Canada. Mike Keiser made his reputation by turning a remote stretch of waterfront in Bandon, Oregon into the world’s top-rated golf destination, and now he’s found an equally remote parcel in central Alberta that he believes is made to order for another one of his build-it-and-they-will-come venues. “If done right, it would be the Sand Hills of Canada,” he says, referring to the renowned minimalist layout in Nebraska. “We have it on our to-do list for the future.” The Chicago-based developer has already made several visits to Alberta, to a site that he says is located on “rolling tundra” southeast of Edmonton. The property is all sand, perfect for the style of golf he adores, and he says he’s “in love” with it. Of course, the top entry on Keiser’s to-do list these days is the second course at Cabot Links, in Inverness, Nova Scotia. The Coore & Crenshaw-designed layout, hailed by Golf magazine as “the most eagerly anticipated course of 2015,” will open for preview play this summer.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the November 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Australia. King Island is set to debut a pair of destination-worthy golf courses in 2015, and its era of “celebrity” golf may not be far beind. Last year, Inside Golf reported that Greg Norman “has visited King Island on multiple occasions to investigate the potential” for another crème de la crème course, and a reporter for Advocate heard that “a third world-class golf course on the island was being considered.” Norman’s involvement indicates the level of interest that golf developers currently have in King Island. The small island, officially part of Tasmania, is extremely hard to get to, but everyone who’s been there comes away convinced that its sandy, windswept coasts are made to order for pure, links-style golf, the kind that made Barnbougle Dunes a must-visit venue. Today, King Island has just one course, a modest nine-hole track in Currie. Soon, however, two much-anticipated new layouts -- Cape Wickham Golf Course and Ocean Dunes Golf Course -- will be unveiled, each of them hoping to secure a spot among the world’s top 100. If they succeed, Norman won’t be the only starchitect looking to make his mark on the island’s golf scene.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the December 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
United States. A never-built golf community in Indio, California, a victim of the Great Recession, may get a new lease on life. Saxony Group, a Palm Desert-based firm, has acquired Indio Citrus Ranch, a 1,200-acre spread that had been master-planned for more than 3,000 houses, a hotel, and a golf course. The property has been given a new name, Grand Valley, and the Desert Sun reports that the new owners intend to “move forward with the planned golf course.” Saxony hasn’t announced any details regarding the course, but Suncal, the previous developer, had selected Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt Curley for the design.
Cuba. A Chinese conglomerate has taken the place of the British group that had planned to build an oceanfront golf resort outside Havana, Cuba. Hong Kong-based Beijing Enterprises Holdings, Ltd. has signed an agreement to build Bellomonte Golf & Country Club, which will spread across 625 acres in Guanabo, a fishing village located a half-hour’s drive east of Havana. Bellomonte was initiated nearly a decade ago by Coral Capital, whose fortunes took a nose dive in 2011, when its two top executives were accused of being spies and then, when the accusations didn’t stick, charged with financial crimes. They were held in prisons until 2013, when they were permitted to return to the United Kingdom. BEH hasn’t announced its plans for Bellomonte, but Coral Capital wanted to build 1,100 villas and apartments, a 160-room waterfront hotel, a beach club, a spa, a retail/commercial area, and an 18-hole, championship-quality golf course. It reportedly had a course designer in mind, but it never revealed his (or her) identity.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Japan. Now that Gil Hanse’s Brazilian nightmare appears to have ended, the golf industry’s Olympics torch is being passed to Tom Fazio. The North Carolina-based architect will oversee what Golf magazine describes as “both short-term and long-term alterations” to the golf venue for the 2020 Summer Games, the 86-year-old, C. H. Alison-designed East track at Kasumigaseki Country Club in suburban Tokyo. The overhaul is expected to begin in this fall. Fazio, who’s responsible for 15 tracks on Golf Digest’s list of the 100 greatest U.S. courses, has been directed to maintain the character of Alison’s “classic” design while modernizing the layout and toughening it up for high-caliber competition. In addition, Kasumigaseki plans to convert the course from a dual-green system (its holes have separate greens for warm and cool weather) to a one-green system, with a species of grass suitable for year-round play. Darius Oliver of Planet Golf considers Alison’s track to be “a true Japanese gem.” To polish it, the International Golf Federation will pick up part of the tab that Fazio runs up.
Czech Republic. A Prague-based development group has secured permission to build a small resort community outside a ski town in the Krkonoše Mountains. The community, likely to be named Černý Důl, will consist of 18 cottages, 78 condos or apartments, a hotel, a wellness center, a recreation center, and an 18-hole golf course. It’ll occupy 210 acres just west of Černý Důl, a village that’s about 80 miles northeast of Prague. Černý Důl’s golf course will be designed by Jakub Červenka, an architect based in suburban Prague who’s also working on a new course in Slovakia and a nine-hole addition in Serbia. The track in Černý Důl won’t be the area’s only course. There’s a 36-hole complex in nearby Jaroměř (at Nova Amerika Golf & Country Club) and nine-hole layouts in Prosečné, Semily, and Mýtiny.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the November 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Kenya. With its house sales booming, Kenya’s most exclusive private golf community may soon break ground on its long-planned second course. Vipingo Ridge Golf Club, part of a 2,800-acre refuge in suburban Mombasa, opened its first 18-hole track in 2009, sparking a thirst for golf-course living throughout Kenya that has yet to be quenched. The community’s David Jones-designed layout has helped to sell virtually all 256 lots in phase one of construction, so today preparations are being made for phase two, which will likewise feature an 18-hole, Jones-designed course. Vipingo Ridge, which is gated and surrounded by a 25-foot wall, offers both security and luxury, prized commodities among Kenya’s moneyed elites. In addition to its existing course, it features a game conservancy and a private air strip.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the December 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
United Arab Emirates. Sometimes it seems that every comatose residential venture in Dubai is being revived. The latest to get back on its feet is Living Legends, a gated community in Dubailand that will feature a nine-hole, Peter Harradine-designed golf course. Tanmiyat Investment Group, a Saudi company, has master-planned Living Legends to include 500 villas, 1,800 condos in a dozen high-rise buildings, a shopping center, and other attractions. Harradine, a Swiss architect with an office in Dubai, reports that it’ll hire a builder and break ground on the golf course sometime this year.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
The Week That Was, january 25, 2015
Gil Hanse, the only golf architect on the planet who can count both Mike Keiser and Donald Trump as clients, has won the commission to design the third course at Mosaic Company’s Streamsong resort in central Florida. His Black track will complement Streamsong’s critically acclaimed Red and Blue layouts, which were created, respectively, by Coore & Crenshaw and Tom Doak. Hanse called the commission “a dream come true” and commended Streamsong for delivering “an authentic golf experience.” A spokesperson for the resort, which is now indisputably on track to become Bandon Dunes without the water (imitation, it must be noted, is the sincerest form of flattery), described the site of the Black course as “highly conducive to compelling golf,” with “abundant sand,” and “rolling elevation changes, native grasses, and stunning views.” Mosaic expects to break ground on the course this summer, with an opening tentatively scheduled for 2017.
