ever-expanding ClubCorp family are TPC Michigan, in Dearborn, and TPC Piper Glen in Charlotte, North Carolina. Both properties were formerly owned by Heritage Golf Group. The former features a 25-year-old Jack Nicklaus-designed course, and the latter has a 26-year-old Arnold Palmer-designed course. ClubCorp hasn’t announced what it paid for the properties, but Michigan was reportedly on the market for $3.25 million, Piper Glen for $4 million. In a press release, a ClubCorp official said that the purchases would give his company “an even closer relationship with the PGA Tour and its exceptional brand.” ClubCorp, a publicly traded firm, now owns and/or operates 160 clubs of various types in 25 states, the District of Columbia, Mexico, and China.
They’re happy to play nine holes instead of 18, and they’re especially happy when they can complement their rounds with music and, occasionally, a little pot. No, I’m not talking about the retirees in Sun City communities. I’m talking about millennials, the 18-to-34 generation that the golf industry so desperately needs to woo. After surveying 1,020 of its overwhelmingly male readers, Golf Digest has determined that younger golfers practice more often than older golfers do, care less about playing at top-rated courses, and are more inclined to smoke cigars and drink alcohol (though not beer) while they play. Surprisingly, although the vast majority of millennials (80 percent) currently play at public courses, just over half (51 percent) aim to join a private club someday, perhaps because they believe golf is the best sport for advancing a business career (69 percent). In addition, fewer millennials believe that jeans and cargo pants are appropriate linkswear, and 94 percent say they pay close attention to the rules. Such data isn’t easy to interpret, and for that reason the nation’s millennials may confound golf owners and operators for years to come.
It didn’t take long for Cabot Links to become the crème de la crème of Canadian golf venues. The two-year-old track in Inverness, Nova Scotia is the nation’s top-ranked modern (post-1960) layout, according to Golfweek. The publication’s 40-course list has a distinctly contemporary feel, as 23 of the tracks opened in 2000 or later, while 34 opened in 1990 or later. As one would expect, more than half of the courses were produced by Canadian architects, with Doug Carrick (nine) and Tom McBroom (seven) collecting the most credits. The top of this year’s list is virtually a carbon copy of the 2013 edition, but the remaining 30 courses on the list have been shuffled around considerably. Eleven have moved up or down in the rankings by three or more places, with the biggest upgrades going to Mad River Golf Course in Creemore, Ontario (up by 12 places), the Links at Crowbush Cove on Prince Edward Island (up by six), and Bear Mountain Golf & Country Club in Victoria, British Columbia (also up by six). The biggest downgrades: Taboo Resort in Gravenhurst, Ontario and the Predator course at Predator Ridge in Vernon, British Columbia, each down by six places. Finally, Golfweek’s raters added two new courses to the list, the Ridge course at Predator Ridge and Le Maitre in Mont Tremblant, Quebec.
With his recently unveiled course on the French island of Corsica, Kyle Phillips has gone where few other architects fear to tread: He’s challenging the tyranny of traditional 18-hole golf. Phillips’ 12-green layout is among the attractions at Domaine de Murtoli, a 6,000-acre working farm and rustic vacation spot on the French island’s southern coast. Murtoli’s guests are overwhelmingly recreational golfers, and Phillips’ track gives them plenty of options for three-, six-, nine-, 12-, and 18-hole play. Such a bevy of choices is in keeping with Murtoli’s motto: “Everything is offered, but nothing is imposed.” In some settings, such a course would stick out like a sore thumb, but at Murtoli it may very well fit like a glove.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The ratings drop suffered by the Masters this year has led some golf-industry observers to contemplate life without Tiger Woods. And the prospect isn’t pleasant. Based on estimates provided by media analysts, Josh Sens of Golf magazine concludes that Woods is worth $15 billion to golf -- almost 22 percent of the $68.8 billion that our industry is currently said to be worth. Without Woods, Sens believes, golf would suffer declines across the board -- in television ratings, tee times, golf-related travel, and sales of tickets, equipment, and merchandise. It may be true that golf is capable of getting along fine without Woods, but there’s no reason to wish for his departure anytime soon.
