In June’s Pellucid Perspective, Jim Koppenhaver weighs in on the economic health of the U.S. golf business. His conclusion: While the industry’s condition continues to deteriorate, it still has enough vim and vigor to avoid kicking the bucket anytime soon. “Lacking any change or catalyst to better align our sport to the changing consumer preferences as it relates to recreational time, difficulty, and expense,” Koppenhaver concludes, “golf will drift down to some natural support level and stabilize.” The key issue, of course, is where exactly that “natural support level” is, and Koppenhaver admits that he doesn’t know. It should be noted, however, that he believes the business will “drift down” to it, not rise up to it.
Discovery Land Company has set out to build what will likely be its eighth Tom Fazio-designed golf course, this one in Nevada. The 18-hole private track will be the centerpiece of a 555-acre community in Summerlin, a 22,500-acre spread outside Las Vegas. Howard Hughes Company, Summerlin’s developer, believes the to-be-named subdivision will provide “an unparalleled luxury living experience” and attract “discerning home buyers from all over the country.” Summerlin is already home to nine golf properties -- among them TPC Las Vegas, TPC Summerlin, and Bear’s Best Las Vegas -- but it appears that none of them feature the luxurious housing that DLC’s community will offer. “Nothing like this yet exists in Las Vegas,” DLC’s Michael Meldman said in a press release, “so we are particularly pleased to partner with the Howard Hughes Corporation in bringing this unparalleled resort-style living opportunity to the area.” DLC has built or purchased Fazio-designed courses in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Montana, Idaho, and North Carolina, and it hopes to build another one in New York.
Elected officials in suburban Liverpool, England are on the verge of revealing the identity of the “internationally renowned” developer they’ve chosen to build “an American-style golf course” in the shadow of Royal Liverpool Golf Club. The to-be-named group has agreed to create “an internationally acclaimed golf resort” that can stand shoulder to shoulder with venues such as the K Club in Ireland, Celtic Manor in Wales, and Gleneagles in Scotland. It'll take shape on 285 acres in Hoylake, and it’ll feature a “signature” golf course, a luxury hotel, meeting space, a spa, and some houses. A spokesperson for Wirral Council, which accepted proposals from the private sector last year, told the Wirral Globe that the contest’s winner must remain under wraps because “some details are still being worked.” The council expects to do the unveiling in late August or early September.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the November 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Integrity Golf Company has set its sights on buying a golf property it recently began operating in Greensboro, North Carolina. “We’re buyers of golf courses,” noted Gene Garrote, the company’s CEO, in a conversation with the Triad Business Journal. Specifically, Integrity is laying a foundation for the eventual purchase of Forest Oaks Country Club, once the home of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship. The club used to be private, but Integrity has opened it to public play in an effort to identify prospective future members. “The signups for membership have been very positive,” Garrote said. “We feel very positive about the future of the club.” Forest Oaks is currently owned by Tadashi Hattori’s Nisshin Corporation. Nisshin also owns Hunters Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, a property likewise managed by Integrity.
KemperSports has been hired to operate its first private club in New Jersey, Apple Ridge Country Club in Mahwah. The club, which opened in 1966, features an 18-hole golf course that was designed by Hal C. Purdy -- “one of the elite golf course architects of his time,” according to the press release that announced the contract. KemperSports has set out to increase the club’s membership by delivering “the best possible member experience.”
John Ashworth, the golf apparel manufacturer, has finally won the right to revitalize a decrepit, financially stressed golf course in Oceanside, California. Ashworth has agreed to invest at least $3.6 million into Center City Golf Course, an 18-hole, executive-length track known locally as Goat Hill. He’s enlisted Tom Doak to oversee the course’s makeover and add a six-hole layout for children. Ashworth’s Goat Hill Partners LLC, which has been negotiating with the city for two years, will begin operating the course next week. “It’s been a long time coming,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune, “and now the work starts.” The contract gives Ashworth just a two-year lease, but it includes options for 50 years worth of extensions.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
Desolation Row, june 27, 2014
A 93-year-old golf course in Springfield, Ohio has reached the end of the line. In an attempt to balance its budget, the National Trail Parks & Recreation District has closed the 18-hole Snyder Park Golf Course. The move is expected to save the district roughly $357,000 this year. Now the district has to determine what to do with its 36-hole golf complex at Reid Memorial Park, which is also bleeding red ink.
Crooked Creek Golf Club, the 20-year-old centerpiece of a subdivision in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, is most likely in its final season as a going concern. Tony Withers, one of the course’s owners, told the Raleigh News & Observer that the 18-hole venue has become a financial drain and that a sale to a residential developer would enable the ownership to walk away with a small profit. “The game is not growing,” he said. “Juniors just don’t play, the old guys are aging out.” The land isn’t yet under contract, but the newspaper says that “plenty of land-hungry home builders [are] eager to pay top dollar to convert the course into residential lots.”
Developers in Bowmansville, New York aim to turn Harris Hill Golf Course into an apartment complex. “It should be a really nice development for that area,” Nicholas Cutaia told the Buffalo News. “It’ll really help improve the hamlet of Bowmansville.” Cutaia and his father have agreed to pay $1.95 million for the nine-hole, 26-acre course. They’re buying it from an LLC controlled by the wife of the late Ronald Surowick. The Cutaias plan to operate Harris Hill for the rest of the season, as they’ve determined that it’s “quite profitable.”
In Mansfield, Massachusetts, a developer has submitted plans to build 22 houses on property currently occupied by the nine-hole Willowdale Golf Course. Willowdale’s owner, Eleuterio Simonelli, declined to comment on the developer’s proposal, a sure sign that the course’s days are numbered.
The city of Elwood, Indiana wants to prevent Cattails Golf Club from reverting to farm land, but it won’t be easy. Since the course’s owners have already sold nine of the course’s 18 holes, the city needs to reach purchase agreements with two parties. But before it can begin negotiations, the city must annex the site, a process that requires an approval from more than half of the 50 property owners in the area. Needless to say, the effort to preserve Cattails will be a major undertaking for a small town, but Elwood’s mayor believes it’ll be worth the trouble. “A course is something potential businesses and homeowners look for,” he told the Anderson Herald Bulletin. “It's a part of the quality of life.”
Next week, an 89-year-old golf course in North Little Rock, Arkansas will host its final rounds. Emerald Park Golf Course, which is located adjacent to a Veterans Administration hospital, is slated to become housing for retired military veterans.
The clock appears to be ticking for an 18-hole, municipal golf facility in South Jordan, Utah. After receiving a discouraging report on the financial future of Mulligan’s Golf & Games, the city will likely sell the well-located, 67-acre property to a developer. The city claims that Mulligan’s has lost an average of $220,000 in each of the past five years, an amount that some local residents dispute.
Plum Tree National Golf Club, in Harvard, Illinois, failed to open this season and has presumably bitten the dust. The property featured a Joe Lee-designed course that opened in 1968. “The greens were not that easy. They had a lot of slope to them, in some cases too much slope,” a local golfer told the Rockford Register Star. “There were not very many simple, straight-forward holes.” Several newspapers have reported on the closing, but none seems to know the venue’s ultimate fate.
A family-owned, nine-hole golf course in Circle Pines, Minnesota will make way for 70 duplexes. Melanie Lundgren and her husband, Tom, have agreed to sell KateHaven Golf Course, a struggling executive-length track that’s been owned by Melanie’s family since it opened in 1981. “It wasn’t a difficult call, and I’m excited about this transition,” Melanie told the Anoka County Union Herald. “It’s been a tough road keeping it open the last 10 years.” Melanie and her husband will continue to operate their Shadow Ridge Driving Range in nearby Lino Lakes. “Unlike the golf course,” writes the Herald Record, “business has been great at the driving range.”
November 30, 2014: That’s when the doors close for good at Montgomery Village Golf Club, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The Ed Ault-designed course has been on the endangered list for years, and its fate was sealed in early 2013, when it was sold to a local residential developer. Since then, its financial condition has further deteriorated. The Montgomery Gazette reports that the 147-acre layout, which opened in 1968, will be replaced by 600 houses.
The last good-byes have been said at a nine-hole track in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Marada Golf Course, which opened in 1972, occupies part of a 200-acre parcel that was purchased by the Maronda Foundation in 2008. The foundation hasn’t announced its plans for the property, but it’s an affiliate of Maronda Homes, Inc.
Crooked Creek Golf Club, the 20-year-old centerpiece of a subdivision in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, is most likely in its final season as a going concern. Tony Withers, one of the course’s owners, told the Raleigh News & Observer that the 18-hole venue has become a financial drain and that a sale to a residential developer would enable the ownership to walk away with a small profit. “The game is not growing,” he said. “Juniors just don’t play, the old guys are aging out.” The land isn’t yet under contract, but the newspaper says that “plenty of land-hungry home builders [are] eager to pay top dollar to convert the course into residential lots.”
