The Week That Was, august 24, 2014

     An influential British newspaper has taken the pulse of the golf industry, and -- no surprise here -- it believes that the patient is in extremely poor health. The sport is looking “increasingly old-fashioned and out of touch,” writes the Financial Times, “stuck in a rut,” and “struggling to adapt to the modern world.” The Times breaks no new ground when it explains the causes of golf’s miseries, but at least it understands the central dilemma at the heart of our business. Golf is “crying out for innovation,” it concludes, but “innovation is regarded with suspicion in golf’s establishment.” In other words, we have met the enemy, and it is us.

     Donald Trump isn’t the only U.S. investor with a jones for high-profile Scottish golf resorts. Beverly Hills, California-based Kennedy Wilson has reportedly paid £32.4 million ($53.5 million) for Fairmont St. Andrews, a 13-year-old, financially ailing spread in St. Andrews. The 520-acre property, in recent years the host of the Scottish Senior Open, features a pair of 18-hole golf courses, one designed by Sam Torrance (with Gary Stephenson), the other by Bruce Devlin. For its money, Kennedy Wilson also gets a hotel, a spa, and the opportunity to build close to 80 vacation houses. Fairmont St. Andrews was developed by Donald Panoz, the inventor of the nicotine patch and the majority owner of the Château Élan golf resort in Braselton, Georgia. In 2006, he sold Fairmont St. Andrews to an investment group controlled by Apollo Real Estate Advisors, which presumably viewed the sale to Kennedy Wilson as a way to cut its losses. Kennedy Wilson may be in the market for bargain-priced British golf venues, as it acquired Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links in suburban Dublin, Ireland, just a few weeks ago.

     Arnold Palmer’s design firm, which has precious little on its plate these days, has engaged a marketing consultant in India. The consultant is Liam Timms, a graduate of the University of Colorado’s PGA Golf Management program, and his mission will be to find work for Palmer not only in the world’s largest republic but also in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. “We want to be a part of golf’s growth in India and its neighbors,” said Thad Layton, Palmer’s senior architect. “Through our new office in India and our collaboration with Liam Timms, we will help the region grow golf in an intelligent and sustainable way.” Palmer opened its one and only course in India, at DLF Golf & Country Club in suburban Delhi, in 1999. The venue was once ranked as the nation’s top track but was recently reduced from 18 to nine holes. Like other “signature” architects, he’s discovered that India is an extremely tough nut to crack.

     Just weeks after he fired nearly 500 PGA pros who worked in his stores, the CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods isn’t worried about any potential economic repercussions. “We don’t think it’s going to have any impact on the business,” Ed Stack said in a comment published by the Pittsburgh Business Times. Stack is upbeat because he’s set extremely low expectations for Dick’s golf division, which once accounted for 20 percent of the company’s sales but will see that amount fall by half in years to come. “I think golf, from a participation standpoint and how it translates to retail, is in a structural decline,” Stack explained. “And we don’t see that changing.” At least in the near future, Stack’s forecast is going to be right on the money. When an industry loses nearly 20 percent of its customers in a decade, it’s easy to read the handwriting on the wall.

     A wealthy, Chicago-based options trader has become the new owner of Lough Erne, the glittery golf resort in County Fermanagh, Ireland. Tony Saliba reportedly paid $10 million for the 345-acre property, which has been in the hands of receivers since 2011. As luck would have it, Lough Erne’s financial woes didn’t prevent it from hosting last year’s G-8 Summit, the annual economic meeting of the world’s most powerful nations. Saliba, who was once described as “completely obsessed with and addicted to trading,” is said to be “an avid golf fan.” He can now play as much as he likes on Lough Erne’s 36-hole golf complex, which is accented by vacation houses, a 120-room hotel, a spa, and a golf academy. As a bonus, Saliba also receives a high-profile golf event, as the resort’s Nick Faldo-designed championship track will host the Irish Open in 2017.

     Tony Jacklin has signed on as the president of the Campaign for Real Golf, a recently established group that aims “to restore the game of golf to its roots,” by which it means a sport that’s “recreational, enjoyable, affordable, and less time-consuming.” Jacklin, a legend in international golf, has long advocated on behalf of sensible course lengths and against balls that fly too far for a golfer’s own good. “What the Campaign for Real Golf stands for,” he said in a press release, “is all the key fundamental elements of the game which at times are being neglected and in some cases eradicated.” The group was created by five British golfers, all of whom are (or were) affiliated in some way with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. The founders haven’t outlined an agenda, per se, but their collective heart seems to be in the right place.

     Arnold Palmer, who turns 85 next month, has received a pacemaker, reportedly to correct an abnormal heartbeat. “It should be a quick recovery,” one of the King’s spokesmen told Golfweek. “He likely will be limited to swinging the club for a little while, but he hasn’t been doing a lot of that of late anyhow.”