When President Obama decided to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba, you can bet that he caught the attention of our nation’s golf-course developers, architects, and builders. For more than 50 years, Cuba has tantalized the entire U.S. golf industry, for it teems with first-rate opportunities for golf development. The question was never whether the sport might take hold in the island nation, but rather how many courses the world’s vacationers and itinerant golfers might comfortably support. Sometimes the possibilities seemed almost endless. And yet, as development groups from Canada, Great Britain, Spain, and other nations have discovered, Cuba has never delivered on its promise. Not a single course has been built there for close to 20 years, thanks largely to the island nation’s misbegotten distrust of anything that smacks of capitalism. The stumbling block to golf development in Cuba has never been an American president, a reluctant Congress, or memories of the missile crisis. All along, the problem has been Cuba’s dysfunctional government. Until it loosens the shackles of socialism, Cuba will remain what it is today: So close and yet so far away.
All of this week’s talk about Cuba reminded me of a recent conversation I had with Mike Keiser. More than a decade ago, while serving as a consultant to a Canadian group, the famed developer of naturalist golf resorts such as Bandon Dunes in Oregon, Cabot Links in Nova Scotia, and Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania sized up several potential sites in Cuba and returned home thinking that the island nation has the potential to be the equal of any golf destination in the Caribbean. “If it ever becomes a free-market spot,” he told me, “Cuba will be full of golf.” Keiser estimates that the island can support as many as 20 courses.
A year’s end is a time for taking stock, and the initial reports concerning the current state of U.S. golf are discouraging. As most everyone knows, 157.5 U.S. golf courses closed last year, and while the data for 2014 hasn’t yet been released, it’s safe to assume our nation will post a ninth consecutive year in which closings exceed openings. So although readers of this blog certainly don’t need it, here’s a lump of coal for your Christmas stocking: The Economist reports that Steve Skinner of Kemper Sports, a man who undoubtedly has his finger on the pulse of U.S. golf operations, thinks it’s going to take “another 10 years to level the imbalance between supply and demand.” While you contemplate the implications of Skinner’s statement, remember this: ’Tis the season to be jolly.
You think the news from the United States is bad? The Australian Financial Review thinks that Australia’s golf industry “may be facing an existential crisis” and “may be running out of time” to fix itself. Using data provided by Golf Australia, AFR has compiled a list of what it describes as “damning figures” to support its claims, a list too long to catalog in a single post. But here’s the worst of it: While golf participation rates among people who are 65 and older are holding steady, since 2000 the nation’s overall golf participation rate has dropped by 11 percent. The drain is flowing greatest among people aged between 15 and 24, a bracket whose participation rates since 2000 have fallen from 6 percent to 2 percent. Justifiably, AFR calls this problem “a looming demographic crunch” and predicts that “this missing junior generation will eventually become a missing middle-aged generation.”
Continuing in this vein may ruin some holidays, but I can’t resist: The people who oversee amateur golf in England fear that the nation’s golf clubs are, economically speaking, in “a precarious position,” in part because they’re doing a lousy job of attracting women. A recent survey of 709 English golf clubs, conducted by Sports Marketing Surveys for England Golf, has determined that the average club nowadays has 499 members, the overwhelming majority (77 percent) of them white men. Women, a group that’s often said to be a potentially prime market for golf, account for only about 15 percent of the clubs’ membership. What’s worse, the ratio of men to women at the nation’s clubs “has remained almost identical since England Golf first started researching it in 2002,” according to Golf Club Management. Translation: No progress for 12 years. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Citing “substantial operating losses and cash-flow deficits,” the entity that owns one of the biggest and best-known four-season resorts in the Midwest has filed for bankruptcy protection. Treetops Resort & Spa, a 4,000-acre spread in Gaylord, Michigan, features a ski area, a hotel with a conference center, four 18-hole golf courses (among them tracks by Robert Trent Jones and Tom Fazio), and a nine-hole, par-3 layout. Treetops Acquisition Company LLC, which bought the property in 2002, has boosted the revenues generated by the resort’s hotel and golf operations in recent years but sought financial relief because it’s being suffocated by $7 million in long-term debt. The resort’s general manager told the Gaylord Herald Times that the filing “sets us up for the future” and that “everything is going to be fine.” He believes Treetops can exit Chapter 11 early next year.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014
The Pipeline, december 19, 2014
Australia. The Tasmanian island that’s seemingly made to order for world-class golf has attracted another developer. His name is David Bowling, and he’s a real estate agent whose ancestors were among the original settlers of King Island, more than 100 years ago. Like virtually all of the golf architects and builders who’ve made their way to the small, remote outcropping off Australia’s southeastern coast, Bowling believes it’s only a matter of time before King Island’s sandy, wind-swept terrain gives rise to a collection of destination-worthy links, in large part because quality sites are still relatively cheap. Today, the island has just one course, a nine-hole track in the town of Currie. Next year, however, a pair of layouts hoping to crack the world’s top 100 are expected to open: the Mike DeVries/Darius Oliver co-design at Cape Wickham Golf Course, on the northern coast, and Ocean Dunes Golf Course, on the western coast. Bowling hasn’t been particularly forthcoming about his plans, but he told an Australian news service that his course would take shape on a coastal site where his ancestors once grazed cattle.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
United States. It appears that Greg Norman’s completed but never opened golf course in California, the one done in by the Great Recession, will get a new lease on life. The 18-hole track is the centerpiece of McAllister Ranch, a 2,070-acre community in Bakersfield that went belly up in 2008, when Lehman Brothers, the parent company of its lender, imploded. “The idea was a good one,” a real estate appraiser told a local television station. “It was just formulated at the wrong period of time, in the middle of a housing bubble.” SunCal, which has agreed to buy the property, plans to develop just 600 acres, with more affordable houses. And it reportedly intends to revive the golf course, which is said to be “nothing but weeds.”
United States. Speaking of golf courses that have been comatose since 2008, a partially completed 18-hole track outside Wilmington, North Carolina is once again under construction and scheduled to open in the fall of next year. The course, co-designed by Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier, is the featured attraction Compass Pointe, a community that was initiated in 2005. According to Golf Course Architecture, Compass Pointe has been resurrected as a result of “a recent boom in lot sales and new home construction.” Thank goodness for small favors.
India. What’s a capital city without a golf course? That’s one of the questions being asked in Vijayawada, the future capital city of Andhra Pradesh, India. Vijayawada is the state’s cleanest city, one of the nation’s most livable cities, and, according to McKinsey & Company, a “global city of the future.” It’s also Andhra Pradesh’s second-largest city (metropolitan population: 1.5 million), and, because it’s been pegged to officially become the capital sometime within the next 10 years, it’s already begun to attract white-collar professionals with a taste for the luxe life. But Vijayawada has no golf courses, and some prominent local businessmen fear that this unfortunate recreational void will hinder its potential. “With the city expected to attract foreigners and tourists in the days to come, the need to have a golf club is must,” an official of the Krishna District Olympic Association told the Hindu, and the vice president of the Andhra Cricket Association is hoping to identify a site where “a full-fledged 18-hole course with all facilities” might be established. One problem: The price of land in and around Vijayawada is said to be skyrocketing, and a quality site may be hard to find.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Tunisia. After five years’ worth of delays, Gulf Finance House figures to break ground on its “financial gateway” in Tunisia sometime next year. The Bahrain-based, publicly traded investment bank had hoped to get started on Tunis Financial Harbour in 2009, but its plans were stymied first by the world-wide economic crash and then by the civil insurrection that booted Tunisia’s president from office. The community, which is to take shape on 1,300 acres in a northern suburb of Tunis, is expected to become the “financial hub of North Africa.” It’ll feature office space for banking and insurance companies as well as houses for the corporate executives who’ll work in them, along with schools, shopping areas, a marina, a beach club, and an 18-hole, championship-length golf course. GFH has hired a French company, Alliance International Holding, to build the golf course.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the August 2009, February 2012, and April 2014 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Vietnam. As part of a renewed effort to jump-start its tourism business, one of Vietnam’s coastal provinces has reissued a license for an oceanfront golf resort. NewCity Vietnam will take shape on 1,070 acres near Bãi Xép, a beach town in the Tuy An district of Phú Yên Province. The resort, which has shrunk in size by about one-third since it was originally unveiled, will include holiday villas, hotels, meeting space, office space, a water park, and a 36-hole golf complex. The People’s Committee of Phú Yên Province has granted the development permission to the Vietnamese affiliate of Brunei-based New City Properties Development Company, Ltd. According to the Vietnam Investment Review, New City had originally claimed the license in 2008 but failed to make progress due to the “slow pace of site clearance.” Over the years, Phú Yên has mostly attracted tourists with what’s been described as “a wealth of wild, sandy beaches.” Today, the people’s committee is investing in transportation improvements and actively seeking developers willing to fund large-scale tourist attractions.
Saudi Arabia. The golf resurgence taking place in the Middle East has spread to an emerging mega-city in Saudi Arabia. The 18-hole golf course at King Abdullah Economic City, designed by Dave Sampson of European Golf Design, is finally under construction, after cooling on the back burner for several years. KAEC is taking shape on a 67-square-mile expanse of desert -- a tract roughly the size of Washington, DC -- just south of Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast. The Saudi government, which has a stake in the venture, intends for it to become “one of the most important cities” in the world. Sampson’s course will anchor Al-Murooj, the mega-city’s “most exclusive” and “most prestigious” community, and its developers say it’ll offer “new and unique opportunities for both amateur and accomplished golfers, all in an atmosphere of fun and relaxation.” The track, the first of two courses in KAEC, is expected to debut in late 2015 or early 2016.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
United States. It appears that Greg Norman’s completed but never opened golf course in California, the one done in by the Great Recession, will get a new lease on life. The 18-hole track is the centerpiece of McAllister Ranch, a 2,070-acre community in Bakersfield that went belly up in 2008, when Lehman Brothers, the parent company of its lender, imploded. “The idea was a good one,” a real estate appraiser told a local television station. “It was just formulated at the wrong period of time, in the middle of a housing bubble.” SunCal, which has agreed to buy the property, plans to develop just 600 acres, with more affordable houses. And it reportedly intends to revive the golf course, which is said to be “nothing but weeds.”
United States. Speaking of golf courses that have been comatose since 2008, a partially completed 18-hole track outside Wilmington, North Carolina is once again under construction and scheduled to open in the fall of next year. The course, co-designed by Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier, is the featured attraction Compass Pointe, a community that was initiated in 2005. According to Golf Course Architecture, Compass Pointe has been resurrected as a result of “a recent boom in lot sales and new home construction.” Thank goodness for small favors.
India. What’s a capital city without a golf course? That’s one of the questions being asked in Vijayawada, the future capital city of Andhra Pradesh, India. Vijayawada is the state’s cleanest city, one of the nation’s most livable cities, and, according to McKinsey & Company, a “global city of the future.” It’s also Andhra Pradesh’s second-largest city (metropolitan population: 1.5 million), and, because it’s been pegged to officially become the capital sometime within the next 10 years, it’s already begun to attract white-collar professionals with a taste for the luxe life. But Vijayawada has no golf courses, and some prominent local businessmen fear that this unfortunate recreational void will hinder its potential. “With the city expected to attract foreigners and tourists in the days to come, the need to have a golf club is must,” an official of the Krishna District Olympic Association told the Hindu, and the vice president of the Andhra Cricket Association is hoping to identify a site where “a full-fledged 18-hole course with all facilities” might be established. One problem: The price of land in and around Vijayawada is said to be skyrocketing, and a quality site may be hard to find.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Tunisia. After five years’ worth of delays, Gulf Finance House figures to break ground on its “financial gateway” in Tunisia sometime next year. The Bahrain-based, publicly traded investment bank had hoped to get started on Tunis Financial Harbour in 2009, but its plans were stymied first by the world-wide economic crash and then by the civil insurrection that booted Tunisia’s president from office. The community, which is to take shape on 1,300 acres in a northern suburb of Tunis, is expected to become the “financial hub of North Africa.” It’ll feature office space for banking and insurance companies as well as houses for the corporate executives who’ll work in them, along with schools, shopping areas, a marina, a beach club, and an 18-hole, championship-length golf course. GFH has hired a French company, Alliance International Holding, to build the golf course.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the August 2009, February 2012, and April 2014 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Vietnam. As part of a renewed effort to jump-start its tourism business, one of Vietnam’s coastal provinces has reissued a license for an oceanfront golf resort. NewCity Vietnam will take shape on 1,070 acres near Bãi Xép, a beach town in the Tuy An district of Phú Yên Province. The resort, which has shrunk in size by about one-third since it was originally unveiled, will include holiday villas, hotels, meeting space, office space, a water park, and a 36-hole golf complex. The People’s Committee of Phú Yên Province has granted the development permission to the Vietnamese affiliate of Brunei-based New City Properties Development Company, Ltd. According to the Vietnam Investment Review, New City had originally claimed the license in 2008 but failed to make progress due to the “slow pace of site clearance.” Over the years, Phú Yên has mostly attracted tourists with what’s been described as “a wealth of wild, sandy beaches.” Today, the people’s committee is investing in transportation improvements and actively seeking developers willing to fund large-scale tourist attractions.
Saudi Arabia. The golf resurgence taking place in the Middle East has spread to an emerging mega-city in Saudi Arabia. The 18-hole golf course at King Abdullah Economic City, designed by Dave Sampson of European Golf Design, is finally under construction, after cooling on the back burner for several years. KAEC is taking shape on a 67-square-mile expanse of desert -- a tract roughly the size of Washington, DC -- just south of Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast. The Saudi government, which has a stake in the venture, intends for it to become “one of the most important cities” in the world. Sampson’s course will anchor Al-Murooj, the mega-city’s “most exclusive” and “most prestigious” community, and its developers say it’ll offer “new and unique opportunities for both amateur and accomplished golfers, all in an atmosphere of fun and relaxation.” The track, the first of two courses in KAEC, is expected to debut in late 2015 or early 2016.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
The Week That Was, december 14, 2014
Tiger Woods is taking his design talents to Dubai once again, and to the same spot in Dubailand where his failed first venture as a golf course architect is currently blowing in the wind.
The serial adulterer and self-styled media critic has agreed to design the 18-hole golf course for Trump World Golf Club Dubai, the forthcoming centerpiece of the lavish Akoya Oxygen community that’s being developed by Damac Properties. According to Arabian Business, the track will be located “on the same land where the previous Tiger Woods Dubai project was planned in 2008” but will be “a totally different design.”
In a press statement, Woods promised to create “a distinct and memorable golf course that players of all abilities find enjoyable,” and he praised Dubai for, among other things, its “amazing lifestyle.” Others have described the emirate as “a hotbed of forced labor and human trafficking,” and life there is only “amazing” to those who believe that freedom of speech should be restricted, that kissing in public should be a crime, that homosexuals and people who criticize the government should be put to death, and that foreign construction workers should be treated as “slave labor.”