Developers in Bowmansville, New York aim to turn Harris Hill Golf Course into an apartment complex. “It should be a really nice development for that area,” Nicholas Cutaia told the Buffalo News. “It’ll really help improve the hamlet of Bowmansville.” Cutaia and his father have agreed to pay $1.95 million for the nine-hole, 26-acre course. They’re buying it from an LLC controlled by the wife of the late Ronald Surowick. The Cutaias plan to operate Harris Hill for the rest of the season, as they’ve determined that it’s “quite profitable.”
In Mansfield, Massachusetts, a developer has submitted plans to build 22 houses on property currently occupied by the nine-hole Willowdale Golf Course. Willowdale’s owner, Eleuterio Simonelli, declined to comment on the developer’s proposal, a sure sign that the course’s days are numbered.
The city of Elwood, Indiana wants to prevent Cattails Golf Club from reverting to farm land, but it won’t be easy. Since the course’s owners have already sold nine of the course’s 18 holes, the city needs to reach purchase agreements with two parties. But before it can begin negotiations, the city must annex the site, a process that requires an approval from more than half of the 50 property owners in the area. Needless to say, the effort to preserve Cattails will be a major undertaking for a small town, but Elwood’s mayor believes it’ll be worth the trouble. “A course is something potential businesses and homeowners look for,” he told the Anderson Herald Bulletin. “It's a part of the quality of life.”
Next week, an 89-year-old golf course in North Little Rock, Arkansas will host its final rounds. Emerald Park Golf Course, which is located adjacent to a Veterans Administration hospital, is slated to become housing for retired military veterans.
The clock appears to be ticking for an 18-hole, municipal golf facility in South Jordan, Utah. After receiving a discouraging report on the financial future of Mulligan’s Golf & Games, the city will likely sell the well-located, 67-acre property to a developer. The city claims that Mulligan’s has lost an average of $220,000 in each of the past five years, an amount that some local residents dispute.
Plum Tree National Golf Club, in Harvard, Illinois, failed to open this season and has presumably bitten the dust. The property featured a Joe Lee-designed course that opened in 1968. “The greens were not that easy. They had a lot of slope to them, in some cases too much slope,” a local golfer told the Rockford Register Star. “There were not very many simple, straight-forward holes.” Several newspapers have reported on the closing, but none seems to know the venue’s ultimate fate.
A family-owned, nine-hole golf course in Circle Pines, Minnesota will make way for 70 duplexes. Melanie Lundgren and her husband, Tom, have agreed to sell KateHaven Golf Course, a struggling executive-length track that’s been owned by Melanie’s family since it opened in 1981. “It wasn’t a difficult call, and I’m excited about this transition,” Melanie told the Anoka County Union Herald. “It’s been a tough road keeping it open the last 10 years.” Melanie and her husband will continue to operate their Shadow Ridge Driving Range in nearby Lino Lakes. “Unlike the golf course,” writes the Herald Record, “business has been great at the driving range.”
November 30, 2014: That’s when the doors close for good at Montgomery Village Golf Club, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The Ed Ault-designed course has been on the endangered list for years, and its fate was sealed in early 2013, when it was sold to a local residential developer. Since then, its financial condition has further deteriorated. The Montgomery Gazette reports that the 147-acre layout, which opened in 1968, will be replaced by 600 houses.
The last good-byes have been said at a nine-hole track in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Marada Golf Course, which opened in 1972, occupies part of a 200-acre parcel that was purchased by the Maronda Foundation in 2008. The foundation hasn’t announced its plans for the property, but it’s an affiliate of Maronda Homes, Inc.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
The Week That Was, june 22, 2014
The owners and operators of the nation’s golf properties are feeling optimistic and confident about their financial prospects for 2014, according to data collected by the National Golf & Resort Properties Group. “The golf industry believes that the worst appears to be over,” the group writes in the 2014 Golf Investor Sentiment Survey, adding that, barring any significant unforeseeable events, “the golf market will continue to improve gradually.” By an overwhelming margin (81 percent), respondents to the survey believe that “the golf industry will improve or remain the same this year,” while 90 percent believe that “golf course values will either increase or stay the same.” Overall, the survey gives the golf industry a score of 63.2, which means that “the majority of the investment community has a positive outlook for their golf assets and the entire industry over the next 12 months.” NGRP says that its survey, an attempt to track investor confidence and predict where the golf business is heading, will be an annual event.
Pity the poor 2014 U.S. Open. Without Tiger Woods, professional golf’s only true mega-star, tickets to the grounds at Pinehurst No. 2 could be purchased on the secondary market for only $106, on average, an amount that the Triangle Business Journal reports is “a whopping 61 percent less than last year,” when Woods was in the field at Merion. What’s worse, Martin Kaymer drained the event of its drama, and as a result Sunday’s television rating fell to a mere 3.3, close to half of the 2013 number. “Once again, the U.S. Open showed how much the game misses Woods,” Ed Sherman wrote in a post-mortem on the event. The PGA Tour always argues that it no longer needs Woods as much as it used to, but none of its so-called stars can move the needle like he does.
One and done: That’s Donald Trump’s golf-development strategy for the Middle East. Trump has s decided that the Gil Hanse-designed golf course he’s building in Dubai -- “a truly great course,” he thinks -- will be his only golf venue in the region. “I only do something if I can top it,” he told Arabian Business, “and I’m not going to be able to top this golf course in the Middle East.” That being said, Trump still has a hankering to build a hotel in the area, preferably in Dubai.
The largest and most famous resort in northern Greece is building a second golf course and firming up plans for a third. Porto Carras Grand Resort, which occupies more than 4,400 acres on the western coast of Sithonia, has been offering nine-hole rounds of golf since the mid 1970s. Now it’s growing because its current owner, a big construction company called Technical Olympic Group, wants to create “one of the top destinations for golf in Europe.” In the early 2000s, Technical Olympic extended the resort’s original track to 18 holes (it’s now called the Olive Grove course), and today a second 18-hole track, the Vineyard, is under construction. Next, the company plans to build a third 18 that will be designed by “a famous professional golfer,” so Porto Carras can have “the appropriate prestige” to attract high-profile professional events.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Russia has 4,500 golfers who support roughly 30 golf courses, according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper notes that metropolitan Moscow, home to two-thirds of the nation’s golf population (an estimated 3,000 golfers), has nine 18-hole tracks and at least three nine-hole layouts, all but two of them private.
In a move that may signal the end of his presidential ambitions, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife have joined Wilmington Country Club. In 2011, Golf Digest ranked Biden as the #29 golfer among the capital’s elected officials and revolving-door crowd, behind John Sununu (#23) but ahead of John Boehner (#43).
Pity the poor 2014 U.S. Open. Without Tiger Woods, professional golf’s only true mega-star, tickets to the grounds at Pinehurst No. 2 could be purchased on the secondary market for only $106, on average, an amount that the Triangle Business Journal reports is “a whopping 61 percent less than last year,” when Woods was in the field at Merion. What’s worse, Martin Kaymer drained the event of its drama, and as a result Sunday’s television rating fell to a mere 3.3, close to half of the 2013 number. “Once again, the U.S. Open showed how much the game misses Woods,” Ed Sherman wrote in a post-mortem on the event. The PGA Tour always argues that it no longer needs Woods as much as it used to, but none of its so-called stars can move the needle like he does.
One and done: That’s Donald Trump’s golf-development strategy for the Middle East. Trump has s decided that the Gil Hanse-designed golf course he’s building in Dubai -- “a truly great course,” he thinks -- will be his only golf venue in the region. “I only do something if I can top it,” he told Arabian Business, “and I’m not going to be able to top this golf course in the Middle East.” That being said, Trump still has a hankering to build a hotel in the area, preferably in Dubai.
The largest and most famous resort in northern Greece is building a second golf course and firming up plans for a third. Porto Carras Grand Resort, which occupies more than 4,400 acres on the western coast of Sithonia, has been offering nine-hole rounds of golf since the mid 1970s. Now it’s growing because its current owner, a big construction company called Technical Olympic Group, wants to create “one of the top destinations for golf in Europe.” In the early 2000s, Technical Olympic extended the resort’s original track to 18 holes (it’s now called the Olive Grove course), and today a second 18-hole track, the Vineyard, is under construction. Next, the company plans to build a third 18 that will be designed by “a famous professional golfer,” so Porto Carras can have “the appropriate prestige” to attract high-profile professional events.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Russia has 4,500 golfers who support roughly 30 golf courses, according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper notes that metropolitan Moscow, home to two-thirds of the nation’s golf population (an estimated 3,000 golfers), has nine 18-hole tracks and at least three nine-hole layouts, all but two of them private.
In a move that may signal the end of his presidential ambitions, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife have joined Wilmington Country Club. In 2011, Golf Digest ranked Biden as the #29 golfer among the capital’s elected officials and revolving-door crowd, behind John Sununu (#23) but ahead of John Boehner (#43).
