The Week That Was, july 27, 2014

     In a move that’s certain to reverberate through the U.S. golf industry, Dick’s Sporting Goods has laid off 478 of the PGA pros who work in its stores. The chain, one of the nation’s major golf retailers, blamed the purge on declining sales and revenues in its golf division. Though Dick’s had often complimented itself for the service these pros offered to their customers, its labor force was, when financial push came to shove, expendable. Dick’s reportedly plans to reduce the amount of floor space its stores devote to golf and give more to athletic apparel, which presumably sells better. The chain is said to be the nation’s largest employer of golf professionals. It may still be, but not by as wide a margin.

     Can a loss of nearly 500 jobs for PGA pros ultimately benefit the U.S. golf industry? Ryan Ballengee thinks it can. “This right-sizing is a good thing,” he opines in a column for Golf News Net. The way Ballengee sees it, what happened at Dick’s was, from the corporation’s point of view, simply a failed sales experiment that won’t be repeated. And for those who lost their jobs, it was truly a blessing in disguise, because working at a big-box chain like Dick’s is a really lousy way to earn a living. “Relegating [the pros] to a sporting goods store may have meant a steady paycheck,” Ballengee writes, “but it was a dead-end job with little opportunity to evolve the profession.” The evolution of the profession is central to Ballengee’s thesis, and it involves craft beer, concerts, pools and tennis courts, and the transformation of golf courses into “lifestyle beacons” that will allow families to escape from “the hustle, bustle, and crowding of urban environments.” The logic is hard to follow, and Ballengee knows it, for he begins his argument by saying, “Here goes nothing.” Truer words are rarely written.

     Jim Koppenhaver of Pellucid Corporation has put the recent declines in golf’s player base into discomforting perspective. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Koppenhaver pointed out that the current count of U.S. golfers -- roughly 23 million -- is less than the number our nation had in 1990. And though it hardly needs to be mentioned, our nation hasn’t stopping growing. Since 1990, our population has increased by 27 percent. Another distressing factoid from Businessweek’s article: U.S. golfers played 462 million rounds last year, the fewest number since 1995.

     Drought or no drought, China’s capital city has a swanky new golf course. The 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” track is the centerpiece of Nicklaus Club Beijing, which is said to have “the most sought-after membership” in the metropolis. Such an achievement signals the power that the Nicklaus name continues to wield in the People’s Republic. When it was announced that Nicklaus would be redesigning and rebranding the financially ailing Citee Golf Club, memberships began selling like those proverbial hotcakes -- from 50 to 380 in less than two years, according to Nicklaus’ publicists -- and now a waiting list is looming on the near horizon. And the best news is, the club has been perfectly tailored to Beijing’s business elites, who’ll no doubt figure out how to keep their investment lush and green while the rest of the city dries to a crisp.

     Last week’s Open Championship attracted 202,917 spectators, more than 26,000 fewer than the event attracted the last time it was played at Royal Liverpool, in 2006. It’s likely, however, that the R&A, the event’s organizer, is looking on the bright side. Last year, when the championship was held at Muirfield, only 142,036 fans showed up.

     For $30,000 a year and 4 percent of the gross profits, Landmark Golf has agreed to manage a financially stressed municipal golf course in Indio, California. The company’s first order of business: To let golfers in the Coachella Valley know that the 18-hole, par-3 track exists. “Very few people know that it is there,” a Landmark official told the Desert Sun. “I told a couple of friends we have the contract now, and I had friends say, ‘There is no golf course in that area.’” At least in part, the anonymity explains why the property reportedly loses more than $300,000 a year. Landmark operates two other golf properties in the Golden State, Silver Rock Golf Resort in La Quinta and O’Donnell Golf Club in Palm Springs.

     To the surprise of absolutely no one, the good old boys in St. Andrew’s, Scotland have approved a new voting procedure to determine whether women should be allowed entry into the all-male Royal & Ancient Golf Club. Instead of limiting the vote to those who show up in the flesh at the club’s annual meeting, the members will be allowed to cast their ballots by snail mail. The results will be announced in September, on the same day that Scotland holds the referendum for its independence, presumably to ensure that the members don’t make front-page news.