Friday, May 2, 2014
The Pipeline, may 2, 2014
Eagle Assets Management has inked Arnold Palmer to design the golf course for its forthcoming community on the East End of Grand Cayman Island. EAM expects the King to deliver “one of the Caribbean’s top-rated courses,” one capable of hosting professional tournaments. In comments published by the Cayman Compass, the King suggested that his 18-hole track would be “one of the great golf courses of all time” and boasted that the prospect of building it “has got my excitement up more than anything other than my wife in many years.” The course will be the centerpiece of Ironwood, a 430-acre spread that will consist of at least 170 single-family houses and multifamily units, a resort-style hotel, a town center, a sports village, and various other entertainment venues.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Coore & Crenshaw has reportedly had “discussions” about designing a tournament-worthy golf course in Austin, Texas. Joe Ogilvie, a local professional golfer who’s said to be “arguably the smartest player on the tour” and a possible successor to Tim Finchem, told the Austin American-Statesman that he’s had “casual talks” with the city about reviving a decades-old plan to build one or two golf courses in Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park. “My goal is to build a public golf course that Austin’s citizens can be proud of and that is considered a valuable asset to the city, as well as a world-class place to play golf,” he said. Unfortunately, Ogilvie gives his proposal only “a 10 to 15 percent chance of happening.” Coore & Crenshaw is engaged in a similar project in Dallas, with a course that’s expected to become the home of the Byron Nelson Championship.
If you think that the Naples, Florida area couldn’t possibly accommodate another golf community, you haven’t been reading Lennar’s market studies. The big national home builder has unveiled Bonita National Golf & Country Club, which will take shape on 500 acres in Bonita Springs. The community will feature a variety of mid-priced housing types, an activity center, a pool, and an 18-hole, Gordon Lewis-designed golf course. “We’re confident that we’ll deliver a product everyone’s pleased with,” a Lennar official told the Naples Daily News. To ensure that Bonita National’s golf course remains financially viable, Lennar has made membership mandatory for home buyers.
Jack Nicklaus’ design firm has reportedly been commissioned to produce the golf course for a resort community on Cebu Island in the Philippines. The 18-hole, executive-length track will be the centerpiece of Duros Mountain Resort, which will take shape on 325 acres in Liloan, outside Cebu City. Duros Land Development, Inc., the community’s developer, believes the resort will serve as “a source of pride” for the residents of Cebu City and become one of their favorite vacation spots. Nicklaus’s firm hasn’t yet acknowledged the assignment, but Duros Land hasn’t been shy about discussing it with Filipino newspapers. The company hopes to open the track’s first nine holes in 2016, the second nine in 2018.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
With the Great Recession rapidly becoming a fading memory, all-but-forgotten golf ventures are finding new life. A case in point: Glacier Club, outside Durango, Colorado, plans to break ground next month on the second nine of its Glacier course. The course’s existing nine, a track co-designed by Hale Irwin and Todd Schoeder, opened in 2004. “This completes the original golf vision for our members -- to have a world-class venue that includes an opportunity for a members-only course and a semiprivate course within a resort setting,” the club’s general manager said in a press statement published by the Durango Herald. Glacier Club expects to debut its new nine by the spring of 2017. Its original course, an 18-hole track designed by Arthur Hills, opened in 1975.