Friday, June 20, 2014
Transactions, june 20, 2014
For the third time in the past year, Chinese investors have purchased a golf property on the Grand Strand. Shi Lin Zou and Chun Lan Li, a married couple from Nanjing, reportedly paid $1.5 million for Black Bear Golf Club, a 24-year-old venue outside Myrtle Beach. The club features an 18-hole, Tom Jackson-designed golf course. “We love the trees and vegetation and surroundings -- the blue sky and sunshine, the clear water,” Li told the Myrtle Beach Sun News through an interpreter. “It’s hard to see that in China.” Neither of the new owners plays golf, although they both plan to learn. They bought the 186-acre property from a local investment group led by Robbie Byers and Ed Jerdon of Classic Golf Group. In recent months, Chinese buyers have also acquired Crown Park Golf Club in Longs, South Carolina and Sea Trail Golf Resort in Sunset Beach, North Carolina.
Just weeks after an expected sale failed to materialize, a financially distressed private club in Monroe, Michigan has found new owners. Monroe Golf & Country Club, which features an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course, has been sold to an LLC led by Gary Campbell and Robert “R. J.” Regan. “We are really excited about the future here,” Campbell told the Monroe News. “We’re excited about the possibilities.” Campbell also owns Walnut Hills Country Club in East Lansing, Michigan. He hasn’t revealed what he paid for the club in Monroe, but the News has suggested that the 175-acre property was worth between $1 million and $1.5 million. In March, Monroe’s stockholders had agreed to sell the club to Allen DuPuy’s Commonwealth Golf Group, whose holdings include a Ross-designed course at LuLu Country Club in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A struggling golf property in Fairborn, Ohio has assumed a new identity. Earlier this year, Zachary Fink acquired Greene Country Club, which he now calls Gem City Golf Club. The club, established in 1958, features a Bill Diddel-designed golf course. “I felt like I got the club at a good price, and it has great potential to stay a private club and be a viable business,” Fink told the Dayton Business Journal. Fink, who’s set out to rebuild the club’s membership, also owns a miniature golf course in nearby Centerville and an 18-hole, par-3 track at Rollandia Golf Center in Dayton.
Blum Investment Group Golf LLC, an entity based in Arizona, has agreed to buy a semiprivate golf course in Shallotte, North Carolina. Blum hasn’t disclosed what it’ll pay for Brierwood Country Club, but the 160-acre property had been listed for $1.25 million. The transaction is expected to close next month. So far, Blum has been unwilling to discuss its plans for Brierwood, but a real estate agent involved in the sale told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal that the property would be maintained as a golf course. Brierwood, which the Journal describes as “one of Brunswick County’s oldest golf courses,” opened in the late 1960s.
A bank in Minnesota has sold a nine-hole, executive-length track in Dayton, reportedly for $2.6 million. French Lake Open Golf Course, which opened in 1985, was purchased by an entity called French Lake GC Partnership LLC, whose intentions are unknown. “It’s unclear what the new owner plans to do with the property,” writes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The course had been owned by Mark and Debbie Regan, who presumably lost it to Premier Bank in Maplewood.
A golf pro from Alaska has acquired Prairie Falls Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Post Falls, Idaho. “I came down here in November, took a look at the golf course, and just kind of fell in love with it,” Billy Bomar told KXLY-TV. Prairie Falls features a Mark Rathert-designed layout that opened in 1998.
The city of Edinburg, Texas has paid $4.25 million for Ebony Hills Golf Course, a nine-hole track that dates from the late 1920s. The course occupies 60 acres owned by the city, which views the purchase as an opportunity to preserve open space. According to the Brownsville Herald, the course’s shareholders had been trying to sell their assets to the city for at least 16 years.
Fulfilling a dream he’s had since he was 13 years old, Paul Pawlowski has purchased Cedars Golf Course in Cutchogue, New York. “We plan to make some improvements, but we want to keep Cedars the gem that it is and as everyone knows it, affordable and unassuming,” he told the Riverhead News-Review. Pawlowski bought the nine-hole, 50-year-old track with Tim McManus. The seller was a group led by John Dennison.
An 18-hole golf course in greater Rochester, New York will celebrate its 50th anniversary by transitioning to farmland. In March, Lynn-Ette & Sons Farm paid an undisclosed price for Harbour Pointe Country Club, which opened in 1964 as Oak Orchard Country Club. “There has been a drop off in golf play,” said Joe Cardone, one of the sellers. “It’s also an indication of the economic times in Orleans County.” The Cardone family had owned the property, in the Town of Carlton, since 1981.
Just weeks after an expected sale failed to materialize, a financially distressed private club in Monroe, Michigan has found new owners. Monroe Golf & Country Club, which features an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course, has been sold to an LLC led by Gary Campbell and Robert “R. J.” Regan. “We are really excited about the future here,” Campbell told the Monroe News. “We’re excited about the possibilities.” Campbell also owns Walnut Hills Country Club in East Lansing, Michigan. He hasn’t revealed what he paid for the club in Monroe, but the News has suggested that the 175-acre property was worth between $1 million and $1.5 million. In March, Monroe’s stockholders had agreed to sell the club to Allen DuPuy’s Commonwealth Golf Group, whose holdings include a Ross-designed course at LuLu Country Club in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A struggling golf property in Fairborn, Ohio has assumed a new identity. Earlier this year, Zachary Fink acquired Greene Country Club, which he now calls Gem City Golf Club. The club, established in 1958, features a Bill Diddel-designed golf course. “I felt like I got the club at a good price, and it has great potential to stay a private club and be a viable business,” Fink told the Dayton Business Journal. Fink, who’s set out to rebuild the club’s membership, also owns a miniature golf course in nearby Centerville and an 18-hole, par-3 track at Rollandia Golf Center in Dayton.
Blum Investment Group Golf LLC, an entity based in Arizona, has agreed to buy a semiprivate golf course in Shallotte, North Carolina. Blum hasn’t disclosed what it’ll pay for Brierwood Country Club, but the 160-acre property had been listed for $1.25 million. The transaction is expected to close next month. So far, Blum has been unwilling to discuss its plans for Brierwood, but a real estate agent involved in the sale told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal that the property would be maintained as a golf course. Brierwood, which the Journal describes as “one of Brunswick County’s oldest golf courses,” opened in the late 1960s.
A bank in Minnesota has sold a nine-hole, executive-length track in Dayton, reportedly for $2.6 million. French Lake Open Golf Course, which opened in 1985, was purchased by an entity called French Lake GC Partnership LLC, whose intentions are unknown. “It’s unclear what the new owner plans to do with the property,” writes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The course had been owned by Mark and Debbie Regan, who presumably lost it to Premier Bank in Maplewood.
A golf pro from Alaska has acquired Prairie Falls Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Post Falls, Idaho. “I came down here in November, took a look at the golf course, and just kind of fell in love with it,” Billy Bomar told KXLY-TV. Prairie Falls features a Mark Rathert-designed layout that opened in 1998.
The city of Edinburg, Texas has paid $4.25 million for Ebony Hills Golf Course, a nine-hole track that dates from the late 1920s. The course occupies 60 acres owned by the city, which views the purchase as an opportunity to preserve open space. According to the Brownsville Herald, the course’s shareholders had been trying to sell their assets to the city for at least 16 years.
Fulfilling a dream he’s had since he was 13 years old, Paul Pawlowski has purchased Cedars Golf Course in Cutchogue, New York. “We plan to make some improvements, but we want to keep Cedars the gem that it is and as everyone knows it, affordable and unassuming,” he told the Riverhead News-Review. Pawlowski bought the nine-hole, 50-year-old track with Tim McManus. The seller was a group led by John Dennison.
An 18-hole golf course in greater Rochester, New York will celebrate its 50th anniversary by transitioning to farmland. In March, Lynn-Ette & Sons Farm paid an undisclosed price for Harbour Pointe Country Club, which opened in 1964 as Oak Orchard Country Club. “There has been a drop off in golf play,” said Joe Cardone, one of the sellers. “It’s also an indication of the economic times in Orleans County.” The Cardone family had owned the property, in the Town of Carlton, since 1981.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
The Week That Was, june 15, 2014
The world of golf is showing big love for Phil Mickelson, as new evidence indicates that the popular PGA Tour star didn’t purchase any options in Clorox stock in the days leading up to Carl Ichan’s corporate raid on the company in 2011. A commentator for Golf Digest gleefully called a New York Times update on the government’s investigation “a virtual apology,” and reporters from ESPN and NBC allowed Mickelson to comment on the matter without asking any challenging follow-up questions.
But Mickelson isn’t out of the woods yet, and he knows it. The FBI and the SEC continue to investigate investments that he and Billy Walters made in Dean Foods in 2012, the timing of which provided Walters with a $15 million gain and Mickelson with nearly $1 million. And although charges are unlikely, neither Mickelson nor the sport of golf -- the most “honest” sport, it’s often said -- needs this kind of publicity.
