La Dolce Vita! For the first time, the Ryder Cup is coming to Italy. The matches of 2022 will be held in suburban Rome, the Eternal City, at a golf course that’s ideally suited to host golf’s greatest team event except for the fact that it needs to be completely overhauled. The venue: Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, which Golf Digest doesn’t rank among the 10 best in the nation. Nonetheless, Italy was deemed “the country best qualified” to stage the event, according to the decision-makers at the European Tour, because it submitted a “bold and ambitious bid” that includes not just a promise to fund “a complete reconstruction of the golf course” but, perhaps more importantly, a guarantee to increase the purse at the Italian Open, currently €1.5 million ($1.63 million), to €7 million ($7.6 million) by 2017 and to hold it there for 11 years. To further maximize its revenue streams, the tour understands that the work on the golf course, a Jim Fazio layout, will almost certainly be done by one of its affiliated companies, European Golf Design. As an expression of its gratitude, the tour called Italy “a worthy gold medalist.”
Greg Norman has agreed to create an “incomparable” golf course for a rarely visited resort community that a Mexican development entity aims to transform into “the most exclusive and spectacular tourist destination in Latin America.” Norman’s layout will take shape on Caye Chapel Island in Belize, as part of a formerly bankrupt resort community that was created by the late Larry Addington, a coal magnate from Kentucky. Caye Chapel’s new owners, a group led by Thor Urbana Capital, intend to spiff up the property’s existing attractions -- including overnight accommodations and an air strip -- and add high-priced beachfront houses and other attractions. Though the new owners haven’t admitted it, Norman will be redesigning the community’s existing course, an 18-hole track that Addington laid out before he went broke. When the new Caye Chapel makes its formal debut, Thor Urbana and its partners believe it’ll be “the home and meeting point of international jet setters.”
ClubCorp has taken on the task of “building relationships and enriching lives” -- a phrase it’s trademarked -- at Bernardo Heights Country Club, its third golf property in the San Diego area. The publicly traded, Dallas, Texas-based company paid an undisclosed price for Bernardo Heights, a 32-year-old property that needs what a press release calls “a multimillion-dollar reinvention” involving both its Ted Robinson-designed golf course and its clubhouse. “A modernized clubhouse, combined with the renovations on the golf course, will make Bernardo Heights a top-tier country club in the San Diego region,” the club’s president said. “We look forward to this new chapter for the club.” According to the press release, Bernardo Heights is ClubCorp’s ninth acquisition of 2015. The company’s other golf properties in metropolitan San Diego are Morgan Run Club & Resort in Rancho Santa Fe and Shadowridge Golf Club in Vista.
It appears that the expected merger of the European and Asian golf tours can’t proceed without a thorough housecleaning in Singapore. Just days after the sudden, unexpected resignation of its CEO, Mike Kerr, the Asian Tour replaced four of its board members, without offering an explanation. Various sources indicate that the dismissals are a reaction to complaints made by some golfers on the Asian Tour, who apparently fear that the proposed merger is little more than a money grab orchestrated by the European Tour, with Kerr, an Irishman, acting as a possible co-conspirator. “Many top-rate players feel that Asia is the burgeoning market,” writes the New Paper, “and Europe is struggling with sponsorship.” The players believe that the new board members are, in the words of the newspaper, “men of clout and credibility” who won’t “sell the Asian Tour down the drain.”
Speaking of the European Tour, for the fourth time this year it’s added to its network of “branded” communities in desirable locations. Maxx Royal Belek Golf Resort, on Turkey’s sunny Mediterranean coast, has become the 17th link in the fast-growing chain of European Tour Properties, a group that includes high-priced spreads in Austria, England, France, Germany, Spain, and other nations. The tour’s invitation to Maxx Royal comes as no surprise for two reasons. First, Maxx Royal’s golf course, a Colin Montgomerie “signature” layout, was “ghost” designed by European Golf Design, a firm co-owned by the tour. Second, the course hosts the Turkish Airlines Open, an event on the tour’s international schedule. This year’s other additions to the tour’s real-estate network were Black Mountain Golf Club & Resort in Thailand, Saujana Golf & Country Club in Malaysia, and Mount Juliet Estate in Ireland.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Friday, December 18, 2015
The Pipeline, december 18, 2015
Haywood County, North Carolina. A former Walt Disney Company official has enlisted a trio of “signature” architects to create 18-hole golf courses for a “high-end lifestyle resort” in western North Carolina. Jerry Pospisil is counting on three of the best-known names in the business -- Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, and Arnold Palmer -- to attract vacationers and home buyers to his Cataloochee Wilderness Resort, which will take shape on 4,500 acres roughly 30 miles northwest of Asheville. The community’s master plan includes, among other things, housing, hotels, a village center with boutique shopping, a campground, an RV park, a ski area, an equestrian center, the obligatory spa, and “meandering pathways.” If the venture is blessed by the Securities & Exchange Commission, Pospisil believes he can achieve build-out within a decade or so.
Hà Nội, Vietnam. A company that views itself as “the leader in Vietnam’s tourism industry” has laid plans for a resort community outside Hà Nội that will feature three 18-hole golf courses created by architectural firms with international celebrity status. Vingroup, one of the premier developers in Vietnam’s fast-growing golf industry, intends to build Cau Duong on 680 acres along the Red River outside the capital city. The community will feature courses created by Gary Player Design, Faldo Design, and IMG Golf. Nota bene: None of the tracks will be “signature” layouts. Although Player’s course -- described as “a links-style course that exceeds 7,500 yards” -- will be the firm’s first in Vietnam, Nick Faldo and IMG will be working in familiar territory. Faldo’s firm has so far produced two courses in Vietnam (unfortunately, only one -- Laguna Lăng Cô Golf Club, along the Central Coast -- is currently operating), and Brit Stenson of IMG Golf has either designed or co-designed at least five, among them Colin Montgomerie’s track at Montgomerie Links outside Đà Nẵng. Stenson even has some history with Vingroup, as he designed the layout at the company’s Vinpearl Golf Club Nha Trang, on Hon Tre Island in Khánh Hòa Province.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
County Durham, England. Money talks, and the members of Darlington Golf Club have been listening. Darlington, which has operated in northern England for more than a century, will accept what’s been described as a “substantial sum of money” to leave its present home and relocate to nearby farmland. And there was hardly any debate over Theakston Estates’ proposal, as the club’s members endorsed it by a vote of 221 to 36. “We believe that this unique opportunity only comes around once in a lifetime and provides facilities and a solid financial base to take us forward into the future,” the club’s chairman told the Northern Echo. Theakston intends to build houses on Darlington’s Alister MacKenzie-designed course.
Harris, Michigan. Paul Albanese and Chris Lutzke have been commissioned to design an 18-hole course that will eventually rank among the top five in Michigan. The track will be the second for the Island Resort & Casino, a tribal property in the western part of the Upper Peninsula. “Just my opinion,” the resort’s general manager told the Detroit Free Press, “but the land is so good that if it’s not top five in the state for public courses, I think we will have screwed it up.” While the pressure may be on, the Plymouth, Michigan-based architects have already delivered two of the state’s top tracks. Albanese was responsible for the resort’s first course, Sweetgrass Golf Club, while Lutzke designed Eagle Eye Golf Club in suburban Lansing. Their forthcoming course Harris, to be located six miles from the casino, is expected to debut in 2017.
Queensland, Australia. A Cairns-based accountant has acquired Paradise Palms Resort & Country Club, and he’s intent on restoring it to the status it had in the 1990s, when it was one of Australia’s premier golf destinations. Darren Halpin and his Brisbane- and Sydney-based partners reportedly paid $20 million for Paradise Palms, a 280-acre spread outside Cairns that’s been called “the premier golfing facility in Tropical North Queensland.” Despite such notices, the resort had been controlled by receivers since 2013, when its former owners lost it to their lenders. Paradise Palms’ 18-hole golf course was co-designed by Graham Marsh and Ross Watson, who were, according to Darius Oliver of Planet Golf, directed to create “Australia's most difficult tournament venue.” The track formerly ranked among Australia’s truly elite courses, but in recent years, without committed ownership, it’s slipped a bit. “We are ranked 48th in Australia, and I would like to get in the top 20 to 25,” Halpin told the Cairns Post. “I would like to unlock the hidden gem that is here. I want to give the club its heart back and make it a red-hot cracker.” To finance the revitalization, Halpin intends to develop 850 housing units along the golf course, a plan that will require him to relocate hole #7 and the driving range.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Odisha, India. Government officials in the State of Odisha are hoping to jump-start a massive resort community that’s languished for more than a quarter-century. The resort is called Shamuka (or sometimes Shamuka Beach), and the state aims to build it on a 3,000-acre spread south of Puri, along the Bay of Bengal. Shamuka’s master plan calls for the construction of 13 hotels, a convention center, an entertainment district, a spa, a wellness center, a beach club, and various recreational attractions, including two 18-hole golf courses. The community is supposed to serve as “a one-stop rejuvenation facility for the mind, body, and soul” and offer “a strong and unique local culture-oriented experience.” It was originally proposed in the early 1990s but never went anywhere due to what the Pioneer calls a “lack of suitable investors and land acquisition problems.” Now the state is looking for private-sector developers again.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the July 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Munich, Germany. For probably the first time in golf-industry history, a golf venue is being built via crowd-funding. The venue, GolfCity München Puchheim, is operating on a leased former landfill in Munich, Germany, created by an entity affiliated with Clubhaus AG, a firm based in suburban Hamburg. (Clubhaus opened a similar facility in Cologne in 2008, without the crowd-funding.) GolfCity München Puchheim, about half constructed, will eventually feature a nine-hole course, a three-hole course, a driving range, and other practice facilities. Clubhaus believes such facilities are essential to growing the game, for they’re in densely populated areas and offer golf “without pressure and elitist constraints, but with good humor in a friendly, sporting atmosphere.” The company has already declared GolfCity München Puchheim to be a success, as it’s close to meeting its goal of raising €750,000 ($840,000). As in other crowd-funded ventures, the money was provided in small amounts by individual investors in exchange for a stake in the outcome.
Hà Nội, Vietnam. A company that views itself as “the leader in Vietnam’s tourism industry” has laid plans for a resort community outside Hà Nội that will feature three 18-hole golf courses created by architectural firms with international celebrity status. Vingroup, one of the premier developers in Vietnam’s fast-growing golf industry, intends to build Cau Duong on 680 acres along the Red River outside the capital city. The community will feature courses created by Gary Player Design, Faldo Design, and IMG Golf. Nota bene: None of the tracks will be “signature” layouts. Although Player’s course -- described as “a links-style course that exceeds 7,500 yards” -- will be the firm’s first in Vietnam, Nick Faldo and IMG will be working in familiar territory. Faldo’s firm has so far produced two courses in Vietnam (unfortunately, only one -- Laguna Lăng Cô Golf Club, along the Central Coast -- is currently operating), and Brit Stenson of IMG Golf has either designed or co-designed at least five, among them Colin Montgomerie’s track at Montgomerie Links outside Đà Nẵng. Stenson even has some history with Vingroup, as he designed the layout at the company’s Vinpearl Golf Club Nha Trang, on Hon Tre Island in Khánh Hòa Province.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
County Durham, England. Money talks, and the members of Darlington Golf Club have been listening. Darlington, which has operated in northern England for more than a century, will accept what’s been described as a “substantial sum of money” to leave its present home and relocate to nearby farmland. And there was hardly any debate over Theakston Estates’ proposal, as the club’s members endorsed it by a vote of 221 to 36. “We believe that this unique opportunity only comes around once in a lifetime and provides facilities and a solid financial base to take us forward into the future,” the club’s chairman told the Northern Echo. Theakston intends to build houses on Darlington’s Alister MacKenzie-designed course.
Harris, Michigan. Paul Albanese and Chris Lutzke have been commissioned to design an 18-hole course that will eventually rank among the top five in Michigan. The track will be the second for the Island Resort & Casino, a tribal property in the western part of the Upper Peninsula. “Just my opinion,” the resort’s general manager told the Detroit Free Press, “but the land is so good that if it’s not top five in the state for public courses, I think we will have screwed it up.” While the pressure may be on, the Plymouth, Michigan-based architects have already delivered two of the state’s top tracks. Albanese was responsible for the resort’s first course, Sweetgrass Golf Club, while Lutzke designed Eagle Eye Golf Club in suburban Lansing. Their forthcoming course Harris, to be located six miles from the casino, is expected to debut in 2017.
Queensland, Australia. A Cairns-based accountant has acquired Paradise Palms Resort & Country Club, and he’s intent on restoring it to the status it had in the 1990s, when it was one of Australia’s premier golf destinations. Darren Halpin and his Brisbane- and Sydney-based partners reportedly paid $20 million for Paradise Palms, a 280-acre spread outside Cairns that’s been called “the premier golfing facility in Tropical North Queensland.” Despite such notices, the resort had been controlled by receivers since 2013, when its former owners lost it to their lenders. Paradise Palms’ 18-hole golf course was co-designed by Graham Marsh and Ross Watson, who were, according to Darius Oliver of Planet Golf, directed to create “Australia's most difficult tournament venue.” The track formerly ranked among Australia’s truly elite courses, but in recent years, without committed ownership, it’s slipped a bit. “We are ranked 48th in Australia, and I would like to get in the top 20 to 25,” Halpin told the Cairns Post. “I would like to unlock the hidden gem that is here. I want to give the club its heart back and make it a red-hot cracker.” To finance the revitalization, Halpin intends to develop 850 housing units along the golf course, a plan that will require him to relocate hole #7 and the driving range.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Odisha, India. Government officials in the State of Odisha are hoping to jump-start a massive resort community that’s languished for more than a quarter-century. The resort is called Shamuka (or sometimes Shamuka Beach), and the state aims to build it on a 3,000-acre spread south of Puri, along the Bay of Bengal. Shamuka’s master plan calls for the construction of 13 hotels, a convention center, an entertainment district, a spa, a wellness center, a beach club, and various recreational attractions, including two 18-hole golf courses. The community is supposed to serve as “a one-stop rejuvenation facility for the mind, body, and soul” and offer “a strong and unique local culture-oriented experience.” It was originally proposed in the early 1990s but never went anywhere due to what the Pioneer calls a “lack of suitable investors and land acquisition problems.” Now the state is looking for private-sector developers again.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the July 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Munich, Germany. For probably the first time in golf-industry history, a golf venue is being built via crowd-funding. The venue, GolfCity München Puchheim, is operating on a leased former landfill in Munich, Germany, created by an entity affiliated with Clubhaus AG, a firm based in suburban Hamburg. (Clubhaus opened a similar facility in Cologne in 2008, without the crowd-funding.) GolfCity München Puchheim, about half constructed, will eventually feature a nine-hole course, a three-hole course, a driving range, and other practice facilities. Clubhaus believes such facilities are essential to growing the game, for they’re in densely populated areas and offer golf “without pressure and elitist constraints, but with good humor in a friendly, sporting atmosphere.” The company has already declared GolfCity München Puchheim to be a success, as it’s close to meeting its goal of raising €750,000 ($840,000). As in other crowd-funded ventures, the money was provided in small amounts by individual investors in exchange for a stake in the outcome.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
The Week That Was, december 13, 2015
Once again, Mike Keiser is stirring controversy in Oregon. Just months after the famed, influential developer gave up on his attempt to build a municipal golf complex south of Bandon Dunes, he’s now angling to build an 18-hole course on waterfront property outside Netarts, on the state’s northern coast. If Keiser’s proposal is approved, the track would take shape on property that he plans to lease from a Boy Scouts troop. Note to prospective architects: Coore & Crenshaw has already done a routing. “It’s a beautiful place,” Bill Coore has concluded. Coore didn’t say it, but the site appears to have something else going for it: It looks to be within an hour’s drive of Portland, which is as close as a Keiser complex ever comes to a major city.
