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.”