The announcement about Streamsong’s third course contained an additional fun tidbit: Mosaic Company says that it’s “assessing various alternatives” for a fourth course on its 16,000-acre spread outside Fort Meade, Florida. Word has it that the resort is seriously considering a proposal -- a proposal from Mike Keiser, no less -- to recreate Lido Golf Club, a legendary venue on Long Island that opened in 1914 and was razed sometime during World War Two. Lido’s 18-hole track, once described as “the finest course in the world,” was co-designed by C. B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, reportedly with help from Alister MacKenzie, and Keiser apparently has the original plans. If he truly believes that the Streamsong property can accommodate a Lido replica, Mosaic has an opportunity that’s way too good to pass up.
The last time Giles Morgan threatened to take his marketing money elsewhere, golf’s power elite swiftly sprung into action. And now the head of sponsorship for HSBC is flexing his muscle again. Morgan, who writes the checks that underwrite the Open Championship and other high-profile golf events, believes that our industry is at “a crossroads moment” in its history and fears that it isn’t keeping up with changing times. “Those who are in charge of the game need to be brave,” he pronounced in an interview with the BBC. “They need to take some risks.” Last year, Morgan complained that HSBC had grown weary of funding professional tournaments held at male-only clubs and that he no longer wanted to be “in a situation where I’m having to justify our sponsorship.” The result: Just months later, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews voted overwhelmingly to end its gender bias and open its doors to women. Last week, Morgan criticized golf’s institutional leaders for failing to realize “the potential of the diversity of the game” and expressed a worry, shared by many of us, that while golf “will still be very attractive to some people, it might fall into slow decline.” We all know that money talks. Soon we’ll learn exactly who is listening.
In an indication of where the game of golf may be headed, the Golf Channel has cozied up to Topgolf International, the fast-growing chain of entertainment venues where customers eat and drink, listen to music, watch TV, and test their golf skills by shooting high-tech golf balls at targets. In a press release, the Golf Channel praises Topgolf for “providing a new direction to propel the game forward,” and Topgolf declares that the collaboration “signifies our commitment to growing the sport.” The multi-year agreement calls for Topgolf and the Golf Channel to promote the heck out of each other, because they believe that what’s good for them is ultimately good for golf.
Teresa Harbottle has filed a lawsuit against her late husband’s doctor, claiming that “serious medical negligence” caused his death. John Harbottle, a fast-rising Tacoma, Washington-based golf architect, died in an airport in 2012, at the age of 53, allegedly of a heart condition that wasn’t properly diagnosed. As a result of his death, the lawsuit reportedly states, Teresa Harbottle and the couple’s children have suffered “enormous personal, emotional, and financial losses.” According to the Tacoma News Tribune, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Just a week after ClubCorp acquired its first golf property in Illinois, the publicly traded firm is closing in on a second. ClubCorp has agreed to buy Rolling Green Country Club, a property in Arlington Heights that’s said to have 225 members. “The market has shifted for country clubs," a Rolling Green board member told the Chicago Daily Herald. “For the kinds of facilities and amenities that customers are looking for today, private clubs struggle to deliver that at a price point that's affordable.” Club Industry estimates that ClubCorp paid “between $8 million and $9 million” for Rolling Green, which credits the design of its 18-hole, 90-year-old golf course to Bill Diddel. The company promised to reduce Rolling Green’s initiation fee and dues and to spend $1.5 million on improvements to the club’s course, clubhouse, and pool complex.
While the law tries to figure out the truth about how Robert Allenby got his face bashed in, the rest of us in golf must ponder another
mystery: How did Tiger Woods lose a front tooth? And while we’re on the subject, what’s with that death mask a Chicago Tribune
photographer caught him wearing? And finally: Whose dark side is darker, his or Michelle Wie’s?
The announcement about Streamsong’s third course contained an additional fun tidbit: Mosaic Company says that it’s “assessing various alternatives” for a fourth course on its 16,000-acre spread outside Fort Meade, Florida. Word has it that the resort is seriously considering a proposal -- a proposal from Mike Keiser, no less -- to recreate Lido Golf Club, a legendary venue on Long Island that opened in 1914 and was razed sometime during World War Two. Lido’s 18-hole track, once described as “the finest course in the world,” was co-designed by C. B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, reportedly with help from Alister MacKenzie, and Keiser apparently has the original plans. If he truly believes that the Streamsong property can accommodate a Lido replica, Mosaic has an opportunity that’s way too good to pass up.
The last time Giles Morgan threatened to take his marketing money elsewhere, golf’s power elite swiftly sprung into action. And now the head of sponsorship for HSBC is flexing his muscle again. Morgan, who writes the checks that underwrite the Open Championship and other high-profile golf events, believes that our industry is at “a crossroads moment” in its history and fears that it isn’t keeping up with changing times. “Those who are in charge of the game need to be brave,” he pronounced in an interview with the BBC. “They need to take some risks.” Last year, Morgan complained that HSBC had grown weary of funding professional tournaments held at male-only clubs and that he no longer wanted to be “in a situation where I’m having to justify our sponsorship.” The result: Just months later, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews voted overwhelmingly to end its gender bias and open its doors to women. Last week, Morgan criticized golf’s institutional leaders for failing to realize “the potential of the diversity of the game” and expressed a worry, shared by many of us, that while golf “will still be very attractive to some people, it might fall into slow decline.” We all know that money talks. Soon we’ll learn exactly who is listening.
In an indication of where the game of golf may be headed, the Golf Channel has cozied up to Topgolf International, the fast-growing chain of entertainment venues where customers eat and drink, listen to music, watch TV, and test their golf skills by shooting high-tech golf balls at targets. In a press release, the Golf Channel praises Topgolf for “providing a new direction to propel the game forward,” and Topgolf declares that the collaboration “signifies our commitment to growing the sport.” The multi-year agreement calls for Topgolf and the Golf Channel to promote the heck out of each other, because they believe that what’s good for them is ultimately good for golf.
Teresa Harbottle has filed a lawsuit against her late husband’s doctor, claiming that “serious medical negligence” caused his death. John Harbottle, a fast-rising Tacoma, Washington-based golf architect, died in an airport in 2012, at the age of 53, allegedly of a heart condition that wasn’t properly diagnosed. As a result of his death, the lawsuit reportedly states, Teresa Harbottle and the couple’s children have suffered “enormous personal, emotional, and financial losses.” According to the Tacoma News Tribune, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Just a week after ClubCorp acquired its first golf property in Illinois, the publicly traded firm is closing in on a second. ClubCorp has agreed to buy Rolling Green Country Club, a property in Arlington Heights that’s said to have 225 members. “The market has shifted for country clubs," a Rolling Green board member told the Chicago Daily Herald. “For the kinds of facilities and amenities that customers are looking for today, private clubs struggle to deliver that at a price point that's affordable.” Club Industry estimates that ClubCorp paid “between $8 million and $9 million” for Rolling Green, which credits the design of its 18-hole, 90-year-old golf course to Bill Diddel. The company promised to reduce Rolling Green’s initiation fee and dues and to spend $1.5 million on improvements to the club’s course, clubhouse, and pool complex.