Mickelson continues to profess his innocence, but to cover his bases he’s hired one of the nation’s most prominent high-stakes litigators, Gregory Craig of Skadden Arps, as one of his legal representatives. Craig has previously defended John Hinckley, Jr., Victor Posner, Richard Helms, and Goldman Sachs, among others, and he has close relationships with cabinet-level officials throughout the Obama administration, including the president himself.
Insider-trading cases being what they are, dark clouds could hover of Mickelson for months. By putting Craig on his payroll, Lefty is offering proof of how desperately he wants the government’s investigation to go away.
Footgolf, a sport that hardly anyone had heard of just a year ago, is taking off like wildfire. Last fall, according to the Washington Post, the American Footgolf League had just 35 courses. Today it has 144 courses in 31 states, and more are being added every week. Billy Casper Golf has begun to offer the game at some of the golf facilities it manages, and Ted Bishop, the president of the PGA of America, told the Post that the golf complex he owns in Indiana now attracts more footgolfers than traditional golfers. The bandwagon is about to pull out of the station. Are you aboard yet?
One of the two Jack Nicklaus “signature” courses in Ireland has new owners. Mount Juliet Resort, in County Kilkenny, has been sold to a group led by Emmet O’Neill and Brehon Capital Partners. Killeen Group Holdings reportedly accepted €15 million ($20.3 million) for Mount Juliet, a 1,500-acre property that includes an 86-room hotel, other overnight accommodations, and an equestrian center. The resort’s golf course, ranked #13 in the nation by Golf Digest, hosted the Irish Open three times in the mid 1990s. The Irish Times reports that “there was strong interest in the property” from both domestic and international investors. One of the final bidders was John Malone, a U.S. billionaire who owns a pair of hotels in Dublin and Humewood Castle in County Wicklow. Golf Digest ranks Nicklaus’ only other course in Ireland, Killeen Castle Golf Club in County Meath, at #16 nationally.
Before he agreed to operate New York City’s Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course, Donald Trump swung a hard-to-beat deal for himself. According to the New York Daily News, the forthcoming premium-priced layout in Ferry Point Park will pay a smaller cut of its greens fees than the city’s other courses, not to mention a smaller cut of the revenues it collects from its food and beverage operations, catering, merchandise sales, and the like. What’s more, Trump persuaded the city to pay for the course’s irrigation, an expense that will surely be considerable. The Daily News could barely contain its outrage, but why would anyone begrudge Trump for driving a hard bargain? The city really isn’t going to suffer from the concessions it made to Trump. It’s going to suffer when it comes time to negotiate with its other operators.
What They’re Saying About the PGA Tour: “The Tour is politically spineless,” Michael Bamberger of Sports Illustrated recently wrote. “It is without a soul. It bows to money above all and takes a stand on nothing. How about the gutless way for years the Tour allowed the Masters to be considered, in essence, a Tour event when in fact Augusta National did not meet the Tour’s own requirements regarding membership policies for clubs that host events? The Tour’s drug policy is rooted in cynicism, in perception, not a real desire to see the sport be clean. The Tour addresses race issues, to use an old phrase, with benign neglect. What has that ever accomplished?”
From the Department of Easy Money: Colin Montgomerie, the Scottish golf star, has agreed to become a “touring ambassador” for a pair of old-line golf clubs in New Jersey. For his fee, Monty will say nice things about the Forsgate and Shackamaxon country clubs and mingle with their members every now and then. Both properties are owned by affiliates of RDC Golf Group.
Despite countless hours of near wall-to-wall coverage by ESPN, NBC, the Golf Channel, and all manner of digital media, did even once anyone mention that not a single African-American golfer participated in this year’s U.S. Open? Not to my knowledge. Instead, it took a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch to point out that every one of the players who challenged for this year’s national golf championship was white. “It seems strange that there are no black players in the U.S. Open,” wrote Rob Oller. “We’re talking about 156 golfers, including dozens from foreign countries. Simple odds would suggest a black golfer would make the trip.” Golf’s leadership always insists that the sport is color-blind, a claim that’s easier to believe when Tiger Woods is in the field.
But Mickelson isn’t out of the woods yet, and he knows it. The FBI and the SEC continue to investigate investments that he and Billy Walters made in Dean Foods in 2012, the timing of which provided Walters with a $15 million gain and Mickelson with nearly $1 million. And although charges are unlikely, neither Mickelson nor the sport of golf -- the most “honest” sport, it’s often said -- needs this kind of publicity.
Mickelson continues to profess his innocence, but to cover his bases he’s hired one of the nation’s most prominent high-stakes litigators, Gregory Craig of Skadden Arps, as one of his legal representatives. Craig has previously defended John Hinckley, Jr., Victor Posner, Richard Helms, and Goldman Sachs, among others, and he has close relationships with cabinet-level officials throughout the Obama administration, including the president himself.
Insider-trading cases being what they are, dark clouds could hover of Mickelson for months. By putting Craig on his payroll, Lefty is offering proof of how desperately he wants the government’s investigation to go away.
Footgolf, a sport that hardly anyone had heard of just a year ago, is taking off like wildfire. Last fall, according to the Washington Post, the American Footgolf League had just 35 courses. Today it has 144 courses in 31 states, and more are being added every week. Billy Casper Golf has begun to offer the game at some of the golf facilities it manages, and Ted Bishop, the president of the PGA of America, told the Post that the golf complex he owns in Indiana now attracts more footgolfers than traditional golfers. The bandwagon is about to pull out of the station. Are you aboard yet?
One of the two Jack Nicklaus “signature” courses in Ireland has new owners. Mount Juliet Resort, in County Kilkenny, has been sold to a group led by Emmet O’Neill and Brehon Capital Partners. Killeen Group Holdings reportedly accepted €15 million ($20.3 million) for Mount Juliet, a 1,500-acre property that includes an 86-room hotel, other overnight accommodations, and an equestrian center. The resort’s golf course, ranked #13 in the nation by Golf Digest, hosted the Irish Open three times in the mid 1990s. The Irish Times reports that “there was strong interest in the property” from both domestic and international investors. One of the final bidders was John Malone, a U.S. billionaire who owns a pair of hotels in Dublin and Humewood Castle in County Wicklow. Golf Digest ranks Nicklaus’ only other course in Ireland, Killeen Castle Golf Club in County Meath, at #16 nationally.
Before he agreed to operate New York City’s Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course, Donald Trump swung a hard-to-beat deal for himself. According to the New York Daily News, the forthcoming premium-priced layout in Ferry Point Park will pay a smaller cut of its greens fees than the city’s other courses, not to mention a smaller cut of the revenues it collects from its food and beverage operations, catering, merchandise sales, and the like. What’s more, Trump persuaded the city to pay for the course’s irrigation, an expense that will surely be considerable. The Daily News could barely contain its outrage, but why would anyone begrudge Trump for driving a hard bargain? The city really isn’t going to suffer from the concessions it made to Trump. It’s going to suffer when it comes time to negotiate with its other operators.
What They’re Saying About the PGA Tour: “The Tour is politically spineless,” Michael Bamberger of Sports Illustrated recently wrote. “It is without a soul. It bows to money above all and takes a stand on nothing. How about the gutless way for years the Tour allowed the Masters to be considered, in essence, a Tour event when in fact Augusta National did not meet the Tour’s own requirements regarding membership policies for clubs that host events? The Tour’s drug policy is rooted in cynicism, in perception, not a real desire to see the sport be clean. The Tour addresses race issues, to use an old phrase, with benign neglect. What has that ever accomplished?”
From the Department of Easy Money: Colin Montgomerie, the Scottish golf star, has agreed to become a “touring ambassador” for a pair of old-line golf clubs in New Jersey. For his fee, Monty will say nice things about the Forsgate and Shackamaxon country clubs and mingle with their members every now and then. Both properties are owned by affiliates of RDC Golf Group.
Despite countless hours of near wall-to-wall coverage by ESPN, NBC, the Golf Channel, and all manner of digital media, did even once anyone mention that not a single African-American golfer participated in this year’s U.S. Open? Not to my knowledge. Instead, it took a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch to point out that every one of the players who challenged for this year’s national golf championship was white. “It seems strange that there are no black players in the U.S. Open,” wrote Rob Oller. “We’re talking about 156 golfers, including dozens from foreign countries. Simple odds would suggest a black golfer would make the trip.” Golf’s leadership always insists that the sport is color-blind, a claim that’s easier to believe when Tiger Woods is in the field.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Vital Signs, june 13, 2014
Golf participation in the United States continues to fall, to distressingly low numbers last seen a quarter-century ago. More than 1 million golfers said good-bye to the game last year, according to Pellucid Corporation, and today our nation counts fewer than 23 million players. Pellucid reports that the U.S. golf participation rate is now 8 percent, about what it was in the late 1980s. “Despite the increasing frequency and intensity of industry association cheerleaders’ attempts to ‘wish’ an increase in the consumer base into existence,” Pellucid writes, “unfortunately the facts show both a decline in the consumer base and an accelerated rate of decline compared to the previous year.” To add insult to injury, Pellucid says last year’s decline in play was driven by a bread-and-butter demographic, men aged between 25 and 54.