The course at Trump World is scheduled to open in 2017. Woods hasn’t revealed his design fee, but he’ll certainly be compensated handsomely for doing and saying all the right things.
A development group led by David Southworth, a Boston-area investor with an enviable portfolio of golf properties, has acquired Abaco Club, a 10-year-old resort community in the Bahamas that’s been described as “one of the world’s great sporting clubs.” The club’s 18-hole golf course was co-designed by Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie and is said to be “the world's first Scottish-style links in a tropical location.”
Abaco’s new ownership entity, which includes some of the club’s members and residents, bought the 534-acre property from Marriott Vacation Worldwide Corporation, a former affiliate of Marriott International. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but in late 2013 Marriott Vacation offered to sell the community to some of its s homeowners for $28 million. (The offer was rejected, because Abaco was believed to be worth only “a fraction of the offer price.”)
The new ownership group presumably includes some of the more than 30 Abaco members who, in 2013, sued Marriott Vacation and the club’s manager at the time, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, for allegedly failing to make good on a litany of promises, among them a guarantee to deliver a golf course that ranks among the world’s top 100. (According to Golf Digest, Abaco’s golf course isn’t even the number-one track in the Bahamas.)
Southworth, a former president of Paul Fireman’s Willowbend Development, now controls entities that, in addition to Abaco, own a half-dozen golf properties in the United States (among them Creighton Farms Golf Club in Northern Virginia and Renaissance Golf Club in Massachusetts), Scotland (Macrihanish Dunes Golf Club), and Puerto Rico (Costa Caribe Golf & Country Club).
One last thing: The acquisition of Abaco could conceivably doom Southworth’s plans to develop a PGA Village in the Bahamas, a venture that’s been treading water since 2008.
Alistair Hanna’s death may not spell the end of plans to build a David McLay Kidd-designed golf course on coastal property in Northern Ireland’s County Antrim. Peter FitzGerald, who controls entities that recently bought the 356 acres that Hanna wanted to turn into Bushmill Dunes Golf Club, is reportedly taking a close look at Hanna’s plans, which have been approved by local officials and have survived a legal challenge brought by Irish environmental groups. Hanna, who died in July, believed that the site was worthy of a world-class links. “Every golf course designer who’s seen it was blown away by it,” he told me in 2011. He also recalled Kidd telling him, “If I can’t get your course into the top 50 of the world, you should shoot me.” If FitzGerald decides to develop the property, he can also build a 120-room hotel with meeting space and a spa.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the October 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
One of the most scenic golf resorts in New Zealand has secured permission to add a fourth nine to its golf complex. Millbrook Resort, in suburban Queenstown, has agreed to purchase a 165-acre parcel for the addition, which will be designed by Queenstown-based Greg Turner, a former professional golfer. Turner has already worked up a preliminary routing for the forthcoming holes, and construction will be funded by the sale of houses. Eiichi Ishii, who reportedly owns Japan’s largest art supplies company, bought the Millbrook property in the late 1980s and set out to create “the best golf and lifestyle resort in the world.” Whether he succeeded is open to debate, but the resort, laid out on a former wheat farm surrounded by glorious mountain ranges, undoubtedly has its fans. “It is difficult to imagine a more idyllic setting for a golfing resort,” says ISeekGolf.com. Millbrook’s original 18, consisting of the Remarkables and Arrow nines, was co-designed by Sir Bob Charles and John Darby and opened in 1993. In 2010, Turner redesigned the original layout and added the Coronet track.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The serial adulterer and self-styled media critic has agreed to design the 18-hole golf course for Trump World Golf Club Dubai, the forthcoming centerpiece of the lavish Akoya Oxygen community that’s being developed by Damac Properties. According to Arabian Business, the track will be located “on the same land where the previous Tiger Woods Dubai project was planned in 2008” but will be “a totally different design.”
In a press statement, Woods promised to create “a distinct and memorable golf course that players of all abilities find enjoyable,” and he praised Dubai for, among other things, its “amazing lifestyle.” Others have described the emirate as “a hotbed of forced labor and human trafficking,” and life there is only “amazing” to those who believe that freedom of speech should be restricted, that kissing in public should be a crime, that homosexuals and people who criticize the government should be put to death, and that foreign construction workers should be treated as “slave labor.”
The course at Trump World is scheduled to open in 2017. Woods hasn’t revealed his design fee, but he’ll certainly be compensated handsomely for doing and saying all the right things.
A development group led by David Southworth, a Boston-area investor with an enviable portfolio of golf properties, has acquired Abaco Club, a 10-year-old resort community in the Bahamas that’s been described as “one of the world’s great sporting clubs.” The club’s 18-hole golf course was co-designed by Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie and is said to be “the world's first Scottish-style links in a tropical location.”
Abaco’s new ownership entity, which includes some of the club’s members and residents, bought the 534-acre property from Marriott Vacation Worldwide Corporation, a former affiliate of Marriott International. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but in late 2013 Marriott Vacation offered to sell the community to some of its s homeowners for $28 million. (The offer was rejected, because Abaco was believed to be worth only “a fraction of the offer price.”)
The new ownership group presumably includes some of the more than 30 Abaco members who, in 2013, sued Marriott Vacation and the club’s manager at the time, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, for allegedly failing to make good on a litany of promises, among them a guarantee to deliver a golf course that ranks among the world’s top 100. (According to Golf Digest, Abaco’s golf course isn’t even the number-one track in the Bahamas.)
Southworth, a former president of Paul Fireman’s Willowbend Development, now controls entities that, in addition to Abaco, own a half-dozen golf properties in the United States (among them Creighton Farms Golf Club in Northern Virginia and Renaissance Golf Club in Massachusetts), Scotland (Macrihanish Dunes Golf Club), and Puerto Rico (Costa Caribe Golf & Country Club).
One last thing: The acquisition of Abaco could conceivably doom Southworth’s plans to develop a PGA Village in the Bahamas, a venture that’s been treading water since 2008.
Alistair Hanna’s death may not spell the end of plans to build a David McLay Kidd-designed golf course on coastal property in Northern Ireland’s County Antrim. Peter FitzGerald, who controls entities that recently bought the 356 acres that Hanna wanted to turn into Bushmill Dunes Golf Club, is reportedly taking a close look at Hanna’s plans, which have been approved by local officials and have survived a legal challenge brought by Irish environmental groups. Hanna, who died in July, believed that the site was worthy of a world-class links. “Every golf course designer who’s seen it was blown away by it,” he told me in 2011. He also recalled Kidd telling him, “If I can’t get your course into the top 50 of the world, you should shoot me.” If FitzGerald decides to develop the property, he can also build a 120-room hotel with meeting space and a spa.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the October 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
One of the most scenic golf resorts in New Zealand has secured permission to add a fourth nine to its golf complex. Millbrook Resort, in suburban Queenstown, has agreed to purchase a 165-acre parcel for the addition, which will be designed by Queenstown-based Greg Turner, a former professional golfer. Turner has already worked up a preliminary routing for the forthcoming holes, and construction will be funded by the sale of houses. Eiichi Ishii, who reportedly owns Japan’s largest art supplies company, bought the Millbrook property in the late 1980s and set out to create “the best golf and lifestyle resort in the world.” Whether he succeeded is open to debate, but the resort, laid out on a former wheat farm surrounded by glorious mountain ranges, undoubtedly has its fans. “It is difficult to imagine a more idyllic setting for a golfing resort,” says ISeekGolf.com. Millbrook’s original 18, consisting of the Remarkables and Arrow nines, was co-designed by Sir Bob Charles and John Darby and opened in 1993. In 2010, Turner redesigned the original layout and added the Coronet track.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Desolation Row, december 12, 2014
Ahwahnee, California. The clock is ticking on Sierra Meadows Golf Course, which is scheduled to close next week. Robert H. Bard, Jr. had hoped to make the 24-year-old venue the centerpiece of a 315-home community, but the Great Recession and development costs bled him dry. He thought that he’d found a buyer willing to continue operations at Sierra Meadows, but when the sale fell through he knew he was done. “From the beginning, the golf course has not made any money in spite of all our continued efforts and substantial investments,” he wrote in a letter to his customers, adding: “Sometimes events occur that are beyond our control, and no amount of effort and money can change the outcome.” Sierra Meadows, which is located just a short drive from Yosemite National Park, appears to be the only 18-hole course in the immediate area.
Alpine, Alabama. An 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course in metropolitan Birmingham has ended its run. Alpine Bay Golf Club, the centerpiece of a resort community that opened in the early 1970s, used to boast that it “gives the golfer a feeling that is not found anywhere else in the country.” In recent years, however, the feeling has apparently mattered less, for the club has lost more than two-thirds of its members. “Younger people aren’t playing golf as much, and all of our older golf players are dying off or not able to play anymore physically,” said Shawn Rider, who lost the course to foreclosure two years ago. A Florida-based bank was hoping to get $410,000 for Alpine Bay. It now plans to auction the 148-acre property.
Panama City, Florida. Bay Dunes Golf Course, a relative newcomer to the golf scene in Florida’s Panhandle, has bitten the dust, at least for the time being. The Panama City News Herald called the 21-year-old track, located atop a Bay County-owned landfill, “a place for average golfers to socialize and enjoy a round without breaking the bank.” The county doesn’t want to manage the 18-hole, Jack Cunningham-designed layout, though it would listen if a private-sector operator came forward with a proposal. One caveat: The course “is run down to the point [where] it needs major work,” according to a county official.
Carmel, Indiana. The cloud that’s hung over Mohawk Hills Golf Club for a decade has finally been lifted: The nine-hole, Gary Kern-designed track closed on Halloween night and will soon make way for an apartment complex. The course’s fate was all but sealed a decade ago, when it was sold to a development group that was forced to wait out the Great Recession before it put the course to what it felt was a higher use.
Godfrey, Illinois. Two years after it was foreclosed upon and a year after it declared for bankruptcy protection, Lockhaven Golf Club has kicked the bucket. In an open letter to the local community, the club’s owner wrote that “the decision that was made came after much consideration and only after all available options were exhausted.” Lockhaven, which had opened to public play in an attempt to survive, blamed its demise on “a declining, aging membership” and an inability to recruit the area’s younger golfers. Its 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed golf course opened in 1956, but the Alton Telegraph reports that the club’s “roots go back 100 years.”
Williamsville, New York. A year ahead of schedule, a 70-year-old golf venue in suburban Buffalo has gone six feet under. Mensch Capital Partners bought Westwood Country Club in 2012 and announced that it would begin converting the 170-acre property into “a lifestyle center” (translation: houses, stores, and office space) in 2015. However, the firm has decided to close the club early and get a head start on an environmental clean-up. “The golf course has not been economically viable for many years, and the only reason it has remained open for the past three seasons is because Mensch has heavily subsidized its operations,” Mensch’s managing partner told Buffalo Business First. Most sources credit the design of Westwood’s golf course to William Harries, but some people believe the layout’s original nine was done by Willie Park, Jr.
Corvallis, Oregon. Assuming that various legal and development-related obstacles can be cleared, an unidentified group aims to build houses on the 77 acres currently occupied Marysville Golf Course. The nine-hole track was built by Mode and Babe Hoselton in 1958, and it’s been in their family ever since. Although the Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that Marysville has “built a loyal following with its relaxed atmosphere and low greens fees,” its current owner, Doug Hoselton, no longer wishes to fight the prevailing economic winds. “I’m getting out,” he told the newspaper. “I’m 65. It’s time for me to retire.” The prospective buyer has reportedly offered $4.25 million for the golf course and an adjacent 16-acre parcel.
Vallejo, California. Next week, the final rounds will be played at Joe Mortara Golf Course, a nine-hole, executive-length track located at the Solano County Fairgrounds. Like so many other modest U.S. courses, Joe Mortara slowly suffocated as the economy crumbled, its capital needs increased, and its customers aged out. “Our budget can no longer continue subsidizing a golf course that has been operating at a net loss each year,” the fairgrounds’ general manager told the Vallejo Times Herald. “Decreasing play, coupled with extensive maintenance and repair requirements over the last two years, make it unrealistic for us to keep the course open.” This year, the course celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Lombard, Illinois. After taking tee times for a half-century, time appears to have run out on Ken-Loch Golf Links. The nine-hole, David Arthur Gill-designed golf course has been bleeding red ink in recent years, and a prospective new owner believes its 31 acres are an ideal site for an apartment complex. “We look forward to moving forward there and doing really high-quality development,” he told the Daily Herald. Last year, DuPage County officials laid a foundation for the property’s future by approving a rezoning.
Sumner, Washington. After negotiating and deliberating for years, the city of Sumner has agreed to sell its financially troubled 18-hole golf course to a development group. The price: $53 million, or more than $344,000 an acre. Be honest: For such a price you’d sell too, as long as you could stand looking at warehouses and industrial space for the rest of your life.
Alpine, Alabama. An 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course in metropolitan Birmingham has ended its run. Alpine Bay Golf Club, the centerpiece of a resort community that opened in the early 1970s, used to boast that it “gives the golfer a feeling that is not found anywhere else in the country.” In recent years, however, the feeling has apparently mattered less, for the club has lost more than two-thirds of its members. “Younger people aren’t playing golf as much, and all of our older golf players are dying off or not able to play anymore physically,” said Shawn Rider, who lost the course to foreclosure two years ago. A Florida-based bank was hoping to get $410,000 for Alpine Bay. It now plans to auction the 148-acre property.
Panama City, Florida. Bay Dunes Golf Course, a relative newcomer to the golf scene in Florida’s Panhandle, has bitten the dust, at least for the time being. The Panama City News Herald called the 21-year-old track, located atop a Bay County-owned landfill, “a place for average golfers to socialize and enjoy a round without breaking the bank.” The county doesn’t want to manage the 18-hole, Jack Cunningham-designed layout, though it would listen if a private-sector operator came forward with a proposal. One caveat: The course “is run down to the point [where] it needs major work,” according to a county official.
Carmel, Indiana. The cloud that’s hung over Mohawk Hills Golf Club for a decade has finally been lifted: The nine-hole, Gary Kern-designed track closed on Halloween night and will soon make way for an apartment complex. The course’s fate was all but sealed a decade ago, when it was sold to a development group that was forced to wait out the Great Recession before it put the course to what it felt was a higher use.