While he contemplates his joint venture with the Boy Scouts, Mike Keiser also appears to be eager to revive the great dream of Bandon Muni, but with fewer holes and without the headaches associated with municipal golf. “I hope to do both,” the Chicago-based developer told Golf Advisor. “They could be really good.” Keiser still owns 300 acres south of Bandon Dunes, and these days he’s thinking about what fun it might be to get back to where he once belonged, building an 18-hole track on property that Gil Hanse, the course’s architect, describes as “spectacular.” If Keiser green-lights the venture, Hanse’s course would function as Bandon Dunes’ fifth 18-hole layout.
Regarding the 2020 or 2021 Open Championship, the one that’s been virtually guaranteed to Trump Turnberry: You can forget about it, at least until Donald “the Insulter” Trump rehabilitates his image in Europe and the Middle East. Although the power elites in the U.S. golf industry continue to implicitly support Trump, the Independent on Sunday writes that “his dream of handing over the trophy at the Open is in tatters” because the R&A, the event’s organizer, “has privately decided that his reputation is now so toxic” that his historic Scottish resort “can no longer host the game’s most prestigious tournament.” Nobody has so far been willing to talk on the record, but good old boys at the R&A have begun to say nasty things behind Trump’s back. “Turnberry will be back,” one of them told the newspaper, “but perhaps not Trump Turnberry.” Another one said, “Those who forecast worse would come, including warnings from our American cousins, have been proved correct.” And finally, according to a source who’s said to be “close to the championship committee,” during a recent discussion about Trump, “One word was thrown around: Enough.”
In recent months Donald Trump has insulted Mexicans, John McCain, Univision, Megan Kelly, women in general, Jews, the handicapped, and who knows how many others. Nonetheless, the R&A allowed his increasingly inane comments to slide until he proposed to build a wall around the United States that would deny entry to Muslims. But why was an attack on Muslims the straw that broke the camel’s back? Why didn’t Trump’s many previous insults provoke indignation at the organization that takes pride in being the custodian of golf’s glorious traditions? The Independent on Sunday provides the answer: “Middle East sovereign wealth,” it notes, “is a key element of European Tour golf sponsorship.” So if you’re thinking that the Powers That Be in golf have found a social conscience, think again: They’ll forever tolerate insults to people of all races, colors, and creeds, but they’ll absolutely, positively never offend those who pay the bills.
Speaking of pocket-book issues, just days after it dismissed any notion of severing ties with Donald Trump, a high-profile Middle Eastern developer has apparently reconsidered. Reuters reports that Damac Properties, the company building Trump International Golf Club Dubai (the venue with the Gil Hanse-designed course), has “stripped the property of his name and image.” It’s hard to figure exactly what Damac’s action signifies, because neither it nor Trump has commented on the matter, but both parties have much to lose. If the partnership ends, Damac would have to overhaul its marketing program, and it would likely be forced to offer refunds to everyone who’s already purchased a high-priced house in a community that’s supposed to feature a Trump-branded golf course. Things could potentially be far worse for Trump, however, for such a loss of face would likely prevent him from turning the Middle East into his next gravy train. While we wait for things to shake out, it’s worth noting that both of Trump’s ventures with Damac -- Trump International Golf Club Dubai and Trump World Golf Club Dubai (the venue with the Tiger Woods-designed course) -- are still listed as part of Trump Golf’s portfolio.
Although doors are being closed on Donald Trump in the Middle East, it appears that he’ll have to hurl many more racial and religious insults before he wears out his welcome with the U.S. golf business. None of the organizations that have scheduled upcoming events at Trump-branded golf properties -- the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, the U. S. Golf Association -- have as yet shown any inclination to relocate them. In fact, last week the PGA Tour, which professes to have “a strong commitment to an inclusive and welcoming environment,” announced that Trump National Doral Golf Club Miami will most definitely host the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championships. As far as subsequent events at the resort are concerned, the tour remains non-committal: “Immediately after the completion of the 2016 tournament,” it said in a press statement, “we will explore all options regarding the event’s future.” Anyone who believes such comments indicate that a change of venue is on the horizon is giving the tour too much credit.
While he contemplates his joint venture with the Boy Scouts, Mike Keiser also appears to be eager to revive the great dream of Bandon Muni, but with fewer holes and without the headaches associated with municipal golf. “I hope to do both,” the Chicago-based developer told Golf Advisor. “They could be really good.” Keiser still owns 300 acres south of Bandon Dunes, and these days he’s thinking about what fun it might be to get back to where he once belonged, building an 18-hole track on property that Gil Hanse, the course’s architect, describes as “spectacular.” If Keiser green-lights the venture, Hanse’s course would function as Bandon Dunes’ fifth 18-hole layout.
Regarding the 2020 or 2021 Open Championship, the one that’s been virtually guaranteed to Trump Turnberry: You can forget about it, at least until Donald “the Insulter” Trump rehabilitates his image in Europe and the Middle East. Although the power elites in the U.S. golf industry continue to implicitly support Trump, the Independent on Sunday writes that “his dream of handing over the trophy at the Open is in tatters” because the R&A, the event’s organizer, “has privately decided that his reputation is now so toxic” that his historic Scottish resort “can no longer host the game’s most prestigious tournament.” Nobody has so far been willing to talk on the record, but good old boys at the R&A have begun to say nasty things behind Trump’s back. “Turnberry will be back,” one of them told the newspaper, “but perhaps not Trump Turnberry.” Another one said, “Those who forecast worse would come, including warnings from our American cousins, have been proved correct.” And finally, according to a source who’s said to be “close to the championship committee,” during a recent discussion about Trump, “One word was thrown around: Enough.”
In recent months Donald Trump has insulted Mexicans, John McCain, Univision, Megan Kelly, women in general, Jews, the handicapped, and who knows how many others. Nonetheless, the R&A allowed his increasingly inane comments to slide until he proposed to build a wall around the United States that would deny entry to Muslims. But why was an attack on Muslims the straw that broke the camel’s back? Why didn’t Trump’s many previous insults provoke indignation at the organization that takes pride in being the custodian of golf’s glorious traditions? The Independent on Sunday provides the answer: “Middle East sovereign wealth,” it notes, “is a key element of European Tour golf sponsorship.” So if you’re thinking that the Powers That Be in golf have found a social conscience, think again: They’ll forever tolerate insults to people of all races, colors, and creeds, but they’ll absolutely, positively never offend those who pay the bills.
Speaking of pocket-book issues, just days after it dismissed any notion of severing ties with Donald Trump, a high-profile Middle Eastern developer has apparently reconsidered. Reuters reports that Damac Properties, the company building Trump International Golf Club Dubai (the venue with the Gil Hanse-designed course), has “stripped the property of his name and image.” It’s hard to figure exactly what Damac’s action signifies, because neither it nor Trump has commented on the matter, but both parties have much to lose. If the partnership ends, Damac would have to overhaul its marketing program, and it would likely be forced to offer refunds to everyone who’s already purchased a high-priced house in a community that’s supposed to feature a Trump-branded golf course. Things could potentially be far worse for Trump, however, for such a loss of face would likely prevent him from turning the Middle East into his next gravy train. While we wait for things to shake out, it’s worth noting that both of Trump’s ventures with Damac -- Trump International Golf Club Dubai and Trump World Golf Club Dubai (the venue with the Tiger Woods-designed course) -- are still listed as part of Trump Golf’s portfolio.
Although doors are being closed on Donald Trump in the Middle East, it appears that he’ll have to hurl many more racial and religious insults before he wears out his welcome with the U.S. golf business. None of the organizations that have scheduled upcoming events at Trump-branded golf properties -- the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, the U. S. Golf Association -- have as yet shown any inclination to relocate them. In fact, last week the PGA Tour, which professes to have “a strong commitment to an inclusive and welcoming environment,” announced that Trump National Doral Golf Club Miami will most definitely host the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championships. As far as subsequent events at the resort are concerned, the tour remains non-committal: “Immediately after the completion of the 2016 tournament,” it said in a press statement, “we will explore all options regarding the event’s future.” Anyone who believes such comments indicate that a change of venue is on the horizon is giving the tour too much credit.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Desolation Row, december 11, 2015
Rancho Cucamonga, California. First, the bad news: A developer wants to build an apartment complex and a retail center on the Arnold Palmer-designed Empire Lakes Golf Course. And now the good news: Randall Lewis promises to build “very nice housing for singles, couples, and retirees” on the nine-year-old, 160-acre layout. A series of public hearings has been scheduled, with a vote on a zoning change likely to come in the spring of next year.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a year of talking about it, the city has decided to quit supporting its least-played golf venue. A closing date for Howell Park Golf Course hasn’t yet been set, but the clock is ticking on the 5,779-yard layout. “Instead of a golf course which serves an average of 30 people per day, I prefer serving 3,000 with events, picnics, ball fields, fishing lakes, playgrounds, and other amenities,” a spokesperson for the East Baton Rouge Recreation & Parks Commission said in a press release. In making its decision, BREC acted on a recommendation from the National Golf Foundation, which reportedly believes that Howell Park, a layout that dates from the 1950s, generates the fewest rounds of any 18-hole course in the United States. The NGF has also advised BREC to close J. S. Clark Golf Course, a nine-hole track in Baker, but the agency has so far resisted the temptation.
Washburn, Illinois. At an auction in October, a farmer agreed to pay roughly $868,000 -- $6,200 an acre -- for Snag Creek Golf Course. Not surprisingly, Steve Byrd will soon be tilling the soil at the 18-hole track, which was designed and built by Maynard Christ in 1965. “It would have been nice to see it stay as a golf course,” Christ’s son, Tracy, told the Peoria Journal Star, “but there just wasn’t any interest.”
Montgomery, Alabama. A parade of owners gave it their best shots, but in the end not even footgolf could save Tallapoosa Lakes Golf Course. The 36-hole complex, built on land that had been in Jimmy Dozier’s family since 1937, was undone by a key metric: It rang up roughly 88,000 rounds in 1997, but this year the number is down to roughly 40,000. “It’s a sad situation that all of this is going away,” Dozier told the Montgomery Advertiser. “I just want the public to know that I tried all I could.” Dozier has agreed to sell the property to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the owners of a neighboring casino complex.
Anderson, South Carolina. With no serious buyers on the horizon, the plug has been pulled on Anderson Country Club. “We had hoped to sell it as a country club,” one of the club’s owners, Tony Saad, told the Anderson Independent Mail. “But the revenue generated simply will not support the operation of the club.” Anderson opened in 1918, with a nine-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed course. The second nine arrived in the early 1930s. Saad and his partners, Greg Saad and Dee Watkins, reportedly paid just over $900,000 for the 187-acre property in 2004. They put it on the market a little more than a year ago, hoping it would fetch $1.4 million.
Danville, Pennsylvania. “We thank you all for your patronage!” was the message from the LLC that owns Liberty Valley Country Club, which went belly up in late September. The LLC is hoping to find a buyer for the 18-hole, 25-year-old course.
Livermore, California. Just one year short of its 50th anniversary, Springtown Golf Course went out of business in mid October. Local golfers tried to save the nine-hole municipal layout, but the increasing cost of water and a significant decline in the number of rounds played -- down by 30 percent since 2008, according to the Contra Costa Times -- put the facility’s operator in a financial squeeze. The city says it would welcome new private-sector managers, but none have so far knocked at the door.
Gainesboro, Tennessee. Unless a buyer steps up, the lights will go out at Cumberland Bend Golf Course on New Year’s Eve. “I try not to think about it,” Duane Randolph said in a comment published by Club & Resort Business. “You put your heart and soul into something, you’d like to see it go on.” Randolph hopes to get $800,000 for Cumberland Bend’s nine-hole, 45-year-old track. A possible hang-up: Much of the course has been laid out on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
London, Kentucky. Crooked Creek Golf Course went dark on April Fools’ Day, and today, nine months later, an expected sale hasn’t yet materialized. Mike Nami bought Crooked Creek, an 18-hole, Brian Silva-designed layout, in 2007 and reportedly made $8 million worth of capital improvements. The investment didn’t pay off, however, because he was forced to close the course for a couple of weeks in 2012 while he negotiated with a prospective buyer. And now he’s closed it again. No telling where we go from here.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a year of talking about it, the city has decided to quit supporting its least-played golf venue. A closing date for Howell Park Golf Course hasn’t yet been set, but the clock is ticking on the 5,779-yard layout. “Instead of a golf course which serves an average of 30 people per day, I prefer serving 3,000 with events, picnics, ball fields, fishing lakes, playgrounds, and other amenities,” a spokesperson for the East Baton Rouge Recreation & Parks Commission said in a press release. In making its decision, BREC acted on a recommendation from the National Golf Foundation, which reportedly believes that Howell Park, a layout that dates from the 1950s, generates the fewest rounds of any 18-hole course in the United States. The NGF has also advised BREC to close J. S. Clark Golf Course, a nine-hole track in Baker, but the agency has so far resisted the temptation.
Washburn, Illinois. At an auction in October, a farmer agreed to pay roughly $868,000 -- $6,200 an acre -- for Snag Creek Golf Course. Not surprisingly, Steve Byrd will soon be tilling the soil at the 18-hole track, which was designed and built by Maynard Christ in 1965. “It would have been nice to see it stay as a golf course,” Christ’s son, Tracy, told the Peoria Journal Star, “but there just wasn’t any interest.”