Transactions, july 25, 2014

     Olde Vine Golf Club, a nine-year-old venue in Riverhead, New York, has been purchased by its members. Now known simply as the Vineyards, the club has roughly 50 members, according to the Riverhead News Review, and it’s set out to find 70 more. The sales pitch will highlight what was once a weakness for Olde Vine: its 18-hole, 5,800-yard course. Before the Great Recession, such tracks paled in comparison to the longer, more celebrated courses on Long Island. Today, they’re being viewed as ideal for time-pressed players. “It’s a fun golf course,” the club’s pro told the newspaper. “It will challenge you, but it won’t take up most of your day.” Olde Vine’s members reportedly paid $1.25 million for the club’s 75-acre property. The seller was George Heinlein, who’s developing an accompanying subdivision.

     More than a decade after he purchased his first golf property in Florida, Wallace G. Cahoon has purchased a second. Last month, the Chesapeake, Virginia-based residential developer closed on 7 Rivers Golf & Country Club in Crystal River, a town in the far northern outskirts of Tampa. The Crystal County Chronicle reports that a Cahoon-controlled LLC paid $558,285 for 7 Rivers, which opened in 1968 and features an 18-hole, Bill Amick-designed golf course. Cahoon owns Cahoon Plantation Golf Club in Chesapeake, and in the early 2000s he bought a golf venue in Deltona, Florida that he now calls Deltona Club.

     A local developer has agreed to buy a defunct golf course in suburban La Crosse, Wisconsin. At a sheriff’s auction, Steven Nicolai and his father placed the top bid for Maple Grove Country Club, which had been foreclosed upon and was closed at the end of the 2013 golf season. The price: $1.145 million. “We’re speculating and don’t have any immediate plans,” Nicolai told the La Crosse Tribune. “We’re open to suggestions.” The club has operated, originally with a nine-hole course, since 1929. Its 180 acres have been targeted for housing for several years.

     After three years in foreclosure, a golf resort in Chicagoland is looking forward to making a fresh start. Pheasant Run Resort & Spa, in St. Charles, has been sold to a group of hotel investors and operators, according to a press release. The 250-acre property features a 470-room hotel, meeting space, an expo center, a 320-seat theater, a comedy club, several places to eat and drink, and an 18-hole, Bill Maddox-designed golf course. Hostmark Hospitality Group, one of the investors, will manage the property and oversee a $5 million renovation of the vertical structures.

     A nine-hole, executive-length golf course in Novi, Michigan, abandoned since 2009, is about to get a second life. Maples of Novi Golf Course has been purchased by a trio of investors -- Bob Kunkel, Rick Jaster, and Walter Carrigan -- who aim to revive not only the golf course but the property’s restaurant, swimming pool, and exercise area. “We want this to be what it’s meant to be, and that’s a family setting with great food and amenities to go along with a popular golf course,” Kunkel told the Observer & Eccentric. According to the newspaper, the course was forced to shut down due to “shaky management.” Its official grand reopening is scheduled to take place sometime this summer.

     An investor group has acquired the former White Plains Country Club in Pageland, South Carolina. The club, in operation since 1968, had been owned by a shrinking number of members. The new owners have reportedly paid off the club’s debt and have given it a new name, White Plains Golf Club. “They cared enough about it and believed in it and decided to make a go of it,” the club’s general manager told the Pageland Progressive-Journal. White Plains’ 18-hole golf course was designed by Eddie Riccoboni -- “in the old school of architecture,” according to the club’s website.

     The city of Montrose, Colorado has taken control of Black Canyon Golf Club, a venue that’s reportedly been losing money for years. Black Canyon’s original nine opened in the late 1950s, and its second nine, which was laid out on city-owned property, arrived in 1986. The shareholders of Montrose Land Company accepted $675,000 for their share of the enterprise.

     A bank in Missouri has disposed of an unwanted asset. In May, Bank of Sullivan reportedly sold Indian Rock Golf Club to a group that includes Jonathan Dugger and John and Danielle Tamblynn. The new owners, who have no experience in the golf business, told the Lake Sun Leader that they plan to implement recommendations from the USGA “for increasing the difficulty of the course.” The 30-year-old track, in Laurie, has been controlled by banks since early 2011.