We’re Number One! In 2013, the United States was the world’s fastest-growing golf-travel destination, according to the International Association of Golf Tour Operators. “In 2012 we saw the resurgence of the USA as a powerful force in outbound golf tourism, recovering from the economic crises ahead of its European counterparts, and this was followed up quite clearly last year, with sales to golf destinations throughout the USA growing faster than any others around the world,” the group’s chief executive said. The IAGTO provided no solid evidence to back up its rankings, but it said that we finished ahead of Portugal, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Scotland, Morocco, Ireland, Spain, and Vietnam.
An estimated 640,000 of the adult women in the United Kingdom are “very interested in taking up golf this summer,” according to a forthcoming survey by Syngenta. In addition, the data says that 3.8 million women aged 19 to 64 are “somewhat or [a] little interested” in giving the game a try. The question now is, Can the owners and operators of the U.K.’s golf venues find them?
Half of the golf clubs in Australia are under “financial duress,” according to a study by Golf Australia and Golf Management Australia, and they must connect with women, families, and especially young people if they expect to survive. “Many clubs are under increasing financial pressure and experiencing challenging times,” concludes the 2013 National Golf Participation Report, which compiled data from 1,583 properties. According to the report, club membership in Australia peaked in 1998, with roughly 500,000 golfers. Today, the nation’s clubs count just 398,804 members, a decline of more than 20 percent. The clubs have lost 6.7 percent of their members since 2010, the study has determined, largely because participation among young people -- those between 15 and 34 -- has waned. Some of the clouds hovering over Australia’s golf industry may have a silver lining, however. Last year, 42 percent of the nation’s clubs increased the size of their membership, and 18 percent posted increases of 10 percent or more.
Here are five noteworthy statistics about golf in Australia from the 2013 National Golf Participation Report: 1) Golf participation levels in Australia have fallen by 11 percent since 2000 and currently sit at 6.7 percent of the population. Last year, an estimated 1.18 million adults (apparently defined as those aged 15 and older) played at least one round of golf. 2) The average club in Australia has 250 members, but more than half (51 percent) have fewer than 100 and nearly two-thirds (64 percent) have fewer than 200. 3) Australia’s golf clubs rang up nearly 25 million rounds in 2013. (Note: This number doesn’t include public play.) 4) Of the nation’s 398,804 club members, 60 percent are at least 55 years old. 5) Last year, the nation’s clubs lost 1.6 percent of their members.
$20 million: That’s the size of the economic divot created by the departure of Rochester, New York’s annual LPGA event. A local elected official believes that the loss of the tournament, known of late as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, will leave “a void in the community.” Starting next year, the tournament will be played on the other side of the state, in Westchester.
We’re Number One! In 2013, the United States was the world’s fastest-growing golf-travel destination, according to the International Association of Golf Tour Operators. “In 2012 we saw the resurgence of the USA as a powerful force in outbound golf tourism, recovering from the economic crises ahead of its European counterparts, and this was followed up quite clearly last year, with sales to golf destinations throughout the USA growing faster than any others around the world,” the group’s chief executive said. The IAGTO provided no solid evidence to back up its rankings, but it said that we finished ahead of Portugal, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Scotland, Morocco, Ireland, Spain, and Vietnam.
An estimated 640,000 of the adult women in the United Kingdom are “very interested in taking up golf this summer,” according to a forthcoming survey by Syngenta. In addition, the data says that 3.8 million women aged 19 to 64 are “somewhat or [a] little interested” in giving the game a try. The question now is, Can the owners and operators of the U.K.’s golf venues find them?
Half of the golf clubs in Australia are under “financial duress,” according to a study by Golf Australia and Golf Management Australia, and they must connect with women, families, and especially young people if they expect to survive. “Many clubs are under increasing financial pressure and experiencing challenging times,” concludes the 2013 National Golf Participation Report, which compiled data from 1,583 properties. According to the report, club membership in Australia peaked in 1998, with roughly 500,000 golfers. Today, the nation’s clubs count just 398,804 members, a decline of more than 20 percent. The clubs have lost 6.7 percent of their members since 2010, the study has determined, largely because participation among young people -- those between 15 and 34 -- has waned. Some of the clouds hovering over Australia’s golf industry may have a silver lining, however. Last year, 42 percent of the nation’s clubs increased the size of their membership, and 18 percent posted increases of 10 percent or more.
Here are five noteworthy statistics about golf in Australia from the 2013 National Golf Participation Report: 1) Golf participation levels in Australia have fallen by 11 percent since 2000 and currently sit at 6.7 percent of the population. Last year, an estimated 1.18 million adults (apparently defined as those aged 15 and older) played at least one round of golf. 2) The average club in Australia has 250 members, but more than half (51 percent) have fewer than 100 and nearly two-thirds (64 percent) have fewer than 200. 3) Australia’s golf clubs rang up nearly 25 million rounds in 2013. (Note: This number doesn’t include public play.) 4) Of the nation’s 398,804 club members, 60 percent are at least 55 years old. 5) Last year, the nation’s clubs lost 1.6 percent of their members.
$20 million: That’s the size of the economic divot created by the departure of Rochester, New York’s annual LPGA event. A local elected official believes that the loss of the tournament, known of late as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, will leave “a void in the community.” Starting next year, the tournament will be played on the other side of the state, in Westchester.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
The Week That Was, june 8, 2014
The Asia Pacific Golf Group, for years an unabashed promoter for Asian golf, has had a change of opinion regarding golf development in China.
The Singapore-based group, best known as the organizer the annual Asia Pacific Golf Summit, has concluded that China’s golf industry has hit the skids and won’t recover anytime soon. “The Chinese dragon seems to have lost its puff,” it writes in the June issue of Asian Club Business.
Such a reappraisal reflects the angst that’s become palpable as China’s golf business falls from its dizzying heights. In its anonymously written cover story, Asian Club Business says that golf course architects are “very disappointed with the pace of golf course development in China, or the lack of it.” It notes that fewer people went through the turnstiles at this year’s Beijing Golf Show, with “a big drop in registered attendance for architects and designers.” It quotes an unnamed architect as saying, “Golf in China has been awful for over two years now” and allows another to complain about “all the crappy Chinese courses built by bad designers that nobody wants to play on.”
Asian Club Business also has misgivings about the future of golf in China, due mostly to the industry’s poisonously close relationship with home builders. Like other analysts, the magazine fears that the nation’s real estate market “may collapse,” a prospect it believes would have dire consequences for golf development because “most golf courses in China are built as an excuse to develop real estate.”
“Golf development in China is rarely connected with a genuine interest to develop and grow the game,” the magazine sadly notes.
Maybe that’s why there are so many crappy courses in the People’s Republic.
For a more upbeat analysis of the current state of the golf industry, look no further than Donald Trump. During a recent visit to Dubai, where he’s building a Gil Hanse-designed golf course, Trump dismissed the evidence of golf’s decline and various downbeat projections about the game’s future. “Worldwide, golf is the hottest thing there is, and in the U.S. it’s doing really, really well,” Trump told Arabian Business. “Nothing is really even close to it. You go to China, all over Asia, South America -- golf is just booming.” So who do you believe?
The last rites have already been read to one of Salt Lake City, Utah’s financially distressed municipal golf courses, and now it looks as if only an act of God can prevent further closings. The city is pulling the plug on Jordan River Par 3 Golf Course at the end of the current golf season, and the Salt Lake Tribune reports that three 18-hole tracks -- the Wingpointe, Forest Dale, and Glendale courses -- have been put on the endangered list as well. “Doing nothing is not an option,” a councilmember told the newspaper. “The longer we delay, the harder it gets.” Only three of Salt Lake City’s eight golf properties are safe. The city’s golf operation -- $1 million in the red and desperate to fund $23 million worth of capital improvements -- is said to be “financially unsustainable.”
Memo to struggling municipal golf courses in Great Britain: It’s your own fault. At least that’s the message being delivered by Maureen Brooker, the chairperson of the National Association of Public Golf Courses. All too often, Brooker believes, municipalities milked their golf facilities for all they were worth and failed to make capital improvements that might have generated consistent play over the long term. “Councils for many years reaped the benefit of good profits from municipal courses, but under-investment and the taking of these profits to put into council coffers brought many into decline,” she said in a comment published by Golf Club Management. “Courses need to be maintained correctly to attract golfers and members, and the facilities need to be adequate and kept to a decent standard.” As has been well documented, in recent years British munis have been suffering as much as their U.S. counterparts, and the magazine notes that “the situation has continued to deteriorate this year.” Brooker is trying to convey an important lesson, but it’s too little too late.
Another surprise from Brazil: The golf course for the 2016 Olympics -- supposedly a grow-the-game initiative for a nation with precious few public venues -- is guaranteed to be public for just 10 years. “It’s not clear how the course will be run after that,” notes a dispatch from the Associated Press. And it may be completely unrelated, but the AP also notes that the course will be flanked by some of the most expensive real estate in Rio de Janeiro: four 20-story towers whose 160 residential units will cost between $2.5 million and $7 million apiece. How cynical does one have to be to see a private club on the horizon?