Montgomery, Alabama. A parade of owners gave it their best shots, but in the end not even footgolf could save Tallapoosa Lakes Golf Course. The 36-hole complex, built on land that had been in Jimmy Dozier’s family since 1937, was undone by a key metric: It rang up roughly 88,000 rounds in 1997, but this year the number is down to roughly 40,000. “It’s a sad situation that all of this is going away,” Dozier told the Montgomery Advertiser. “I just want the public to know that I tried all I could.” Dozier has agreed to sell the property to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the owners of a neighboring casino complex.
Anderson, South Carolina. With no serious buyers on the horizon, the plug has been pulled on Anderson Country Club. “We had hoped to sell it as a country club,” one of the club’s owners, Tony Saad, told the Anderson Independent Mail. “But the revenue generated simply will not support the operation of the club.” Anderson opened in 1918, with a nine-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed course. The second nine arrived in the early 1930s. Saad and his partners, Greg Saad and Dee Watkins, reportedly paid just over $900,000 for the 187-acre property in 2004. They put it on the market a little more than a year ago, hoping it would fetch $1.4 million.
Danville, Pennsylvania. “We thank you all for your patronage!” was the message from the LLC that owns Liberty Valley Country Club, which went belly up in late September. The LLC is hoping to find a buyer for the 18-hole, 25-year-old course.
Livermore, California. Just one year short of its 50th anniversary, Springtown Golf Course went out of business in mid October. Local golfers tried to save the nine-hole municipal layout, but the increasing cost of water and a significant decline in the number of rounds played -- down by 30 percent since 2008, according to the Contra Costa Times -- put the facility’s operator in a financial squeeze. The city says it would welcome new private-sector managers, but none have so far knocked at the door.
Gainesboro, Tennessee. Unless a buyer steps up, the lights will go out at Cumberland Bend Golf Course on New Year’s Eve. “I try not to think about it,” Duane Randolph said in a comment published by Club & Resort Business. “You put your heart and soul into something, you’d like to see it go on.” Randolph hopes to get $800,000 for Cumberland Bend’s nine-hole, 45-year-old track. A possible hang-up: Much of the course has been laid out on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
London, Kentucky. Crooked Creek Golf Course went dark on April Fools’ Day, and today, nine months later, an expected sale hasn’t yet materialized. Mike Nami bought Crooked Creek, an 18-hole, Brian Silva-designed layout, in 2007 and reportedly made $8 million worth of capital improvements. The investment didn’t pay off, however, because he was forced to close the course for a couple of weeks in 2012 while he negotiated with a prospective buyer. And now he’s closed it again. No telling where we go from here.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
The Week That Was, december 6, 2015
Finally, the long overdue, Gil Hanse-designed Riserva Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro has celebrated its “soft” opening, with its official unveiling to come in the spring of next year. For the time being, though, forget that it’ll serve as the venue for the first golf competition that the Olympics have staged since 1904. Never mind that it represents the hopes and dreams of our industry’s institutional leaders, who are betting that it’ll spark both new and renewed interest in golf all over the world. Ignore the fact that it cost $16 million to build, and that its builder -- Pasquale Mauro, a billionaire -- is going to make a small fortune when he sells the condos that have arisen around it. Disregard Brazil’s chilly feelings for golf. Instead, concentrate on this: For as long as it stands, Riserva should remind us of a landmark moment in the history of golf design, the moment when the future of golf architecture was symbolically turned over to a new generation. Riserva might have been designed -- and, some have argued, should have been designed -- by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, or any one of the better-known old-timers who vied for the opportunity. Instead, the commission went to Hanse, a member of a younger crowd with altogether different ideas about how golf courses should look, feel, and play. It was a changing of the guard. With one fateful decision, golf’s past lost its grip on the present, and the future beckoned.
Callaway Golf doesn’t appear to have any regrets about its decision to start selling its products in India. “As the game is progressing, we are seeing huge growth opportunity,” Oliver “Chip” Brewer, the company’s CEO, told Hindu Business Line. Specifically, Callaway’s five-year-old Indian subsidiary is seeing 20 percent annual growth in sales of golf equipment, thanks mainly to increased corporate sponsorships and a healthy pace of construction. In fact, Brewer believes that India, which currently has roughly 250 courses, will add 50 or more over the next two years.
O.B. Sports has injected some life into Tucson, Arizona’s golf operations, but perhaps not enough to keep the lights on at all five of the city’s courses. Last year, despite increases in both income and the number of rounds played -- more than $1 million for the former, nearly 9,000 for the latter -- the city’s courses still managed to lose $1.1 million. As a result, the city’s debate over taxpayer-subsidized golf has been renewed. “We are going to have to make some hard decisions,” a councilmember told the Arizona Daily Star. Tucson’s city manager told Tucson News Now, “There has to be a conversation about potential closure, or at least scaling back of the golf operations.” City officials engaged in this same conversation two years ago, before they hired O.B. Sports to initiate a turnaround. Since then, according to the Star, O. B. Sports has “completed a facelift of the once-stodgy city golf operation,” and the playing conditions at the courses are “as good as they’ve been in more than 15 years, perhaps longer.” Unfortunately, Tucson’s golf courses have a problem that’s difficult to address: A debt load of nearly $8 million.
Donald “the Candidate” Trump was apparently not sold on buying the Puerto Rican golf course that bears his name. Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico, a bankrupt venue in Coco Beach, has been sold to a San Juan-based investment group called OHorizons LLC. For just $2.2 million, the LLC acquired a pair of 18-hole, Tom Kite-designed golf courses and a 46,000-square-foot clubhouse. The club was cheap because it’s been operating at a loss for close to a decade, a fact that was obviously not lost on Trump, who’d been “considering making a play” for the property. No word yet on whether OHorizons plans to retain Trump’s management, but Trump Golf no longer lists the property in its portfolio.
Callaway Golf doesn’t appear to have any regrets about its decision to start selling its products in India. “As the game is progressing, we are seeing huge growth opportunity,” Oliver “Chip” Brewer, the company’s CEO, told Hindu Business Line. Specifically, Callaway’s five-year-old Indian subsidiary is seeing 20 percent annual growth in sales of golf equipment, thanks mainly to increased corporate sponsorships and a healthy pace of construction. In fact, Brewer believes that India, which currently has roughly 250 courses, will add 50 or more over the next two years.
O.B. Sports has injected some life into Tucson, Arizona’s golf operations, but perhaps not enough to keep the lights on at all five of the city’s courses. Last year, despite increases in both income and the number of rounds played -- more than $1 million for the former, nearly 9,000 for the latter -- the city’s courses still managed to lose $1.1 million. As a result, the city’s debate over taxpayer-subsidized golf has been renewed. “We are going to have to make some hard decisions,” a councilmember told the Arizona Daily Star. Tucson’s city manager told Tucson News Now, “There has to be a conversation about potential closure, or at least scaling back of the golf operations.” City officials engaged in this same conversation two years ago, before they hired O.B. Sports to initiate a turnaround. Since then, according to the Star, O. B. Sports has “completed a facelift of the once-stodgy city golf operation,” and the playing conditions at the courses are “as good as they’ve been in more than 15 years, perhaps longer.” Unfortunately, Tucson’s golf courses have a problem that’s difficult to address: A debt load of nearly $8 million.
Donald “the Candidate” Trump was apparently not sold on buying the Puerto Rican golf course that bears his name. Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico, a bankrupt venue in Coco Beach, has been sold to a San Juan-based investment group called OHorizons LLC. For just $2.2 million, the LLC acquired a pair of 18-hole, Tom Kite-designed golf courses and a 46,000-square-foot clubhouse. The club was cheap because it’s been operating at a loss for close to a decade, a fact that was obviously not lost on Trump, who’d been “considering making a play” for the property. No word yet on whether OHorizons plans to retain Trump’s management, but Trump Golf no longer lists the property in its portfolio.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Transactions, december 4, 2015
Bradenton, Florida. An investment group consisting mainly of executives from Coral Hospitality has acquired Rosedale Golf & Country Club, a 22-year-old venue that features an 18-hole, Ted McAnlis-designed golf course. The new ownership group, CH6, didn’t announce a price, nor did the seller, Newton Developments. The Sarasota Observer reports that CH6 aims to turn Rosedale, the featured attraction of a gated community, into “the premier club in the area.” The group also intends to take the club private, a process that’s expected to take two to five years. One last thing: The Observer also reports that CH6 aims to acquire “about 25 to 40 clubs” in the area between Tampa and Naples over the next few years.
Fort Myers, Florida. As long as we’re discussing Coral Hospitality, it’s worth noting that another entity related to the Naples-based management company -- CH5-Eagle Ridge LLC -- acquired Eagle Ridge Golf Club earlier this year. The club’s Gordy Lewis-designed golf course opened in 1984. “Eagle Ridge’s natural beauty, player-friendly golf course, and exceptional location fits well within the strategic club acquisition plan we are aggressively pursuing,” the managing member of the ownership group told the Business Observer. CH5 paid $1.87 million for the 129-acre Eagle Ridge property. The seller was Redus Properties, Inc., an entity controlled by Wells Fargo Bank.
Loris, South Carolina. Chris Manning has exercised his option to buy Diamond Back Golf Course at Woodland Valley Country Club. Manning, a Myrtle Beach-based real estate investor, is selling houses in the Woodland Valley community, and he began leasing the 18-hole, Russell Breeden-designed golf course from Lee Rawcliffe earlier this year. Diamond Back is Manning’s second golf property. Earlier this year, he and some investor/partners bought Balsam Mountain Preserve, a 4,400-acre community in Sylva, North Carolina that features an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course.
Indio, California. A Canadian who admits to being “a little nutty” has purchased Indian Springs Golf Club. Ken Hanna was joking about being nutty, because he’s a successful businessman in Vancouver who’s been snow-birding to his second home in Indian Springs, a seniors-only community, for several years. “I worked on trying to buy it for, like, two years,” Hanna told the Desert Sun. “I was back and forth -- do I, do I not, do I, do I not. But I just saw the potential, and that is why we did it.” Indian Springs has an 18-hole golf course. A sales price hasn’t been disclosed, but the seller was asking for $6 million.
Hastings, Minnesota. A St. Paul-based investment group has reportedly paid $3.8 million for Hastings Country Club, a 140-acre spread that opened in 1947. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Hastings “has been saddled with debt and declining membership in recent years.” The clock began to tick on Hastings’ future as a private club last summer, when its 230 members refused to extend a lifeline in the form of a $2,000 assessment. (The vote was 97 percent against.) All Pro Holdings LLC, the property’s new owner, is now calling the venue as Dakota Pines Golf Club.
Bradenton, Florida. ClubCorp didn’t hang on to Legacy Golf Club for very long. Just eight months after purchasing the 18-year-old, Arnold Palmer-designed track, the Dallas, Texas-based private club operator has sold it to a group led by one of its former employees, Jon Whittemore. The price: $3.4 million, which represents a $300,000 profit. Legacy, a daily-fee layout that was built to help sell houses at Lakewood Ranch, is Whittemore’s third course in the area. Over the past year or so, he and his partner, Larry Galloway, have purchased two golf venues in Sarasota, Serenoa Golf Club and Rolling Green Golf Club. They also own golf properties in Arizona, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.
Milford, Connecticut. Sacred Heart University has agreed to pay $6 million for a 150-acre tract that includes Great River Golf Club. “We have been looking for good deals on land,” a spokesperson for the school told the Connecticut Post. “This is definitely a good deal.” Sacred Heart’s golf teams already practice at Great River, which features an 18-hole, Tommy Fazio-designed course, and before too long the university intends to make the club to anchor degree programs in golf and hospitality management. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year. Sacred Heart is buying the parcel from Fairfield-based United Properties, a company controlled by the family of Alfred Lenoci.
Lenoir City, Tennessee. Avalon Golf & Country Club, which reportedly has an appraised value of $3.7 million, has been sold at auction for $750,000 ($814,000 including fees). Tony Hollins, the CEO of Knoxville-based EdFinancial Services, placed the winning bid for the 150-acre property, which features an 18-hole, Joe Lee-designed golf course. The club is the centerpiece of a 20-year-old, 430-acre community that was developed Paul Gillenwater and David Burleson, both of whom are deceased. Their heirs have no interest in golf.
Devils Lake, North Dakota. This being the holiday season, the city of Devils Lake has accepted a gift: Creel Bay Golf Course. Creel Bay’s 250 members made the donation, though they plan to continue operating the facility’s bar and grill. “We will maintain our organization,” the president of Devils Lake Town & Country Club told the Grand Forks Herald. Creel Bay opened in the early 1920s, as a nine-hole layout, and it got a second nine in the early 1990s. The newspaper reports that the property is scheduled to change hands on January 1, 2016.
Naco, Arizona. Turquoise Valley Golf Course has been sold, but not to the fellow who was willing to pay $600,000 for it. Harold Vaubel made the high bid for Arizona’s oldest golf course at an auction in June, but he didn’t complete the transaction due to a medical issue. Pete Lawson has now agreed to sell Turquoise Valley to Bob Barnes and Dave Cartun, who offered $100,000 less than Vaubel. “Our strategy for making Turquoise Valley successful,” Barnes told the Sierra Vista Herald, “is to extend a friendly, quality, fun, and affordable experience not only to our Bisbee golfers but to the communities of Sierra Vista, Douglas, and the entire golfing and non-golfing community of Cochise County. We know we have to expand the focus to attract non-golfers.” In addition to the golf course, Barnes and Cartun are buying an RV park and a restaurant.
West Palm Beach, Florida. A development group led by Domenic J. Gatto has coughed up $26 million for President Country Club, a venue that once had 36 holes but now has just 18. The seller, an entity controlled by George T. Elmore, reportedly paid $11 million for the club in 2011, but last year he secured permission to add more than 100 single-family houses and vacation villas, a 250-room hotel, and a spa to the property. In other words, he added value to his property.
Fort Myers, Florida. As long as we’re discussing Coral Hospitality, it’s worth noting that another entity related to the Naples-based management company -- CH5-Eagle Ridge LLC -- acquired Eagle Ridge Golf Club earlier this year. The club’s Gordy Lewis-designed golf course opened in 1984. “Eagle Ridge’s natural beauty, player-friendly golf course, and exceptional location fits well within the strategic club acquisition plan we are aggressively pursuing,” the managing member of the ownership group told the Business Observer. CH5 paid $1.87 million for the 129-acre Eagle Ridge property. The seller was Redus Properties, Inc., an entity controlled by Wells Fargo Bank.
Loris, South Carolina. Chris Manning has exercised his option to buy Diamond Back Golf Course at Woodland Valley Country Club. Manning, a Myrtle Beach-based real estate investor, is selling houses in the Woodland Valley community, and he began leasing the 18-hole, Russell Breeden-designed golf course from Lee Rawcliffe earlier this year. Diamond Back is Manning’s second golf property. Earlier this year, he and some investor/partners bought Balsam Mountain Preserve, a 4,400-acre community in Sylva, North Carolina that features an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course.