     In suburban Columbus, Ohio, a private club with a laid-back vibe has found a new owner. The members of High Lands Golf Club have sold their property to an entity led by Kurt Bergemann of Kassel Property Management. “It’s a place to come and relax,” Bergemann told the Newark Advocate. The club, which had its debut in 1957, features what’s been described as a “Scottish-style” course. The architect is unknown, but the layout has its admirers. “I would put this golf course up against just about any course in central Ohio,” said the club’s general manager. “From tee to green, it’s perfect.” The new owners plan to make improvements to the club, but they’ve promised not to change its ambiance.

The Week That Was, july 20, 2014

     Not to be an alarmist, but a British newspaper says that the people in charge of the golf competition at the 2016 Olympics “are refusing to guarantee the event will be played.” Okay, maybe the Telegraph is just trying to sell newspapers. And, given the delays that have so far plagued the course’s construction, maybe the International Golf Federation is just being extra cautious with its public statements. Clearly, though, there’s a lack of confidence in the IGF’s executive suite. The course, in Rio de Janeiro, is supposed to be grassed before the end of the year, but Ty Votaw of the IGF passed on an opportunity to guarantee that the schedule would be met. “Predictions are dangerous things,” he said glumly. In addition, Votaw admitted that the IGF has a Plan B and maybe even a Plan C if the situation goes further south. “What they are is not something we’re going to share right now,” he told the Guardian, “but there are contingency plans.” Let’s hope the IGF doesn’t have to use them.

     For the second time, the European Tour is staging a contest to select the site of a forthcoming Ryder Cup competition.
     Ryder Cup Europe has opened the bidding for the 2022 Ryder Cup and expects to name a winner in the fall of next year. As it did in 2010, when it searched for the stage of the 2018 Ryder Cup, the RCE intends for the matches of 2022 to be played at a world-class venue near a major city. And because the Ryder Cup is the Tour’s cash cow, the event that contributes most to its bottom line, bidders that offer the most lucrative commercial opportunities will merit special consideration.
     The Ryder Cup has historically been contested in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe -- the places where its players come from. In 2022, however, things may be different, because the event could conceivably be held just about anywhere outside the United States. The bidding documents don’t specify a preferred location, so any country that meets the RCE’s criteria can presumably walk away with the grand prize.
     The contestants must make their intentions known by the end of August and file their completed application by February 16, 2015. Turkey, a nation located in both Europe and Asia, has already expressed its desire to compete for the event. Spain may also throw its hat into the ring, and Germany and Ireland likely will as well.
     And though it’s a long shot, the 2022 Ryder Cup could be played in the Middle East. The Tour views the region as its territory -- it holds its premier championship event there -- and it just so happens that Donald Trump, a guy who can buy pretty much anything he wants, is building what he’s described as “an incredible venue for the Ryder Cup” in Dubai.
     “They will be bringing [the Ryder Cup] to this region at some point -- in my opinion, in the not-too-distant future -- and we will have the best course by far,” he recently said.
     Trump hasn’t yet announced a bid. But if he does, don’t bet against him.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the July 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     For the second consecutive week, the drought California has helped put a golf course out of business. Last week, it was Gleneagles Golf Course in San Francisco. This week, it’s Carmel Highland Golf Course, an 18-hole track associated with a Doubletree hotel in San Diego. A local television station reports that the course has lost about $500,000 annually in each of the past five years, and, to save money, its owners have recently cut back on irrigation. The course, a William F. Bell design that opened in the mid 1960s, is expected to host its final rounds next year.

     At least for the time being, the future of Fox Acres Country Club has been secured. The club, part of a 460-acre community in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, has been sold out of foreclosure to a group of 28 members who, the Coloradoan says, aims “to restore the club to its previous glory.” The 30-year-old club, which features an 18-hole, John Cochran-designed golf course, is being managed by Touchstone Golf.

     Phil Mickelson recently played a round at Donald Trump’s course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and came away thinking the Martin Hawtree-designed track is good enough to host the Open Championship. “I thought the Trump course was sensational,” Mickelson said in a comment published by the Daily Record. “Whether it’s an Open venue of the future is tough for me to say because there’s so many things that go into an Open Championship venue outside of the golf course itself. Whether or not the other things the R&A look at -- like parking or crowd movement or accommodations and all the stuff that goes into it -- I don’t know. But certainly the course could hold it.” For now, at least, Trump has all but guaranteed that his venue will never get a chance to host the Big One. He’s vowed not to complete his development plans for the property, including a hotel and a clubhouse, until Scotland pulls the plug on a wind farm it hopes to build in nearby waters.