Godfrey, Illinois. Two years after it was foreclosed upon and a year after it declared for bankruptcy protection, Lockhaven Golf Club has kicked the bucket. In an open letter to the local community, the club’s owner wrote that “the decision that was made came after much consideration and only after all available options were exhausted.” Lockhaven, which had opened to public play in an attempt to survive, blamed its demise on “a declining, aging membership” and an inability to recruit the area’s younger golfers. Its 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed golf course opened in 1956, but the Alton Telegraph reports that the club’s “roots go back 100 years.”
Williamsville, New York. A year ahead of schedule, a 70-year-old golf venue in suburban Buffalo has gone six feet under. Mensch Capital Partners bought Westwood Country Club in 2012 and announced that it would begin converting the 170-acre property into “a lifestyle center” (translation: houses, stores, and office space) in 2015. However, the firm has decided to close the club early and get a head start on an environmental clean-up. “The golf course has not been economically viable for many years, and the only reason it has remained open for the past three seasons is because Mensch has heavily subsidized its operations,” Mensch’s managing partner told Buffalo Business First. Most sources credit the design of Westwood’s golf course to William Harries, but some people believe the layout’s original nine was done by Willie Park, Jr.
Corvallis, Oregon. Assuming that various legal and development-related obstacles can be cleared, an unidentified group aims to build houses on the 77 acres currently occupied Marysville Golf Course. The nine-hole track was built by Mode and Babe Hoselton in 1958, and it’s been in their family ever since. Although the Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that Marysville has “built a loyal following with its relaxed atmosphere and low greens fees,” its current owner, Doug Hoselton, no longer wishes to fight the prevailing economic winds. “I’m getting out,” he told the newspaper. “I’m 65. It’s time for me to retire.” The prospective buyer has reportedly offered $4.25 million for the golf course and an adjacent 16-acre parcel.
Vallejo, California. Next week, the final rounds will be played at Joe Mortara Golf Course, a nine-hole, executive-length track located at the Solano County Fairgrounds. Like so many other modest U.S. courses, Joe Mortara slowly suffocated as the economy crumbled, its capital needs increased, and its customers aged out. “Our budget can no longer continue subsidizing a golf course that has been operating at a net loss each year,” the fairgrounds’ general manager told the Vallejo Times Herald. “Decreasing play, coupled with extensive maintenance and repair requirements over the last two years, make it unrealistic for us to keep the course open.” This year, the course celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Lombard, Illinois. After taking tee times for a half-century, time appears to have run out on Ken-Loch Golf Links. The nine-hole, David Arthur Gill-designed golf course has been bleeding red ink in recent years, and a prospective new owner believes its 31 acres are an ideal site for an apartment complex. “We look forward to moving forward there and doing really high-quality development,” he told the Daily Herald. Last year, DuPage County officials laid a foundation for the property’s future by approving a rezoning.
Sumner, Washington. After negotiating and deliberating for years, the city of Sumner has agreed to sell its financially troubled 18-hole golf course to a development group. The price: $53 million, or more than $344,000 an acre. Be honest: For such a price you’d sell too, as long as you could stand looking at warehouses and industrial space for the rest of your life.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
The Week That Was, december 7, 2014
Like a growing number of observers and commentators, the CEO of Asia Pacific Golf Group believes that the golf business in his part of the world is going nowhere fast. “The industry is not healthy and is not really showing strong signs of any sustainable recovery.” Mike Sebastian declares in the December issue of Asian Golf, adding that “there’s still a lot of blood-letting that has to take place before we can start seeing the silver lining.” Mixed metaphors aside, Sebastian has been banging this drum for months. He’s gone almost completely sour on the prospects for golf development in China, which he and others once viewed as the engine that would power golf’s growth throughout Asia and Southeast Asia. Today, with the People’s Republic in “a full-stop mode,” he’s doing his best to lower expectations. “If you are a betting man,” he advises, “you would do well to place your wager on things getting worse before there is a turnaround.” Of course, those who were all in on China may not have much left to wager.
“Show me a hero,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “and I’ll write you a tragedy.” I can’t say exactly how it relates, but Fitzgerald’s comment is the first thing that popped into my head when I heard that Tiger Woods had agreed to become a pitch man for India's Hero MotoCorp.
Speaking of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who says there are no second acts in American life? David McLay Kidd, who set the bar for golf architecture at Bandon Dunes, has been tabbed to design the second course at Mike Keiser’s Sand Valley golf complex in Rome, Wisconsin. Kidd expects to break ground on the 18-hole layout, a complement to the Coore & Crenshaw track that’s currently under construction, in the spring of next year. The commission at Bandon Dunes -- earned way back in the mid 1990s, when both Kidd and Keiser were still veritable unknowns -- established Kidd’s reputation as a premier designer of “pure” golf experiences but unfortunately convinced subsequent clients to indulge his weakness for difficult courses. Keiser didn’t much like Kidd’s work in the 2000s, but he recently played Kidd’s player-friendly course at Gamble Sands, in Brewster, Washington, and came away thinking it was “a grand-slam home run.” For course number-two at Sand Valley, Keiser also evaluated routings submitted by Tom Doak and Rod Whitman, who now appear to be in line to create courses three and four.
The rapid consolidation of the golf industry continues, as the parent company of Troon Golf has taken control of a competitor, Birmingham, Alabama-based Honours Golf. With the acquisition, Troon gets a greater presence in the Southeast, as Honours operates 10 properties in Alabama and four in Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina. A press release claims that Honours’ portfolio includes “many exceptional golf courses designed by some of the most well-known golf course architects in the industry.” That comment is something of a stretch, however, seeing as how there are only three true “signature” tracks in the mix, along with at least three municipal layouts, and only one of Honours’ courses -- Reunion Golf & Country Club in Madison, Mississippi -- is listed on Golf Digest’s state-by-state ranking of the nation’s best courses. Counting Honours’ venues, Troon has now reportedly collected 250 golf courses in 34 states and 29 foreign nations.
An investment fund controlled by Los Angeles, California-based Oaktree Capital Management has paid a premium for a golf club in Dublin, Ireland. According to the Irish Times, Tio PLC coughed up roughly €4.5 million (more than $5.5 million) for Castleknock Golf Club, a nine-year-old property with an 18-hole, Jonathan Gaunt-designed golf course. For nearly a year, Castleknock has been in the hands of receivers who reportedly felt that the 125-acre spread was worth about €2.5 million ($3.07 million). Obviously, they were selling themselves short. In 2009, Golf Digest ranked Castleknock’s course as one of Ireland’s top 100.
ClubCorp has laid claim to its fourth golf property in Arizona. The Dallas, Texas-based golf colossus has paid an undisclosed amount for Oro Valley Country Club, a facility in suburban Tucson that had been owned by its members. The 55-year-old club features an 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed course that was subsequently redesigned by Arthur Hills. ClubCorp’s other properties in the state are located in metropolitan Phoenix: Anthem Golf & Country Club outside Carefree, Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, and Seville Golf & Country Club in Gilbert. Just as an aside, here’s something that bothers me about ClubCorp: The company never issues any press releases regarding what it describes as its “central purpose,” which is “building relationships and enriching lives.” I wonder why not.
“Show me a hero,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “and I’ll write you a tragedy.” I can’t say exactly how it relates, but Fitzgerald’s comment is the first thing that popped into my head when I heard that Tiger Woods had agreed to become a pitch man for India's Hero MotoCorp.
Speaking of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who says there are no second acts in American life? David McLay Kidd, who set the bar for golf architecture at Bandon Dunes, has been tabbed to design the second course at Mike Keiser’s Sand Valley golf complex in Rome, Wisconsin. Kidd expects to break ground on the 18-hole layout, a complement to the Coore & Crenshaw track that’s currently under construction, in the spring of next year. The commission at Bandon Dunes -- earned way back in the mid 1990s, when both Kidd and Keiser were still veritable unknowns -- established Kidd’s reputation as a premier designer of “pure” golf experiences but unfortunately convinced subsequent clients to indulge his weakness for difficult courses. Keiser didn’t much like Kidd’s work in the 2000s, but he recently played Kidd’s player-friendly course at Gamble Sands, in Brewster, Washington, and came away thinking it was “a grand-slam home run.” For course number-two at Sand Valley, Keiser also evaluated routings submitted by Tom Doak and Rod Whitman, who now appear to be in line to create courses three and four.
The rapid consolidation of the golf industry continues, as the parent company of Troon Golf has taken control of a competitor, Birmingham, Alabama-based Honours Golf. With the acquisition, Troon gets a greater presence in the Southeast, as Honours operates 10 properties in Alabama and four in Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina. A press release claims that Honours’ portfolio includes “many exceptional golf courses designed by some of the most well-known golf course architects in the industry.” That comment is something of a stretch, however, seeing as how there are only three true “signature” tracks in the mix, along with at least three municipal layouts, and only one of Honours’ courses -- Reunion Golf & Country Club in Madison, Mississippi -- is listed on Golf Digest’s state-by-state ranking of the nation’s best courses. Counting Honours’ venues, Troon has now reportedly collected 250 golf courses in 34 states and 29 foreign nations.
An investment fund controlled by Los Angeles, California-based Oaktree Capital Management has paid a premium for a golf club in Dublin, Ireland. According to the Irish Times, Tio PLC coughed up roughly €4.5 million (more than $5.5 million) for Castleknock Golf Club, a nine-year-old property with an 18-hole, Jonathan Gaunt-designed golf course. For nearly a year, Castleknock has been in the hands of receivers who reportedly felt that the 125-acre spread was worth about €2.5 million ($3.07 million). Obviously, they were selling themselves short. In 2009, Golf Digest ranked Castleknock’s course as one of Ireland’s top 100.
ClubCorp has laid claim to its fourth golf property in Arizona. The Dallas, Texas-based golf colossus has paid an undisclosed amount for Oro Valley Country Club, a facility in suburban Tucson that had been owned by its members. The 55-year-old club features an 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed course that was subsequently redesigned by Arthur Hills. ClubCorp’s other properties in the state are located in metropolitan Phoenix: Anthem Golf & Country Club outside Carefree, Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, and Seville Golf & Country Club in Gilbert. Just as an aside, here’s something that bothers me about ClubCorp: The company never issues any press releases regarding what it describes as its “central purpose,” which is “building relationships and enriching lives.” I wonder why not.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Transactions, december 5, 2014
Nichols, South Carolina. A Chinese group is said to be “close to acquiring” its second golf property in the Myrtle Beach area. Kang Zou, the leader of the entity that bought Black Bear Golf Club in Longs earlier this year, has made an offer on Pineland Country Club, a venue that features an 18-hole, Gene Hamm-designed golf course. Zou’s price hasn’t been disclosed, but Pineland, a 260-acre spread that opened in 1971, is reportedly on the market for $699,000. “That’s why the Chinese are buying all these properties, because land is cheap right now,” said Danny Baxley, the managing partner of the group that owns Pineland. According to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, Chinese investors currently own six golf properties in and around Myrtle Beach, among them the 54-hole complex at Sea Trail Golf Resort in Sunset Beach.
Evans, Georgia. Tower Three Partners has acquired its first property in Georgia, Champions Retreat Golf Club. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm reportedly paid $6.64 million for the nine-year-old venue, which claims to be the world’s only golf property with courses -- all nine-holers, unfortunately -- designed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player. The club, a drawing card for a community of McMansions in suburban Augusta, will be managed by Tower Three’s operating affiliate, Heritage Golf Group. Davis Sezna, Heritage’s managing partner and chief purveyor of inane marketing drivel, calls Champions Retreat “an incredibly rare property that will enable us to create a truly unique experience in a world of unique experiences.” The club is now one of eight similarly rare and unique properties in the Tower Three/Heritage portfolio. The partners tout their holdings as being “best in class,” but not even one of the eight ranks among the top 10 in Golf Digest’s state-by-state rankings.
Independence, Missouri. Landscapes Unlimited has gotten rid of an unwanted asset. The big golf construction company has sold Drumm Farm Golf Club, a 280-acre spread, to GreatLife Golf & Fitness, one of the major golf ownership groups in the Midwest. Topeka, Kansas-based GreatLife, which was established in the mid 1980s, appears to own close to 20 golf properties in Kansas and Missouri, most of them in and around Kansas City. The company initially made its mark by selling affordable golf at affordable prices (some of its monthly memberships run as low as $30), although nowadays it charges more for access to its “select” and “elite” venues. Drumm Farm, part of the “elite” group, features an 18-hole, Mike Hurdzan-designed course and a nine-hole, executive-length track. Landscapes Unlimited had owned the property since 2002.
Naples, Florida. Four years after making his initial investment in Southwest Florida’s golf business, Dick Klass has purchased a second golf property from Stock Development. Klass and his sons, who operate as Klass Capital Group, reportedly paid $8.2 million for Club at the Strand, a 17-year-old venue that features a 27-hole, Gordon Lewis-designed golf complex. “We think the timing is right to be buying clubs,” Klass told the Naples Daily News. The Strand is the centerpiece of a gated, 500-acre community whose more than 1,000 home owners are obligated to become club members. The property is said to be profitable, and Klass views himself as being in “a very long-term ownership position.” The Strand hosted an event on the LPGA Tour for three years in the late 1990s. It’ll complement the family’s Club at Grandezza in nearby Estero.
Muskegon, Michigan. One of Michigan’s oldest golf properties has changed hands. Last month a dozen investors operating as MCC Partners LLC reportedly paid a local bank “just north of $3 million” to clear the debt that’s been strangling Muskegon Country Club. “We are doing this for the long haul, solely to keep what is a historically significant and important community asset in Muskegon,” one of the investors told the Muskegon Chronicle. The new owners hope to attract dearly needed new members by reviving the 106-year-old venue and its 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course.
Lincolnton, North Carolina. A local developer has come to the rescue of Lincoln Country Club, whose existence had been threatened by money troubles. “I want to bring the Lincoln Country Club back to life,” Willie Heafner declared to the Lincoln Times-News. To do so, Heafner believes that he needs to sign roughly 200 new members, as the club currently has only about 150. Lincoln, which was founded in 1946, features an 18-hole, Peter Tufts-designed golf course.
Horicon, Wisconsin. The city of Horicon has agreed to sell its 18-hole golf course to a local course owner who claims to have “a history of taking distressed courses and turning them into facilities that we and our communities are proud of.” Lee Merkel has offered $420,000 for the Homer Fieldhouse-designed Rock River Hills Golf Course, which opened in 1969 and evidently needs the expertise he can offer. Merkel presumably made his reputation by conducting turnarounds at his two nearby golf properties, Golf Club at Camelot in Lomira and West Bend Lakes Golf Club in West Bend. He’s given Rock River Hills a new name -- Horicon Hills Golf Club -- and he’s pledged to operate the facility for at least five years. If he ever decides to sell it, the city has first dibs on the purchase.