Now that the initial phase of its resort in Sri Lanka has opened, Dutch Bay Resorts is preparing to move forward with the rest of the property’s master plan. Last year, Dutch Bay opened 16 chalets at its 184-acre “hideaway retreat” near Kalpitiya, on the island nation’s western coast. The beachfront chalets, which overlook a marine sanctuary, have been built to what the company calls “five-star boutique standards” in an effort to attract wealthy travelers from India, the Middle East, Pakistan, and China who are looking to vacation in a secluded tropical setting. Phase two of Dutch Bay will consist of 80 to 100 villas, a town center, and a nine-hole, “international-standard” golf course. And in phase three, a company principal told the Daily FT that a marina and a yacht club will emerge “to attract all the wealthy Arabs and the Europeans who park their yachts in very busy places such as Monaco and Nice.” Years ago, Dutch Bay said that its golf course would be designed by a top professional golfer, but his identity still hasn’t been revealed.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
A “golf nut” in Melrose, Oregon has proposed an alternative use for some property no longer necessary to his family’s sand-and-gravel mining company: He thinks it’s an ideal spot for an 18-hole golf course and an RV park. Brant Guido came up with the idea, thinking that his family might capitalize on local wine tourism, and his father, Kelly, the owner of Umpqua Sand & Gravel, has endorsed it. Douglas County planners are expected to recommend a rezoning of Umpqua’s property, according to the Roseburg News-Review, but the family hasn’t announced when construction might begin.
One of England’s “royal” golf properties has reached an agreement to move into new digs. Royal Norwich Golf Club, which was established in 1893, plans to leave its home in suburban Norwich and take over Weston Park Golf Club in nearby Lenwade. After a multimillion-dollar investment, the new Royal Norwich Golf Club will feature an upgraded, destination-worthy 18-hole golf course, a new nine-hole track, and a completely overhauled clubhouse. “This is a fantastic, one-off opportunity for our members to develop a club fit for the 21st century,” Royal Norwich’s captain told the Eastern Daily Press. “We intend to produce a club and course of which the members will be justly proud.” The bill for Royal Norwich’s relocation will be footed by Persimmon Homes, which has agreed to buy both Royal Norwich and Weston Park. Persimmon believes that Royal Norwich’s 120 acres can accommodate as many as 1,000 houses.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
A Los Angeles-area anesthesiologist wants to turn a 750-acre parcel outside Oak Grove, in San Diego County, into a tourist hot spot that includes a golf course and one of Southern California’s largest wineries. Roa Anne, who grew up on a farm in India, also plans to build a 250-room hotel and a restaurant. “I want to go back to my roots,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune. The resort doesn’t appear to have an official name, but Anne and his nearly two dozen partners are operating at Hills Springs Farms LLC.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Coore & Crenshaw has reportedly had “discussions” about designing a tournament-worthy golf course in Austin, Texas. Joe Ogilvie, a local professional golfer who’s said to be “arguably the smartest player on the tour” and a possible successor to Tim Finchem, told the Austin American-Statesman that he’s had “casual talks” with the city about reviving a decades-old plan to build one or two golf courses in Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park. “My goal is to build a public golf course that Austin’s citizens can be proud of and that is considered a valuable asset to the city, as well as a world-class place to play golf,” he said. Unfortunately, Ogilvie gives his proposal only “a 10 to 15 percent chance of happening.” Coore & Crenshaw is engaged in a similar project in Dallas, with a course that’s expected to become the home of the Byron Nelson Championship.
If you think that the Naples, Florida area couldn’t possibly accommodate another golf community, you haven’t been reading Lennar’s market studies. The big national home builder has unveiled Bonita National Golf & Country Club, which will take shape on 500 acres in Bonita Springs. The community will feature a variety of mid-priced housing types, an activity center, a pool, and an 18-hole, Gordon Lewis-designed golf course. “We’re confident that we’ll deliver a product everyone’s pleased with,” a Lennar official told the Naples Daily News. To ensure that Bonita National’s golf course remains financially viable, Lennar has made membership mandatory for home buyers.