     Mosaic Clubs & Resorts has been hired to manage Maple Ridge Golf Club, the centerpiece of a 700-acre community in Columbus, Georgia. The semi-private club features a 21-year-old, Mike Young-designed golf course. “Maple Ridge has long been recognized as the best place to live in Columbus,” the club’s owner said in a press release, “and with Mosaic’s help it will continue to be the best place to gather, play, share a meal, and nurture friendships.” Mosaic manages at least two other golf properties in Georgia, Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta and Georgia Club in Statham. It also has properties in South Carolina and Texas.

     Top officials in India’s newly elected government are cracking down on bureaucrats who spend too much time playing golf. “This whole government mind-set needs to be changed,” a recently appointed minister griped to the Washington Post. The nation’s notoriously corrupt civil servants have begun to watch their steps, and some have bailed on their memberships at Delhi Golf Club. But the die-hards have taken to teeing off at 5:30 AM, the Post says, “so that they can play and still make it to work on time.” Where there’s a will, there’s always a way.

Vital Signs, july 18, 2014

     The National Golf Foundation has a glass-half-full theory about millennials, the demographic group so vital to our industry’s future, and it goes like this: “Millennials don’t reject golf, they are just delaying entry to the game.” A fair number of assumptions, suppositions, and educated guesses go into making such a hypothesis, but, as we all know, the NGF prefers to look at the world through rose-colored glasses. So never mind that, as the NGF’s own research indicates, today’s millennials (defined as 18- to 34-year-olds) play far less golf than their counterparts of the 1990s. Instead, believe in the NGF’s prophesy: “As this generation ages, golf participation will gradually increase.” If that sentence sounds familiar, it’s probably because the NGF once made a similar prediction about another generation of Americans, the Baby Boomers, who were expected to take up golf in droves once they reached retirement age. As it turned out, Baby Boomers found other things to do with their leisure time. And millennials may very well end up doing the same.

     Only one of every 19 people in England plays golf, but the golf industry is nonetheless a significant contributor to the nation’s economy. The total contribution: £3.4 billion, according to an analysis that mined data from the years 2011 and 2012. Sports Marketing Surveys, Inc., the company that crunched the numbers, believes golf’s economic impact in England would be even greater if more women took up the sport and if it wasn’t so darned cold and rainy all the time.

     Private clubs from coast to coast may still be suffering through hard times, but there’s one place where they’ve recovered nicely: New York City. “There’s no golf recession in the metro area,” writes the New York Post, because “the financial top dogs” on Wall Street (not to mention “the minions under them”) are spending part of their year-end bonuses (in many cases, just a small part) on golf-club memberships. “They’re making money again, they’ve got expense accounts, they’re making deals -- and they’re doing that playing golf at the country club,” Tom Stine of Golf Datatech told the newspaper. Now you know why, with each passing day, the Great Recession appears a little smaller in corporate America’s rear-view mirror.

     For the second straight year, according to calculations done by Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, the Grand Strand’s golf season has gotten off to a disappointing start. The number of paid rounds played on the marketing group’s network of courses in March, April, and May of this year fell by 3 percent from the same period in 2013 -- a major frustration, because the spring is the Strand’s high season and a harbinger of rounds to come. The local golf industry is hoping to avoid another full-year performance like the one it had in 2013, when the number of rounds played on its courses declined by 6 percent from 2012.

      When it comes to golf, Canadians are playing less than they once did. Citing a study by the National Allied Golf Associations, Maclean’s reports that the number of rounds played on the average Canadian course has fallen by 10 percent over the past five years. The magazine places the blame on the usual suspects (time, difficulty, expense), but it contends that “the real culprit” is the sport’s “unhealthy relationship with North America’s overheated real estate market.” The NAGA believes that the nation has 5.7 million golfers, but it admits that only about a quarter of them (1.5 million) play regularly.

     Ireland’s golf clubs have lost nearly 26 percent of their members since the onset of the Great Recession, according to data provided by the nation’s golf unions. The Golf Union of Ireland and the Irish Ladies Golf Union report that the nation’s clubs had 229,000 members in 2007, a number that’s dropped to 170,000 today. The clubs have lost 47,000 men (a decline of 27 percent) and 12,000 women (a decline of 23 percent).