Campton, New Hampshire. At a public auction last month, an unidentified group agreed to buy an 18-hole, Mark Mungeam-designed golf course in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The 16-year-old track is among the attractions at Owl’s Nest Resort, a nearly 600-acre spread that had recently been forced into foreclosure. Owl’s Next has been master-planned for 490 single-family houses and condos, but the Manchester Union Leader reports that only 112 lots have been sold. Tom Mullen, the community’s developer, believes that his real estate sales stagnated because prospective buyers didn’t want to live beneath the electrical transmission lines that a utility wants to build through the property. He sued to block the construction, but a court agreed with the utility’s argument, which was that Owl’s Nest “has suffered the effects of a deep recession.” The new owners, who bid just over $2 million for Mullen’s property, intend to complete the community’s build-out. Roughly speaking, they have until the end of the year to close on the transaction.
Brownsburg, Indiana. At an auction last month, a financially troubled golf property in suburban Indianapolis reportedly fetched more than $900,000. The winning bid on West Chase Golf Club was submitted by “a Hendricks County businessman” who has yet to be identified, although the Indianapolis Star has learned that he plans to continue operating the club and its 18-hole, Ron Kern-designed golf course. West Chase’s former owner, a group called Hole In One, Inc., had filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Estero, Florida. This news is getting cold, so it’s high time for me to note that West Bay Club now belongs to its members and residents of its accompanying, nearly completely built-out private community. The new owners paid an undisclosed price for the 15-year-old club, which features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Pete and P. B. Dye. The transaction took place in March 2014.
Evans, Georgia. Tower Three Partners has acquired its first property in Georgia, Champions Retreat Golf Club. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm reportedly paid $6.64 million for the nine-year-old venue, which claims to be the world’s only golf property with courses -- all nine-holers, unfortunately -- designed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player. The club, a drawing card for a community of McMansions in suburban Augusta, will be managed by Tower Three’s operating affiliate, Heritage Golf Group. Davis Sezna, Heritage’s managing partner and chief purveyor of inane marketing drivel, calls Champions Retreat “an incredibly rare property that will enable us to create a truly unique experience in a world of unique experiences.” The club is now one of eight similarly rare and unique properties in the Tower Three/Heritage portfolio. The partners tout their holdings as being “best in class,” but not even one of the eight ranks among the top 10 in Golf Digest’s state-by-state rankings.
Independence, Missouri. Landscapes Unlimited has gotten rid of an unwanted asset. The big golf construction company has sold Drumm Farm Golf Club, a 280-acre spread, to GreatLife Golf & Fitness, one of the major golf ownership groups in the Midwest. Topeka, Kansas-based GreatLife, which was established in the mid 1980s, appears to own close to 20 golf properties in Kansas and Missouri, most of them in and around Kansas City. The company initially made its mark by selling affordable golf at affordable prices (some of its monthly memberships run as low as $30), although nowadays it charges more for access to its “select” and “elite” venues. Drumm Farm, part of the “elite” group, features an 18-hole, Mike Hurdzan-designed course and a nine-hole, executive-length track. Landscapes Unlimited had owned the property since 2002.
Naples, Florida. Four years after making his initial investment in Southwest Florida’s golf business, Dick Klass has purchased a second golf property from Stock Development. Klass and his sons, who operate as Klass Capital Group, reportedly paid $8.2 million for Club at the Strand, a 17-year-old venue that features a 27-hole, Gordon Lewis-designed golf complex. “We think the timing is right to be buying clubs,” Klass told the Naples Daily News. The Strand is the centerpiece of a gated, 500-acre community whose more than 1,000 home owners are obligated to become club members. The property is said to be profitable, and Klass views himself as being in “a very long-term ownership position.” The Strand hosted an event on the LPGA Tour for three years in the late 1990s. It’ll complement the family’s Club at Grandezza in nearby Estero.
Muskegon, Michigan. One of Michigan’s oldest golf properties has changed hands. Last month a dozen investors operating as MCC Partners LLC reportedly paid a local bank “just north of $3 million” to clear the debt that’s been strangling Muskegon Country Club. “We are doing this for the long haul, solely to keep what is a historically significant and important community asset in Muskegon,” one of the investors told the Muskegon Chronicle. The new owners hope to attract dearly needed new members by reviving the 106-year-old venue and its 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course.
Lincolnton, North Carolina. A local developer has come to the rescue of Lincoln Country Club, whose existence had been threatened by money troubles. “I want to bring the Lincoln Country Club back to life,” Willie Heafner declared to the Lincoln Times-News. To do so, Heafner believes that he needs to sign roughly 200 new members, as the club currently has only about 150. Lincoln, which was founded in 1946, features an 18-hole, Peter Tufts-designed golf course.
Horicon, Wisconsin. The city of Horicon has agreed to sell its 18-hole golf course to a local course owner who claims to have “a history of taking distressed courses and turning them into facilities that we and our communities are proud of.” Lee Merkel has offered $420,000 for the Homer Fieldhouse-designed Rock River Hills Golf Course, which opened in 1969 and evidently needs the expertise he can offer. Merkel presumably made his reputation by conducting turnarounds at his two nearby golf properties, Golf Club at Camelot in Lomira and West Bend Lakes Golf Club in West Bend. He’s given Rock River Hills a new name -- Horicon Hills Golf Club -- and he’s pledged to operate the facility for at least five years. If he ever decides to sell it, the city has first dibs on the purchase.
Campton, New Hampshire. At a public auction last month, an unidentified group agreed to buy an 18-hole, Mark Mungeam-designed golf course in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The 16-year-old track is among the attractions at Owl’s Nest Resort, a nearly 600-acre spread that had recently been forced into foreclosure. Owl’s Next has been master-planned for 490 single-family houses and condos, but the Manchester Union Leader reports that only 112 lots have been sold. Tom Mullen, the community’s developer, believes that his real estate sales stagnated because prospective buyers didn’t want to live beneath the electrical transmission lines that a utility wants to build through the property. He sued to block the construction, but a court agreed with the utility’s argument, which was that Owl’s Nest “has suffered the effects of a deep recession.” The new owners, who bid just over $2 million for Mullen’s property, intend to complete the community’s build-out. Roughly speaking, they have until the end of the year to close on the transaction.
Brownsburg, Indiana. At an auction last month, a financially troubled golf property in suburban Indianapolis reportedly fetched more than $900,000. The winning bid on West Chase Golf Club was submitted by “a Hendricks County businessman” who has yet to be identified, although the Indianapolis Star has learned that he plans to continue operating the club and its 18-hole, Ron Kern-designed golf course. West Chase’s former owner, a group called Hole In One, Inc., had filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Estero, Florida. This news is getting cold, so it’s high time for me to note that West Bay Club now belongs to its members and residents of its accompanying, nearly completely built-out private community. The new owners paid an undisclosed price for the 15-year-old club, which features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Pete and P. B. Dye. The transaction took place in March 2014.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
The Week That Was, november 30, 2014
Dan Washburn, the author of The Forbidden Game, is hearing disturbing things about the state of the golf business in the People’s Republic. He’s heard, for example, that the industry is currently “in a full stop mode” and that “big-time golf development is absolutely over in China for the foreseeable future.” Among the reasons: Cooling real estate markets, severe water shortages, and stricter lending practices that have tightened the money supply. Also, the government is again enforcing its 10-year-old moratorium on golf construction and has sent shivers down the spines of developers by threatening to close as many as 100 existing golf courses. Though he’s viewed as an expert on golf in China, Washburn doesn’t know what to make of it all. “Maybe this is truly the end of the boom,” he muses. “Maybe it’s just another bump in the road.” Either way, those who still think that China is golf development’s promised land surely have another think coming.
New business ventures, including what’s been described as “a major branding deal” and “an increased devotion to digital,” are on the horizon for Nicklaus Companies. Within the next six months or so, according to a report in Forbes, Jack Nicklaus’ marketing apparatus plans to unveil Nicklaus-themed airport restaurants (how did we ever live without them?) and new food and beverage products (we all scream for ice cream!), and it may move the company into what a company official calls “golf entertainment.” Golf-course design will continue to be the firm’s primary line of business, but in recent years Nicklaus has supplemented the architectural division’s revenues by putting his name on apparel, wine, eye wear, household goods, home appliances, limited-edition pens, calendars, golf balls, memorabilia, and other mostly unnecessary stuff. Forbes says that the forthcoming ventures are an effort “to institutionalize the Nicklaus Companies’ brand so that it could live on indefinitely.” Next year, Nicklaus will celebrate his 75th birthday.
It’s going to be a really swell Christmas for the equity members of a private golf club in suburban Toronto. A residential developer has offered $412 million for the 400 acres occupied by York Downs Golf & Country Club, a price that values each member’s share at $200,000. The members haven’t yet agreed to the offer -- a vote will likely take place early next year -- but a sale appears to be foregone conclusion, seeing as how the club’s initiation fee had been only $30,000. “I don’t know how the club would exist if we turned this down,” a member told Global News Toronto. “It is simply too much money to ignore.” With its windfall, York Downs could conceivably relocate or buy out a competitor, but the news service reports that the idea “doesn’t seem to be gaining traction.” The members would prefer to take the money and run.
Graeme McDowell, the professional golfer from Northern Ireland, has registered a complaint about the “elitist” nature of golf. “We have to make the game cheaper, more accessible, faster, and more fun,” he wrote in a recent blog post for the BBC. “When I go to different parts of the world, I see that golf is still elitist. It doesn’t encourage people who can’t afford to play. We need nine-hole, par-3 courses, like the one I grew up on. I don’t understand why we don’t see more of that, especially in the United States.” McDowell deserves credit for drawing attention to one of the golf industry’s major problems, but he isn’t being honest when he suggests that he doesn’t know why nine-hole, par-3 tracks are so few and far between. And while we’re on the subject, it’s worth noting that life on the “elitist” PGA and European tours has benefited McDowell handsomely. Yahoo! Sports says that McDowell has earned nearly $27 million during his career, an amount that likely doesn’t include money earned from endorsements, investments, and other ancillary income streams. If McDowell thinks the golf business would be better off if it had a greater number of short, easy-to-play courses, he can certainly afford to build a few.
CEOs who are adept at keeping their eyes on the ball at the golf course often lose sight of it in their executive suites. According to a statistical analysis by a trio of college professors, the companies of CEOs who play more than 22 rounds of golf annually have “lower operating performance” than companies with CEOs who keep their noses somewhat closer to the grindstone. The professors came to their conclusion by analyzing the corporate performance of 363 U.S. chief executives who posted their golf scores at a USGA website, a practice that will undoubtedly soon end.
New business ventures, including what’s been described as “a major branding deal” and “an increased devotion to digital,” are on the horizon for Nicklaus Companies. Within the next six months or so, according to a report in Forbes, Jack Nicklaus’ marketing apparatus plans to unveil Nicklaus-themed airport restaurants (how did we ever live without them?) and new food and beverage products (we all scream for ice cream!), and it may move the company into what a company official calls “golf entertainment.” Golf-course design will continue to be the firm’s primary line of business, but in recent years Nicklaus has supplemented the architectural division’s revenues by putting his name on apparel, wine, eye wear, household goods, home appliances, limited-edition pens, calendars, golf balls, memorabilia, and other mostly unnecessary stuff. Forbes says that the forthcoming ventures are an effort “to institutionalize the Nicklaus Companies’ brand so that it could live on indefinitely.” Next year, Nicklaus will celebrate his 75th birthday.
It’s going to be a really swell Christmas for the equity members of a private golf club in suburban Toronto. A residential developer has offered $412 million for the 400 acres occupied by York Downs Golf & Country Club, a price that values each member’s share at $200,000. The members haven’t yet agreed to the offer -- a vote will likely take place early next year -- but a sale appears to be foregone conclusion, seeing as how the club’s initiation fee had been only $30,000. “I don’t know how the club would exist if we turned this down,” a member told Global News Toronto. “It is simply too much money to ignore.” With its windfall, York Downs could conceivably relocate or buy out a competitor, but the news service reports that the idea “doesn’t seem to be gaining traction.” The members would prefer to take the money and run.
Graeme McDowell, the professional golfer from Northern Ireland, has registered a complaint about the “elitist” nature of golf. “We have to make the game cheaper, more accessible, faster, and more fun,” he wrote in a recent blog post for the BBC. “When I go to different parts of the world, I see that golf is still elitist. It doesn’t encourage people who can’t afford to play. We need nine-hole, par-3 courses, like the one I grew up on. I don’t understand why we don’t see more of that, especially in the United States.” McDowell deserves credit for drawing attention to one of the golf industry’s major problems, but he isn’t being honest when he suggests that he doesn’t know why nine-hole, par-3 tracks are so few and far between. And while we’re on the subject, it’s worth noting that life on the “elitist” PGA and European tours has benefited McDowell handsomely. Yahoo! Sports says that McDowell has earned nearly $27 million during his career, an amount that likely doesn’t include money earned from endorsements, investments, and other ancillary income streams. If McDowell thinks the golf business would be better off if it had a greater number of short, easy-to-play courses, he can certainly afford to build a few.
CEOs who are adept at keeping their eyes on the ball at the golf course often lose sight of it in their executive suites. According to a statistical analysis by a trio of college professors, the companies of CEOs who play more than 22 rounds of golf annually have “lower operating performance” than companies with CEOs who keep their noses somewhat closer to the grindstone. The professors came to their conclusion by analyzing the corporate performance of 363 U.S. chief executives who posted their golf scores at a USGA website, a practice that will undoubtedly soon end.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
The Week That Was, november 23, 2014
China is still Asia’s (and most likely the world’s) number-one hot spot for golf development, according to a survey of architects commissioned by the Club Managers Association of Asia. The architects ranked Vietnam as the next-best land of opportunity, followed by Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. It’s worth noting, however, that many respondents have cooled on Asia, as they expressed worries about a range of issues including tougher water restrictions, the lack of growth among “native” golfers, China’s moratorium on construction, and an absence of financing. “Our research indicates that both present actions and the current wider sentiment held are signs of softening in the pace of new supply,” the report states. Spots six through 10 on the hot list are occupied by Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, and the Philippines.
A pair of U.S. investment groups has agreed to purchase a half-dozen golf properties owned by a financially beleaguered British hotelier. Boston-based Sankaty Advisors LLC (an affiliate of Bain Capital) and Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Advisors LLC will acquire five resort-style hotels with golf courses in England (among them Mottram Hall Club & Spa outside Manchester and Slaley Hall in Northumberland) and one in Scotland (Cameron House in Loch Lomond). A price hasn’t been announced, but so-called experts suggest that the sellers, De Vere Hotels and De Vere Luxury Lodges, will get something like £160 million ($250 million). De Vere had accumulated more than $1 billion in debt before it was taken over by Lloyds Banking Group, which has insisted that De Vere’s assets be liquidated. Seeing as how the new owners are investors and not operators, they’re unlikely to be in the golf business for long. Until they depart, QHotels, which had operated the properties for De Vere, will manage the properties.