Jack Nicklaus’ design firm has reportedly been commissioned to produce the golf course for a resort community on Cebu Island in the Philippines. The 18-hole, executive-length track will be the centerpiece of Duros Mountain Resort, which will take shape on 325 acres in Liloan, outside Cebu City. Duros Land Development, Inc., the community’s developer, believes the resort will serve as “a source of pride” for the residents of Cebu City and become one of their favorite vacation spots. Nicklaus’s firm hasn’t yet acknowledged the assignment, but Duros Land hasn’t been shy about discussing it with Filipino newspapers. The company hopes to open the track’s first nine holes in 2016, the second nine in 2018.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
With the Great Recession rapidly becoming a fading memory, all-but-forgotten golf ventures are finding new life. A case in point: Glacier Club, outside Durango, Colorado, plans to break ground next month on the second nine of its Glacier course. The course’s existing nine, a track co-designed by Hale Irwin and Todd Schoeder, opened in 2004. “This completes the original golf vision for our members -- to have a world-class venue that includes an opportunity for a members-only course and a semiprivate course within a resort setting,” the club’s general manager said in a press statement published by the Durango Herald. Glacier Club expects to debut its new nine by the spring of 2017. Its original course, an 18-hole track designed by Arthur Hills, opened in 1975.
Now that the initial phase of its resort in Sri Lanka has opened, Dutch Bay Resorts is preparing to move forward with the rest of the property’s master plan. Last year, Dutch Bay opened 16 chalets at its 184-acre “hideaway retreat” near Kalpitiya, on the island nation’s western coast. The beachfront chalets, which overlook a marine sanctuary, have been built to what the company calls “five-star boutique standards” in an effort to attract wealthy travelers from India, the Middle East, Pakistan, and China who are looking to vacation in a secluded tropical setting. Phase two of Dutch Bay will consist of 80 to 100 villas, a town center, and a nine-hole, “international-standard” golf course. And in phase three, a company principal told the Daily FT that a marina and a yacht club will emerge “to attract all the wealthy Arabs and the Europeans who park their yachts in very busy places such as Monaco and Nice.” Years ago, Dutch Bay said that its golf course would be designed by a top professional golfer, but his identity still hasn’t been revealed.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
A “golf nut” in Melrose, Oregon has proposed an alternative use for some property no longer necessary to his family’s sand-and-gravel mining company: He thinks it’s an ideal spot for an 18-hole golf course and an RV park. Brant Guido came up with the idea, thinking that his family might capitalize on local wine tourism, and his father, Kelly, the owner of Umpqua Sand & Gravel, has endorsed it. Douglas County planners are expected to recommend a rezoning of Umpqua’s property, according to the Roseburg News-Review, but the family hasn’t announced when construction might begin.
One of England’s “royal” golf properties has reached an agreement to move into new digs. Royal Norwich Golf Club, which was established in 1893, plans to leave its home in suburban Norwich and take over Weston Park Golf Club in nearby Lenwade. After a multimillion-dollar investment, the new Royal Norwich Golf Club will feature an upgraded, destination-worthy 18-hole golf course, a new nine-hole track, and a completely overhauled clubhouse. “This is a fantastic, one-off opportunity for our members to develop a club fit for the 21st century,” Royal Norwich’s captain told the Eastern Daily Press. “We intend to produce a club and course of which the members will be justly proud.” The bill for Royal Norwich’s relocation will be footed by Persimmon Homes, which has agreed to buy both Royal Norwich and Weston Park. Persimmon believes that Royal Norwich’s 120 acres can accommodate as many as 1,000 houses.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
A Los Angeles-area anesthesiologist wants to turn a 750-acre parcel outside Oak Grove, in San Diego County, into a tourist hot spot that includes a golf course and one of Southern California’s largest wineries. Roa Anne, who grew up on a farm in India, also plans to build a 250-room hotel and a restaurant. “I want to go back to my roots,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune. The resort doesn’t appear to have an official name, but Anne and his nearly two dozen partners are operating at Hills Springs Farms LLC.
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