As expected, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club has closed on its purchase of National Golf Club. National’s 25-year-old Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course will become Pinehurst No. 9, a number that the famed resort in North Carolina has been trying to assign for years. Originally, No. 9 belonged to a new, Rees Jones-designed course that was unfortunately never built. Then it appeared that No. 9 would be worn by the Pit, a defunct, Dan Maples-designed layout in nearby Aberdeen that Pinehurst bought three years ago. So now that No. 9 has finally been awarded, what’s Pinehurst’s plan for No. 10? Will it commence work on a Coore & Crenshaw track where the Pit once stood, give the green light to Jones, or come up with something completely different?
The Singapore-based group, best known as the organizer the annual Asia Pacific Golf Summit, has concluded that China’s golf industry has hit the skids and won’t recover anytime soon. “The Chinese dragon seems to have lost its puff,” it writes in the June issue of Asian Club Business.
Such a reappraisal reflects the angst that’s become palpable as China’s golf business falls from its dizzying heights. In its anonymously written cover story, Asian Club Business says that golf course architects are “very disappointed with the pace of golf course development in China, or the lack of it.” It notes that fewer people went through the turnstiles at this year’s Beijing Golf Show, with “a big drop in registered attendance for architects and designers.” It quotes an unnamed architect as saying, “Golf in China has been awful for over two years now” and allows another to complain about “all the crappy Chinese courses built by bad designers that nobody wants to play on.”
Asian Club Business also has misgivings about the future of golf in China, due mostly to the industry’s poisonously close relationship with home builders. Like other analysts, the magazine fears that the nation’s real estate market “may collapse,” a prospect it believes would have dire consequences for golf development because “most golf courses in China are built as an excuse to develop real estate.”
“Golf development in China is rarely connected with a genuine interest to develop and grow the game,” the magazine sadly notes.
Maybe that’s why there are so many crappy courses in the People’s Republic.
For a more upbeat analysis of the current state of the golf industry, look no further than Donald Trump. During a recent visit to Dubai, where he’s building a Gil Hanse-designed golf course, Trump dismissed the evidence of golf’s decline and various downbeat projections about the game’s future. “Worldwide, golf is the hottest thing there is, and in the U.S. it’s doing really, really well,” Trump told Arabian Business. “Nothing is really even close to it. You go to China, all over Asia, South America -- golf is just booming.” So who do you believe?
The last rites have already been read to one of Salt Lake City, Utah’s financially distressed municipal golf courses, and now it looks as if only an act of God can prevent further closings. The city is pulling the plug on Jordan River Par 3 Golf Course at the end of the current golf season, and the Salt Lake Tribune reports that three 18-hole tracks -- the Wingpointe, Forest Dale, and Glendale courses -- have been put on the endangered list as well. “Doing nothing is not an option,” a councilmember told the newspaper. “The longer we delay, the harder it gets.” Only three of Salt Lake City’s eight golf properties are safe. The city’s golf operation -- $1 million in the red and desperate to fund $23 million worth of capital improvements -- is said to be “financially unsustainable.”
Memo to struggling municipal golf courses in Great Britain: It’s your own fault. At least that’s the message being delivered by Maureen Brooker, the chairperson of the National Association of Public Golf Courses. All too often, Brooker believes, municipalities milked their golf facilities for all they were worth and failed to make capital improvements that might have generated consistent play over the long term. “Councils for many years reaped the benefit of good profits from municipal courses, but under-investment and the taking of these profits to put into council coffers brought many into decline,” she said in a comment published by Golf Club Management. “Courses need to be maintained correctly to attract golfers and members, and the facilities need to be adequate and kept to a decent standard.” As has been well documented, in recent years British munis have been suffering as much as their U.S. counterparts, and the magazine notes that “the situation has continued to deteriorate this year.” Brooker is trying to convey an important lesson, but it’s too little too late.
Another surprise from Brazil: The golf course for the 2016 Olympics -- supposedly a grow-the-game initiative for a nation with precious few public venues -- is guaranteed to be public for just 10 years. “It’s not clear how the course will be run after that,” notes a dispatch from the Associated Press. And it may be completely unrelated, but the AP also notes that the course will be flanked by some of the most expensive real estate in Rio de Janeiro: four 20-story towers whose 160 residential units will cost between $2.5 million and $7 million apiece. How cynical does one have to be to see a private club on the horizon?
As expected, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club has closed on its purchase of National Golf Club. National’s 25-year-old Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course will become Pinehurst No. 9, a number that the famed resort in North Carolina has been trying to assign for years. Originally, No. 9 belonged to a new, Rees Jones-designed course that was unfortunately never built. Then it appeared that No. 9 would be worn by the Pit, a defunct, Dan Maples-designed layout in nearby Aberdeen that Pinehurst bought three years ago. So now that No. 9 has finally been awarded, what’s Pinehurst’s plan for No. 10? Will it commence work on a Coore & Crenshaw track where the Pit once stood, give the green light to Jones, or come up with something completely different?
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Pipeline, june 6, 2014
Before long, the world’s golfers may have even more reasons to head for the Hills. Borrowing an idea from Augusta National Golf Club, New Zealand’s most exclusive private club plans to add a nine-hole, par-3 layout that would add some fun to its championship events. In addition, five of the course’s holes will be redesigned, to improve a track that already ranks among the nation’s best. “We’ve just got to keep pushing and make this course better and better,” the course’s owner, Sir Michael Hill, told the Otago Daily Times. “We’re on the tip of doing something great here. We want to make this a 100 percent world-class course.” Since its existing 18-hole layout opened, in 2007, the Hills has hosted the New Zealand Open several times, and these days it also hosts the nation’s PGA championship. Sir Bob Charles, New Zealand’s most enduring golf star, thinks it’s the nation’s top course, and Top 100 Golf Courses of the World ranks it #6. The track occupies part of a largely untamed 500-acre spread outside Queenstown, on the South Island, and earned its reputation in part because Hill decorated it with more than a dozen museum-quality sculptures.
A group of Saudi investors is funding the development of a master-planned community that’s said to be “the single largest development ever proposed” in Lake County, Florida. The investors aim to build the community, called Villa City, on roughly 2,500 acres in Groveland. At build-out, in 2035, Villa City would reportedly have 3,054 houses for seniors, 1,610 other houses, 900 apartments, a shopping center, an industrial park, more than 200,000 square feet of office space, and an 18-hole golf course. “This could be a great starting point for our city," Groveland’s city manager told the Orlando Sentinel. The Saudi group, which has owned the property for more than a decade, is said to include members of the royal family.
A top official of the Asian Tour is going to put his “signature” on a championship-caliber golf course outside Myanmar’s last royal capital. Kyi Hia Han’s course will be among the attractions at Mandalay Myotha, a mini city that’s emerging on more than 10,000 acres roughly 30 miles southwest of Mandalay. Han, the Asian Tour’s executive director, will co-design the 18-hole track with Lee Schmidt, a principal of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt-Curley Design. The partners aim to create an “innovative” 8,000-yard layout that Schmidt believes will offer “a stern test for today’s best players.” The city is being developed by Mandalay Myotha Industrial Development Public Company, Ltd., an entity controlled by Royal Hi-Tech Group. MMID expects Mandalay Myotha to offer “the country’s best living, working, enjoyment, and investment opportunities” and to become “a model for modernization in other developing nations.” It plans to break ground on the golf course this summer and to open it by the end of 2015.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sometime this fall, the premier golf venue in Poland hopes to take the wraps off what it calls a “championship course in miniature.” The track, called Orli Las, will complement the 18-hole, Gary Player-designed layout at Modry Las Golf Club, the property regarded by Golf Digest as the nation’s best. “We know we cannot sit on our laurels,” the club’s marketing director said in a press release. “That is why we are continuing with our investment program, in order to make Modry Las a luxurious, thriving, and sustainable community.” Orli Las, which can reportedly be played in less than an hour, is said to be “big on challenge.” Modry Las, which is located outside Choszczno, opened Player’s course in 2009. The track is said to be especially popular among Scandinavian golfers.