The world’s most over-hyped chain of golf properties now has a presence in the Bahamas. The soon-to-open Jack Nicklaus “signature” course at Baha Mar, a casino-focused resort in Nassau, will become the 35th link in the PGA Tour’s network of Tournament Players Clubs. “The PGA Tour is thrilled to expand the TPC Network’s brand presence into the Caribbean for the first time,” the tour said in a press release. “TPC at Baha Mar truly epitomizes the standard of excellence and tournament-hosting capabilities for which TPC courses are recognized worldwide.” Baha Mar, which is controlled by Chinese investors, is the second property to join the TPC network in recent weeks. It’s surely just a coincidence, but the chain’s recently acquired property in Cartagena, Colombia features a Nicklaus Design course.
To secure their futures, a trio of golf clubs in suburban Melbourne, Australia may merge into a giant “super club.” All three are well-known, well-regarded, long-established Sandbelt venues with 18-hole courses: Rossdale Golf Club, which calls itself “Melbourne’s friendliest golf club”; Patterson River Golf Club, self-described as “by far the best value-for-money golf club in the area”; and Woodlands Golf Club, whose golf course is ranked by Golf Digest in Australia’s top 20. A recent study has determined that half of the golf clubs in Australia are under “financial duress,” and Inside Golf has predicted that 20 percent of metropolitan Melbourne’s clubs will either close or merge during the next decade. “It’s no secret that the slice of the pie for private membership is decreasing and the market is getting more competitive,” the general manager of a Melbourne-area club told the magazine last year. The merger won’t happen unless it’s approved by the members of all three clubs, and the negotiations could take a year or more to conclude.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
As they looked down the barrel of a $389,000 bill that they can’t pay, the members of Asheville Golf & Country Club voted to sell their property to McConnell Golf. The margin was 222 to 96. Over the next three years, John McConnell’s golf ownership and management entity will sink $4 million into the oldest private club in North Carolina, with a top-of-the-list project being a conversion to USGA-spec greens. “The overall plan is to protect the integrity of the golf course as Donald Ross first designed it,” McConnell told the Asheville Citizen-Times. A price wasn’t announced, but the newspaper reports that McConnell Golf will assume up to $2.3 million worth of the club’s debt. Presumably, the company will cover the $389,000 balloon payment that the club is obligated to make in February 2015.
What are those adages about chickens coming home to roost and letting sleeping dogs lie? I don’t remember them right now, but I’m sure they apply to the increasingly irrelevant Tiger Woods, who’s needlessly picked a public fight with Dan Jenkins of Golf Digest. Jenkins landed the first punch by writing a fabricated interview with the notoriously close-mouthed mega-star and serial adulterer, but his piece was flying largely under the radar until Woods published a far more publicized response and then dispatched his highly paid public-relations team to extract an apology from the magazine’s editors. Obviously, Jenkins touched some raw nerves, but it was Woods who, in the aftermath of Thanksgiving Day five years ago, reminded us of the often stark difference between image and reality. If Woods wants to know why people don’t like him anymore, maybe it’s because they’ve read and remembered what are allegedly his actual words.
A pair of U.S. investment groups has agreed to purchase a half-dozen golf properties owned by a financially beleaguered British hotelier. Boston-based Sankaty Advisors LLC (an affiliate of Bain Capital) and Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Advisors LLC will acquire five resort-style hotels with golf courses in England (among them Mottram Hall Club & Spa outside Manchester and Slaley Hall in Northumberland) and one in Scotland (Cameron House in Loch Lomond). A price hasn’t been announced, but so-called experts suggest that the sellers, De Vere Hotels and De Vere Luxury Lodges, will get something like £160 million ($250 million). De Vere had accumulated more than $1 billion in debt before it was taken over by Lloyds Banking Group, which has insisted that De Vere’s assets be liquidated. Seeing as how the new owners are investors and not operators, they’re unlikely to be in the golf business for long. Until they depart, QHotels, which had operated the properties for De Vere, will manage the properties.
The world’s most over-hyped chain of golf properties now has a presence in the Bahamas. The soon-to-open Jack Nicklaus “signature” course at Baha Mar, a casino-focused resort in Nassau, will become the 35th link in the PGA Tour’s network of Tournament Players Clubs. “The PGA Tour is thrilled to expand the TPC Network’s brand presence into the Caribbean for the first time,” the tour said in a press release. “TPC at Baha Mar truly epitomizes the standard of excellence and tournament-hosting capabilities for which TPC courses are recognized worldwide.” Baha Mar, which is controlled by Chinese investors, is the second property to join the TPC network in recent weeks. It’s surely just a coincidence, but the chain’s recently acquired property in Cartagena, Colombia features a Nicklaus Design course.
To secure their futures, a trio of golf clubs in suburban Melbourne, Australia may merge into a giant “super club.” All three are well-known, well-regarded, long-established Sandbelt venues with 18-hole courses: Rossdale Golf Club, which calls itself “Melbourne’s friendliest golf club”; Patterson River Golf Club, self-described as “by far the best value-for-money golf club in the area”; and Woodlands Golf Club, whose golf course is ranked by Golf Digest in Australia’s top 20. A recent study has determined that half of the golf clubs in Australia are under “financial duress,” and Inside Golf has predicted that 20 percent of metropolitan Melbourne’s clubs will either close or merge during the next decade. “It’s no secret that the slice of the pie for private membership is decreasing and the market is getting more competitive,” the general manager of a Melbourne-area club told the magazine last year. The merger won’t happen unless it’s approved by the members of all three clubs, and the negotiations could take a year or more to conclude.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
As they looked down the barrel of a $389,000 bill that they can’t pay, the members of Asheville Golf & Country Club voted to sell their property to McConnell Golf. The margin was 222 to 96. Over the next three years, John McConnell’s golf ownership and management entity will sink $4 million into the oldest private club in North Carolina, with a top-of-the-list project being a conversion to USGA-spec greens. “The overall plan is to protect the integrity of the golf course as Donald Ross first designed it,” McConnell told the Asheville Citizen-Times. A price wasn’t announced, but the newspaper reports that McConnell Golf will assume up to $2.3 million worth of the club’s debt. Presumably, the company will cover the $389,000 balloon payment that the club is obligated to make in February 2015.
What are those adages about chickens coming home to roost and letting sleeping dogs lie? I don’t remember them right now, but I’m sure they apply to the increasingly irrelevant Tiger Woods, who’s needlessly picked a public fight with Dan Jenkins of Golf Digest. Jenkins landed the first punch by writing a fabricated interview with the notoriously close-mouthed mega-star and serial adulterer, but his piece was flying largely under the radar until Woods published a far more publicized response and then dispatched his highly paid public-relations team to extract an apology from the magazine’s editors. Obviously, Jenkins touched some raw nerves, but it was Woods who, in the aftermath of Thanksgiving Day five years ago, reminded us of the often stark difference between image and reality. If Woods wants to know why people don’t like him anymore, maybe it’s because they’ve read and remembered what are allegedly his actual words.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Vital Signs, november 21, 2014
Remember when the golf industry set out to increase the number of U.S. golfers to 40 million by 2022? The plan hasn’t gone very well, has it? Since Golf 2.0 was unveiled, the number of U.S. golfers has fallen from roughly 26 million to about 23 million, and it continues to fall. In fact, the program is failing so miserably that it’s completely bummed out Jim Koppenhaver, who’s concluded that our nation won’t get anywhere near 40 million golfers during our lifetimes, even though the sport is as accessible as it’s ever been and as affordable as it’s ever going to be. “We won’t threaten 30 million U.S. golfers again in the near future, let alone any number north of that,” Koppenhaver grumbles in November’s Pellucid Perspective. His reasoning: “The very things that make our sport appealing to the current base are things that are barriers for the larger population.” On this subject, Koppenhaver’s thinking reflects a changing perspective in our business. Not so long ago, we believed we could establish a broad river of golf participation. Today, we’ve resigned ourselves to having a narrow but hopefully deep one. Absent some social or economic miracle, golf is going to be to sports what Van Morrison is to music.
The European Golf Course Owners Association has run the numbers, and it estimates that by 2020 the number of registered golfers in Europe, currently about 4.3 million, is going to drop by 18.6 percent, to 3.5 million. And that’s really not the worst of it, because as the continent’s golf population shrinks, it’s going to age dramatically. In its Vision 2020 policy paper on the future of the golf industry, the EGCOA reports that last year 56 percent of the registered golfers in five major golf markets -- France, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands -- were over 50 and that 33 percent were over 60. By 2020, the group says, 66 percent will be over 50 and 42 percent will be over 60. It behooves me to note that the EGCOA is making projections based on current trends and that trends can and often do change. That being said, the group’s data pretty much signals the end of all but boutique golf development in Europe, doesn’t it?
Until 2008, according to a study by McMahon Group, golf was the number-one reason people gave for joining a country club. Since then, however, golf has fallen to something like sixth on the list of attractions that prospective members seek. “They like golf and the golf culture, and probably someone in the family plays golf, but it’s difficult for them to justify country club membership on that basis alone,” McMahon’s president told the Detroit Free Press. “They are looking for more of a lifestyle model.” Talk of “lifestyle models” always frightens me, because it prompts visions of struggling golf communities whose residents love the lifestyle but not the golf itself. Inevitably, there comes a day when people have to choose what matters most to them, and when that day comes, position six is not the place to be.
Good news for those who believe that the golf industry goes as the housing market goes: The nation’s highest-priced houses are selling faster than any others on the market. In October, sales of houses priced at $1 million or more were up by 16 percent over the number sold in October 2013, and the second best-selling segment consisted of houses priced between $750,000 and $1 million, which were up by 12 percent. “People in the top 10 percent of wealth are really feeling confident now,” the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors told CNBC. If you’re wondering how working-class Americans are doing, sales of houses priced below $100,000 fell by 6 percent.
Warm weather, nice hotels, and easy airline connections are helping the Dominican Republic cash in on golf tourism. Last year, the nation welcomed 103,000 international travelers who came exclusively to golf, and this year it expects to attract 125,000, an increase of 21 percent. In all, according to figures provided by Property Showrooms, vacationing golfers contributed more than $198 million to the nation’s economy in 2013, and the amount is expected to surpass $297 million in 2016. Do you think Cuba is taking notice?
Whose is bigger, Greg Norman’s or Donald Trump’s? The correct answer: Trump’s, hands down, presuming that we’re merely talking about who has the biggest golf clubhouse in Dubai. It once appeared that Norman was going to be the Big Daddy, as the so-called Norman Clubhouse at Jumeirah Golf Estates supposedly measures out at 131,000 square feet and is said to be “a destination in its own right.” But though it may dwarf the local competition, it’s going to look puny compared to the 30,000-square-meter building -- a whopping 322,917 square feet -- that’s about to take shape at Trump International Golf Club Dubai. Damac Properties wants the clubhouse at its Trump-branded course to be “the largest of its kind in Dubai,” and -- for the time being, at least -- it’s succeeded. In Dubai, and elsewhere as well, size really does matter.
The European Golf Course Owners Association has run the numbers, and it estimates that by 2020 the number of registered golfers in Europe, currently about 4.3 million, is going to drop by 18.6 percent, to 3.5 million. And that’s really not the worst of it, because as the continent’s golf population shrinks, it’s going to age dramatically. In its Vision 2020 policy paper on the future of the golf industry, the EGCOA reports that last year 56 percent of the registered golfers in five major golf markets -- France, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands -- were over 50 and that 33 percent were over 60. By 2020, the group says, 66 percent will be over 50 and 42 percent will be over 60. It behooves me to note that the EGCOA is making projections based on current trends and that trends can and often do change. That being said, the group’s data pretty much signals the end of all but boutique golf development in Europe, doesn’t it?
Until 2008, according to a study by McMahon Group, golf was the number-one reason people gave for joining a country club. Since then, however, golf has fallen to something like sixth on the list of attractions that prospective members seek. “They like golf and the golf culture, and probably someone in the family plays golf, but it’s difficult for them to justify country club membership on that basis alone,” McMahon’s president told the Detroit Free Press. “They are looking for more of a lifestyle model.” Talk of “lifestyle models” always frightens me, because it prompts visions of struggling golf communities whose residents love the lifestyle but not the golf itself. Inevitably, there comes a day when people have to choose what matters most to them, and when that day comes, position six is not the place to be.
Good news for those who believe that the golf industry goes as the housing market goes: The nation’s highest-priced houses are selling faster than any others on the market. In October, sales of houses priced at $1 million or more were up by 16 percent over the number sold in October 2013, and the second best-selling segment consisted of houses priced between $750,000 and $1 million, which were up by 12 percent. “People in the top 10 percent of wealth are really feeling confident now,” the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors told CNBC. If you’re wondering how working-class Americans are doing, sales of houses priced below $100,000 fell by 6 percent.
Warm weather, nice hotels, and easy airline connections are helping the Dominican Republic cash in on golf tourism. Last year, the nation welcomed 103,000 international travelers who came exclusively to golf, and this year it expects to attract 125,000, an increase of 21 percent. In all, according to figures provided by Property Showrooms, vacationing golfers contributed more than $198 million to the nation’s economy in 2013, and the amount is expected to surpass $297 million in 2016. Do you think Cuba is taking notice?
Whose is bigger, Greg Norman’s or Donald Trump’s? The correct answer: Trump’s, hands down, presuming that we’re merely talking about who has the biggest golf clubhouse in Dubai. It once appeared that Norman was going to be the Big Daddy, as the so-called Norman Clubhouse at Jumeirah Golf Estates supposedly measures out at 131,000 square feet and is said to be “a destination in its own right.” But though it may dwarf the local competition, it’s going to look puny compared to the 30,000-square-meter building -- a whopping 322,917 square feet -- that’s about to take shape at Trump International Golf Club Dubai. Damac Properties wants the clubhouse at its Trump-branded course to be “the largest of its kind in Dubai,” and -- for the time being, at least -- it’s succeeded. In Dubai, and elsewhere as well, size really does matter.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
The Week That Was, november 16, 2014
It appears that John McConnell’s investment entity will soon add another golf property to its fast-growing portfolio. McConnell Golf, already the owner of eight private clubs in the Carolinas, has submitted the preferred bid on Country Club of Asheville, in part because it’s agreed to invest in overdue improvements at the 120-year-old venue in Asheville, North Carolina. “We were looking for someone willing to make a significant infusion of cash into the clubhouse and golf course to do renovations,” the club’s president told the Asheville Citizen-Times. The club features an 18-hole Donald Ross-designed golf course that originally opened, in 1928, as Beaver Lake Golf Course. According to the newspaper, the club’s members are expected to vote on the proposed purchase later this week.
