The Week That Was, september 28, 2014

     Phil Mickelson has successfully lobbied to put his name on a high-profile golf club in Alberta, Canada. Mickelson National Golf Club of Canada will be the featured attraction of Harmony, a plus-size community in suburban Calgary. Barry Ehlert of Windmill Golf Group, the club’s developer, told the Calgary Sun that he expects the course “to stand alone as one of the premier, best golf courses in the country.” Formerly known as Legacy Club and Copithorne Club, Mickelson National has been in the works for seven years. The design contract originally belonged to Billy Casper and Stephen Ames, who were supplanted after Mickelson approached Windmill and expressed an interest in the venture. Windmill hasn’t revealed why it cut ties with its original design team.

     A Chinese entity has purchased a pair of Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses in suburban San Jose, California. The LLC, linked to Beijing-based Sumavision Technologies Company, Ltd., reportedly paid $16 million for Coyote Creek Golf Club, which opened its Tournament course in 1999 and its Valley course three years later. Silicon Valley Business reports that Sumavision bought Coyote Creek from Shatto Corporation, which bought it from Castle & Cooke in 2008. Sumavision is led by Haitao Zheng, who recently complained of having “too much money in pocket.”

     Because he closed and essentially abandoned his golf course in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, Wilson Gee may have to cough up $1.6 million. Gee closed his Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course last year, and shortly thereafter he agreed to sell it to Pulte Homes. Now, thanks to a little-known, never-before-used Maricopa County statute, he may need to repay 10 years’ worth of tax benefits (plus interest and a penalty) that his property received. The local tax assessor plans to send the bill to Gee in the fall of 2015. To be sure, there’s no guarantee that the county can make its case stick, and if you listen closely, you can already hear lawyers ringing up billable hours.

     Troon Golf always brags about the premier venues in its portfolio, but the company also manages more pedestrian properties. Just recently, for example, it signed a contract to manage eight of the nine Ault Clark-designed golf courses at Hot Springs Village, a retirement community in Arkansas. In a press release, Hot Springs Village said it chose Troon Golf because it aims to become both “a leading tourism destination and a great place to live, work, and play.”

     Traditionalists may scoff, but golf properties from coast to coast are beginning to test off-beat golf concepts. A case in point: Over the next two months, nine golf properties affiliated with Omni Hotels & Resorts will stage tournaments and other events using 15-inch cups. “We believe the program helps create engagement to the game by a resort guest or member that might not otherwise choose to play golf, while offering something a little different for the golf purists,” said an Omni spokesperson. The properties participating in the exercise include the Interlocken Hotel in Colorado, the La Costa Resort & Spa in California, and the Grove Park Inn in North Carolina.