While the law tries to figure out the truth about how Robert Allenby got his face bashed in, the rest of us in golf must ponder another
mystery: How did Tiger Woods lose a front tooth? And while we’re on the subject, what’s with that death mask a Chicago Tribune
photographer caught him wearing? And finally: Whose dark side is darker, his or Michelle Wie’s?
Friday, January 23, 2015
Desolation Row, january 23, 2015
Grand Prairie, Texas. The days are numbered for a 50-year-old private club in suburban Dallas that appears to be financially secure. According to the Dallas Morning News, Great Southwest Golf Club has roughly 300 members and none of “the telltale signs of a golf business desperate for new blood.” The club is slated to be razed simply because its 163 acres are “far more valuable as something other than a golf course.” Great Southwest’s 18-hole layout was co-designed by Byron Nelson and Ralph Plummer.
Piqua, Ohio. The bankrupt Piqua Country Club, a going concern for 118 years, met its end on the first day of the New Year. “We simply do not have enough money to continue,” acknowledged the club’s president, who professed to be “optimistic that something good will happen.” Piqua claims that its 18-hole course was designed by Donald Ross, but it’s possible that Ross was only responsible for the original nine, which dates from 1921. (Another source credits the course’s design to “the combined skill of architects Donald Ross and Jack Kidwell.”) The bank that controls the property appears to be on the hook for $1.625 million.
West Monroe, Louisiana. Trenton Street Golf Course, a nine-hole municipal layout with prices that were said to be “affordable for rednecks,” faded to black last month. “I sometimes believe that I could give golf away, and they still wouldn’t come,” the facility’s operator complained to the Economist. The city hasn’t decided what to do with Trenton Street’s 64 acres, but another form of recreation is a distinct possibility.
Garland, North Carolina. For the second time in a year, L. B. Wilson has put one of golf properties out of business. Early this month, Wilson turned out the lights for the last time at Greensbridge Golf Course, an 18-hole track that opened in the mid 1990s. He put Greensbridge on the market almost a year ago, when he closed Hope Mills Golf Club, but he couldn’t find a buyer. “The golf business is tough right now,” he told the Fayetteville Observer. “The only courses making it are the ones owned by extremely rich people. The middle class has been hit hard and is getting squeezed out of golf.” Wilson plans to continue operating Sandy Ridge Golf Club in Dunn, which he says is “getting by.”
Nipomo, California. Regarding the planned third golf course at Monarch Dunes Golf Club: Not gonna happen. Instead, Shea Homes is seeking permission to plant a vineyard on the 219 acres that had been allocated for the club’s second 18-hole track.
Ontario, Oregon. The city of Ontario has pulled the plug on its 18-hole golf course. The 50-year-old, Bob Baldock-designed track has reportedly been losing money for years, and city officials voted to stop subsidizing it last summer. They offered to entertain proposals from private-sector operators, but nobody stepped up.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A consultant has advised the recreation and park commission in East Baton Rouge Parish to close two of its worst-performing golf properties, but the agency hasn’t yet accepted the recommendation. “We are not on the verge of closing any golf course in the immediate future,” BREC’s director of golf told the Advocate. “If we get to a point where a course does close, it’ll only close because the bulldozers are lined up to turn it into something else of value.” Potentially on the chopping block are Howell Park Golf Course, an 18-hole track, and J. S. Clark Park Golf Course, a nine-hole track. If the courses are shuttered, the consultant says, BREC would have some money available for improvements to the five remaining properties in its portfolio.
Indianapolis, Indiana. The sun has set on Sunrise Golf Course, whose new owner believes the 77-acre property is “an excellent location” for houses. The nine-hole track, which had operated since the mid 1990s, went dark last fall.
Apopka, Florida. Late last year, without any advance warning, Rock Springs Ridge Golf Club bit the dust. The club, the centerpiece of a 900-house community, featured a 17-year-old, Lloyd Clifton-designed golf course. Its owner, an entity known as the Golf Group, is said to be “preparing a range of options for [Rock Springs Ridge] residents to study.” The Golf Group owns five other golf properties in the Orlando area: Country Club of Mount Dora, Country Club at Deer Run, Casselberry Golf Club, Wekiva Golf Club, and Twin River Golf Club. According to the Orlando Sentinel, it’s also “explored development plans” for Twin River and Casselberry.
Bristol, Connecticut. In late 2014, after a 91-year run, the struggling Chippanee Golf Club went belly up. Chippanee, a venue described as “a gathering place for the community’s business elite,” might have stayed in business if its members had been able to sell just 200 shares of stock, at a measly $2,500 per share. According to the Bristol Press, the club’s debt amounts to “less than $900,000.” For those who don’t know, Bristol is the home of ESPN, a company that’s worth nearly $51 billion.
Piqua, Ohio. The bankrupt Piqua Country Club, a going concern for 118 years, met its end on the first day of the New Year. “We simply do not have enough money to continue,” acknowledged the club’s president, who professed to be “optimistic that something good will happen.” Piqua claims that its 18-hole course was designed by Donald Ross, but it’s possible that Ross was only responsible for the original nine, which dates from 1921. (Another source credits the course’s design to “the combined skill of architects Donald Ross and Jack Kidwell.”) The bank that controls the property appears to be on the hook for $1.625 million.
West Monroe, Louisiana. Trenton Street Golf Course, a nine-hole municipal layout with prices that were said to be “affordable for rednecks,” faded to black last month. “I sometimes believe that I could give golf away, and they still wouldn’t come,” the facility’s operator complained to the Economist. The city hasn’t decided what to do with Trenton Street’s 64 acres, but another form of recreation is a distinct possibility.
Garland, North Carolina. For the second time in a year, L. B. Wilson has put one of golf properties out of business. Early this month, Wilson turned out the lights for the last time at Greensbridge Golf Course, an 18-hole track that opened in the mid 1990s. He put Greensbridge on the market almost a year ago, when he closed Hope Mills Golf Club, but he couldn’t find a buyer. “The golf business is tough right now,” he told the Fayetteville Observer. “The only courses making it are the ones owned by extremely rich people. The middle class has been hit hard and is getting squeezed out of golf.” Wilson plans to continue operating Sandy Ridge Golf Club in Dunn, which he says is “getting by.”
Nipomo, California. Regarding the planned third golf course at Monarch Dunes Golf Club: Not gonna happen. Instead, Shea Homes is seeking permission to plant a vineyard on the 219 acres that had been allocated for the club’s second 18-hole track.