Indio, California. A Canadian who admits to being “a little nutty” has purchased Indian Springs Golf Club. Ken Hanna was joking about being nutty, because he’s a successful businessman in Vancouver who’s been snow-birding to his second home in Indian Springs, a seniors-only community, for several years. “I worked on trying to buy it for, like, two years,” Hanna told the Desert Sun. “I was back and forth -- do I, do I not, do I, do I not. But I just saw the potential, and that is why we did it.” Indian Springs has an 18-hole golf course. A sales price hasn’t been disclosed, but the seller was asking for $6 million.
Hastings, Minnesota. A St. Paul-based investment group has reportedly paid $3.8 million for Hastings Country Club, a 140-acre spread that opened in 1947. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Hastings “has been saddled with debt and declining membership in recent years.” The clock began to tick on Hastings’ future as a private club last summer, when its 230 members refused to extend a lifeline in the form of a $2,000 assessment. (The vote was 97 percent against.) All Pro Holdings LLC, the property’s new owner, is now calling the venue as Dakota Pines Golf Club.
Bradenton, Florida. ClubCorp didn’t hang on to Legacy Golf Club for very long. Just eight months after purchasing the 18-year-old, Arnold Palmer-designed track, the Dallas, Texas-based private club operator has sold it to a group led by one of its former employees, Jon Whittemore. The price: $3.4 million, which represents a $300,000 profit. Legacy, a daily-fee layout that was built to help sell houses at Lakewood Ranch, is Whittemore’s third course in the area. Over the past year or so, he and his partner, Larry Galloway, have purchased two golf venues in Sarasota, Serenoa Golf Club and Rolling Green Golf Club. They also own golf properties in Arizona, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.
Milford, Connecticut. Sacred Heart University has agreed to pay $6 million for a 150-acre tract that includes Great River Golf Club. “We have been looking for good deals on land,” a spokesperson for the school told the Connecticut Post. “This is definitely a good deal.” Sacred Heart’s golf teams already practice at Great River, which features an 18-hole, Tommy Fazio-designed course, and before too long the university intends to make the club to anchor degree programs in golf and hospitality management. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year. Sacred Heart is buying the parcel from Fairfield-based United Properties, a company controlled by the family of Alfred Lenoci.
Lenoir City, Tennessee. Avalon Golf & Country Club, which reportedly has an appraised value of $3.7 million, has been sold at auction for $750,000 ($814,000 including fees). Tony Hollins, the CEO of Knoxville-based EdFinancial Services, placed the winning bid for the 150-acre property, which features an 18-hole, Joe Lee-designed golf course. The club is the centerpiece of a 20-year-old, 430-acre community that was developed Paul Gillenwater and David Burleson, both of whom are deceased. Their heirs have no interest in golf.
Devils Lake, North Dakota. This being the holiday season, the city of Devils Lake has accepted a gift: Creel Bay Golf Course. Creel Bay’s 250 members made the donation, though they plan to continue operating the facility’s bar and grill. “We will maintain our organization,” the president of Devils Lake Town & Country Club told the Grand Forks Herald. Creel Bay opened in the early 1920s, as a nine-hole layout, and it got a second nine in the early 1990s. The newspaper reports that the property is scheduled to change hands on January 1, 2016.
Naco, Arizona. Turquoise Valley Golf Course has been sold, but not to the fellow who was willing to pay $600,000 for it. Harold Vaubel made the high bid for Arizona’s oldest golf course at an auction in June, but he didn’t complete the transaction due to a medical issue. Pete Lawson has now agreed to sell Turquoise Valley to Bob Barnes and Dave Cartun, who offered $100,000 less than Vaubel. “Our strategy for making Turquoise Valley successful,” Barnes told the Sierra Vista Herald, “is to extend a friendly, quality, fun, and affordable experience not only to our Bisbee golfers but to the communities of Sierra Vista, Douglas, and the entire golfing and non-golfing community of Cochise County. We know we have to expand the focus to attract non-golfers.” In addition to the golf course, Barnes and Cartun are buying an RV park and a restaurant.
West Palm Beach, Florida. A development group led by Domenic J. Gatto has coughed up $26 million for President Country Club, a venue that once had 36 holes but now has just 18. The seller, an entity controlled by George T. Elmore, reportedly paid $11 million for the club in 2011, but last year he secured permission to add more than 100 single-family houses and vacation villas, a 250-room hotel, and a spa to the property. In other words, he added value to his property.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
The Week That Was, november 22, 2015
Howard Hughes Corporation has sold Club at Carlton Woods, a venue that’s been described as “the social and residential hub for the elite” at the Woodlands, a huge planned community north of Houston, Texas. HHC reports that the club, which features two 18-hole courses -- one designed by Jack Nicklaus, the other by Tom Fazio -- was a financial drain, as so far this year it’s lost $4.4 million. Nonetheless, the sale enabled the company to book “net cash proceeds of $25.1 million and a pre-tax gain of $29.1 million.” HHC didn’t identify Carlton Woods’ the new owner, and I can’t find any other reports of the transaction on the internets.
Persistent hard times in Victoria, Australia’s over-saturated golf market may lead to the creation of a “super club” in the world-famous Sandbelt. Three of the Melbourne area’s top golf properties -- Huntingdale Golf Club, Sandhurst Club, and Patterson River Golf Club -- have tentatively agreed to a merger, pending approval by their members. In a press release, Sandhurst’s chairman says that the proposal “brings together the most critical ingredients -- branding, capacity, and capital -- to ensure survival and prosperity in what is a tumultuous period in the golf industry.” Members of the “super club” will have access to 63 golf holes, according to the press release, which means that one of the clubs is going to lose nine of its holes. It’s hard to imagine the 18-hole, Charles Alison-designed course at Huntingdale -- “the Home of the Australian Masters” -- being touched, which suggests that the shrinkage will occur either at Sandhurst, a 36-hole complex that serves as the home of the PGA of Australia, or at Patterson River, which has been looking for merger partners for years and has apparently agreed to a “sale of excess land.” The proposed merger has been called “groundbreaking,” but it really isn’t. Half of the golf clubs in Australia are said to be operating under “financial duress,” and last year the editor of a golf publication in Australia predicted that as many as 20 percent of metropolitan Melbourne’s clubs will close over the next decade. A vote on the merger is expected to take place early next year.
Turkey has been itching to get into the Ryder Cup conversation for years, and now the president of the nation’s golf federation is taking dead aim on the event’s 2026 edition. “We will be the strongest bidder for 2026,” Ahmet Agaoglu vowed in a comment published by the Scotsman. “I will not die until I have the Ryder Cup played in this country.” Of course, it’s going to be a while before the European Tour and its partners pick a winner for an event that’s still more than a decade away. Come early December, though, the tour will reveal the last nation standing for the 2022 Ryder Cup. The Scotsman appears to be putting its money on Germany.
Persistent hard times in Victoria, Australia’s over-saturated golf market may lead to the creation of a “super club” in the world-famous Sandbelt. Three of the Melbourne area’s top golf properties -- Huntingdale Golf Club, Sandhurst Club, and Patterson River Golf Club -- have tentatively agreed to a merger, pending approval by their members. In a press release, Sandhurst’s chairman says that the proposal “brings together the most critical ingredients -- branding, capacity, and capital -- to ensure survival and prosperity in what is a tumultuous period in the golf industry.” Members of the “super club” will have access to 63 golf holes, according to the press release, which means that one of the clubs is going to lose nine of its holes. It’s hard to imagine the 18-hole, Charles Alison-designed course at Huntingdale -- “the Home of the Australian Masters” -- being touched, which suggests that the shrinkage will occur either at Sandhurst, a 36-hole complex that serves as the home of the PGA of Australia, or at Patterson River, which has been looking for merger partners for years and has apparently agreed to a “sale of excess land.” The proposed merger has been called “groundbreaking,” but it really isn’t. Half of the golf clubs in Australia are said to be operating under “financial duress,” and last year the editor of a golf publication in Australia predicted that as many as 20 percent of metropolitan Melbourne’s clubs will close over the next decade. A vote on the merger is expected to take place early next year.
Turkey has been itching to get into the Ryder Cup conversation for years, and now the president of the nation’s golf federation is taking dead aim on the event’s 2026 edition. “We will be the strongest bidder for 2026,” Ahmet Agaoglu vowed in a comment published by the Scotsman. “I will not die until I have the Ryder Cup played in this country.” Of course, it’s going to be a while before the European Tour and its partners pick a winner for an event that’s still more than a decade away. Come early December, though, the tour will reveal the last nation standing for the 2022 Ryder Cup. The Scotsman appears to be putting its money on Germany.
Friday, November 20, 2015
Vital Signs, november 20, 2015
The National Golf Foundation has counted the golf facilities in Asia, and last month the Jupiter, Florida-based trade group published a list of the nations with the most courses. The top five: Japan (2,374), China (469), South Korea (441), India (266), and Thailand (248).
Regarding those golf courses in South Korea: Some of them aren’t paying their taxes. Joongang Daily reports that government officials have discovered a golf-related “tax discrepancy” of ₩83.7 billion (about $72 million). The courses aren’t making their payments, the newspaper says, because they’re experiencing a “decline in customers, which has hurt their finances.” If you’re thinking that the decline can be explained in terms of supply and demand, try these numbers on for size: Between 2005 and 2014, the number of golf courses in South Korea increased by 115 percent, while the number of golfers increased by only 68 percent.
Japan’s golf business is also hurting. Since the early 1990s, says Bloomberg, the industry “has suffered a steady decline,” with the number of golfers falling by 30 percent. “There’s a sense of crisis,” the chairman of the Professional Golfers’ Association of Japan told the news service. “There’s no doubt the market is shrinking.” Bloomberg did manage to find evidence of growth, but it’s not the kind that bodes well for the future: Over the past decade, the number of golfers aged 70 and over in Japan has increased by 1 million.
A parade of “signature” golf architects has begun to make its way to Vietnam, and the Financial Times reports that the number of resident golfers in the nation now exceeds the number of golf tourists who annually come through the turnstiles. The score: 10,000 to 7,000. If this count is accurate -- and, for what it’s worth, a Chinese news service published the same number in 2013 -- then the nation should be congratulated for doubling the golf population it had in 1975, when the Vietnam War ended. And let’s keep this achievement in perspective: You can find more than 10,000 golfers in the Villages, Florida or Sun City, Arizona.
How much tourist traffic can two destination-worthy golf courses generate for a remote island located south of Melbourne, Australia? The numbers are still speculative, but King Island, part of the state of Tasmania, could more than double the 5,000 to 7,000 visitors that it welcomed last year when the much-anticipated new links -- Cape Wickham Golf Course and Ocean Dunes -- find their groove. Not all of the visitors will be golfers, to be sure, but Cape Wickham, which opened several weeks ago, has already taken 4,000 reservations, and the owners of Ocean Dunes, which is scheduled to debut its full 18 holes in early 2016, expect to ring up 8,000 rounds a year. What’s more, there’s an additional benefit that may accrue to King Island: The International Association of Golf Tour Operators has named Tasmania as 2015’s “undiscovered golf destination,” a designation that will most likely mean something to somebody.
Believe it or not, cynicism has begun to creep into U.S. politics. According to the Orlando Sentinel, an elected official in Orange County, Florida thinks that the owners of some golf courses in her jurisdiction might be deliberately “allowing their sprawling properties to fail” in an effort “to improve their prospects for redeveloping the acres into condos, shopping plazas, or something else more lucrative than golf.” Full disclosure: Similar thoughts have occasionally crossed my mind as well. When they do, however, I always tell myself that the owners of these struggling properties are probably just incompetent when it comes to golf operations. Either way, though, in the vast majority of cases they’re headed for a nice payday.
Regarding those golf courses in South Korea: Some of them aren’t paying their taxes. Joongang Daily reports that government officials have discovered a golf-related “tax discrepancy” of ₩83.7 billion (about $72 million). The courses aren’t making their payments, the newspaper says, because they’re experiencing a “decline in customers, which has hurt their finances.” If you’re thinking that the decline can be explained in terms of supply and demand, try these numbers on for size: Between 2005 and 2014, the number of golf courses in South Korea increased by 115 percent, while the number of golfers increased by only 68 percent.
Japan’s golf business is also hurting. Since the early 1990s, says Bloomberg, the industry “has suffered a steady decline,” with the number of golfers falling by 30 percent. “There’s a sense of crisis,” the chairman of the Professional Golfers’ Association of Japan told the news service. “There’s no doubt the market is shrinking.” Bloomberg did manage to find evidence of growth, but it’s not the kind that bodes well for the future: Over the past decade, the number of golfers aged 70 and over in Japan has increased by 1 million.
A parade of “signature” golf architects has begun to make its way to Vietnam, and the Financial Times reports that the number of resident golfers in the nation now exceeds the number of golf tourists who annually come through the turnstiles. The score: 10,000 to 7,000. If this count is accurate -- and, for what it’s worth, a Chinese news service published the same number in 2013 -- then the nation should be congratulated for doubling the golf population it had in 1975, when the Vietnam War ended. And let’s keep this achievement in perspective: You can find more than 10,000 golfers in the Villages, Florida or Sun City, Arizona.
How much tourist traffic can two destination-worthy golf courses generate for a remote island located south of Melbourne, Australia? The numbers are still speculative, but King Island, part of the state of Tasmania, could more than double the 5,000 to 7,000 visitors that it welcomed last year when the much-anticipated new links -- Cape Wickham Golf Course and Ocean Dunes -- find their groove. Not all of the visitors will be golfers, to be sure, but Cape Wickham, which opened several weeks ago, has already taken 4,000 reservations, and the owners of Ocean Dunes, which is scheduled to debut its full 18 holes in early 2016, expect to ring up 8,000 rounds a year. What’s more, there’s an additional benefit that may accrue to King Island: The International Association of Golf Tour Operators has named Tasmania as 2015’s “undiscovered golf destination,” a designation that will most likely mean something to somebody.