In what’s been described as “a mutual parting of the ways,” Phil Mickelson’s proposed acquisition of Fairbanks Ranch Country Club has been scrapped. Had the transaction closed successfully, the club, in Rancho Santa Fe, California, would have been the sixth golf property owned by Mickelson-controlled investment groups. And though he swung and missed with Fairbanks Ranch, Mickelson deserves some credit for having a surprisingly rare diversification strategy. While other current and former performers on the PGA Tour’s stage look to supplement their incomes with easy pickings like wine-making and “signature” architecture, Mickelson is actually demonstrating faith in golf operations. His confidence in our business makes one wonder why the rest of professional golf’s superstars haven’t availed themselves of similar opportunities. As for Fairbanks Ranch, the real estate broker who’s marketing the club told Golf Digest that he has another prospective buyer in the wings and that an agreement is “very close.”
Yet again, some of golf’s major benefactors have been slapped with huge but ultimately meaningless fines in connection with a banking scandal. HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS, all of which have been in trouble with the law previously, are among five financial-industry conglomerates that have agreed to pay a combined $4.25 billion in fines because they conspired to rig the foreign currency markets. Golf no longer figures into UBS’s marketing program (it formerly sponsored the Players Championship and the Hong Kong Open), but HSBC and RBS are intimately connected to our business. HSBC writes the big checks for the Open Championship, and it underwrites professional events in -- follow the money -- China, Abu Dhabi, and Brazil, while RBS, a former patron of the Open Championship, works close to home, supporting activities organized by the Scottish Golf Union and the U.K.’s First Tee groups. For years, the people in golf who prowl for corporate cash have looked the other way when our most prominent partners are caught doing things they shouldn’t be doing, and because of this negligence, all of us in golf ought to be ashamed of ourselves. If our sport is truly supposed to be scrupulously honest, how can we justify doing business with these people?
Better late than never, Augusta National Golf Club has offered a membership to the chief executive of IBM, a longtime sponsor of the Masters. Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, who took the helm at the tech giant in 2012, has joined as the club’s third female member, joining former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Rainwater, Inc.’s Darla Moore. Since Rometty’s male predecessors at IBM had been invited to join Augusta National, her absence on the fabled grounds had become increasingly difficult to explain. Incidentally, the club didn’t accept Rometty for membership because of her golf game. She reportedly carries a handicap of 35.4.
Two of New Zealand’s oldest, most prominent golf clubs are once again discussing a marriage, one that Golf Club Management says “will comfortably be the biggest golf club merger in history.” Fit to be tied are Grange Golf Club and Royal Auckland Golf Club, which are located on adjacent property in suburban Auckland, on the North Island. Between them, the clubs have hosted every major amateur and professional championship the nation has to offer, including the New Zealand Open on numerous occasions. The wedding was proposed by Grange, which has experienced a sharp decline in membership over the past decade and has desperately been searching for a partner. It tried to hook up with Royal Auckland last year and with another local club prior to that, but both times its advances were rebuffed. If the current negotiations lead to the altar, GCM says that the new, bigger, and better club will feature a 27-hole complex created by Jack Nicklaus’ design firm.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 and May 2013 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
For the eighth time, the American Society of Golf Course Architects has chosen to bestow its highest honor upon a journalist. Next year’s Donald Ross Award will go to Bradley S. Klein, who’s published seven books on golf course history and architecture and currently serves as Golfweek’s architecture editor. “His critiques keep architecture in the public eye and start conversations about how design contributes so much to the essence of the game,” the ASGCA said in a press release. “We appreciate his skill in describing what we do and all that golf courses bring to our communities.” The press release notes that Klein, a former college professor, is also a member of the International Caddie Hall of Fame.
In what’s been described as “a mutual parting of the ways,” Phil Mickelson’s proposed acquisition of Fairbanks Ranch Country Club has been scrapped. Had the transaction closed successfully, the club, in Rancho Santa Fe, California, would have been the sixth golf property owned by Mickelson-controlled investment groups. And though he swung and missed with Fairbanks Ranch, Mickelson deserves some credit for having a surprisingly rare diversification strategy. While other current and former performers on the PGA Tour’s stage look to supplement their incomes with easy pickings like wine-making and “signature” architecture, Mickelson is actually demonstrating faith in golf operations. His confidence in our business makes one wonder why the rest of professional golf’s superstars haven’t availed themselves of similar opportunities. As for Fairbanks Ranch, the real estate broker who’s marketing the club told Golf Digest that he has another prospective buyer in the wings and that an agreement is “very close.”
Yet again, some of golf’s major benefactors have been slapped with huge but ultimately meaningless fines in connection with a banking scandal. HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS, all of which have been in trouble with the law previously, are among five financial-industry conglomerates that have agreed to pay a combined $4.25 billion in fines because they conspired to rig the foreign currency markets. Golf no longer figures into UBS’s marketing program (it formerly sponsored the Players Championship and the Hong Kong Open), but HSBC and RBS are intimately connected to our business. HSBC writes the big checks for the Open Championship, and it underwrites professional events in -- follow the money -- China, Abu Dhabi, and Brazil, while RBS, a former patron of the Open Championship, works close to home, supporting activities organized by the Scottish Golf Union and the U.K.’s First Tee groups. For years, the people in golf who prowl for corporate cash have looked the other way when our most prominent partners are caught doing things they shouldn’t be doing, and because of this negligence, all of us in golf ought to be ashamed of ourselves. If our sport is truly supposed to be scrupulously honest, how can we justify doing business with these people?
Better late than never, Augusta National Golf Club has offered a membership to the chief executive of IBM, a longtime sponsor of the Masters. Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, who took the helm at the tech giant in 2012, has joined as the club’s third female member, joining former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Rainwater, Inc.’s Darla Moore. Since Rometty’s male predecessors at IBM had been invited to join Augusta National, her absence on the fabled grounds had become increasingly difficult to explain. Incidentally, the club didn’t accept Rometty for membership because of her golf game. She reportedly carries a handicap of 35.4.
Two of New Zealand’s oldest, most prominent golf clubs are once again discussing a marriage, one that Golf Club Management says “will comfortably be the biggest golf club merger in history.” Fit to be tied are Grange Golf Club and Royal Auckland Golf Club, which are located on adjacent property in suburban Auckland, on the North Island. Between them, the clubs have hosted every major amateur and professional championship the nation has to offer, including the New Zealand Open on numerous occasions. The wedding was proposed by Grange, which has experienced a sharp decline in membership over the past decade and has desperately been searching for a partner. It tried to hook up with Royal Auckland last year and with another local club prior to that, but both times its advances were rebuffed. If the current negotiations lead to the altar, GCM says that the new, bigger, and better club will feature a 27-hole complex created by Jack Nicklaus’ design firm.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 and May 2013 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
For the eighth time, the American Society of Golf Course Architects has chosen to bestow its highest honor upon a journalist. Next year’s Donald Ross Award will go to Bradley S. Klein, who’s published seven books on golf course history and architecture and currently serves as Golfweek’s architecture editor. “His critiques keep architecture in the public eye and start conversations about how design contributes so much to the essence of the game,” the ASGCA said in a press release. “We appreciate his skill in describing what we do and all that golf courses bring to our communities.” The press release notes that Klein, a former college professor, is also a member of the International Caddie Hall of Fame.
Friday, November 14, 2014
The Pipeline, november 14, 2014
Taking their cues from Barnbougle Dunes, some abalone farmers in South Australia have set out to create a pair of destination-worthy, links-style golf courses on a stretch of remote oceanfront property roughly 175 miles south of Adelaide. Damian and Justin Scanlon want to build their Nora Creina Golf Resort on part of a 600-acre parcel just south of a coastal town called Robe. “It has to be one of the greatest courses of the world,” Justin Scanlon told the Sunday Mail. He added: “This has to be somewhere where people from the States, someone from Japan or China, says, ‘It’s one of the courses I have to go and play.’ ” The brothers’ first layout will be co-designed by Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford, who are hip to working in out-of-the-way places with the potential for great golf. These days, they’re also working on two projects in Tasmania, one on the southern part of the island and one near St. Helens. If Nora Creina’s first course is successful, the Scanlons will build a second.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Rees Jones, who made his reputation with challenging, target-style courses that tested the skills of the world’s most accomplished golfers, is changing with the times. His forthcoming links-style course in Iowa,
a drawing card for a casino in the northwestern corner of the state, was laid out on rolling, treeless terrain, and it takes the pressure off amateurs by offering a variety of routes to every hole. “Since the game of golf is supposedly waning a little bit, we are designing courses with less bunkering, more chipping areas, and smaller bunkers,” the New Jersey-based architect told Keloland TV. “I think the Falls is a perfect example of what golf of the future is going to be.” The Falls has opened nine holes for preview play. Its full 18 debuts in the spring of next year.
With deep-pocketed Russian investors, a Croatian hotelier has set out to build a pair of resorts, each with a 36-hole golf complex, on adjoining islands in the Adriatic Sea. Jadranka Hotels believes that the resorts -- one on Lošinj, the other on Cres -- will lure vacationers from Russia, Great Britain, and Scandinavia who might have otherwise traveled to spots on Croatia’s Istrian peninsula, or to somewhere else in the Mediterranean. The money for these ventures is coming from Jadranka’s new majority owners, Moscow-based brothers Alexei and Dmitry Ananijev, who are said to be worth $2.3 billion. They control Promsvyazbank, one of Russia's largest private banks, as well as office space and other assets in the capital city. Croatia isn’t currently a golf destination, although its tourism officials are eager to make it one. If Jadranka actually builds its courses, the size of the nation’s golf portfolio will effectively double.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Ain Al Emarat, one of several comatose golf ventures the Middle East, is on the cusp of its second life. Al Qudra Real Estate has set out to revive the gone-but-not-quite-forgotten community, which will take shape in the desert outside Al Ain, Abu Dhabi. The community’s featured attraction will be a Thomson Perrett & Lobb-designed golf course that was supposed to open in 2010. In 2007, when TPL won the commission, it described the site as “magical, pure links land” with “the potential to become a truly great golf course.” Ain Al Emarat has been master-planned to have enough housing for 120,000 residents along with a business district, a 40,000-seat sports stadium, a leisure and recreation center, and other attractions. Al Qudra believes the course “will thrill the residents of the UAE and its international golfing visitors.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
More than a decade after it opened, an upscale country club in Indian Wells, California has set out to complete its Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf complex. Since 2003, Toscana Country Club has operated with an 18-hole South course a 10-hole North course. But now, responding to pressure from the club’s members, Sunrise Company has expressed faith in the future of golf in the Coachella Valley. The Desert Sun says that the eight holes under construction are “the first holes to be built in the golf-rich desert in three years.” Toscana expects to grass the new holes next summer and to take the wraps off the completed North course by the end of 2015.
A Taiwanese construction company is looking to build an eco-resort, complete with a pair of 18-hole golf courses, in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province. In recent months, representatives from Happiness Cement Corporation (Taiwan) have toured several sites and reportedly have their eyes on 1,290 acres in Quảng Yen, a commune located just northeast of Hai Phong. Besides the golf courses, the to-be-named resort is expected to feature a hotel, entertainment venues, sports centers, and parks. The parties hope to begin welcoming vacationers by the end of the decade, or maybe in the early 2020s.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sometime next year, a tribal casino in Nebraska will debut an 18-hole, Paul Albanese-designed golf course. Tatanka Golf Club, which has been described as “Nebraska’s Sandhills with trees,” will serve as an amenity for the Santee Sioux Nation’s Ohiya Casino Resort in Niobrara. The course takes its name from a Lakota word for buffalo, and Albanese has routed some holes to within 20 feet of buffalo pens. “We felt it was important to have them within the course to be true to the culture of the area,” the Michigan-based architect explained in a press release. Albanese learned his trade from Jerry Matthews, Ray Hearn, and Pete Dye, and he established a firm with Chris Lutzke in 2004. So far he has just one solo design to his credit (Sweetgrass Golf Course in Harris, Michigan), but Tatanka offers him a marvelous chance to enhance his reputation.
Before the end of the year, tourism officials in Manipur, India hope to identify a private-sector partner willing to build an 18-hole golf course outside Imphal, the state’s capital. The 7,200-yard track, to be accompanied by a lodge with four rooms for overnight guests, will take shape on roughly 170 acres of state-owned property in the village of Nongmaiching. The nation’s ministry of tourism is expected to finance 25 percent of its construction costs. Manipur, one of India’s least-developed states, describes itself as “a paradise on Earth” and “the Switzerland of the East.” It aims to become “the great tourist discovery of the 21st century.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Most Chinese golfers prefer their courses to be lush and green, but Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley hope they’ll eventually develop a taste for more ancient versions of the game. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based duo has wrapped up construction on an 18-hole, links-style course on the edge of the Gobi Desert that they believe has “the potential to be one of the greatest courses ever built.” The daily-fee track, currently being called Dalu Dunes, is located in the town of Dalu, roughly 60 miles north of Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. “We hope this design will not only change the misconceptions of the game in China regarding overly manicured and watered courses,” Curley said in a press release, “but also inspire developers to seek out great, natural sites like those found here.” Dalu Dunes is being built by an affiliate of Inner Mongolia Yitai Group, a coal-focused energy company that ranks among China’s 250 largest corporations. The property will eventually sprout a hotel and other golf facilities, including an 18-hole par-3 course. The regulation-length track is expected to have its official opening in 2015.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Rees Jones, who made his reputation with challenging, target-style courses that tested the skills of the world’s most accomplished golfers, is changing with the times. His forthcoming links-style course in Iowa,
a drawing card for a casino in the northwestern corner of the state, was laid out on rolling, treeless terrain, and it takes the pressure off amateurs by offering a variety of routes to every hole. “Since the game of golf is supposedly waning a little bit, we are designing courses with less bunkering, more chipping areas, and smaller bunkers,” the New Jersey-based architect told Keloland TV. “I think the Falls is a perfect example of what golf of the future is going to be.” The Falls has opened nine holes for preview play. Its full 18 debuts in the spring of next year.