Ontario, Oregon. The city of Ontario has pulled the plug on its 18-hole golf course. The 50-year-old, Bob Baldock-designed track has reportedly been losing money for years, and city officials voted to stop subsidizing it last summer. They offered to entertain proposals from private-sector operators, but nobody stepped up.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A consultant has advised the recreation and park commission in East Baton Rouge Parish to close two of its worst-performing golf properties, but the agency hasn’t yet accepted the recommendation. “We are not on the verge of closing any golf course in the immediate future,” BREC’s director of golf told the Advocate. “If we get to a point where a course does close, it’ll only close because the bulldozers are lined up to turn it into something else of value.” Potentially on the chopping block are Howell Park Golf Course, an 18-hole track, and J. S. Clark Park Golf Course, a nine-hole track. If the courses are shuttered, the consultant says, BREC would have some money available for improvements to the five remaining properties in its portfolio.
Indianapolis, Indiana. The sun has set on Sunrise Golf Course, whose new owner believes the 77-acre property is “an excellent location” for houses. The nine-hole track, which had operated since the mid 1990s, went dark last fall.
Apopka, Florida. Late last year, without any advance warning, Rock Springs Ridge Golf Club bit the dust. The club, the centerpiece of a 900-house community, featured a 17-year-old, Lloyd Clifton-designed golf course. Its owner, an entity known as the Golf Group, is said to be “preparing a range of options for [Rock Springs Ridge] residents to study.” The Golf Group owns five other golf properties in the Orlando area: Country Club of Mount Dora, Country Club at Deer Run, Casselberry Golf Club, Wekiva Golf Club, and Twin River Golf Club. According to the Orlando Sentinel, it’s also “explored development plans” for Twin River and Casselberry.
Bristol, Connecticut. In late 2014, after a 91-year run, the struggling Chippanee Golf Club went belly up. Chippanee, a venue described as “a gathering place for the community’s business elite,” might have stayed in business if its members had been able to sell just 200 shares of stock, at a measly $2,500 per share. According to the Bristol Press, the club’s debt amounts to “less than $900,000.” For those who don’t know, Bristol is the home of ESPN, a company that’s worth nearly $51 billion.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
The Week That Was, january 18, 2015
One of Hollywood’s certified golf junkies yearns to build a golf course in Ireland. “It’s this dream of mine,” Samuel L. Jackson told a British website dedicated to showbiz news and gossip. Of course, it may simply be a pipe dream. But the star of Shaft, Pulp Fiction, and dozens
of other movies has serious game, plenty of money, a potential partner (J. P. McManus, one of Ireland’s richest people), and even a preferred location: “Somewhere in the lush hills of Limerick or Cork, or somewhere like that.” This chapter in Jackson’s life may turn out to be much ado about nothing, but it’s safe to assume that his agent will be fielding a lot of calls from property owners this week.
In a transaction that’s been described as “a win-win for everybody,” ClubCorp has acquired its first golf property in Illinois. The publicly traded, Dallas-based firm has purchased Ravinia Green Country Club, a former member-owned property in Riverwoods. “Chicago has been one of our target markets for a number of years,” Mark Burnett, ClubCorp’s COO, told Crain’s Chicago Business. Ravinia Green, which was established in the late 1960s, features an 18-hole, Larry Packard-designed golf course. Because the club has been losing members in recent years -- its golf membership is reportedly “down to about 200” -- Burnett needs to make it “more competitive in the market” and “drive more interest and membership growth.” As part of its marketing program, ClubCorp plans to make $1 million worth of improvements to the club’s golf course, clubhouse, and pool.
From the Department of You Couldn’t Make This Up If You Tried: On the evening after he missed the cut at the Sony Open in Honolulu,
as he was about to leave a wine bar, Robert Allenby was drugged, kidnapped, robbed, beaten, and tossed out of a car near a park where the homeless congregate. As is so often said, you meet the nicest people on the PGA Tour.
Finally, Gil Hanse’s Brazilian nightmare has ended. Despite many well-documented delays and setbacks, construction has at last been completed at the layout in Rio de Janeiro that will host the golf competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics. There now remains just one small matter for Hanse to lose sleep over: The reviews.
After battling with the city of Rancho Palos Verdes for the better part of a decade, Donald Trump has abandoned his plans to build houses on the 11.5-acre driving range of Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles. The New York-based golf mogul and perennial presidential candidate said it was his “great honor” to give the range a conservation easement and advised the city’s residents to “enjoy it for infinity, I guess.” He’ll now turn his attention to developing other areas of his 261-acre property.
Traigh Golf Club says that it “presents the golfer with all the traditional challenges of a classic seaside links,” and for the past week it’s also offered a more unusual challenge: A sinkhole, 14 feet deep, on hole #7. A spokesman for the club expressed fears for the course’s future, but he has no need to worry: The nine-hole track, more than 100 years old and located in what’s said to be an especially picturesque area on Scotland’s western coast, will be repaired, most likely by April. It would’ve been a shame to see it go.
Gifts of Gab: As he lays the groundwork for his presidential campaign, Jeb Bush suggested that the world of golf ought to legislate faster play. “Golf would not be dying if more people played the way we play out here,” the former governor of Florida told the Miami Herald after completing 19 holes in 2.5 hours. “It’s not that hard to do, to be honest with you.”
of other movies has serious game, plenty of money, a potential partner (J. P. McManus, one of Ireland’s richest people), and even a preferred location: “Somewhere in the lush hills of Limerick or Cork, or somewhere like that.” This chapter in Jackson’s life may turn out to be much ado about nothing, but it’s safe to assume that his agent will be fielding a lot of calls from property owners this week.
In a transaction that’s been described as “a win-win for everybody,” ClubCorp has acquired its first golf property in Illinois. The publicly traded, Dallas-based firm has purchased Ravinia Green Country Club, a former member-owned property in Riverwoods. “Chicago has been one of our target markets for a number of years,” Mark Burnett, ClubCorp’s COO, told Crain’s Chicago Business. Ravinia Green, which was established in the late 1960s, features an 18-hole, Larry Packard-designed golf course. Because the club has been losing members in recent years -- its golf membership is reportedly “down to about 200” -- Burnett needs to make it “more competitive in the market” and “drive more interest and membership growth.” As part of its marketing program, ClubCorp plans to make $1 million worth of improvements to the club’s golf course, clubhouse, and pool.
From the Department of You Couldn’t Make This Up If You Tried: On the evening after he missed the cut at the Sony Open in Honolulu,
as he was about to leave a wine bar, Robert Allenby was drugged, kidnapped, robbed, beaten, and tossed out of a car near a park where the homeless congregate. As is so often said, you meet the nicest people on the PGA Tour.
Finally, Gil Hanse’s Brazilian nightmare has ended. Despite many well-documented delays and setbacks, construction has at last been completed at the layout in Rio de Janeiro that will host the golf competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics. There now remains just one small matter for Hanse to lose sleep over: The reviews.
After battling with the city of Rancho Palos Verdes for the better part of a decade, Donald Trump has abandoned his plans to build houses on the 11.5-acre driving range of Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles. The New York-based golf mogul and perennial presidential candidate said it was his “great honor” to give the range a conservation easement and advised the city’s residents to “enjoy it for infinity, I guess.” He’ll now turn his attention to developing other areas of his 261-acre property.