Believe it or not, cynicism has begun to creep into U.S. politics. According to the Orlando Sentinel, an elected official in Orange County, Florida thinks that the owners of some golf courses in her jurisdiction might be deliberately “allowing their sprawling properties to fail” in an effort “to improve their prospects for redeveloping the acres into condos, shopping plazas, or something else more lucrative than golf.” Full disclosure: Similar thoughts have occasionally crossed my mind as well. When they do, however, I always tell myself that the owners of these struggling properties are probably just incompetent when it comes to golf operations. Either way, though, in the vast majority of cases they’re headed for a nice payday.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
The Week That Was, november 15, 2015
One of the high flyers in China’s golf industry has acquired what appears to be its third U.S. golf property. HNA Group, the owner of more than a dozen golf venues in China, has reportedly paid $13.8 million for Hudson Valley Resort & Spa, a struggling, 550-acre spread in Kerhonkson, New York. The resort features an 18-hole, Hal Purdy-designed golf course that dates from the mid 1960s. HNA Group, which was founded as an aviation company, has a hospitality division that owns and/or manages more than 80 hotels in something like 30 Chinese cities. It owns seven golf properties on Hainan Island, among them Kangle Garden International Golf Club and Sun River Golf Club, and four others elsewhere in the People’s Republic. In the United States, it owns Nicklaus Club Monterey (formerly Pasadera Country Club) in Monterey, California and Somers Pointe Golf Club in Somers, New York. Two years ago, the company entered into a partnership with the Nicklaus empire’s Chinese affiliate, as part of an effort that was expected to “lead to the re-design and re-branding of many of the HNA facilities.” An investment group led by Eliot Spitzer (no, not the former governor) reportedly paid $18.5 million for Hudson Valley in 2006. Spitzer’s group filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010, and earlier this year Kennedy Funding, which had extended nearly $10 million in loans, foreclosed on the property. HNA Group reportedly plans to invest “millions and millions of dollars” in an effort to make Hudson Valley “a first-class facility.”
Despite what you may have read about the war being waged against golf in China -- dozens of courses being closed, golf being linked to “unclean behavior,” the Communist Party prohibiting its members from even setting foot in private golf clubs -- Agence France Presse reports that “there had been no slowdown in the building of new courses” in the People’s Republic. The news service got its scoop from Keith Pelley, the CEO of the European Tour, who insists that China is “committed to building 5,000 golf courses” for public play and doesn’t intend to deviate from its plan. “If you catapult ahead, in five to 10 years we will be having a completely different dialogue about golf in China,” Pelley explains. “Asia has significant potential to grow, and China will be a key part of the future of the game.” In other words, China remains the Promised Land for golf development. A little short-term pain will inevitably lead to long-term gain.
Seeking to open a new line of business, a California-based real-estate investment company has acquired an historic French chateau with an accompanying 18-hole golf course. Last month, Younan Properties paid an undisclosed price for Chateau du Petit Chene, which occupies 160 acres in Mazieres-en-Gatine, in the western part of the nation. According to a press release, the property is “a national treasured estate” and “a registered French historical monument.” It features what’s said to be a “spectacular” 18-hole, Robert Berthet-designed golf course and a six-hole pitch-and-putt track. Zaya Younan, the CEO of the new ownership group, says that Golf du Petit Chene “blends all three schools of golf design -- strategic, penal, and heroic -- throughout the course, often on a single hole.” The property’s chateau opened in the 1600s. The golf course dates from the late 1980s.
It took almost two years, but Newmark Group has finally closed on one of Canada’s premier golf properties. The home builder paid an undisclosed price for Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club, a deeply troubled minimalist icon outside Merritt, British Columbia. The six-year-old club currently checks in at #19 on Golf Digest’s list of Canada’s top courses, but it’s suffered from financial and legal problems since it opened and didn’t operate this year. Newmark hopes it can effect a turnaround by opening Sagebrush’s 18-hole course to the public and adding fractional vacation houses and a 32,000-square-foot clubhouse. “Unless you’re a golfer,” a company spokesman told the Merritt Herald, “there’s nothing to do up there.” Sagebrush was co-designed by Rod Whitman, Armen Suny, and Dick Zokol and was supposed to be a build-it-and-they-will-come destination. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
Despite what you may have read about the war being waged against golf in China -- dozens of courses being closed, golf being linked to “unclean behavior,” the Communist Party prohibiting its members from even setting foot in private golf clubs -- Agence France Presse reports that “there had been no slowdown in the building of new courses” in the People’s Republic. The news service got its scoop from Keith Pelley, the CEO of the European Tour, who insists that China is “committed to building 5,000 golf courses” for public play and doesn’t intend to deviate from its plan. “If you catapult ahead, in five to 10 years we will be having a completely different dialogue about golf in China,” Pelley explains. “Asia has significant potential to grow, and China will be a key part of the future of the game.” In other words, China remains the Promised Land for golf development. A little short-term pain will inevitably lead to long-term gain.
Seeking to open a new line of business, a California-based real-estate investment company has acquired an historic French chateau with an accompanying 18-hole golf course. Last month, Younan Properties paid an undisclosed price for Chateau du Petit Chene, which occupies 160 acres in Mazieres-en-Gatine, in the western part of the nation. According to a press release, the property is “a national treasured estate” and “a registered French historical monument.” It features what’s said to be a “spectacular” 18-hole, Robert Berthet-designed golf course and a six-hole pitch-and-putt track. Zaya Younan, the CEO of the new ownership group, says that Golf du Petit Chene “blends all three schools of golf design -- strategic, penal, and heroic -- throughout the course, often on a single hole.” The property’s chateau opened in the 1600s. The golf course dates from the late 1980s.
It took almost two years, but Newmark Group has finally closed on one of Canada’s premier golf properties. The home builder paid an undisclosed price for Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club, a deeply troubled minimalist icon outside Merritt, British Columbia. The six-year-old club currently checks in at #19 on Golf Digest’s list of Canada’s top courses, but it’s suffered from financial and legal problems since it opened and didn’t operate this year. Newmark hopes it can effect a turnaround by opening Sagebrush’s 18-hole course to the public and adding fractional vacation houses and a 32,000-square-foot clubhouse. “Unless you’re a golfer,” a company spokesman told the Merritt Herald, “there’s nothing to do up there.” Sagebrush was co-designed by Rod Whitman, Armen Suny, and Dick Zokol and was supposed to be a build-it-and-they-will-come destination. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
Friday, November 13, 2015
The Pipeline, november 13, 2015
County Limerick, Ireland. One of Ireland’s richest people apparently wants to transform his recently acquired golf course into “the Augusta of Europe.” J. P. McManus bought Adare Manor, an 847-acre resort in County Limerick, earlier this year, reportedly for €30 million ($32.9 million at the time). The property features a luxurious hotel, villas and townhouses, and an 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course that will receive a significant facelift. According to the Limerick Leader, “a number of holes” on the 20-year-old track -- the site of the Irish Open in 2007 and 2008 -- will be “completely redesigned.” The newspaper reports that McManus aims to bring the Irish Open back to the resort, and it speculates that he has an even greater ambition: To attract the Ryder Cup matches of 2026. It quotes an unnamed source as saying that McManus wants Adare Manor to become “the best golf resort in Europe.”
Noth, France. A British development duo has set out to create what they believe will be “a spectacular course” in the Limousin region of central France. Robin Barrasford and Alan Bird, the principals of Devon, England-based Barrasford & Bird Worldwide, are building the 18-hole, Bruce Weller-designed track at the Halcyon Retreat Golf & Spa Resort in a rural community in Département de la Creuse. Weller, who’s based in Surrey, England, has called Halcyon’s 220-acre property “a stunning landscape,” and Declan O’Malley of European Golf Services, the course’s builder, thinks it’s “a dream location for a fantastic parkland course.” Barrasford & Bird hopes to open Halcyon in 2017. The resort has an existing hotel, Château de la Cazine, which dates to the late 1890s and is said to offer “luxurious and indulgent” accommodations.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Åkersberga, Sweden. The Swedish golf star who famously compared the greens at this year’s U.S. Open venue to “broccoli” and “the surface of the moon” has been tabbed to overhaul a golf complex in suburban Stockholm. Henrik Stenson will put his “signature” on Österåkers Golf Club, a venue that’s hosted events on the LPGA and Swedish golf tours. He’ll undertake the makeover via his newly established design firm, Henrik Stenson Golf Design, which will be based in Orlando, Florida, where he makes his home. Österåkers features a pair of 18-hole “moorland” tracks, the Västerled and Österled layouts, and a nine-hole course. The club has directed Stenson to renovate the 18-hole courses and to create an elaborate practice facility, an undertaking that will require the existing nine-hole course to become a par-3 track. Christian Lundin, who apprenticed with Jeff Howes Golf Design and is now one of the architects at (re)Golf, will do the architectural heavy lifting for Stenson. He recently said that Stenson intends to “target golf projects in every corner of the globe.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam. A Hà Nội-based company aims to build a golf-themed resort community on a stretch of beachfront between the Quảng Ninh and Le Thuy districts in Quảng Bình Province. An Viet Investment & Infrastructure Development’s venture has been endorsed by Quảng Bình’s people’s committee as well as the Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam, which has agreed to finance up to 70 percent of its construction. An Viet hasn’t named the architects for the community’s 36-hole golf complex, but a likely candidate is Thomson Perrett, a South Melbourne, Australia-based firm led by Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett. Last year, the parties created An Viet Thomson Perrett JSC, an entity that aims to become “the pioneer in golf course design and development in Vietnam.”
Hengqin Island, China. A kingpin of the casino business on Macau is proceeding with plans to build a golf-focused resort community on Macau’s next-door neighbor. Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment Group has “entered into a framework agreement” with local authorities that will enable it to turn a 667-acre parcel on Hengqin Island into “a world-class destination resort.” GEG hasn’t provided any details about its plans, but one of its senior vice presidents told China Daily that the to-be-named community “will focus on leisure and entertainment, such as a golf course and a resort.” Hengqin is connected via bridge to Macau, where GEG has two massive casino complexes, Galaxy Macau and Broadway Macau, as well as other gaming properties. These days hardly anyone lives there (estimated population: less than 10,000), but the island’s population is expected to hit 280,000 by 2020, which means that home builders will be busy. GEG has had its eyes on Hengqin since at least 2013, when it originally floated an idea to build a golf-related venture there.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Iloko-Ijesha, Nigeria. The head of a civic-minded family in southwestern Nigeria is building an 18-hole golf course that’s been described as “a world-class facility.” The course is taking shape on 88 acres adjacent to Olashore International School and Royal Park International Hotel in Iloko-Ijesha, a rural town that aims to become an important commercial center. Prince Abimbola Olashore, the chairman of the school and the 89-room hotel, views golf as “a social game for networking and character building,” and he believes that Iloko-Ijesha can eventually become “a golf tourism destination.” Olashore has been working on the golf venture for five years. He hopes to open the layout’s first nine holes next year.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Be’er Sheva, Israel. The long wait for Israel’s second 18-hole golf course may soon be over. An “international-standard” track has been proposed in Be’er Sheva, in the southern part of the nation, on property adjacent to a pair of established business parks. According to the Jerusalem Post, the course will be part of a complex that includes meeting space, a resort-style hotel, a “medical spa hotel,” entertainment venues, movie theaters, a recreation center, an artificial lake, and places to eat and drink. “It will bring a wave of tourism to the region and new business deals,” a spokesperson for the Omer Regional Council, told the newspaper. Israel’s tourism ministry has been trying to spark golf development since 2010, when it collaborated with the nation’s land administration on a plan to build 16 “international-caliber” courses, including one in the Be’er Sheva area. So far, though, not one has been built. Israel’s golf offerings currently consist of just two properties: Caesarea Golf Club in Caesarea, an 18-hole track that was recently redesigned by Pete Dye, and Ga’ash Golf Club in Kibbutz Ga’ash, a nine-hole layout that opened in the late 1990s.
Noth, France. A British development duo has set out to create what they believe will be “a spectacular course” in the Limousin region of central France. Robin Barrasford and Alan Bird, the principals of Devon, England-based Barrasford & Bird Worldwide, are building the 18-hole, Bruce Weller-designed track at the Halcyon Retreat Golf & Spa Resort in a rural community in Département de la Creuse. Weller, who’s based in Surrey, England, has called Halcyon’s 220-acre property “a stunning landscape,” and Declan O’Malley of European Golf Services, the course’s builder, thinks it’s “a dream location for a fantastic parkland course.” Barrasford & Bird hopes to open Halcyon in 2017. The resort has an existing hotel, Château de la Cazine, which dates to the late 1890s and is said to offer “luxurious and indulgent” accommodations.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Åkersberga, Sweden. The Swedish golf star who famously compared the greens at this year’s U.S. Open venue to “broccoli” and “the surface of the moon” has been tabbed to overhaul a golf complex in suburban Stockholm. Henrik Stenson will put his “signature” on Österåkers Golf Club, a venue that’s hosted events on the LPGA and Swedish golf tours. He’ll undertake the makeover via his newly established design firm, Henrik Stenson Golf Design, which will be based in Orlando, Florida, where he makes his home. Österåkers features a pair of 18-hole “moorland” tracks, the Västerled and Österled layouts, and a nine-hole course. The club has directed Stenson to renovate the 18-hole courses and to create an elaborate practice facility, an undertaking that will require the existing nine-hole course to become a par-3 track. Christian Lundin, who apprenticed with Jeff Howes Golf Design and is now one of the architects at (re)Golf, will do the architectural heavy lifting for Stenson. He recently said that Stenson intends to “target golf projects in every corner of the globe.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam. A Hà Nội-based company aims to build a golf-themed resort community on a stretch of beachfront between the Quảng Ninh and Le Thuy districts in Quảng Bình Province. An Viet Investment & Infrastructure Development’s venture has been endorsed by Quảng Bình’s people’s committee as well as the Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam, which has agreed to finance up to 70 percent of its construction. An Viet hasn’t named the architects for the community’s 36-hole golf complex, but a likely candidate is Thomson Perrett, a South Melbourne, Australia-based firm led by Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett. Last year, the parties created An Viet Thomson Perrett JSC, an entity that aims to become “the pioneer in golf course design and development in Vietnam.”