The Week That Was, july 13, 2014

     In what will likely go down as one of the year’s blockbuster transactions, an affiliate of Arcis Equity Partners has agreed to buy the 48 golf properties owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties. It appears that Arcis will pay roughly $300 million for the collection, which includes Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine, Texas, Hunt Valley Golf Club in Phoenix, Maryland, and Palmetto Hall Plantation Club in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Assuming a successful closing, the acquisition will make Arcis, an entity funded by New York City-based Fortress Investment Group, a force to be reckoned with in U.S. golf. Last year it bought three golf properties from BrightStar Golf Group, among them Pradera Golf Club in suburban Denver, Colorado and TPC Snoqualmie Ridge in suburban Seattle, Washington, as well as Tartan Fields Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Some of the other golf properties in CNL’s portfolio are Tamarack Golf Club in Naperville, Illinois, Weston Hills Country Club in suburban Miami, Florida, and Kiskiack Golf Club in Williamsburg, Virginia.

     After missing out on its planned purchase of the Steinway piano company, Kohlberg & Company has taken control of Troon Golf. Kohlberg, one of the nation’s biggest private-equity investment firms, purchased stakes in Troon that had been owned by affiliates of Starwood Capital Group and Goldman Sachs. Together, the companies had owned more than 55 percent of Troon’s stock. Dana Garmany, who founded Troon in 1990, will stay on as the company’s CEO. In a press release, he called Kohlberg “the ideal partner to help implement Troon’s plans for strategic growth.” Kohlberg’s partner in the acquisition is Greg Norman’s Great White Shark Enterprises. Norman has had a relationship with Garmany since the late 1990s, and in The Way of the Shark he acknowledged being a minority investor in Troon. Now he’ll likely have a seat on the company’s board.

     While most everyone in golf weighs the impact of the design changes planned for Trump Turnberry’s Alisa course, it doesn’t hurt to point out that Donald Trump plans to create a “brand new, major course” on the property currently occupied by the resort’s Kintyre track. “We have some very high-profile architects talking to us about it,” Trump said in a comment published by Bunkered, “and we’ll be making a decision on it in the not-too-distant future. It’s a great piece of land, and we plan to create something very, very special.” Trump has also suggested that he may build a third 18-hole layout at his latest acquisition, although Bunkered reports that a decision is “some way off.”

     The skyrocketing price of water in California has put one of San Francisco’s golf courses on the endangered list. Gleneagles Golf Course, a nine-hole track described by the San Francisco Chronicle as an “everyman’s golf course” with “a cult-like following among serious golfers,” has been hit with a nearly 50 percent increase in its water rates. As a result, the course will close at the end of the month, unless lease terms can be renegotiated. “We deal with a lot out here, and we’ve tried to soldier on,” said Tom Hsieth, who’s operated Gleneagles for nearly a decade. “But this water-rate raise could really be a death blow.” Hsieh reports that the course, which receives no financial assistance from the city, attracts about 1,500 rounds a month.

     Seeking to rid itself of financial distress, the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina has selected a local company to operate Whispering Pines Golf Course. The 18-hole, Tom Fazio-designed track has reportedly lost about $250,000 in each of the past five years, and in recent months the city has considered closing it or downsizing it. Atlantic Golf Management, which owns and operates TPC of Myrtle Beach, won the city’s heart by reportedly agreeing to cover any future losses that the course incurs. Atlantic was one of seven management companies -- among them Billy Casper Golf and Arnold Palmer Golf Management -- vying for the commission. Its arrangement with the city must be approved by the federal government, which owns the Whispering Pines property.

     As part of an effort to cash in on marketing opportunities in China, the European Tour has opened an office in Beijing. The office will serve as a staging ground for Simon Leach (a.k.a. Li Sai Wen), who previously served as the tour’s representative in Asia. “The China golf market is clearly at the beginning of a huge growth curve, especially with its recent inclusion in the Olympics,” Leach said in a press release, “and the European Tour is well placed to contribute hugely to this development. It is an exciting time for golf in China.” Leach won the job, in part, due to experience he gained while growing the game of snooker in the People’s Republic.