Traigh Golf Club says that it “presents the golfer with all the traditional challenges of a classic seaside links,” and for the past week it’s also offered a more unusual challenge: A sinkhole, 14 feet deep, on hole #7. A spokesman for the club expressed fears for the course’s future, but he has no need to worry: The nine-hole track, more than 100 years old and located in what’s said to be an especially picturesque area on Scotland’s western coast, will be repaired, most likely by April. It would’ve been a shame to see it go.
Gifts of Gab: As he lays the groundwork for his presidential campaign, Jeb Bush suggested that the world of golf ought to legislate faster play. “Golf would not be dying if more people played the way we play out here,” the former governor of Florida told the Miami Herald after completing 19 holes in 2.5 hours. “It’s not that hard to do, to be honest with you.”
Friday, January 16, 2015
Transactions, january 16, 2015
Tucson, Arizona. For only $1 million, HSL Properties has sold El Conquistador Country Club and its 45-hole golf complex to the city of Oro Valley. The catch: The complex, which opened over a three-year period in the mid 1980s, loses about $1 million a year, and it needs an estimated $5.5 million worth of capital improvements. On the plus side, the city thinks it can save many millions in construction costs by turning El Conquistador’s 31,500-square-foot clubhouse into a community center, and it trusts that Troon Golf will begin turning profits by year four of its management contract.
Norristown, Pennsylvania. The end is near for Center Square Golf Club, which is under contract to a local home builder. Center Square has operated since 1963, with an 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed golf course, and Fran Pietrini told the Philadelphia Business Journal that he “put a lot of heart” into it. But money talks, and Pietrini was listening.
Elkhart, Indiana. The Elkhart Elks, a club that’s lost almost half of its membership over the past decade, has agreed to sell its financially troubled Christiana Creek Country Club. “It’s my favorite course to play,” the club’s prospective owner, Mac Pierce, told the Elkhart Truth. Christiana Creek opened in 1916, with a nine-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed track. According to the club, William Langford redesigned Bendelow’s course in the mid 1920s, and Gene Conway, one of the club’s superintendents, added nine holes in the early 1960s. Pierce, a retiree who formerly owned a plastics company and managed celebrity impersonators in Las Vegas, hopes to boost the club’s bottom line by opening the course to public play. Since 2002, according to the Truth, sagging membership has forced five other Elks club s in Indiana -- in Shelbyville, Fort Wayne, Vincennes, Seymour, and West Lafayette -- to sell their golf properties.
Wilton, New York. In late December, Blake Crocitto and William Ahl paid $2.25 million for McGregor Links Country Club, which features an 18-hole golf course designed by Devereux Emmet. According to the club’s website, the club was established in the early 1920s by a state senator who instructed Emmet “to build to perfection.” The sellers were heirs of the late Michael Dennis, a residential developer who’d owned the 131-acre property since 1970. In a press release, Crocitto said, “We feel a tremendous commitment to McGregor Links and its members and want to preserve the legacy that came before us while continuing to fulfill our potential as a world-class golf course.” Both he and Ahl are long-time club members.
North Little Rock, Arkansas. StoneLinks Golf Course, the centerpiece of a 664-acre community, has been sold at auction and will likely be converted to farm land. “I don’t think everyone is happy about it,” the head of the StoneLinks Neighborhood Association told the Arkansas Times. Buddy Bean, the owner of the 18-hole, 21-year-old course, said that the property went for “a little over $2 million.” The identity of the purchaser won’t be revealed until the transaction closes, probably sometime this month.
Olive Branch, Mississippi. A former baseball player is taking a swing at the golf business. Late last year, Trey Lunsford and his father purchased Olive Branch Country Club, which opened in the mid 1960s and has been described by the DeSoto Times-Tribune as “the oldest country club facility in DeSoto County.” The facility’s 18-hole golf course was designed by Ed Creasey. Trey Lunsford, who had the proverbial cup of coffee in professional baseball -- a total of four at-bats with the San Francisco Giants -- will serve as the club’s general manager. He intends to create what his father calls “a middle-of-the-road country club where you can bring your family out and enjoy.” The club had been owned by its members.
Mohave Valley, Arizona. Last year, the 49 members of a home owners’ association in the desert south of Laughlin, Nevada became the reluctant owners of El Rio Country Club. “None of us ever wanted to own or run a golf course,” a spokesperson for the group confessed to the Mohave Valley Daily News. She added: “It’s not like our dream came true or anything.” El Rio’s HOA was forced to acquire a controlling interest in the 11-year-old club when the community’s developer (along with his wife and son) were indicted on 77 charges of real-estate fraud. The HOA expects to begin operating El Rio’s 18-hole, Matt Dye-designed golf course this weekend.
Falls of Rough, Kentucky. Last fall, Harvel and Wilda Escue bought a historic plantation that includes Lafayette Golf Club and its 18-hole, Jody Kinney-designed golf course. The course, which opened in 1997, was named after Lafayette Green, who inherited the plantation from his father as established it as a local center of commerce. The golf course appears to have been abandoned sometime in the not too distant past, as the Grayson Record reports that the Escues have “harvested 140 hay bales off the midways” and are currently “restoring the greens and fairways.” April 15 has been targeted as the layout’s opening date.
Hallandale Beach, Florida. A Maryland-based investment group has acquired Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club, a nearly 60-year-old venue affiliated with the neighboring Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa. Acting through an LLC, Thayer Lodging Group reportedly paid $20 million for the golf club, which features an 18-hole track that was redesigned by Joe Lee in 2000. The sale took place last summer, as part of a $535 million series of transactions that included the resort.
Las Cruces, New Mexico. At long last, the members of Las Cruces Country Club have closed on their new digs. In November, exactly three years after they sold their original home to a residential developer, the members reportedly paid “just under $5 million” for Sonoma Ranch Golf Course. The members intend to offer public play on Sonoma’s 14-year-old, Cal Olson-designed layout, and they’ll likely also give it a new name.
Townsend, Tennessee. At an auction in November, the struggling Laurel Valley Golf Course was sold to a bidder described by the Marysville Daily Times as a “Knoxville-based financial consultant and expert in wealth management” who “represented a group of investors.” The price: $1.45 million. Porter Alexander wouldn’t say who he was bidding for or what they intend to do with Laurel Valley’s 25-year-old, Ed Ault-designed golf course, but he ominously noted that “to make an omelet, you’ve got to break some eggs.” To me, it sounds as if golf occupies a very low spot in the new owners’ pecking order.
Norristown, Pennsylvania. The end is near for Center Square Golf Club, which is under contract to a local home builder. Center Square has operated since 1963, with an 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed golf course, and Fran Pietrini told the Philadelphia Business Journal that he “put a lot of heart” into it. But money talks, and Pietrini was listening.