Hengqin Island, China. A kingpin of the casino business on Macau is proceeding with plans to build a golf-focused resort community on Macau’s next-door neighbor. Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment Group has “entered into a framework agreement” with local authorities that will enable it to turn a 667-acre parcel on Hengqin Island into “a world-class destination resort.” GEG hasn’t provided any details about its plans, but one of its senior vice presidents told China Daily that the to-be-named community “will focus on leisure and entertainment, such as a golf course and a resort.” Hengqin is connected via bridge to Macau, where GEG has two massive casino complexes, Galaxy Macau and Broadway Macau, as well as other gaming properties. These days hardly anyone lives there (estimated population: less than 10,000), but the island’s population is expected to hit 280,000 by 2020, which means that home builders will be busy. GEG has had its eyes on Hengqin since at least 2013, when it originally floated an idea to build a golf-related venture there.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Iloko-Ijesha, Nigeria. The head of a civic-minded family in southwestern Nigeria is building an 18-hole golf course that’s been described as “a world-class facility.” The course is taking shape on 88 acres adjacent to Olashore International School and Royal Park International Hotel in Iloko-Ijesha, a rural town that aims to become an important commercial center. Prince Abimbola Olashore, the chairman of the school and the 89-room hotel, views golf as “a social game for networking and character building,” and he believes that Iloko-Ijesha can eventually become “a golf tourism destination.” Olashore has been working on the golf venture for five years. He hopes to open the layout’s first nine holes next year.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Be’er Sheva, Israel. The long wait for Israel’s second 18-hole golf course may soon be over. An “international-standard” track has been proposed in Be’er Sheva, in the southern part of the nation, on property adjacent to a pair of established business parks. According to the Jerusalem Post, the course will be part of a complex that includes meeting space, a resort-style hotel, a “medical spa hotel,” entertainment venues, movie theaters, a recreation center, an artificial lake, and places to eat and drink. “It will bring a wave of tourism to the region and new business deals,” a spokesperson for the Omer Regional Council, told the newspaper. Israel’s tourism ministry has been trying to spark golf development since 2010, when it collaborated with the nation’s land administration on a plan to build 16 “international-caliber” courses, including one in the Be’er Sheva area. So far, though, not one has been built. Israel’s golf offerings currently consist of just two properties: Caesarea Golf Club in Caesarea, an 18-hole track that was recently redesigned by Pete Dye, and Ga’ash Golf Club in Kibbutz Ga’ash, a nine-hole layout that opened in the late 1990s.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
The Week That Was, november 8, 2015
Put a microphone in front of them, and golf’s institutional leaders will on occasion say the darnedest things. Take Keith Pelley, the still wet-behind-the-ears CEO of the European Tour. Pelley thinks that China’s most recent attack on golf -- just weeks ago, the nation’s Communist Party prohibited its 88 million members from even setting foot in private golf clubs -- is, in his words, “an incredibly positive decision” and “an incredibly positive move by the Chinese government” that will eventually be viewed as being “incredibly supportive of the game.” Such an analysis is either complete nonsense or an incredibly shrewd interpretation of the doublespeak practiced by Chinese bureaucrats. Either way, my head is spinning. If the constant streams of negativity directed at golf in China are actually expressions of support, then truth and fiction have become indistinguishable. Keep an eye on Pelley. If he starts spouting lines like “war is peace” or “freedom is slavery,” run for the hills.
When it comes to calculating the value of his golf holdings, Donald “The $10 Billion Man” Trump might be prone to exaggeration. On the one hand, he tells the federal government that his golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York is worth at least $50 million, while on the other his lawyers say it’s worth only $1.4 million. Is it possible to determine the truth? Probably not, but Forbes, which has long antagonized Trump with its calculations of his net worth, has given it a try. The magazine has estimated the net value (the value minus the debt) of Trump’s golf properties, and they range from $3.5 million (the venue in Colts Neck, New Jersey) to $144 million (the Doral resort in Miami). After Doral, Forbes figures that Trump’s four most valuable properties are his clubs in Los Angeles ($92.5 million, thanks largely to the accompanying residential real estate); Turnberry, Scotland ($60 million); Bedminster, New Jersey ($40 million); and West Palm Beach, Florida ($32 million). The bottom of the barrel are his clubs in Colts Neck; Hopewell Junction, New York ($4.2 million); Pine Hill, New Jersey ($4.9 million); Aberdeen, Scotland ($14 million); and Doonbeg, Ireland (also $14 million). For the record, Trump says that Forbes’ reporters are “incompetent” and fixated on making him look “as poor as possible.” On this year’s 400, Trump checks in at #72, with a net worth of $4.5 billion.
The European Tour’s real estate arm has added what it believes is “one of Ireland’s finest parkland courses” to its fast-growing collection of “world-class” golf communities. Mount Juliet Estates, which features a Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course, has become the 16th link in the chain of high-prestige spreads marketed by European Tour Properties, the Continent’s equivalent of PGA Tour Properties. The group includes London Golf Club in England, Golf Club St. Leon-Rot in Germany, Black Mountain Golf Club in Thailand, and the Dutch in the Netherlands. Mount Juliet, in County Kilkenny, is the chain’s first property in Ireland and the third that the tour has signed this year. Mount Juliet’s course, ranked #13 in the nation by Golf Digest, hosted the Irish Open three times in the mid 1990s.
The identity of the “international investment group” that recently purchased one of Scott Oki’s golf properties in suburban Seattle, Washington has been revealed. It’s an entity called Kung Fu Panda, which Northwest Asian Weekly says is “owned by a Chinese American” and whose “owners” -- note the switch to the plural -- “also develop golf courses and hotels in China.” KFP, which has no apparent connections to the animated movie or to Pablo Sandoval, paid a still-undisclosed price for Golf Club at Echo Falls, which features an 18-hole, Jack Frei-designed golf course. The newspaper describes the 155-acre property as “a natural paradise with few people,” and one of KFP’s representatives says it was acquired because “it makes people feel comfortable and relaxing.”
When it comes to calculating the value of his golf holdings, Donald “The $10 Billion Man” Trump might be prone to exaggeration. On the one hand, he tells the federal government that his golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York is worth at least $50 million, while on the other his lawyers say it’s worth only $1.4 million. Is it possible to determine the truth? Probably not, but Forbes, which has long antagonized Trump with its calculations of his net worth, has given it a try. The magazine has estimated the net value (the value minus the debt) of Trump’s golf properties, and they range from $3.5 million (the venue in Colts Neck, New Jersey) to $144 million (the Doral resort in Miami). After Doral, Forbes figures that Trump’s four most valuable properties are his clubs in Los Angeles ($92.5 million, thanks largely to the accompanying residential real estate); Turnberry, Scotland ($60 million); Bedminster, New Jersey ($40 million); and West Palm Beach, Florida ($32 million). The bottom of the barrel are his clubs in Colts Neck; Hopewell Junction, New York ($4.2 million); Pine Hill, New Jersey ($4.9 million); Aberdeen, Scotland ($14 million); and Doonbeg, Ireland (also $14 million). For the record, Trump says that Forbes’ reporters are “incompetent” and fixated on making him look “as poor as possible.” On this year’s 400, Trump checks in at #72, with a net worth of $4.5 billion.
The European Tour’s real estate arm has added what it believes is “one of Ireland’s finest parkland courses” to its fast-growing collection of “world-class” golf communities. Mount Juliet Estates, which features a Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course, has become the 16th link in the chain of high-prestige spreads marketed by European Tour Properties, the Continent’s equivalent of PGA Tour Properties. The group includes London Golf Club in England, Golf Club St. Leon-Rot in Germany, Black Mountain Golf Club in Thailand, and the Dutch in the Netherlands. Mount Juliet, in County Kilkenny, is the chain’s first property in Ireland and the third that the tour has signed this year. Mount Juliet’s course, ranked #13 in the nation by Golf Digest, hosted the Irish Open three times in the mid 1990s.
The identity of the “international investment group” that recently purchased one of Scott Oki’s golf properties in suburban Seattle, Washington has been revealed. It’s an entity called Kung Fu Panda, which Northwest Asian Weekly says is “owned by a Chinese American” and whose “owners” -- note the switch to the plural -- “also develop golf courses and hotels in China.” KFP, which has no apparent connections to the animated movie or to Pablo Sandoval, paid a still-undisclosed price for Golf Club at Echo Falls, which features an 18-hole, Jack Frei-designed golf course. The newspaper describes the 155-acre property as “a natural paradise with few people,” and one of KFP’s representatives says it was acquired because “it makes people feel comfortable and relaxing.”
Sunday, November 1, 2015
The Week That Was, november 1, 2015
With Bandon Muni firmly in his rear-view mirror, Mike Keiser has officially put the pedal to the metal on his long-rumored golf venture in the Scottish Highlands. The course, to be called Coul Links (or Coul Links Beach), will be Keiser’s first in Scotland, and it’ll take shape on 350 acres just two miles north of Royal Dornoch Golf Club, the venue that inspired Keiser to create Bandon Dunes. Scottish Golf Travel reports that the Chicago, Illinois-based neo-classicist has hired Coore & Crenshaw to design the property’s stand-alone 18-hole track, a true links that will operate without any ancillary development -- no houses, no hotel, not even a clubhouse. Golfers will check in at Royal Dornoch and be shuttled to Coul Links. Bill Coore has reportedly visited the site twice, and Golf Advisor says that he believes it “might be the best ever.” Keiser recently told me that Coore and Ben Crenshaw are “dying” to get started, but they may have to wait a while, because Keiser and his partner, Todd Warnock -- the owner of a boutique hotel in Dornoch -- haven’t yet secured approvals and permits.
The investors who are about to open Tiger Woods’ first U.S. golf course are negotiating to build Woods’ second, in metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee. Dallas, Texas-based Beacon Land Development hopes to make a Woods-designed layout the centerpiece of Farms at Thompson’s Station, a 1,229-acre spread in Williamson County that will include 800 single-family houses, a music venue, a wellness center, a “town square” with retail and commercial space, and other attractions. Woods’ 27-hole complex at Beacon Land’s Bluejack National, a community outside Houston, Texas, is scheduled to open before the end of the year, and the parties are believed to be close to finalizing a contract for the golf course in Tennessee. “It would be great to have him to do this project,” a Beacon Land principal told the Tennessean. “We have a very good relationship with him.” Assuming all goes as planned, Beacon Land aims to break ground on Farms at Thompson’s Station in the spring of 2016.
One of Jack Nicklaus’ closest confidants has caught a glimpse of golf’s future, and it doesn’t include traditional golf courses. Howard Milstein, a co-chairman and minority owner of Nicklaus Companies, has acquired a piece of FlyingTee, a start-up company that aims to build a chain of interactive, golf-themed entertainment facilities across the planet. “They have both an operating concept and technology that we believe is the best in its space,” Milstein told Tulsa World. The company’s first complex, in suburban Tulsa, Oklahoma, is scheduled to open early next year, and yes, it resembles a Topgolf facility, in that it combines high-tech golf with eating and drinking. Milstein, one of America’s richest people (Forbes believes his family is worth $3.1 billion), has acquired the exclusive right to build and operate FlyingTee facilities in Asia, and it appears that South Korea, Japan, and China are his main targets. “They have very limited land for golf,” he said. “This could be a great solution for countries like that.” Bob Tway, Gil Morgan, and Scott Verplank have also invested in FlyingTee.
The world’s first Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, Glen Abbey Golf Club in suburban Toronto, Canada, has been put on the endangered list. The club has hosted 27 Canadian Open championships since it opened in 1976, and it serves as the home of both the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame & Museum and Golf Canada, the governing body of golf in the nation. All that aside, the club’s owner, ClubLink Corporation, has asked local officials to approve a plan that would turn the 230-acre property into a community of 3,000 houses flanked by office and retail space. ClubLink’s CEO, Rai Sahi, told the Globe & Mail that the filing is “a very preliminary thing” and guesstimated that Glen Abbey could continue to operate for five or 10 more years. The newspaper says that ClubLink paid $40 million for Glen Abbey in 1998, “a small fraction of its potential worth in the current real estate market.” Though many people are publicly moaning about ClubLink’s decision, it’s hard to gauge exactly how much Canada’s golf business will lose when Glen Abbey closes. While the club clearly has historical significance, Golf Digest doesn’t rank its course among Canada’s top 30.
Last year, Donald Trump said that the price he paid for the Lodge at Doonbeg “wouldn’t get you an apartment” at some of his residential properties in Manhattan. Well, today we know exactly how much he paid for the Irish property that now operates as Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg: €14.4 million, which currently translates to roughly $15.8 million. According to the Irish Independent, the property’s Greg Norman-designed golf course was valued at €2.6 million, or just over $2.86 million.
By now you’ve no doubt heard that China’s Communist Party, in an attempt to root out corruption, has officially put golf on its Shit List, along with “keeping paramours and conducting adultery” and engaging in “extravagant eating and drinking.” Will the last architect in the Shanghai airport please turn out the lights?
The investors who are about to open Tiger Woods’ first U.S. golf course are negotiating to build Woods’ second, in metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee. Dallas, Texas-based Beacon Land Development hopes to make a Woods-designed layout the centerpiece of Farms at Thompson’s Station, a 1,229-acre spread in Williamson County that will include 800 single-family houses, a music venue, a wellness center, a “town square” with retail and commercial space, and other attractions. Woods’ 27-hole complex at Beacon Land’s Bluejack National, a community outside Houston, Texas, is scheduled to open before the end of the year, and the parties are believed to be close to finalizing a contract for the golf course in Tennessee. “It would be great to have him to do this project,” a Beacon Land principal told the Tennessean. “We have a very good relationship with him.” Assuming all goes as planned, Beacon Land aims to break ground on Farms at Thompson’s Station in the spring of 2016.
One of Jack Nicklaus’ closest confidants has caught a glimpse of golf’s future, and it doesn’t include traditional golf courses. Howard Milstein, a co-chairman and minority owner of Nicklaus Companies, has acquired a piece of FlyingTee, a start-up company that aims to build a chain of interactive, golf-themed entertainment facilities across the planet. “They have both an operating concept and technology that we believe is the best in its space,” Milstein told Tulsa World. The company’s first complex, in suburban Tulsa, Oklahoma, is scheduled to open early next year, and yes, it resembles a Topgolf facility, in that it combines high-tech golf with eating and drinking. Milstein, one of America’s richest people (Forbes believes his family is worth $3.1 billion), has acquired the exclusive right to build and operate FlyingTee facilities in Asia, and it appears that South Korea, Japan, and China are his main targets. “They have very limited land for golf,” he said. “This could be a great solution for countries like that.” Bob Tway, Gil Morgan, and Scott Verplank have also invested in FlyingTee.
The world’s first Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, Glen Abbey Golf Club in suburban Toronto, Canada, has been put on the endangered list. The club has hosted 27 Canadian Open championships since it opened in 1976, and it serves as the home of both the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame & Museum and Golf Canada, the governing body of golf in the nation. All that aside, the club’s owner, ClubLink Corporation, has asked local officials to approve a plan that would turn the 230-acre property into a community of 3,000 houses flanked by office and retail space. ClubLink’s CEO, Rai Sahi, told the Globe & Mail that the filing is “a very preliminary thing” and guesstimated that Glen Abbey could continue to operate for five or 10 more years. The newspaper says that ClubLink paid $40 million for Glen Abbey in 1998, “a small fraction of its potential worth in the current real estate market.” Though many people are publicly moaning about ClubLink’s decision, it’s hard to gauge exactly how much Canada’s golf business will lose when Glen Abbey closes. While the club clearly has historical significance, Golf Digest doesn’t rank its course among Canada’s top 30.