With inspiration from Alister MacKenzie, a French touring pro has embarked on a career as a course architect. Nicolas Joakimides, who made his professional debut in 1993, has designed a 27-hole golf complex in Navarrenx, a village in southwestern France. The complex is taking shape on 325 acres surrounding Nitot de Sus, a chateau that dates from the 18th century. Jean-François Cabarrouy, the chateau’s owner, believes the site is ideal for golf. “When I found this property, in 2004,” he explained to La Republic des Pyrenees, “I immediately saw a golf course.” Originally, Cabarrouy wanted Joakimides to produce a course like MacKenzie’s at Augusta National Golf Club, but he settled for something less ambitious: A track that Joakimides says will serve as “a tribute to Mackenzie’s work and ideas.” Cabarrouy broke ground on the 18-hole layout last year. He hopes to open it in the summer of next year, with the nine-hole track to be unveiled in 2016.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Gary Player has been enlisted to transform a 27-hole complex near Beijing’s international airport into a venue capable of hosting professional tournaments. To complete the mission, Player’s design firm will completely redesign Tianzhu Golf & Country Club, a facility whose original layout was created by Tim Kent of Strategic Golf Design. When all is said and done, Tianzhu will be marketed as a Gary Player “signature” design. Tianzhu’s owners, a group led by Yafei Yuan, expect Player’s firm to complete one nine-hole loop this year and the remaining holes in 2015. “I am confident that the end result will be a fantastic addition to further grow the game in Beijing,” Player said in a press release. Yuan is the chairman of Sanpower Group, a Nanjing-based conglomerate that owns one of China’s major department stores, Nanjing Xinjinkou. Sanpower has ranked as one of China’s Top 500 Enterprises for a decade, and Yuan expects it to become a Fortune Global 500 Company as soon as next year.
One of Joe Lee’s former apprentices may design the first public course in northern Colombia. Joe Jemsek, an architect based in Chicago, Illinois, is working with an unnamed group that hopes to build a “short” course and a driving range in the Atlantico region, a densely populated area (population: almost 2.3 million) that includes the cities of Barranquilla, Malambo, and Soledad. If the course is a success, it could become a regulation-length layout. “These types of feeder facilities are critical for new player development,” Jemsek told Golf Course Architecture. What’s more, he said, Atlantico is “a great tourist destination” that’s “safe for foreign tourists.” While he waits for the developers to make some headway, Jemsek is overseeing a complete overhaul of Club Lagos de Caujaral (Caujaral Club), a tony private club in suburban Barranquilla that features an 18-hole course designed by Lee in the late 1960s.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The new nine-hole golf course outside Rwamagana, the capital of Rwanda’s Eastern Province, may be just a hint of things to come. Falcon Golf & Country Club, which officially opened in August 2013, is among the attractions at Eagle on the Lake, a resort community located along Lake Muhazi, in the Kayonza District. At build-out, Eagle on the Lake will feature houses, a hotel, meeting space, and an 18-hole golf “championship” course that its owners believe will be “the ideal place for regional and international golfing events.” Falcon Properties Rwanda, Ltd. hasn’t announced when the 18-hole track will be built, but it probably won’t happen until the community loses its self-described reputation as “one of East Africa’s best-kept secrets.”
A group of Saudi investors is funding the development of a master-planned community that’s said to be “the single largest development ever proposed” in Lake County, Florida. The investors aim to build the community, called Villa City, on roughly 2,500 acres in Groveland. At build-out, in 2035, Villa City would reportedly have 3,054 houses for seniors, 1,610 other houses, 900 apartments, a shopping center, an industrial park, more than 200,000 square feet of office space, and an 18-hole golf course. “This could be a great starting point for our city," Groveland’s city manager told the Orlando Sentinel. The Saudi group, which has owned the property for more than a decade, is said to include members of the royal family.
A top official of the Asian Tour is going to put his “signature” on a championship-caliber golf course outside Myanmar’s last royal capital. Kyi Hia Han’s course will be among the attractions at Mandalay Myotha, a mini city that’s emerging on more than 10,000 acres roughly 30 miles southwest of Mandalay. Han, the Asian Tour’s executive director, will co-design the 18-hole track with Lee Schmidt, a principal of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt-Curley Design. The partners aim to create an “innovative” 8,000-yard layout that Schmidt believes will offer “a stern test for today’s best players.” The city is being developed by Mandalay Myotha Industrial Development Public Company, Ltd., an entity controlled by Royal Hi-Tech Group. MMID expects Mandalay Myotha to offer “the country’s best living, working, enjoyment, and investment opportunities” and to become “a model for modernization in other developing nations.” It plans to break ground on the golf course this summer and to open it by the end of 2015.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sometime this fall, the premier golf venue in Poland hopes to take the wraps off what it calls a “championship course in miniature.” The track, called Orli Las, will complement the 18-hole, Gary Player-designed layout at Modry Las Golf Club, the property regarded by Golf Digest as the nation’s best. “We know we cannot sit on our laurels,” the club’s marketing director said in a press release. “That is why we are continuing with our investment program, in order to make Modry Las a luxurious, thriving, and sustainable community.” Orli Las, which can reportedly be played in less than an hour, is said to be “big on challenge.” Modry Las, which is located outside Choszczno, opened Player’s course in 2009. The track is said to be especially popular among Scandinavian golfers.
With inspiration from Alister MacKenzie, a French touring pro has embarked on a career as a course architect. Nicolas Joakimides, who made his professional debut in 1993, has designed a 27-hole golf complex in Navarrenx, a village in southwestern France. The complex is taking shape on 325 acres surrounding Nitot de Sus, a chateau that dates from the 18th century. Jean-François Cabarrouy, the chateau’s owner, believes the site is ideal for golf. “When I found this property, in 2004,” he explained to La Republic des Pyrenees, “I immediately saw a golf course.” Originally, Cabarrouy wanted Joakimides to produce a course like MacKenzie’s at Augusta National Golf Club, but he settled for something less ambitious: A track that Joakimides says will serve as “a tribute to Mackenzie’s work and ideas.” Cabarrouy broke ground on the 18-hole layout last year. He hopes to open it in the summer of next year, with the nine-hole track to be unveiled in 2016.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Gary Player has been enlisted to transform a 27-hole complex near Beijing’s international airport into a venue capable of hosting professional tournaments. To complete the mission, Player’s design firm will completely redesign Tianzhu Golf & Country Club, a facility whose original layout was created by Tim Kent of Strategic Golf Design. When all is said and done, Tianzhu will be marketed as a Gary Player “signature” design. Tianzhu’s owners, a group led by Yafei Yuan, expect Player’s firm to complete one nine-hole loop this year and the remaining holes in 2015. “I am confident that the end result will be a fantastic addition to further grow the game in Beijing,” Player said in a press release. Yuan is the chairman of Sanpower Group, a Nanjing-based conglomerate that owns one of China’s major department stores, Nanjing Xinjinkou. Sanpower has ranked as one of China’s Top 500 Enterprises for a decade, and Yuan expects it to become a Fortune Global 500 Company as soon as next year.
One of Joe Lee’s former apprentices may design the first public course in northern Colombia. Joe Jemsek, an architect based in Chicago, Illinois, is working with an unnamed group that hopes to build a “short” course and a driving range in the Atlantico region, a densely populated area (population: almost 2.3 million) that includes the cities of Barranquilla, Malambo, and Soledad. If the course is a success, it could become a regulation-length layout. “These types of feeder facilities are critical for new player development,” Jemsek told Golf Course Architecture. What’s more, he said, Atlantico is “a great tourist destination” that’s “safe for foreign tourists.” While he waits for the developers to make some headway, Jemsek is overseeing a complete overhaul of Club Lagos de Caujaral (Caujaral Club), a tony private club in suburban Barranquilla that features an 18-hole course designed by Lee in the late 1960s.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The new nine-hole golf course outside Rwamagana, the capital of Rwanda’s Eastern Province, may be just a hint of things to come. Falcon Golf & Country Club, which officially opened in August 2013, is among the attractions at Eagle on the Lake, a resort community located along Lake Muhazi, in the Kayonza District. At build-out, Eagle on the Lake will feature houses, a hotel, meeting space, and an 18-hole golf “championship” course that its owners believe will be “the ideal place for regional and international golfing events.” Falcon Properties Rwanda, Ltd. hasn’t announced when the 18-hole track will be built, but it probably won’t happen until the community loses its self-described reputation as “one of East Africa’s best-kept secrets.”
Sunday, June 1, 2014
The Week That Was, june 1, 2014
The crackdown on corruption in China is going to claim a few golf courses. The National Development & Reform Commission has identified five illegally built golf courses in the People’s Republic, all of them built on farmland in Yunnan Province, Liaoning Province, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and metropolitan Beijing. Few details are available, but a course in southwestern Yunnan owned by a subsidiary of Agile Property Holdings appears to be among those deemed to be illegal. Global Times reports that one of the properties -- LaoHeWan Golf Club in suburban Beijing (Chaoyang District) -- has been “demolished,” and Reuters, citing a report by a Chinese news service, says that “all facilities on the illegal courses had been demolished and their owners fined heavily.” The penalties are being meted out by China’s Ministry of Land & Resources.
Yet again, an unforeseen impediment is threatening to delay the construction of the golf venue for the 2016 Olympics. For unexplained reasons, a government official has demanded that the private-sector group building the Gil Hanse-designed course provide documents that prove it’s heeding all applicable environmental regulations in Rio de Janeiro. Hanse, who’s had to deal with such setbacks several times since he won the project’s $300,000 design commission, appears to have serious anxieties about what the latest delay might mean to the final product. “Going forward, we have to make sure we don’t all of a sudden start to rush the finish work,” he explained to the Associated Press. “Because ultimately, the details of the finished surface are what players are going to see. You need to lavish lots of time and attention on the details of the finished surfaces.” The government’s environmental concerns may have something to do with the ancillary development taking place adjacent to the course: The developers plan to build 160 residential units that will cost between $2.5 million and $7 million.