Elkhart, Indiana. The Elkhart Elks, a club that’s lost almost half of its membership over the past decade, has agreed to sell its financially troubled Christiana Creek Country Club. “It’s my favorite course to play,” the club’s prospective owner, Mac Pierce, told the Elkhart Truth. Christiana Creek opened in 1916, with a nine-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed track. According to the club, William Langford redesigned Bendelow’s course in the mid 1920s, and Gene Conway, one of the club’s superintendents, added nine holes in the early 1960s. Pierce, a retiree who formerly owned a plastics company and managed celebrity impersonators in Las Vegas, hopes to boost the club’s bottom line by opening the course to public play. Since 2002, according to the Truth, sagging membership has forced five other Elks club s in Indiana -- in Shelbyville, Fort Wayne, Vincennes, Seymour, and West Lafayette -- to sell their golf properties.
Wilton, New York. In late December, Blake Crocitto and William Ahl paid $2.25 million for McGregor Links Country Club, which features an 18-hole golf course designed by Devereux Emmet. According to the club’s website, the club was established in the early 1920s by a state senator who instructed Emmet “to build to perfection.” The sellers were heirs of the late Michael Dennis, a residential developer who’d owned the 131-acre property since 1970. In a press release, Crocitto said, “We feel a tremendous commitment to McGregor Links and its members and want to preserve the legacy that came before us while continuing to fulfill our potential as a world-class golf course.” Both he and Ahl are long-time club members.
North Little Rock, Arkansas. StoneLinks Golf Course, the centerpiece of a 664-acre community, has been sold at auction and will likely be converted to farm land. “I don’t think everyone is happy about it,” the head of the StoneLinks Neighborhood Association told the Arkansas Times. Buddy Bean, the owner of the 18-hole, 21-year-old course, said that the property went for “a little over $2 million.” The identity of the purchaser won’t be revealed until the transaction closes, probably sometime this month.
Olive Branch, Mississippi. A former baseball player is taking a swing at the golf business. Late last year, Trey Lunsford and his father purchased Olive Branch Country Club, which opened in the mid 1960s and has been described by the DeSoto Times-Tribune as “the oldest country club facility in DeSoto County.” The facility’s 18-hole golf course was designed by Ed Creasey. Trey Lunsford, who had the proverbial cup of coffee in professional baseball -- a total of four at-bats with the San Francisco Giants -- will serve as the club’s general manager. He intends to create what his father calls “a middle-of-the-road country club where you can bring your family out and enjoy.” The club had been owned by its members.
Mohave Valley, Arizona. Last year, the 49 members of a home owners’ association in the desert south of Laughlin, Nevada became the reluctant owners of El Rio Country Club. “None of us ever wanted to own or run a golf course,” a spokesperson for the group confessed to the Mohave Valley Daily News. She added: “It’s not like our dream came true or anything.” El Rio’s HOA was forced to acquire a controlling interest in the 11-year-old club when the community’s developer (along with his wife and son) were indicted on 77 charges of real-estate fraud. The HOA expects to begin operating El Rio’s 18-hole, Matt Dye-designed golf course this weekend.
Falls of Rough, Kentucky. Last fall, Harvel and Wilda Escue bought a historic plantation that includes Lafayette Golf Club and its 18-hole, Jody Kinney-designed golf course. The course, which opened in 1997, was named after Lafayette Green, who inherited the plantation from his father as established it as a local center of commerce. The golf course appears to have been abandoned sometime in the not too distant past, as the Grayson Record reports that the Escues have “harvested 140 hay bales off the midways” and are currently “restoring the greens and fairways.” April 15 has been targeted as the layout’s opening date.
Hallandale Beach, Florida. A Maryland-based investment group has acquired Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club, a nearly 60-year-old venue affiliated with the neighboring Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa. Acting through an LLC, Thayer Lodging Group reportedly paid $20 million for the golf club, which features an 18-hole track that was redesigned by Joe Lee in 2000. The sale took place last summer, as part of a $535 million series of transactions that included the resort.
Las Cruces, New Mexico. At long last, the members of Las Cruces Country Club have closed on their new digs. In November, exactly three years after they sold their original home to a residential developer, the members reportedly paid “just under $5 million” for Sonoma Ranch Golf Course. The members intend to offer public play on Sonoma’s 14-year-old, Cal Olson-designed layout, and they’ll likely also give it a new name.
Townsend, Tennessee. At an auction in November, the struggling Laurel Valley Golf Course was sold to a bidder described by the Marysville Daily Times as a “Knoxville-based financial consultant and expert in wealth management” who “represented a group of investors.” The price: $1.45 million. Porter Alexander wouldn’t say who he was bidding for or what they intend to do with Laurel Valley’s 25-year-old, Ed Ault-designed golf course, but he ominously noted that “to make an omelet, you’ve got to break some eggs.” To me, it sounds as if golf occupies a very low spot in the new owners’ pecking order.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
The Week That Was, january 11, 2015
Notice to everyone who makes a living in the U.S. golf business: Despite what you’ve seen, heard, and felt, rumors of the industry’s impending demise have been grossly over-exaggerated. “The fact of the matter is that golf is alive, well, and booming worldwide,” Arnold Palmer writes in an opinion piece published by the Golf Channel, an entity he co-founded. Obviously, the operative word in that sentence is worldwide. To make his case for golf’s health, Palmer notably cites the talents of a golf star from Northern Ireland, “the likely growth of golf in Asia,” and “the global boost that the game is likely to enjoy as a result of golf’s return to the Olympic Games in 2016.” He unfortunately fails to note that the number of rounds played in the United States has been falling for a decade or more and that the number of U.S. golfers has dropped from roughly 30 million in 2005 to about 23 million today. For reasons unknown, Palmer has made recreational golf in our nation an afterthought, which is an odd place to put the engine that drives virtually the entire world of golf.
Pete Bevacqua, the CEO of the PGA of America, has been appointed as the chairman of the World Golf Foundation, our industry’s ultimate insiders’ group. Since its creation, the WGF has been the major policy-making force in golf, as its board consists of all the big guns: the Royal & Ancient, the United States Golf Association, the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, the European Tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, and Augusta National Golf Club. Collectively, these organizations make the rules and set the table for both amateur and professional golf in every nation on the planet. Though it sometimes flies under the radar, the WGF is the power that represents power. Bevacqua succeeds Tim Finchem, who established the WGF in 1994.
A Greek shipping tycoon has won the rights to build a glitzy mixed-use community, including a golf course, on an abandoned international airport in suburban Athens. Spiro Latsis’ to-be-named community has been described as both “the most ambitious architectural project ever designed in the city” and as “an opportunity to make a quick buck during a crushing economic crisis.” It’ll take shape on 1,482 acres along the waterfront in Elliniko and include houses, schools, two hotels, meeting space, a shopping center, a business park, a marina, a 495-acre central park, a nearly mile-long beach, an aquarium, and various sports attractions, including the golf course. Latsis would also like to build a casino, though local authorities haven’t committed to the idea. Given that the community’s master plan hasn’t yet been fully approved, it’s possible that ground won’t be broken until 2016.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the July 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
After lying low for a couple of months, Ted Bishop has once again taken center stage. In an interview with Golf magazine, the 38th president of the PGA of America discusses his embarrassing dismissal (“I think I got a raw deal”), speculates about dastardly forces that had allied against him (“I might have been naïve about some of what was going on around me”), ponders the U.S. failure in last year’s Ryder Cup (“I think the Europeans are in a cycle right now where they simply have better players”), and pines for the good old days (“When I was growing up in the ’60s, in Indiana . . . people talked about throwing like a girl, running like a girl, and these weren’t meant to be derogatory comments toward women”). Bishop says that he’s ready to move on. Will the golf media please let him?