Last year, Donald Trump said that the price he paid for the Lodge at Doonbeg “wouldn’t get you an apartment” at some of his residential properties in Manhattan. Well, today we know exactly how much he paid for the Irish property that now operates as Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg: €14.4 million, which currently translates to roughly $15.8 million. According to the Irish Independent, the property’s Greg Norman-designed golf course was valued at €2.6 million, or just over $2.86 million.
By now you’ve no doubt heard that China’s Communist Party, in an attempt to root out corruption, has officially put golf on its Shit List, along with “keeping paramours and conducting adultery” and engaging in “extravagant eating and drinking.” Will the last architect in the Shanghai airport please turn out the lights?
Friday, October 30, 2015
Desolation Row, october 30, 2015
York, Pennsylvania. After operating under a financial cloud for years, Regents’ Glen Country Club has gone dark. “The closing comes as no surprise,” writes the York Dispatch, because the 17-year-old club had stopped paying at least some of its employees and had narrowly avoided a forced sale of the property that was home to its clubhouse. Now people are wondering what will happen to the club’s Arthur Hills-designed golf course. The layout is, according to the Dispatch, “too good a track to simply sit dormant or, heaven forbid, become another housing development or shopping center.”
Lima, Ohio. Hawthorne Hills Golf Course has reached the end of the line. Paul Scheiwiller, who purchased the 27-hole complex in 2012, told the Lima News that “we just can’t get the course as a business to function.” Scheiwiller is an experienced operator, for he owns or co-owns two other golf properties in Lima, Tamarac Golf Course and Springbrook Golf Club. He blames Hawthorne Hills’ financial problems on the Lima area having “too many golf courses” and “a dwindling number of golfers.” He eventually expects to sell the 52-year-old venue.
Brownsville, Texas. It took almost a decade, but the 18-foot iron fence that runs along the Mexican border has finally squeezed the life out of Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. The city opened the 18-hole course in the mid 1950s, in large part to give Mexican-American golfers a place to play, and the Brownsville Herald reports that the track used to ring up close to 40,000 rounds a year. Of course, that was before the Department of Homeland Security effectively cut off the course from the rest of the United States. “It’s been very difficult overcoming some of the negative perceptions that people have about life on the border,” Bob Lucio, the course’s longtime operator, told ESPN in 2011. Lucio and others who were stuck to the no-man’s land south of Brownsville tried to get the fence torn down, but their pleas fell upon deaf ears.
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Lew Wahley has agreed to sell his struggling Ann Arbor Country Club to a local residential developer. Care to guess what that means? Ann Arbor, which features an 18-hole course, has operated since the late 1920s. Wahley and his West Virginia-based investment group bought it five years ago, in what the Ann Arbor News describes as “a lender-forced sale.” The prospective owner has reportedly enlisted Toll Brothers to build 80 houses on the 200-acre property.
Fort Mill, South Carolina. Details are sketchy, but it appears that somebody wants to build 250 apartments and 60 townhouses on the 250 acres currently occupied by Regent Park Golf Club. Regent Park features an 18-hole, Ron Garl-designed golf course that opened in 1994. The club is owned by a group called Freshwater Industries, Inc., which appears to have clear sailing because the Fort Mill Times reports that the proposed housing is permitted by current zoning ordinances.
Seward, Nebraska. The clock is ticking on Seward Country Club, which will cease to exist on New Year’s Eve. The 52-year-old club, which features a nine-hole golf course, “has been in financial trouble for a number of years,” according to the Seward County Independent. Its members have voted to give their 60-acre property to the city if the city is willing to assume their debts, which currently amount to roughly $350,000.
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The owners of Rehoboth Golf Park have seen the future, and it looks like a seniors-only community. To get the construction ball rolling, Truitt Homestead LLC has agreed to lease its 24-acre property, currently home to a nine-hole, par-3 course, to a development group and has also asked local officials for a rezoning. “The golf course is not profitable for the current tenant,” Roger Truitt told the Cape Gazette. “It’s time for us to prepare for the next 100 years.” The current tenant, Steven W. Smith, expects the course to remain in operation through the 2016 season and perhaps beyond and notes that this year the golf park had its best year since 2012.
Augusta, Michigan. Any day now, the final rounds of golf will be played at Yarrow Golf & Conference Resort. Yarrow is scheduled to be sold in late November, to a group that intends to turn the 300-acre property into a mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation center. “I think they were struggling,” a spokesperson for Foundations Recovery Network, the prospective owner, told the Kalamazoo Gazette. “They just weren’t getting the traffic they used to in terms of golfing.” Yarrow’s 18-hole, Ray Hearn-designed golf course opened in 2001.
Ahwahnee, California. Just weeks after they bought Sierra Meadows Country Club, Charlie Sheldon and Reid Spice have done what most everyone expected them to do: Close the 18-hole, 25-year-old venue. The partners aim to transform the 142-acre property into a conference center, perhaps with a vineyard.
Lima, Ohio. Hawthorne Hills Golf Course has reached the end of the line. Paul Scheiwiller, who purchased the 27-hole complex in 2012, told the Lima News that “we just can’t get the course as a business to function.” Scheiwiller is an experienced operator, for he owns or co-owns two other golf properties in Lima, Tamarac Golf Course and Springbrook Golf Club. He blames Hawthorne Hills’ financial problems on the Lima area having “too many golf courses” and “a dwindling number of golfers.” He eventually expects to sell the 52-year-old venue.
Brownsville, Texas. It took almost a decade, but the 18-foot iron fence that runs along the Mexican border has finally squeezed the life out of Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. The city opened the 18-hole course in the mid 1950s, in large part to give Mexican-American golfers a place to play, and the Brownsville Herald reports that the track used to ring up close to 40,000 rounds a year. Of course, that was before the Department of Homeland Security effectively cut off the course from the rest of the United States. “It’s been very difficult overcoming some of the negative perceptions that people have about life on the border,” Bob Lucio, the course’s longtime operator, told ESPN in 2011. Lucio and others who were stuck to the no-man’s land south of Brownsville tried to get the fence torn down, but their pleas fell upon deaf ears.
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Lew Wahley has agreed to sell his struggling Ann Arbor Country Club to a local residential developer. Care to guess what that means? Ann Arbor, which features an 18-hole course, has operated since the late 1920s. Wahley and his West Virginia-based investment group bought it five years ago, in what the Ann Arbor News describes as “a lender-forced sale.” The prospective owner has reportedly enlisted Toll Brothers to build 80 houses on the 200-acre property.
Fort Mill, South Carolina. Details are sketchy, but it appears that somebody wants to build 250 apartments and 60 townhouses on the 250 acres currently occupied by Regent Park Golf Club. Regent Park features an 18-hole, Ron Garl-designed golf course that opened in 1994. The club is owned by a group called Freshwater Industries, Inc., which appears to have clear sailing because the Fort Mill Times reports that the proposed housing is permitted by current zoning ordinances.
Seward, Nebraska. The clock is ticking on Seward Country Club, which will cease to exist on New Year’s Eve. The 52-year-old club, which features a nine-hole golf course, “has been in financial trouble for a number of years,” according to the Seward County Independent. Its members have voted to give their 60-acre property to the city if the city is willing to assume their debts, which currently amount to roughly $350,000.
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The owners of Rehoboth Golf Park have seen the future, and it looks like a seniors-only community. To get the construction ball rolling, Truitt Homestead LLC has agreed to lease its 24-acre property, currently home to a nine-hole, par-3 course, to a development group and has also asked local officials for a rezoning. “The golf course is not profitable for the current tenant,” Roger Truitt told the Cape Gazette. “It’s time for us to prepare for the next 100 years.” The current tenant, Steven W. Smith, expects the course to remain in operation through the 2016 season and perhaps beyond and notes that this year the golf park had its best year since 2012.
Augusta, Michigan. Any day now, the final rounds of golf will be played at Yarrow Golf & Conference Resort. Yarrow is scheduled to be sold in late November, to a group that intends to turn the 300-acre property into a mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation center. “I think they were struggling,” a spokesperson for Foundations Recovery Network, the prospective owner, told the Kalamazoo Gazette. “They just weren’t getting the traffic they used to in terms of golfing.” Yarrow’s 18-hole, Ray Hearn-designed golf course opened in 2001.
Ahwahnee, California. Just weeks after they bought Sierra Meadows Country Club, Charlie Sheldon and Reid Spice have done what most everyone expected them to do: Close the 18-hole, 25-year-old venue. The partners aim to transform the 142-acre property into a conference center, perhaps with a vineyard.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
The Week That Was, october 18, 2015
ClubCorp’s cash registers are ringing happily this year -- overall revenues have increased by 24 percent over those recorded in 2014 -- but the company’s golf and country club division is underperforming. In fact, it’s generating income exactly the same way Carly Fiorina did it at Hewlett-Packard: By acquisition. In its most recent quarterly financial statement, ClubCorp reports that the division has so far this year increased its membership rolls (excluding members from managed clubs) by nearly 33 percent. However, ClubCorp also notes that the number of members at properties that were previously part of its portfolio (“same-store” properties), again excluding members from managed clubs, has suffered a slight decrease. This indicates that the division is posting growth solely because it’s adding to its inventory (eight properties so far in 2015). It’s also worth noting that ClubCorp will do renovations at some of its recently acquired Sequoia Golf properties in 2015 instead of in 2016, as originally planned. The company believes that the new construction schedule “will minimize member disruption” -- membership losses, presumably -- in 2016.
The Nicklaus empire may take its name off a golf course in suburban Melbourne, Australia. Since July, Jack Nicklaus’ Florida-based design crew has complained twice about “unacceptable” turf conditions on its “signature” course at Heritage Golf & Country Club, a venue that the Age calls “one of Victoria’s most prestigious golf clubs.” Nicklaus’ group believes that Heritage’s 15-year-old St. John track is “negatively impacting the reputation of the Nicklaus name” and has reportedly put the club’s owner on notice. Of course, Nicklaus’ complaints aren’t the only ones that Heritage’s owner, Xiaoyan “Kylie” Bao, has heard since she took over the club last year. According to the Age, club members, former employees, and contractors have begun to wage “a bitter battle” against her, and “a grass-roots revolt is brewing.”
Greg Norman’s name may also soon come off a high-profile golf course, namely the track he designed for what is now Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg. In an interview with Today’s Golfer, “the Living Brand” acknowledges being “incredibly disappointed” that Trump didn’t hire him to redesign the 18-hole layout in Ireland (Martin Hawtree got the job), because “no one else knows more about the place” than he does. “I think our name is going to come off it now,” Norman said, adding, “You won’t hear me talking much about it from now on.” Norman, one of the wealthiest people in golf, passed on an opportunity to buy Doonbeg before Trump did (reportedly for about $10 million), and last year he told the Clare Champion that he “would expect a phone call” if changes were to be made.
Speaking of Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg, it lost more money last year than either of Donald Trump’s Scottish golf properties. Just a week after revealing that Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links Scotland each lost roughly £1.1 million (about $1.7 million) in 2014, a financial report from the Trump Organization indicates that its resort in Ireland lost €2.5 million (almost $2.84 million). The Organization, which has set out to make Doonbeg a “truly iconic” venue, ascribes the losses to expected start-up and renovation costs and forecasts “further losses” this year.
One of Asia’s oldest, most prestigious golf properties may be razed. Authorities in Malaysia have unveiled a plan to turn Royal Selangor Golf Club, a 45-hole complex in Kuala Lumpur, into a recreational area modeled on Central Park in New York City. A government minister concedes that the idea “requires further discussions with the relevant parties,” but it nonetheless compromises the future of a truly historic venue -- arguably the birthplace of golf in Malaysia. Royal Selangor was established in 1893, and its golf courses were built, nine holes at a time, beginning in the early 1920s. The tracks are no longer viewed as being among the nation’s elite, but they’ve withstood the test of time and are still beloved by members of Malaysia’s high society. My guess is that someone steps up and argues for their preservation.
Halliburton Company, deservedly one of America’s least trusted corporations, wants to buy a golf course, specifically Twin Oaks Golf Course in Duncan, Oklahoma. The company has its eye on Twin Oaks not because it likes the golf business but because negligence by one of its subsidiaries has contaminated the course’s water supply. The trouble is, Halliburton hasn’t yet offered enough to avoid a court date with the course’s owner, Don Elsworth. “They made a couple of small offers, but they are just kind of insults,” Elsworth told the Oklahoman, adding: “It’s hard to sell a golf course as it is, and now ours comes tagged as contaminated.” In all, Halliburton is trying to reach settlements with 130 property owners who’ve discovered spent rocket fuel in their private wells. The water is so toxic that Halliburton has advised the property owners to not even put it on their lawns. Twin Oaks is the only golf course that’s been affected.
The Nicklaus empire may take its name off a golf course in suburban Melbourne, Australia. Since July, Jack Nicklaus’ Florida-based design crew has complained twice about “unacceptable” turf conditions on its “signature” course at Heritage Golf & Country Club, a venue that the Age calls “one of Victoria’s most prestigious golf clubs.” Nicklaus’ group believes that Heritage’s 15-year-old St. John track is “negatively impacting the reputation of the Nicklaus name” and has reportedly put the club’s owner on notice. Of course, Nicklaus’ complaints aren’t the only ones that Heritage’s owner, Xiaoyan “Kylie” Bao, has heard since she took over the club last year. According to the Age, club members, former employees, and contractors have begun to wage “a bitter battle” against her, and “a grass-roots revolt is brewing.”
Greg Norman’s name may also soon come off a high-profile golf course, namely the track he designed for what is now Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg. In an interview with Today’s Golfer, “the Living Brand” acknowledges being “incredibly disappointed” that Trump didn’t hire him to redesign the 18-hole layout in Ireland (Martin Hawtree got the job), because “no one else knows more about the place” than he does. “I think our name is going to come off it now,” Norman said, adding, “You won’t hear me talking much about it from now on.” Norman, one of the wealthiest people in golf, passed on an opportunity to buy Doonbeg before Trump did (reportedly for about $10 million), and last year he told the Clare Champion that he “would expect a phone call” if changes were to be made.
Speaking of Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg, it lost more money last year than either of Donald Trump’s Scottish golf properties. Just a week after revealing that Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links Scotland each lost roughly £1.1 million (about $1.7 million) in 2014, a financial report from the Trump Organization indicates that its resort in Ireland lost €2.5 million (almost $2.84 million). The Organization, which has set out to make Doonbeg a “truly iconic” venue, ascribes the losses to expected start-up and renovation costs and forecasts “further losses” this year.