Another major U.S. developer has soured on the golf business. Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Lindsey Management, an apartment developer that’s responsible for more than 40 affordably priced golf courses in eight Midwestern and southern states, believes that hiking trails now attract just as many renters. “There was a point in time where the golf course greased the skids,” company president Lyndy Lindsey told Arkansas Business. “I don’t think the golf course has quite the appeal now.” Lindsey says his company may still build a golf course here and there, but only when the market absolutely demands it. “We are looking at smaller sites,” he explained. “The tough thing about golf is, people are so busy it’s hard to find time to go play.”
A Chinese-American group has purchased what’s said to be “the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi.” Konmer Venture LLC paid $2.1 million for Mare Island Golf Club, a venue in Vallejo, California whose original nine dates from 1892. Konmer’s four partners -- two of them Chinese nationals who’ve relocated to the San Francisco Bay area -- plan to add a hotel, a restaurant, and a banquet center adjacent to what has become an 18-hole, 6,150-yard track. “We like the demographics and the location,” one of the new owners told the Vallejo Times-Herald. “We want it to be a destination point.” Konmer bought Mare Island from Castle Linksters, an entity affiliated with a local home builder, Castle Companies. Castle, which has owned the property since 2003, put it on the market in 2011.
This week it was revealed that two well-known personalities in our industry -- Phil Mickelson, the PGA Tour star, and Billy Walters, the most influential person in Las Vegas golf -- are being investigated in connection with alleged insider-trading schemes. Here are 10 things to know about the case:
1. In the summer of 2011, a series of options purchases in Clorox stock raised red flags at the Securities & Exchange Commission. Why? Because the purchases took place just days before Carl Ichan, a notorious corporate raider, drove up the price of Clorox’s stock by announcing that he intended to take over the company. A group of investors, Mickelson and Walters among them, reportedly made “several million dollars” on their purchases.
2. Here’s how the dots are connected: Ichan and Walters “struck up a friendship” years ago, according to the Wall Street Journal, and Walters and Mickelson “play golf together.” The Journal also says that Walters has occasionally “suggested stocks for Mr. Mickelson to consider buying.”
3. The trades in Clorox were made nearly three years ago, and the government hasn’t yet accused anyone of committing a crime. That’s because it’s incredibly hard to compile evidence and prove an insider-trading case. Besides, Icahn may have been entirely within his legal rights if he’d wanted to share information about his plans for Clorox.
4. The New York Times reports that the government is trying to “scare” Mickelson into cooperating with its investigation.
5. Mickelson has professed his innocence. “I have done absolutely nothing wrong,” he said in a statement released by his lawyer. “I have cooperated with the government in this investigation and will continue to do so.”
6. The federal probe isn’t limited to trading in Clorox’s stock. Walters and Mickelson (not Ichan) are also being investigated for stock purchases they made in Dean Foods in 2012. The New York Times reports that authorities are trying to determine if Walters had inside information about Dean Foods and shared it with Mickelson and others.
7. Mickelson’s lawyer told the Wall Street Journal that his client “is not the target of any investigation. Period.” However, the Journal also noted that the FBI “declined to comment” on the statement.
8. Mickelson and Walters aren’t the only people in golf whose trading has aroused suspicion. The Times reports that stock purchases in Clorox were also made by “at least one other investor connected to Mr. Walters and the golfing world.”
9. Walters, who owns and/or manages three golf properties in Las Vegas, may be the government’s true target. Walters is a legendary sports bettor and an outstanding golfer, and he wields considerable power in the city’s political circles. Federal and state authorities have been trying to nail him for various alleged crimes -- illegal gambling, money laundering -- since the early 1990s but haven’t been able to bring a conviction.
10. If the government files charges against anyone it’s investigating, it’s likely to win. Since August 2009, according to the Journal, federal prosecutors have accused 90 corporate executives, Wall Street traders, and other individuals of insider trading. So far, the government has won 85 convictions and guilty pleas. The other five cases are still pending.
Yet again, an unforeseen impediment is threatening to delay the construction of the golf venue for the 2016 Olympics. For unexplained reasons, a government official has demanded that the private-sector group building the Gil Hanse-designed course provide documents that prove it’s heeding all applicable environmental regulations in Rio de Janeiro. Hanse, who’s had to deal with such setbacks several times since he won the project’s $300,000 design commission, appears to have serious anxieties about what the latest delay might mean to the final product. “Going forward, we have to make sure we don’t all of a sudden start to rush the finish work,” he explained to the Associated Press. “Because ultimately, the details of the finished surface are what players are going to see. You need to lavish lots of time and attention on the details of the finished surfaces.” The government’s environmental concerns may have something to do with the ancillary development taking place adjacent to the course: The developers plan to build 160 residential units that will cost between $2.5 million and $7 million.
Another major U.S. developer has soured on the golf business. Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Lindsey Management, an apartment developer that’s responsible for more than 40 affordably priced golf courses in eight Midwestern and southern states, believes that hiking trails now attract just as many renters. “There was a point in time where the golf course greased the skids,” company president Lyndy Lindsey told Arkansas Business. “I don’t think the golf course has quite the appeal now.” Lindsey says his company may still build a golf course here and there, but only when the market absolutely demands it. “We are looking at smaller sites,” he explained. “The tough thing about golf is, people are so busy it’s hard to find time to go play.”
A Chinese-American group has purchased what’s said to be “the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi.” Konmer Venture LLC paid $2.1 million for Mare Island Golf Club, a venue in Vallejo, California whose original nine dates from 1892. Konmer’s four partners -- two of them Chinese nationals who’ve relocated to the San Francisco Bay area -- plan to add a hotel, a restaurant, and a banquet center adjacent to what has become an 18-hole, 6,150-yard track. “We like the demographics and the location,” one of the new owners told the Vallejo Times-Herald. “We want it to be a destination point.” Konmer bought Mare Island from Castle Linksters, an entity affiliated with a local home builder, Castle Companies. Castle, which has owned the property since 2003, put it on the market in 2011.
This week it was revealed that two well-known personalities in our industry -- Phil Mickelson, the PGA Tour star, and Billy Walters, the most influential person in Las Vegas golf -- are being investigated in connection with alleged insider-trading schemes. Here are 10 things to know about the case:
1. In the summer of 2011, a series of options purchases in Clorox stock raised red flags at the Securities & Exchange Commission. Why? Because the purchases took place just days before Carl Ichan, a notorious corporate raider, drove up the price of Clorox’s stock by announcing that he intended to take over the company. A group of investors, Mickelson and Walters among them, reportedly made “several million dollars” on their purchases.
2. Here’s how the dots are connected: Ichan and Walters “struck up a friendship” years ago, according to the Wall Street Journal, and Walters and Mickelson “play golf together.” The Journal also says that Walters has occasionally “suggested stocks for Mr. Mickelson to consider buying.”
3. The trades in Clorox were made nearly three years ago, and the government hasn’t yet accused anyone of committing a crime. That’s because it’s incredibly hard to compile evidence and prove an insider-trading case. Besides, Icahn may have been entirely within his legal rights if he’d wanted to share information about his plans for Clorox.
4. The New York Times reports that the government is trying to “scare” Mickelson into cooperating with its investigation.
5. Mickelson has professed his innocence. “I have done absolutely nothing wrong,” he said in a statement released by his lawyer. “I have cooperated with the government in this investigation and will continue to do so.”
6. The federal probe isn’t limited to trading in Clorox’s stock. Walters and Mickelson (not Ichan) are also being investigated for stock purchases they made in Dean Foods in 2012. The New York Times reports that authorities are trying to determine if Walters had inside information about Dean Foods and shared it with Mickelson and others.
7. Mickelson’s lawyer told the Wall Street Journal that his client “is not the target of any investigation. Period.” However, the Journal also noted that the FBI “declined to comment” on the statement.
8. Mickelson and Walters aren’t the only people in golf whose trading has aroused suspicion. The Times reports that stock purchases in Clorox were also made by “at least one other investor connected to Mr. Walters and the golfing world.”
9. Walters, who owns and/or manages three golf properties in Las Vegas, may be the government’s true target. Walters is a legendary sports bettor and an outstanding golfer, and he wields considerable power in the city’s political circles. Federal and state authorities have been trying to nail him for various alleged crimes -- illegal gambling, money laundering -- since the early 1990s but haven’t been able to bring a conviction.
10. If the government files charges against anyone it’s investigating, it’s likely to win. Since August 2009, according to the Journal, federal prosecutors have accused 90 corporate executives, Wall Street traders, and other individuals of insider trading. So far, the government has won 85 convictions and guilty pleas. The other five cases are still pending.
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