With deep-pocketed Russian investors, a Croatian hotelier has set out to build a pair of resorts, each with a 36-hole golf complex, on adjoining islands in the Adriatic Sea. Jadranka Hotels believes that the resorts -- one on Lošinj, the other on Cres -- will lure vacationers from Russia, Great Britain, and Scandinavia who might have otherwise traveled to spots on Croatia’s Istrian peninsula, or to somewhere else in the Mediterranean. The money for these ventures is coming from Jadranka’s new majority owners, Moscow-based brothers Alexei and Dmitry Ananijev, who are said to be worth $2.3 billion. They control Promsvyazbank, one of Russia's largest private banks, as well as office space and other assets in the capital city. Croatia isn’t currently a golf destination, although its tourism officials are eager to make it one. If Jadranka actually builds its courses, the size of the nation’s golf portfolio will effectively double.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Ain Al Emarat, one of several comatose golf ventures the Middle East, is on the cusp of its second life. Al Qudra Real Estate has set out to revive the gone-but-not-quite-forgotten community, which will take shape in the desert outside Al Ain, Abu Dhabi. The community’s featured attraction will be a Thomson Perrett & Lobb-designed golf course that was supposed to open in 2010. In 2007, when TPL won the commission, it described the site as “magical, pure links land” with “the potential to become a truly great golf course.” Ain Al Emarat has been master-planned to have enough housing for 120,000 residents along with a business district, a 40,000-seat sports stadium, a leisure and recreation center, and other attractions. Al Qudra believes the course “will thrill the residents of the UAE and its international golfing visitors.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
More than a decade after it opened, an upscale country club in Indian Wells, California has set out to complete its Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf complex. Since 2003, Toscana Country Club has operated with an 18-hole South course a 10-hole North course. But now, responding to pressure from the club’s members, Sunrise Company has expressed faith in the future of golf in the Coachella Valley. The Desert Sun says that the eight holes under construction are “the first holes to be built in the golf-rich desert in three years.” Toscana expects to grass the new holes next summer and to take the wraps off the completed North course by the end of 2015.
A Taiwanese construction company is looking to build an eco-resort, complete with a pair of 18-hole golf courses, in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province. In recent months, representatives from Happiness Cement Corporation (Taiwan) have toured several sites and reportedly have their eyes on 1,290 acres in Quảng Yen, a commune located just northeast of Hai Phong. Besides the golf courses, the to-be-named resort is expected to feature a hotel, entertainment venues, sports centers, and parks. The parties hope to begin welcoming vacationers by the end of the decade, or maybe in the early 2020s.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sometime next year, a tribal casino in Nebraska will debut an 18-hole, Paul Albanese-designed golf course. Tatanka Golf Club, which has been described as “Nebraska’s Sandhills with trees,” will serve as an amenity for the Santee Sioux Nation’s Ohiya Casino Resort in Niobrara. The course takes its name from a Lakota word for buffalo, and Albanese has routed some holes to within 20 feet of buffalo pens. “We felt it was important to have them within the course to be true to the culture of the area,” the Michigan-based architect explained in a press release. Albanese learned his trade from Jerry Matthews, Ray Hearn, and Pete Dye, and he established a firm with Chris Lutzke in 2004. So far he has just one solo design to his credit (Sweetgrass Golf Course in Harris, Michigan), but Tatanka offers him a marvelous chance to enhance his reputation.
Before the end of the year, tourism officials in Manipur, India hope to identify a private-sector partner willing to build an 18-hole golf course outside Imphal, the state’s capital. The 7,200-yard track, to be accompanied by a lodge with four rooms for overnight guests, will take shape on roughly 170 acres of state-owned property in the village of Nongmaiching. The nation’s ministry of tourism is expected to finance 25 percent of its construction costs. Manipur, one of India’s least-developed states, describes itself as “a paradise on Earth” and “the Switzerland of the East.” It aims to become “the great tourist discovery of the 21st century.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Most Chinese golfers prefer their courses to be lush and green, but Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley hope they’ll eventually develop a taste for more ancient versions of the game. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based duo has wrapped up construction on an 18-hole, links-style course on the edge of the Gobi Desert that they believe has “the potential to be one of the greatest courses ever built.” The daily-fee track, currently being called Dalu Dunes, is located in the town of Dalu, roughly 60 miles north of Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. “We hope this design will not only change the misconceptions of the game in China regarding overly manicured and watered courses,” Curley said in a press release, “but also inspire developers to seek out great, natural sites like those found here.” Dalu Dunes is being built by an affiliate of Inner Mongolia Yitai Group, a coal-focused energy company that ranks among China’s 250 largest corporations. The property will eventually sprout a hotel and other golf facilities, including an 18-hole par-3 course. The regulation-length track is expected to have its official opening in 2015.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
The Week That Was, november 9, 2014
In recent years Mike Keiser has been traipsing across the British Isles, searching for a site that he can transform into one of his patented build-it-and-they-will-come golf complexes. Now, finally, it appears that he’s found one. It’s a 1,200-acre spread along Inch Strand, in southwestern Ireland, and it’s said to have “unlimited potential” as a location for links golf. “When I first saw the property, 10 years ago, it looked like Pacific Dunes but even better,” Keiser told Golf magazine, referring to one of his tracks at Bandon Dunes. “What distinguished it from Pacific Dunes is that it feels like it’s on an island.” For close to 20 years, the site has been evangelized by Arthur Spring, a County Kerry-based golf architect who’s won the nod to design the initial 18. As a measure of his commitment, Keiser has assigned Jim Urbina to oversee course number one’s construction and to help identify the best land for course number two.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the December 2009 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Justin Timberlake took a major haircut when he sold Mirimichi, his golf complex in suburban Memphis, Tennessee. According to local property records, the pop-music megastar sold the 27-hole, 315-acre
complex for just $500,000, a price that appears to be a steal for the new ownership group. As I noted in last Sunday’s blog, Timberlake had reportedly sunk $16 million into Mirimichi -- nearly $900,000 on the purchase, $1.2 million on additional land purchases, and close to $14 million on upgrades. Money may not be everything, but it’s rare to see someone throw so much of it away.
For the second time this year, a heavyweight in the golf industry has decided to call it quits. George O’Grady, the CEO of the European Tour, hasn’t yet set a date for his departure, but he’ll likely leave office sometime next year, after he grooms his successor. Also stepping out the door in 2015 will be Peter Dawson, who’ll retire as the CEO of the R&A and the secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. O’Grady has been in office since 2005. The Guardian calls him “a generally popular leader” and believes that he leaves the European Tour “in generally good health,” but it concedes that “both he and the Tour are in need of a fresh start.” As for myself, I called for O’Grady’s dismissal in the pages of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report more than a year ago, after he made a tactless reference to “coloreds” and inexcusably failed to punish Sergio Garcia for putting his racial insensitivities on public display. I won’t miss O’Grady a bit. Goodbye and good riddance.
A British newspaper has all but named George O’Grady’s successor. The Telegraph writes that Guy Kinnings, the global head of golf for IMG, is “at the top of the [European] Tour’s shortlist of preferred candidates” to take O’Grady’s seat. Kinnings is an obvious choice, as during his more than 20 years at IMG he’s become intimately familiar with all the nooks and crannies of the European Tour, in particular its corporate benefactors, its media partners, and its top money-winners. What’s especially interesting is that, according to the Telegraph, Kinnings “is believed to have recently turned down the opportunity to become chief executive of the R&A.” Maybe he knows what’s on the horizon.
Gary Morse, who turned his father’s mobile-home park into the nation’s largest retirement community, died in late October. Morse developed the Villages, a 33-square-mile, virtually all-white, seniors-only enclave south of Ocala, Florida. Often imitated but never duplicated, the Villages redefined retirement living for a large part of the U.S. middle class, and its commercial enterprises -- among them golf courses (more than 40), health-care centers, a television station, a radio station, a bank, an insurance company, movie theaters, office space, and shopping areas -- helped to make the reclusive Morse fabulously wealthy. (Bloomberg estimates that his estate is worth $2.9 billion.) And because he never hesitated to write a check to conservative fundraisers, Morse was beloved in Republican political circles. He was 77. An obituary in the Villages’ newspaper didn’t report a cause of death.
Concert Golf Partners has taken a shine to undervalued golf properties in Indiana. Just weeks after it acquired a private club in Chesterton, the Newport Beach, California-based group has closed on Hawthorns Golf & Country Club in suburban Indianapolis. CGP reportedly paid $5.5 million for Hawthorns, a 279-acre facility that had been forced to declare for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. CGP has also reportedly agreed to repay some of the money -- the full amount is $10 million, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal -- that Hawthorns owes to current and former members. The club features an 18-hole, Arthur Hills-designed course that opened in 1994. With the acquisition, Concert now owns nine golf properties in Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma, and North Carolina.
Four Seasons Resorts has taken over management of Larry Ellison’s golf courses on Hawaii’s Lanai Island, and, as part of a “rebranding” strategy, the company has changed the courses’ names. The Challenge at Manele is now called Manele Golf Course, and the Experience at Koele is Koele Golf Course. Just curious: Does anyone out there think that the new names are better than the old ones?
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the December 2009 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Justin Timberlake took a major haircut when he sold Mirimichi, his golf complex in suburban Memphis, Tennessee. According to local property records, the pop-music megastar sold the 27-hole, 315-acre
complex for just $500,000, a price that appears to be a steal for the new ownership group. As I noted in last Sunday’s blog, Timberlake had reportedly sunk $16 million into Mirimichi -- nearly $900,000 on the purchase, $1.2 million on additional land purchases, and close to $14 million on upgrades. Money may not be everything, but it’s rare to see someone throw so much of it away.
For the second time this year, a heavyweight in the golf industry has decided to call it quits. George O’Grady, the CEO of the European Tour, hasn’t yet set a date for his departure, but he’ll likely leave office sometime next year, after he grooms his successor. Also stepping out the door in 2015 will be Peter Dawson, who’ll retire as the CEO of the R&A and the secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. O’Grady has been in office since 2005. The Guardian calls him “a generally popular leader” and believes that he leaves the European Tour “in generally good health,” but it concedes that “both he and the Tour are in need of a fresh start.” As for myself, I called for O’Grady’s dismissal in the pages of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report more than a year ago, after he made a tactless reference to “coloreds” and inexcusably failed to punish Sergio Garcia for putting his racial insensitivities on public display. I won’t miss O’Grady a bit. Goodbye and good riddance.
A British newspaper has all but named George O’Grady’s successor. The Telegraph writes that Guy Kinnings, the global head of golf for IMG, is “at the top of the [European] Tour’s shortlist of preferred candidates” to take O’Grady’s seat. Kinnings is an obvious choice, as during his more than 20 years at IMG he’s become intimately familiar with all the nooks and crannies of the European Tour, in particular its corporate benefactors, its media partners, and its top money-winners. What’s especially interesting is that, according to the Telegraph, Kinnings “is believed to have recently turned down the opportunity to become chief executive of the R&A.” Maybe he knows what’s on the horizon.
Gary Morse, who turned his father’s mobile-home park into the nation’s largest retirement community, died in late October. Morse developed the Villages, a 33-square-mile, virtually all-white, seniors-only enclave south of Ocala, Florida. Often imitated but never duplicated, the Villages redefined retirement living for a large part of the U.S. middle class, and its commercial enterprises -- among them golf courses (more than 40), health-care centers, a television station, a radio station, a bank, an insurance company, movie theaters, office space, and shopping areas -- helped to make the reclusive Morse fabulously wealthy. (Bloomberg estimates that his estate is worth $2.9 billion.) And because he never hesitated to write a check to conservative fundraisers, Morse was beloved in Republican political circles. He was 77. An obituary in the Villages’ newspaper didn’t report a cause of death.
Concert Golf Partners has taken a shine to undervalued golf properties in Indiana. Just weeks after it acquired a private club in Chesterton, the Newport Beach, California-based group has closed on Hawthorns Golf & Country Club in suburban Indianapolis. CGP reportedly paid $5.5 million for Hawthorns, a 279-acre facility that had been forced to declare for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. CGP has also reportedly agreed to repay some of the money -- the full amount is $10 million, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal -- that Hawthorns owes to current and former members. The club features an 18-hole, Arthur Hills-designed course that opened in 1994. With the acquisition, Concert now owns nine golf properties in Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma, and North Carolina.
Four Seasons Resorts has taken over management of Larry Ellison’s golf courses on Hawaii’s Lanai Island, and, as part of a “rebranding” strategy, the company has changed the courses’ names. The Challenge at Manele is now called Manele Golf Course, and the Experience at Koele is Koele Golf Course. Just curious: Does anyone out there think that the new names are better than the old ones?
Friday, November 7, 2014
Desolation Row, november 7, 2014
Shorewood, Minnesota. Just two years short of its 100th anniversary, Minnetonka Country Club has cashed in its chips. KARE-TV reports that the club’s course, with an original nine by Tom Bendelow, is one of 15 in greater Minneapolis that has closed since 2005. “The local players and the community do not like to see them go,” the executive director of the state’s golf association told the station, “but, unfortunately, it is a reality in our business.” Needless to say, Minnetonka was among the state’s oldest golf properties. Its owner, Bill Witrak, hopes to find a buyer, but he believes his property’s conversion to houses is “inevitable.”
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Circle the date: December 14, 2014. Assuming that his plans don’t change, that’s when Roy Clyburn will turn out the lights at Heron Point Golf Club, a venue that’s welcomed golfers on the Grand Strand since 1988. The club’s Willard Byrd-designed course needs to be upgraded, and Clyburn figures that an investment in his struggling property would be money down the drain. “I don’t think it would ever be profitable, not in this market,” he told the Myrtle Beach Sun-News. “Every course to some degree is struggling.” The good news for Clyburn: The club’s 155-acre property is zoned residential.
Colton, California. The city of Colton has decided to snuff out a golf course that was co-designed by Sam Snead and Robert Trent Jones. The executive-length track at Colton Golf Club got its start in 1963, as Sam Snead All-American Golf Club, and was reportedly one of 10 similarly short, lighted venues that Snead and Jones opened across the country. Bob Mastalski, who purchased the course and named it after the city in 1992, reportedly wants to give it a makeover, but the city has denied his request for permits. According to the Colton Courier, the master plan for the property calls for a shopping area, a hotel, and a university.
Dunnellon, Florida. The sands of time will soon run out on Rainbow Springs Golf & Country Club. If he can’t find a buyer -- and he’s been trying for more than three years -- Mark Kaprelian plans to close the 35-year-old club and its 18-hole, Joe Lee-designed golf course by the end of the year. Kaprelian reportedly paid $2.4 million for the property in 2010. When he listed it for sale, he was hoping to get $3 million for it.
Flint, Michigan. Mott Park Golf Course has been forsaken by its last, best hope. The citizens’ group that wished to reopen the city’s defunct, nine-hole track has abandoned its plans, citing restoration costs that it simply can’t justify. “In total, the whole renovation of the course would cost probably around $700,000 to $800,000,” a member of the group’s board told the Flint Journal. She and her colleagues aren’t willing to spend that kind of money, she said, because “golf is an old guy’s game.” Mott Park’s course opened in 1923. The citizens’ group hopes to operate a driving range on the property, along with a course for Frisbee golf.