The Pipeline, july 11, 2014

     Kris Spence, who’s been renovating and redesigning golf courses for well over a decade, has finally earned an opportunity to design his first from-scratch layout. The North Carolina-based architect is keeping details about the 18-hole track under his hat, but he recently told the Southern Pines Pilot that it’ll take shape somewhere within the triangle formed by Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. “It’s the first time I’ve had the full freedom ... to create something based on all the ideas I have accumulated over the years,” he said. Spence, whose design influences include Donald Ross and A. W. Tillinghast, thinks the developers will break ground on the course this fall.

     The Jack Nicklaus brand may not gleam as it once did, but the Golden Bear’s courses are still coveted in Russia. The Wall Street Journal reports that Nicklaus has been hired to produce a pair of “signature” layouts in metropolitan Moscow, one for a “poultry magnate” named Igor Babaev, the other for a group that includes the Kremlin itself. The Journal may not have a definitive list, however, as Nicklaus’ website lists three forthcoming courses in and around the capital city, along with a Nicklaus Design track somewhere near Vladivostok. So far, Nicklaus has produced two courses in the Moscow area, the first of which -- Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club -- apparently has just 25 members. To attract more, according to the newspaper, the club (it’s owned by aluminum-industry mogul Oleg Deripaska) has slashed its initiation fee from $300,000 to a more affordable $50,000.

     If a private-sector developer delivers on recently made promises, the party capital of Cyprus will soon have its first golf course. The town of Ayia Napa has issued a contract for an 18-hole, “international-standard” track to L. K. Mazeri, a company that reportedly owns property adjacent to the town-owned golf-course site. Mazeri figures to cover the cost of the construction by adding houses, hotels, and a shopping area. Mazeri is obligated to break ground on the course within three years. If it fails to do so, the town can seek another collaborator.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     A top state official in northern India is trying to drum up support for golf construction, as part of an effort to generate tourism. “We must try to develop a cluster of golf courses across the state,” announced Harish Rawat, the chief minister of Uttarakhand. Rawat singled out the towns of Dehradun, Nainital, Harsil, and Haridwar as some of his “preferred destinations,” primarily because they already attract vacationers eager to hike in the Himalayas. “We must promote these places as future destinations for golfers from across the country,” he said in a comment published by the Hindustan Times. One other thing: Rawat also promised unspecified government support to private-sector groups that might be inclined to undertake golf ventures.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the April 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     A Coral Gables-based group still believes that golf courses can help to sell houses in Florida. The developers plan to build a nine-hole track at Avenir, a proposed 4,763-acre spread in Palm Beach Gardens. According to the Palm Beach Post, Avenir -- the name appears to be derived from the French word for “the future” -- could also have as many as 7,600 housing units, 1 million square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet of retail space, a hotel, a medical center, and a college campus. Once upon a time, a community so large would have accommodated, at minimum, an 18-hole course.

     By 2020, a landfill on South Korea’s Yeongjong Island is expected to become a major international vacation destination. The 780-acre landfill, located just a short drive from Incheon International Airport, will be transformed into a resort called Dream Island that’s been master-planned to include hotels, a theme park, a water park, an aquarium, a marina, a shopping area, and a golf course. South Korean tourism officials believe that Dream Island will attract 2 million visitors a year, most of them from Japan and China. The resort’s developers, a group that includes Japanese groups and Koreans living overseas, aim to break ground in mid to late 2015.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     One of the busiest golf architects in the Middle East is headed back to Oman, to create a nine-hole course on an expanse of dunes overlooking the Arabian Sea. Peter Harradine’s course and an accompanying practice center will be the featured attractions of a community in Qurayyat, a fishing village outside Muscat. Little has been revealed about the community, including its name. It’s being developed by Zubair Corporation, a family-owned enterprise whose flagship subsidiary, Zubair Automotive Group, sells at least a dozen brands including Audi, Bentley, Chrysler, Peugeot, and Volkswagen. Harradine, who’s designed at least a half-dozen courses in the Middle East, has set out to create “a fun, challenging, and diverse layout” with “incredible views of the dune landscape and Arabian Sea.” His to-do list includes two other commissions in Oman, both part of coastal resorts: Jebel Sifah in As Sifah (the course is under construction) and Salalah Beach in Salalah.