Gifts of Gab: It’s taken a while, but opinion-makers are beginning to admit that Top Golf, the popular, fast-growing golf-gaming chain, may be able to offer mainstream golf venues some valuable lessons about drawing crowds. “Golf will survive, as it always does, but there is no doubt it is changed, or should change, to meet more with the lifestyle of young families who prefer fun, friendly golf experiences over excessively challenging and expensive ones,” Michael Hurdzan said in a freshly posted interview at GolfClubAtlas.com. “Just look at how Top Golf is sweeping the nation. Study its appeal and apply some variant of that interpretation to golf courses seems a viable way to reverse this decline in participation.”
Pseudo-golf sports are beginning to come out of the woodwork. The latest, Smash Golf, is played with a tennis racket and a small rubber ball. Would you believe me if I said the game was invented by Ivan Lendl?
Pete Bevacqua, the CEO of the PGA of America, has been appointed as the chairman of the World Golf Foundation, our industry’s ultimate insiders’ group. Since its creation, the WGF has been the major policy-making force in golf, as its board consists of all the big guns: the Royal & Ancient, the United States Golf Association, the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, the European Tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, and Augusta National Golf Club. Collectively, these organizations make the rules and set the table for both amateur and professional golf in every nation on the planet. Though it sometimes flies under the radar, the WGF is the power that represents power. Bevacqua succeeds Tim Finchem, who established the WGF in 1994.
A Greek shipping tycoon has won the rights to build a glitzy mixed-use community, including a golf course, on an abandoned international airport in suburban Athens. Spiro Latsis’ to-be-named community has been described as both “the most ambitious architectural project ever designed in the city” and as “an opportunity to make a quick buck during a crushing economic crisis.” It’ll take shape on 1,482 acres along the waterfront in Elliniko and include houses, schools, two hotels, meeting space, a shopping center, a business park, a marina, a 495-acre central park, a nearly mile-long beach, an aquarium, and various sports attractions, including the golf course. Latsis would also like to build a casino, though local authorities haven’t committed to the idea. Given that the community’s master plan hasn’t yet been fully approved, it’s possible that ground won’t be broken until 2016.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the July 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
After lying low for a couple of months, Ted Bishop has once again taken center stage. In an interview with Golf magazine, the 38th president of the PGA of America discusses his embarrassing dismissal (“I think I got a raw deal”), speculates about dastardly forces that had allied against him (“I might have been naïve about some of what was going on around me”), ponders the U.S. failure in last year’s Ryder Cup (“I think the Europeans are in a cycle right now where they simply have better players”), and pines for the good old days (“When I was growing up in the ’60s, in Indiana . . . people talked about throwing like a girl, running like a girl, and these weren’t meant to be derogatory comments toward women”). Bishop says that he’s ready to move on. Will the golf media please let him?
Gifts of Gab: It’s taken a while, but opinion-makers are beginning to admit that Top Golf, the popular, fast-growing golf-gaming chain, may be able to offer mainstream golf venues some valuable lessons about drawing crowds. “Golf will survive, as it always does, but there is no doubt it is changed, or should change, to meet more with the lifestyle of young families who prefer fun, friendly golf experiences over excessively challenging and expensive ones,” Michael Hurdzan said in a freshly posted interview at GolfClubAtlas.com. “Just look at how Top Golf is sweeping the nation. Study its appeal and apply some variant of that interpretation to golf courses seems a viable way to reverse this decline in participation.”
Pseudo-golf sports are beginning to come out of the woodwork. The latest, Smash Golf, is played with a tennis racket and a small rubber ball. Would you believe me if I said the game was invented by Ivan Lendl?
Friday, January 9, 2015
Vital Signs, january 9, 2015
Membership does indeed have its privileges: According to a pace-of-play study by the U.S. Golf Association, it takes 25 minutes longer to play 18 holes at a public course than at a private course.
Dubai’s housing market is reportedly “beginning to cool,” which means that the emirate’s golf industry will soon get the chills. Home prices are still rising, but only at a fraction of the 51 percent rate they posted in 2013, and late last year a real estate analyst told the Telegraph that he believes prices “will decline further in the coming months.” A replay of the development shut-down that the emirate experienced in the immediate wake of the Great Recession may not occur, but with so many golf communities in the pipeline -- Akoya, Akoya Oxygen, Dubai Hills, Dubai World Central, Jumeirah Golf Estates -- it’s possible that supply is already exceeding demand.
Though some industry observers have doubts about the prospects for golf in Cuba, others think the island will emerge as the world’s next development hot spot. “If Obama is right, and trade relations become routine,” one of them told the Independent, “then Cuba inside a decade could be on track to becoming one of the world’s major golf destinations. It won’t take much to green-light what will be another revolution.”
If golf operators in the United Kingdom wish to get their cash registers ringing again, advises a new study of the region’s golf properties, they should rid themselves of the boys-club mentality that turns off so many prospective female golfers. Specifically, the study has determined that more women would take up the sport if golf venues were “less masculine” and “less intimidating” and more accommodating to their needs and desires. “The results of our qualitative research show that an important factor [in attracting women] is the ability to learn and play with friends and family at venues where women feel welcome,” said a spokesperson for Syngenta, the company that commissioned the study. This message has been repeated over and over in recent years, and not just in the U.K. Economically speaking, things may have to get a lot worse before the world’s golf operators are willing to embrace change.
Lee Kim Yew, one of Malaysia’s best-known developers, is trying to revive Mines Golf City, his long-delayed resort community in suburban Kuala Lumpur. The community’s first golf course will wear the “signature” of Annika Sorenstam, whose design fee, according to the Edge Malaysia, is $1 million.
Speaking of million-dollar paydays, CNN reports that 97 professional golfers won $1 million or more on the PGA Tour last year. Nice work if you can get it.
Dubai’s housing market is reportedly “beginning to cool,” which means that the emirate’s golf industry will soon get the chills. Home prices are still rising, but only at a fraction of the 51 percent rate they posted in 2013, and late last year a real estate analyst told the Telegraph that he believes prices “will decline further in the coming months.” A replay of the development shut-down that the emirate experienced in the immediate wake of the Great Recession may not occur, but with so many golf communities in the pipeline -- Akoya, Akoya Oxygen, Dubai Hills, Dubai World Central, Jumeirah Golf Estates -- it’s possible that supply is already exceeding demand.
Though some industry observers have doubts about the prospects for golf in Cuba, others think the island will emerge as the world’s next development hot spot. “If Obama is right, and trade relations become routine,” one of them told the Independent, “then Cuba inside a decade could be on track to becoming one of the world’s major golf destinations. It won’t take much to green-light what will be another revolution.”