Mahwah, New Jersey. The clock is ticking on KemperSports’ term as the operator of Apple Ridge Country Club. Ridgewood Real Estate Partners, the group that bought the club last summer, figures to maintain the club only until it can be transformed into something more profitable. “The intention is to develop it into housing at some point,” the club’s general manager told the Bergen Record. “However long that might take.” Apple Ridge features a Hal Purdy-designed course that opened in 1966. One of KemperSports’ goals was to attract new members, a task that may now prove to be impossible.
Magalia, California. A year after he put Paradise Pines Golf Course on the market, Bob Fortino has decided to cut his losses. He pulled the plug on his nine-hole track on Halloween. “The rounds of golf were not adequate to support ongoing operations and expenses,” he told the Paradise Post. Paradise Pines’ Bob Baldock-designed course opened in 1971. Fortino, the owner of a local property-management firm, claims not to have any plans for the 40-acre property, but the newspaper says he believes it’s “more valuable if it is used for other purposes.”
Peoria, Illinois. The Peoria Park District, facing what it says is a $1.36 million budget shortfall, has decided to save some money by closing one of its five golf properties. The sacrificial lamb will be Donovan Golf Course, an 18-hole layout that’s operated since 1929. The track will ring up its final rounds at the end of the 2014 golf season and eventually become a park. There’s a silver lining to this dark cloud, however: To make up for hurt feelings among some local golfers, the park district intends to invest in improvements at Newman Golf Course, an 18-hole track that opened in 1931 and desperately needs new greens.
Baytown, Texas. Back in April, Goose Creek Country Club bit the dust. A development group eager to build a subdivision had offered $3 million for the club’s property, but the Baytown Sun reports that the expected $3 million sale has fallen through. According to the newspaper, “the property now faces foreclosure and forced sale.”
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Circle the date: December 14, 2014. Assuming that his plans don’t change, that’s when Roy Clyburn will turn out the lights at Heron Point Golf Club, a venue that’s welcomed golfers on the Grand Strand since 1988. The club’s Willard Byrd-designed course needs to be upgraded, and Clyburn figures that an investment in his struggling property would be money down the drain. “I don’t think it would ever be profitable, not in this market,” he told the Myrtle Beach Sun-News. “Every course to some degree is struggling.” The good news for Clyburn: The club’s 155-acre property is zoned residential.
Colton, California. The city of Colton has decided to snuff out a golf course that was co-designed by Sam Snead and Robert Trent Jones. The executive-length track at Colton Golf Club got its start in 1963, as Sam Snead All-American Golf Club, and was reportedly one of 10 similarly short, lighted venues that Snead and Jones opened across the country. Bob Mastalski, who purchased the course and named it after the city in 1992, reportedly wants to give it a makeover, but the city has denied his request for permits. According to the Colton Courier, the master plan for the property calls for a shopping area, a hotel, and a university.
Dunnellon, Florida. The sands of time will soon run out on Rainbow Springs Golf & Country Club. If he can’t find a buyer -- and he’s been trying for more than three years -- Mark Kaprelian plans to close the 35-year-old club and its 18-hole, Joe Lee-designed golf course by the end of the year. Kaprelian reportedly paid $2.4 million for the property in 2010. When he listed it for sale, he was hoping to get $3 million for it.
Flint, Michigan. Mott Park Golf Course has been forsaken by its last, best hope. The citizens’ group that wished to reopen the city’s defunct, nine-hole track has abandoned its plans, citing restoration costs that it simply can’t justify. “In total, the whole renovation of the course would cost probably around $700,000 to $800,000,” a member of the group’s board told the Flint Journal. She and her colleagues aren’t willing to spend that kind of money, she said, because “golf is an old guy’s game.” Mott Park’s course opened in 1923. The citizens’ group hopes to operate a driving range on the property, along with a course for Frisbee golf.
Mahwah, New Jersey. The clock is ticking on KemperSports’ term as the operator of Apple Ridge Country Club. Ridgewood Real Estate Partners, the group that bought the club last summer, figures to maintain the club only until it can be transformed into something more profitable. “The intention is to develop it into housing at some point,” the club’s general manager told the Bergen Record. “However long that might take.” Apple Ridge features a Hal Purdy-designed course that opened in 1966. One of KemperSports’ goals was to attract new members, a task that may now prove to be impossible.
Magalia, California. A year after he put Paradise Pines Golf Course on the market, Bob Fortino has decided to cut his losses. He pulled the plug on his nine-hole track on Halloween. “The rounds of golf were not adequate to support ongoing operations and expenses,” he told the Paradise Post. Paradise Pines’ Bob Baldock-designed course opened in 1971. Fortino, the owner of a local property-management firm, claims not to have any plans for the 40-acre property, but the newspaper says he believes it’s “more valuable if it is used for other purposes.”
Peoria, Illinois. The Peoria Park District, facing what it says is a $1.36 million budget shortfall, has decided to save some money by closing one of its five golf properties. The sacrificial lamb will be Donovan Golf Course, an 18-hole layout that’s operated since 1929. The track will ring up its final rounds at the end of the 2014 golf season and eventually become a park. There’s a silver lining to this dark cloud, however: To make up for hurt feelings among some local golfers, the park district intends to invest in improvements at Newman Golf Course, an 18-hole track that opened in 1931 and desperately needs new greens.
Baytown, Texas. Back in April, Goose Creek Country Club bit the dust. A development group eager to build a subdivision had offered $3 million for the club’s property, but the Baytown Sun reports that the expected $3 million sale has fallen through. According to the newspaper, “the property now faces foreclosure and forced sale.”
Sunday, November 2, 2014
The Week That Was, november 2, 2014
An era has ended for Justin Timberlake. The pop superstar has sold Mirimichi, his eco-friendly, highly rated golf complex in suburban Memphis, Tennessee, to a group led by Fred Edmaiston, the owner of a local dust-control company. Timberlake didn’t say why he sold
Mirimichi -- the venue takes its name from an American Indian word that translates as “place of happy retreat” -- but the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that Edmaiston’s goal is “turning a profit by increasing the number of rounds played and tournaments planned at the course.” Mirimichi, a 27-hole facility, opened in the mid 1970s, as Big Creek Golf Course. Timberlake learned to play golf there. He bought the property in 2007 and gave it a cost-is-no-object makeover, hoping to lure, literally, a U.S. Open. At the debut of the redesigned track, he said, “I think this is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of in my life.” In all, Timberlake reportedly spent $16 million chasing his dream. Edmaiston, who appears to have lesser ambitions, intends to use Timberlake’s name in his marketing and advertising campaigns. Eventually, however, the facility will have to forge its own identity.
A Chinese group, intent on becoming what it calls “a serious global investor in country clubs and golf courses,” has acquired 22 public and private golf properties, all of them presumably in the United States. C-Bons International Golf Group hasn’t revealed the names of the properties that it purchased or how much it paid for them, but it cheerfully noted that the transaction is “a milestone acquisition” and that its “primary focus at this time is on the acquisition of golf properties in the recovering United States market.” And while C-Bons didn’t reveal the identity of the sellers, it said that the properties, at least some of which are in Texas and the Northeast, had been “operated in partnership with Century Golf Partners” and will continue to be managed by Century’s management subsidiary, Arnold Palmer Golf Management. Previously, C-Bons had purchased three golf properties in Arizona and one in Las Vegas, Nevada. It says that it expects to “acquire additional strategic golf courses in the near future.”
It seems that Donald Trump paid even less for the Lodge at Doonbeg than originally believed. The Independent, citing a filing made by the resort’s receivers, says that Trump picked up the 400-acre oceanfront property, in County Clare, Ireland, for just over €8.7 million (just under $10.9 million). The initial reports on the transaction speculated that the price was closer to €15 million (about $20.6 million), which was the amount that the receivers were asking for.
Less than two years after merging with a financially secure neighbor in suburban Richmond, Virginia, Lake Chesdin Golf Club has been cut loose, and its future is in doubt. Lake Chesdin had hoped to ensure its future by joining forces with Meadowbrook Country Club, but Meadowbrook has bailed on the arrangement, complaining in a letter to the clubs’ members that its partner “would no longer pay shared costs.” Before the merger, Lake Chesdin had been owned by ClubLink, the largest owner/operator in Canada’s golf industry. ClubLink continues to own an equity stake in the club, and its next move will likely be to help find a buyer.
Ted Bishop won’t get all the rights and privileges that his predecessors at the PGA of America have received, but he isn’t going to be disappeared. That’s the word from the PGA, which issued a “statement of clarification” about Bishop’s status after terminating him as the group’s president for making those much-discussed “insensitive gender-based statements.” According to the statement, “Bishop will continue to be recognized as the 38th president of the PGA, and his record of service during the time period which he served will remain intact.” Many reporters -- myself included -- believed Bishop when he said that he wouldn’t “be recognized as a past president in our association’s history.” Obviously, he was mistaken, and his interpretation of events caused many others to say things that they might like to take back, such as “The PGA did right by expelling him, wrong by banishing him from history” and “Having his entire tenure be stricken from the record carries a strong whiff of Stalinist erasure that reflects poorly on the PGA of America” and “The PGA apparently believes that history can, when desirable, be rewritten.” How long before we put this sorry episode behind us?
Before the Tim Bishop fiasco is consigned to the dustbin of history, it’s worth noting that a clear majority of high-profile U.S. golf instructors think the PGA of America’s 38th president got a raw deal. According to a survey by Golf magazine, 65 percent of our nation’s top 100 golf teachers believe that Bishop shouldn’t have lost his job on account of his inappropriate Twittering. “The only rational explanation for the Board of Director’s [sic] actions is that they were executing the wishes of an undisclosed entity within the organization,” one of the instructors commented. “And this individual or individuals were determined to eviscerate [Bishop] and then watch with satisfaction as he bled out on the street before them.” I can’t honestly say that the same thought didn’t cross my mind as well.
Dan Jenkins will be the first journalist to receive the Old Tom Morris Award, a lifetime achievement accolade that’s been bestowed annually since 1983 by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Jenkins, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has been writing about golf for more than 60 years and still remains unique in the profession. “Through his words,” said Keith Ihms, the GCSAA’s president, “we have all felt closer to the greats of the game.” Last year, the GCSAA gave the Old Tom Morris Award to Annika Sorenstam. Other winners include Bob Hope, Gerald Ford, and Dinah Shore.
Mirimichi -- the venue takes its name from an American Indian word that translates as “place of happy retreat” -- but the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that Edmaiston’s goal is “turning a profit by increasing the number of rounds played and tournaments planned at the course.” Mirimichi, a 27-hole facility, opened in the mid 1970s, as Big Creek Golf Course. Timberlake learned to play golf there. He bought the property in 2007 and gave it a cost-is-no-object makeover, hoping to lure, literally, a U.S. Open. At the debut of the redesigned track, he said, “I think this is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of in my life.” In all, Timberlake reportedly spent $16 million chasing his dream. Edmaiston, who appears to have lesser ambitions, intends to use Timberlake’s name in his marketing and advertising campaigns. Eventually, however, the facility will have to forge its own identity.
A Chinese group, intent on becoming what it calls “a serious global investor in country clubs and golf courses,” has acquired 22 public and private golf properties, all of them presumably in the United States. C-Bons International Golf Group hasn’t revealed the names of the properties that it purchased or how much it paid for them, but it cheerfully noted that the transaction is “a milestone acquisition” and that its “primary focus at this time is on the acquisition of golf properties in the recovering United States market.” And while C-Bons didn’t reveal the identity of the sellers, it said that the properties, at least some of which are in Texas and the Northeast, had been “operated in partnership with Century Golf Partners” and will continue to be managed by Century’s management subsidiary, Arnold Palmer Golf Management. Previously, C-Bons had purchased three golf properties in Arizona and one in Las Vegas, Nevada. It says that it expects to “acquire additional strategic golf courses in the near future.”
It seems that Donald Trump paid even less for the Lodge at Doonbeg than originally believed. The Independent, citing a filing made by the resort’s receivers, says that Trump picked up the 400-acre oceanfront property, in County Clare, Ireland, for just over €8.7 million (just under $10.9 million). The initial reports on the transaction speculated that the price was closer to €15 million (about $20.6 million), which was the amount that the receivers were asking for.
Less than two years after merging with a financially secure neighbor in suburban Richmond, Virginia, Lake Chesdin Golf Club has been cut loose, and its future is in doubt. Lake Chesdin had hoped to ensure its future by joining forces with Meadowbrook Country Club, but Meadowbrook has bailed on the arrangement, complaining in a letter to the clubs’ members that its partner “would no longer pay shared costs.” Before the merger, Lake Chesdin had been owned by ClubLink, the largest owner/operator in Canada’s golf industry. ClubLink continues to own an equity stake in the club, and its next move will likely be to help find a buyer.
Ted Bishop won’t get all the rights and privileges that his predecessors at the PGA of America have received, but he isn’t going to be disappeared. That’s the word from the PGA, which issued a “statement of clarification” about Bishop’s status after terminating him as the group’s president for making those much-discussed “insensitive gender-based statements.” According to the statement, “Bishop will continue to be recognized as the 38th president of the PGA, and his record of service during the time period which he served will remain intact.” Many reporters -- myself included -- believed Bishop when he said that he wouldn’t “be recognized as a past president in our association’s history.” Obviously, he was mistaken, and his interpretation of events caused many others to say things that they might like to take back, such as “The PGA did right by expelling him, wrong by banishing him from history” and “Having his entire tenure be stricken from the record carries a strong whiff of Stalinist erasure that reflects poorly on the PGA of America” and “The PGA apparently believes that history can, when desirable, be rewritten.” How long before we put this sorry episode behind us?
Before the Tim Bishop fiasco is consigned to the dustbin of history, it’s worth noting that a clear majority of high-profile U.S. golf instructors think the PGA of America’s 38th president got a raw deal. According to a survey by Golf magazine, 65 percent of our nation’s top 100 golf teachers believe that Bishop shouldn’t have lost his job on account of his inappropriate Twittering. “The only rational explanation for the Board of Director’s [sic] actions is that they were executing the wishes of an undisclosed entity within the organization,” one of the instructors commented. “And this individual or individuals were determined to eviscerate [Bishop] and then watch with satisfaction as he bled out on the street before them.” I can’t honestly say that the same thought didn’t cross my mind as well.
Dan Jenkins will be the first journalist to receive the Old Tom Morris Award, a lifetime achievement accolade that’s been bestowed annually since 1983 by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Jenkins, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has been writing about golf for more than 60 years and still remains unique in the profession. “Through his words,” said Keith Ihms, the GCSAA’s president, “we have all felt closer to the greats of the game.” Last year, the GCSAA gave the Old Tom Morris Award to Annika Sorenstam. Other winners include Bob Hope, Gerald Ford, and Dinah Shore.
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