The Week That Was, february 22, 2015

     Like so many other wealthy golf nuts, Michael Jordan thinks it would be wonderful to own his own private golf club, one with a personally selected membership willing to play by his rules. According to Golf magazine, the Chicago Bulls legend has secured an option on property in Hobe Sound, Florida and expressed an interest in hiring Tom Doak to produce a course worthy of those who prize the sort of exclusivity only the greatest basketball player of all time can offer. “He’s going to keep it small, probably fewer than a hundred [members],” an anonymous PGA Tour pro told the magazine, identifying the likely targets as “fellow athletes, buddies, and other people who come highly recommended.” Odds are that Jordan, after consulting with his financial advisors, will eventually come to his senses and realize that the West Palm Beach area doesn’t need another private golf club, even one with him at its helm. Until then, though, it’ll be fun to see how far his ego takes him.

     Speaking of rich people who think they’re the answer to at least some of golf’s problems, a Texas billionaire has put together an investment group that aims to buy a bankrupt private club outside Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Robert “Bob” McNair, who’s said to be worth $2.4 billion -- he made his money in the energy business and is today best known as the owner of the Houston Texans -- has his eye on Golf Club at Briar’s Creek, a property that he co-founded in the early 2000s. Golf Digest reports that the club, which features a well-regarded, Rees Jones-designed golf course, is now roughly $35 million in the hole.

     Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club’s future is legitimately in doubt. The expected sale of the minimalist icon outside Merritt, British Columbia has fallen through, and the club’s highly touted golf course will almost certainly remain closed until a new owner is in place. “I can’t see us opening until sometime into May or maybe even June, probably, at the earliest,” one of the club’s current owners told the Vancouver Sun. Given the depth of Sagebrush’s financial and legal troubles, however, a summer opening may be optimistic. Rave reviews and high rankings haven’t delivered golfers to Sagebrush, which has failed to heed Mike Keiser’s most fundamental law of build-it-and-they-will-come venues: One course is a curiosity, two is a destination.

     In an interview with New England Golf Monthly, Larry Hirsh said that the “contractions” our industry has experienced in recent years will be “going on for some time,” ending only when “banks decide they will lend on golf course properties.” Because looser lending practices aren’t on the immediate horizon, the president of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based Golf Property Analysts considers himself to be just barely bullish on golf’s near-term future, rating himself as a 6 on a scale of 10.