If golf operators in the United Kingdom wish to get their cash registers ringing again, advises a new study of the region’s golf properties, they should rid themselves of the boys-club mentality that turns off so many prospective female golfers. Specifically, the study has determined that more women would take up the sport if golf venues were “less masculine” and “less intimidating” and more accommodating to their needs and desires. “The results of our qualitative research show that an important factor [in attracting women] is the ability to learn and play with friends and family at venues where women feel welcome,” said a spokesperson for Syngenta, the company that commissioned the study. This message has been repeated over and over in recent years, and not just in the U.K. Economically speaking, things may have to get a lot worse before the world’s golf operators are willing to embrace change.
Lee Kim Yew, one of Malaysia’s best-known developers, is trying to revive Mines Golf City, his long-delayed resort community in suburban Kuala Lumpur. The community’s first golf course will wear the “signature” of Annika Sorenstam, whose design fee, according to the Edge Malaysia, is $1 million.
Speaking of million-dollar paydays, CNN reports that 97 professional golfers won $1 million or more on the PGA Tour last year. Nice work if you can get it.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
The Week That Was, january 4, 2015
Gifts of Gab, Part One: As the increasing price of water makes both development and operations more difficult to pencil out, the U.S. golf industry may soon find itself praying for rain. “The new reality for American golf is that water is far too precious to be squandered on golf courses,” writes Ron Whitten of Golf Digest. “As communities around the country cope with extended droughts, the notion of courses sporting lush, wall-to-wall green grass is no longer feasible, very likely socially unacceptable, and in some ways downright criminal. Indeed, even the idea of fully irrigated fairways may soon become a thing of the past.”
The crackdown on golf in China has been kicked up a notch. As part of an effort to eliminate what it describes as “unclean behavior,” the anti-corruption agency in Guangdong Province has all but forbidden Communist Party officials from setting foot on a golf course or associating with anyone who does. “The decree means virtually all golf-related activities are now proscribed,” the Telegraph reports. “Officials can no longer jet off on golf-related junkets, engage in golf-related betting, play golf with people connected to their jobs, hold positions on the boards of golf clubs or societies, or even acquire golf club membership.” While rules were made to be broken, the consequences of bucking the party line may be too severe for even dedicated Chinese golfers to risk.
Gifts of Gab, Part Two: Golf designers have been struggling to make ends meet for more than five years, and their business may not perk up anytime soon. “If golf-course architecture were a publicly traded stock,” Brian Curley told the Economist, “it would be a penny stock right now.”
Pete Dye, an immortal in the history of golf architecture, will receive this year’s Don A. Rossi Award, an honor that’s been bestowed by the Golf Course Builders Association of America annually since 1991. In a press release, the GCBAA called Dye “a creative genius” and “an amazing contributor to our industry” and described his designs as “unique and incomparable.” Based on those comments, it’s hard to figure why Dye’s many achievements weren’t acknowledged by the GCBAA long ago. His wife, Alice, won the Rossi award in 1994, and virtually every celebrity and “signature” architect in the business -- including some whose work pales in comparison to Dye’s -- has already been recognized.
In the final months of 2014, a Chinese investment group laid a more than $40 million claim on the golf operations in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Founders Group, an entity controlled by Daniel Liu of Yiqian Funding, now owns eight golf properties on the Grand Strand, among them a pair of high-priced spreads, TPC Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet and International World Tour Golf Links in Myrtle Beach. “We think Myrtle Beach is a diamond in the rough,” the group’s attorney told the Myrtle Beach Sun News. “The golf culture is very deep for golf courses.” Founders Group began its spending spree in September, when it reportedly paid $11 million for Burning Ridge Golf Club in Conway, Indian Wells Golf Club in Garden City Beach, and Founders Club in Pawleys Island. Last month, in addition to the TPC and International World Tour, it added Colonial Charters Golf Club in Longs, Aberdeen Country Club in Longs, and River Hills Golf & Country Club in Little River. All told, China-based investors now own 11 golf properties in and around Myrtle Beach, including the 54-hole complex at Sea Trail Resort in Sunset Beach, North Carolina.
Gifts of Gab, Part Three: Golf may relieve the pressures of everyday life for millions of people all over the planet, but for not the Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden. “That’s a bad idea,” Rob O’Neill told the New York Post. “Golf’s more stressful than combat.”
The crackdown on golf in China has been kicked up a notch. As part of an effort to eliminate what it describes as “unclean behavior,” the anti-corruption agency in Guangdong Province has all but forbidden Communist Party officials from setting foot on a golf course or associating with anyone who does. “The decree means virtually all golf-related activities are now proscribed,” the Telegraph reports. “Officials can no longer jet off on golf-related junkets, engage in golf-related betting, play golf with people connected to their jobs, hold positions on the boards of golf clubs or societies, or even acquire golf club membership.” While rules were made to be broken, the consequences of bucking the party line may be too severe for even dedicated Chinese golfers to risk.
Gifts of Gab, Part Two: Golf designers have been struggling to make ends meet for more than five years, and their business may not perk up anytime soon. “If golf-course architecture were a publicly traded stock,” Brian Curley told the Economist, “it would be a penny stock right now.”
Pete Dye, an immortal in the history of golf architecture, will receive this year’s Don A. Rossi Award, an honor that’s been bestowed by the Golf Course Builders Association of America annually since 1991. In a press release, the GCBAA called Dye “a creative genius” and “an amazing contributor to our industry” and described his designs as “unique and incomparable.” Based on those comments, it’s hard to figure why Dye’s many achievements weren’t acknowledged by the GCBAA long ago. His wife, Alice, won the Rossi award in 1994, and virtually every celebrity and “signature” architect in the business -- including some whose work pales in comparison to Dye’s -- has already been recognized.
In the final months of 2014, a Chinese investment group laid a more than $40 million claim on the golf operations in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Founders Group, an entity controlled by Daniel Liu of Yiqian Funding, now owns eight golf properties on the Grand Strand, among them a pair of high-priced spreads, TPC Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet and International World Tour Golf Links in Myrtle Beach. “We think Myrtle Beach is a diamond in the rough,” the group’s attorney told the Myrtle Beach Sun News. “The golf culture is very deep for golf courses.” Founders Group began its spending spree in September, when it reportedly paid $11 million for Burning Ridge Golf Club in Conway, Indian Wells Golf Club in Garden City Beach, and Founders Club in Pawleys Island. Last month, in addition to the TPC and International World Tour, it added Colonial Charters Golf Club in Longs, Aberdeen Country Club in Longs, and River Hills Golf & Country Club in Little River. All told, China-based investors now own 11 golf properties in and around Myrtle Beach, including the 54-hole complex at Sea Trail Resort in Sunset Beach, North Carolina.
Gifts of Gab, Part Three: Golf may relieve the pressures of everyday life for millions of people all over the planet, but for not the Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden. “That’s a bad idea,” Rob O’Neill told the New York Post. “Golf’s more stressful than combat.”
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