One of Asia’s oldest, most prestigious golf properties may be razed. Authorities in Malaysia have unveiled a plan to turn Royal Selangor Golf Club, a 45-hole complex in Kuala Lumpur, into a recreational area modeled on Central Park in New York City. A government minister concedes that the idea “requires further discussions with the relevant parties,” but it nonetheless compromises the future of a truly historic venue -- arguably the birthplace of golf in Malaysia. Royal Selangor was established in 1893, and its golf courses were built, nine holes at a time, beginning in the early 1920s. The tracks are no longer viewed as being among the nation’s elite, but they’ve withstood the test of time and are still beloved by members of Malaysia’s high society. My guess is that someone steps up and argues for their preservation.
Halliburton Company, deservedly one of America’s least trusted corporations, wants to buy a golf course, specifically Twin Oaks Golf Course in Duncan, Oklahoma. The company has its eye on Twin Oaks not because it likes the golf business but because negligence by one of its subsidiaries has contaminated the course’s water supply. The trouble is, Halliburton hasn’t yet offered enough to avoid a court date with the course’s owner, Don Elsworth. “They made a couple of small offers, but they are just kind of insults,” Elsworth told the Oklahoman, adding: “It’s hard to sell a golf course as it is, and now ours comes tagged as contaminated.” In all, Halliburton is trying to reach settlements with 130 property owners who’ve discovered spent rocket fuel in their private wells. The water is so toxic that Halliburton has advised the property owners to not even put it on their lawns. Twin Oaks is the only golf course that’s been affected.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Transactions, october 16, 2015
Not long ago I was asked if I file a report on every golf course sale. If you’re wondering the same thing, the answer is no. Not by a long shot, in fact. I probably cover about half of the transactions I come across.
St. Francisville, Louisiana. Two lawyers have purchased one of Louisiana’s top golf courses, and they hope to take it into the “top 30 or so courses in the country.” Kenneth M. Carter and Richard “Jerry” Dodson bought the Bluffs Golf Resort, the centerpiece of a community called the Bluffs at Thompson Creek, from Claude Penn, who put it on the market in 2009. “I do believe that the Bluffs on Thompson Creek can become one of the finest golf destinations in the country, if not the world,” Carter said in a press release. The Bluffs features an 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed track that Ron Whitten of Golf Digest believes is “perhaps the best of any Palmer design.” The price hasn’t been announced, but the Advocate reports that Penn was hoping to get $6.5 million for the course and $3 million for the clubhouse.
Las Vegas, Nevada. Let the broken hearts stand as the price you’ve gotta pay: Badlands Golf Club has been sold, and its new owners are reportedly laying plans to turn its 220 acres into “an urban community” with 2,000 or more houses. Badlands, which opened in the mid 1990s, features a 27-hole complex that was co-designed by Johnny Miller and Chi Chi Rodriguez. EHB Companies, a tight-lipped local development group, declined to discuss its plans for the club with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the newspaper apparently had to twist arms to learn that the sale took place “sometime over the past six months.” EHB was, however, willing to submit a financial report to the city indicating that Badlands “is losing about $2 million a year” and “has been for a few years.”
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Fast-growing Brown Golf Management has acquired the first golf course built at Hilton Head Plantation. The Bluffton-based company paid an undisclosed amount for Dolphin Head Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, Gary Player-designed track that opened in 1974. “The golf course is very good,” John Brown told the Island Packet. “I think it’s one of Gary Player’s best.” The Packet says that Brown has added six golf properties to its inventory in 2015 and aims to add two more before the year ends. All told, the company owns, manages, or leases 23 golf properties in six states, with the largest number of holdings in South Carolina (seven) and Pennsylvania (eight). Brown, which has been working on the purchase of Dolphin Head for nearly a year, considers the venue to be “the premier club” in its portfolio.
Ceres, California. Putting an end to what’s been called a “protracted and complicated transaction,” Ken Thornberry and some partners have purchased the financially struggling River Oaks Golf Course from members of the Phipps family. The price hasn’t been disclosed. River Oaks’ 18-hole layout was designed by its original owner, Jim Phipps, and opened in 1979. Thornberry plans to spiff up the course -- “It’s been grossly neglected,” he told the Ceres Courier -- and add an amphitheater and events center in an effort to generate fresh revenues.
Yuma, Arizona. Less than a year after more than three dozen of its customers were victimized by credit-card fraud, Mesa del Sol Golf Course has new owners. Eagle Golf has sold the 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed course to Steve Olafson and his wife, Shannon Mason, who’ve initiated what appear to be overdue upgrades. “The first thing we’re doing is getting the sprinklers working again and getting the grass trimmed the way it’s supposed to be trimmed,” Olafson told the Yuma Sun. “Our first goal is to make the course playable again.” Mesa del Sol was Palmer’s first course in Arizona. Since it opened, in the late 1970s, he’s added four others.
North Plains, Oregon. Escalante Golf has acquired its first golf property in Oregon. The Fort Worth, Texas-based firm paid an undisclosed price for a controlling interest in Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, a 23-year-old complex in suburban Portland that features a pair of 18-hole courses (one public, one private) that were co-designed by Bob Cupp and John Fought. The property has hosted several coveted amateur and professional events, including the Women’s U.S. Open championships of 1997 and 2003. “Pumpkin Ridge’s strong tournament heritage, impressive architectural pedigree, beautiful setting, and outstanding national reputation make it an ideal addition to our family,” the company’s president said in a press release. Escalante owns 16 other golf properties, half of them in Florida and Texas.
Bunnell, Florida. The bankrupt Grand Reserve Golf Club, the centerpiece of a community outside Palm Coast that consists of just six houses, has been purchased by its long-time operator. Capstone Golf, which has managed Grand Reserve since it opened, in 2008, reportedly paid $1.3 million for the 18-hole track. Capstone owns two other golf properties in Florida, St. Augustine Shores Golf Club in St. Augustine and Wedgefield Golf Club in Orlando. It says that Grand Reserve, which was co-designed by Mike Beebe and Bill Amick, is “perfect for beginners yet challenging enough for more advanced players.”
Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. Due to what’s been described as “a change in business plans,” the Japanese owners of Hawaii Kai Golf Course have agreed to sell their operation to a local investment group. Atsugi Kokusai Kanko Hawaii, Inc., which has reportedly owned Hawaii Kai for more than three decades, is selling it to a group led by Guy Yamamoto, the general manager of the nearby Mililani Golf Club. Pacific Business News, which broke the news of the sale, didn’t report a price. Hawaii Kai, a 27-hole complex, has been around since the early 1960s. According to its website, it features an 18-hole, William F. Bell-designed course and a nine-hole, par-3 layout created by Robert Trent Jones. Yamamoto and his partners will also assume a lease on the underlying property, which is owned by Kamehameha Schools. According to PBN, the parties expect to close on the transaction by the end of the month.
Easton, Pennsylvania. Club at Morgan Hill has new owners and a new identity. Sal and Maria Lapio, who acquired the property in March 2015, now call the place Morgan Hill Golf Course. Morgan Hill, which features a Kelly Blake Moran-designed course that opened in 2004, is the Lapios’ third golf property. They also own Mainland Golf Course in Harleysville and Bella Vista Golf Course in Gilbertsville.
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The receivers in control of Rolling Hills Country Club have accepted $1.3 million for the 119-year-old property. A local investment group led by Frank Romano made the offer for Rolling Hills, which opened as Lac La Bell Country Club and appears set to soon assume an identity close to its original name. “We’re very excited about the possibilities of La Belle Golf Club,” Romano told Lake Country Now. “We know about the history of the golf course and how popular it once was. Our goal is to bring that glory back to the place.” Romano is a longtime player in the Milwaukee area’s golf business. Through various entities, he owns Blackstone Creek Golf Club in Germantown, Fire Ridge Golf Club in Grafton, and Scenic View Country Club in Slinger.
Sterling Heights, Michigan. A home builder has purchased Maple Lane Golf Club, and you can guess what that inevitably means. But until Moceri Companies figures out the mix of residences that it wants to build at Maple Lane -- a process that will apparently take “several years” -- the property’s 54-hole golf complex will continue to operate. Maple Lane was established by Carl Roehl in the mid 1920s, and Crain’s Detroit Business says that Moceri, which describes itself as “Michigan’s legendary dream builder,” has been building houses, condos, and apartments on the course’s perimeter since the early 1960s.
St. Francisville, Louisiana. Two lawyers have purchased one of Louisiana’s top golf courses, and they hope to take it into the “top 30 or so courses in the country.” Kenneth M. Carter and Richard “Jerry” Dodson bought the Bluffs Golf Resort, the centerpiece of a community called the Bluffs at Thompson Creek, from Claude Penn, who put it on the market in 2009. “I do believe that the Bluffs on Thompson Creek can become one of the finest golf destinations in the country, if not the world,” Carter said in a press release. The Bluffs features an 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed track that Ron Whitten of Golf Digest believes is “perhaps the best of any Palmer design.” The price hasn’t been announced, but the Advocate reports that Penn was hoping to get $6.5 million for the course and $3 million for the clubhouse.
Las Vegas, Nevada. Let the broken hearts stand as the price you’ve gotta pay: Badlands Golf Club has been sold, and its new owners are reportedly laying plans to turn its 220 acres into “an urban community” with 2,000 or more houses. Badlands, which opened in the mid 1990s, features a 27-hole complex that was co-designed by Johnny Miller and Chi Chi Rodriguez. EHB Companies, a tight-lipped local development group, declined to discuss its plans for the club with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the newspaper apparently had to twist arms to learn that the sale took place “sometime over the past six months.” EHB was, however, willing to submit a financial report to the city indicating that Badlands “is losing about $2 million a year” and “has been for a few years.”
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Fast-growing Brown Golf Management has acquired the first golf course built at Hilton Head Plantation. The Bluffton-based company paid an undisclosed amount for Dolphin Head Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, Gary Player-designed track that opened in 1974. “The golf course is very good,” John Brown told the Island Packet. “I think it’s one of Gary Player’s best.” The Packet says that Brown has added six golf properties to its inventory in 2015 and aims to add two more before the year ends. All told, the company owns, manages, or leases 23 golf properties in six states, with the largest number of holdings in South Carolina (seven) and Pennsylvania (eight). Brown, which has been working on the purchase of Dolphin Head for nearly a year, considers the venue to be “the premier club” in its portfolio.
Ceres, California. Putting an end to what’s been called a “protracted and complicated transaction,” Ken Thornberry and some partners have purchased the financially struggling River Oaks Golf Course from members of the Phipps family. The price hasn’t been disclosed. River Oaks’ 18-hole layout was designed by its original owner, Jim Phipps, and opened in 1979. Thornberry plans to spiff up the course -- “It’s been grossly neglected,” he told the Ceres Courier -- and add an amphitheater and events center in an effort to generate fresh revenues.
Yuma, Arizona. Less than a year after more than three dozen of its customers were victimized by credit-card fraud, Mesa del Sol Golf Course has new owners. Eagle Golf has sold the 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed course to Steve Olafson and his wife, Shannon Mason, who’ve initiated what appear to be overdue upgrades. “The first thing we’re doing is getting the sprinklers working again and getting the grass trimmed the way it’s supposed to be trimmed,” Olafson told the Yuma Sun. “Our first goal is to make the course playable again.” Mesa del Sol was Palmer’s first course in Arizona. Since it opened, in the late 1970s, he’s added four others.
North Plains, Oregon. Escalante Golf has acquired its first golf property in Oregon. The Fort Worth, Texas-based firm paid an undisclosed price for a controlling interest in Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, a 23-year-old complex in suburban Portland that features a pair of 18-hole courses (one public, one private) that were co-designed by Bob Cupp and John Fought. The property has hosted several coveted amateur and professional events, including the Women’s U.S. Open championships of 1997 and 2003. “Pumpkin Ridge’s strong tournament heritage, impressive architectural pedigree, beautiful setting, and outstanding national reputation make it an ideal addition to our family,” the company’s president said in a press release. Escalante owns 16 other golf properties, half of them in Florida and Texas.
Bunnell, Florida. The bankrupt Grand Reserve Golf Club, the centerpiece of a community outside Palm Coast that consists of just six houses, has been purchased by its long-time operator. Capstone Golf, which has managed Grand Reserve since it opened, in 2008, reportedly paid $1.3 million for the 18-hole track. Capstone owns two other golf properties in Florida, St. Augustine Shores Golf Club in St. Augustine and Wedgefield Golf Club in Orlando. It says that Grand Reserve, which was co-designed by Mike Beebe and Bill Amick, is “perfect for beginners yet challenging enough for more advanced players.”
Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. Due to what’s been described as “a change in business plans,” the Japanese owners of Hawaii Kai Golf Course have agreed to sell their operation to a local investment group. Atsugi Kokusai Kanko Hawaii, Inc., which has reportedly owned Hawaii Kai for more than three decades, is selling it to a group led by Guy Yamamoto, the general manager of the nearby Mililani Golf Club. Pacific Business News, which broke the news of the sale, didn’t report a price. Hawaii Kai, a 27-hole complex, has been around since the early 1960s. According to its website, it features an 18-hole, William F. Bell-designed course and a nine-hole, par-3 layout created by Robert Trent Jones. Yamamoto and his partners will also assume a lease on the underlying property, which is owned by Kamehameha Schools. According to PBN, the parties expect to close on the transaction by the end of the month.
Easton, Pennsylvania. Club at Morgan Hill has new owners and a new identity. Sal and Maria Lapio, who acquired the property in March 2015, now call the place Morgan Hill Golf Course. Morgan Hill, which features a Kelly Blake Moran-designed course that opened in 2004, is the Lapios’ third golf property. They also own Mainland Golf Course in Harleysville and Bella Vista Golf Course in Gilbertsville.
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The receivers in control of Rolling Hills Country Club have accepted $1.3 million for the 119-year-old property. A local investment group led by Frank Romano made the offer for Rolling Hills, which opened as Lac La Bell Country Club and appears set to soon assume an identity close to its original name. “We’re very excited about the possibilities of La Belle Golf Club,” Romano told Lake Country Now. “We know about the history of the golf course and how popular it once was. Our goal is to bring that glory back to the place.” Romano is a longtime player in the Milwaukee area’s golf business. Through various entities, he owns Blackstone Creek Golf Club in Germantown, Fire Ridge Golf Club in Grafton, and Scenic View Country Club in Slinger.
Sterling Heights, Michigan. A home builder has purchased Maple Lane Golf Club, and you can guess what that inevitably means. But until Moceri Companies figures out the mix of residences that it wants to build at Maple Lane -- a process that will apparently take “several years” -- the property’s 54-hole golf complex will continue to operate. Maple Lane was established by Carl Roehl in the mid 1920s, and Crain’s Detroit Business says that Moceri, which describes itself as “Michigan’s legendary dream builder,” has been building houses, condos, and apartments on the course’s perimeter since the early 1960s.
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