The Week That Was, april 12, 2015

     In what it describes as “a Q&A roundtable,” Forbes asked some of the most powerful people in golf to discuss our industry’s near-term prospects. Their message: Two thumbs up! Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, said he was “bullish” on golf and avowed that our business is “in better shape than you would be led to believe,” a statement that closely echoes recent declarations by the National Golf Foundation. Mike Davis, the executive director of United States Golf Association, is likewise “bullish” about our industry’s future, and he sees “positive trends in some of [the] key metrics that indicate that the game is healthy.” Also “bullish” -- are you sensing a theme? -- is Pete Bevacqua, the CEO of the PGA of America, who believes that “golf is on a positive turn,” in part because golf participation rates have begun “to produce positive momentum, especially among youth.” Steve Mona, the CEO of World Golf Foundation and our industry’s chief publicist, unfortunately didn’t claim to be “bullish,” but he does think that “the future is very bright.” Before you put too much stock in these remarks, however, it must be noted that Finchem admitted to being “excited” about the way that he and the other panelists have dedicated themselves to “telling the positive story of the state of the game.” Since Finchem has acknowledged that all this feel-good talk is merely part of a public-relations campaign, does it carry any weight?

     When it comes to golf development in the People’s Republic, it appears that the party has officially ended. As you’ve no doubt heard, the Chinese government intends to close 66 golf courses that it alleges were built illegally and either pose a threat to the environment or encroach on increasingly valuable farmland. If that all the courses actually close, the action would be a severe blow to China’s golf industry, as it would wipe out roughly 10 percent of the nation’s current inventory. Dan Washburn, the author of The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream, thinks the crackdown on illegal construction is “real and serious,” but he suggests that the central government’s bark may be bigger than its bite. “It will be interesting to see how many of the 66 courses on the government’s list close and stay closed,” he writes in a column for CNN Money. It’ll also be interesting to see if there are other golf purges in China’s future, because rumor has it that as many as 100 courses are still on the government’s hit list.

     The “world’s greatest golf course” is bleeding red ink. Citing figures published by what it describes as “a national newspaper,” the Daily Record reports that Trump International Golf Links Scotland has lost £3.5 million ($5.12 million) over the past two years -- £1.7 million (almost $2.49 million) in 2012 and £1.8 million (more than $2.6 million) in 2013. Despite the losses -- or maybe because of them -- Trump recently moved the resort’s second Martin Hawtree-designed golf course back to the front burner, and he requested permission to build 2,750 vacation houses and other housing types.

     Last week, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman evaluated an investment opportunity near the Big Tupper ski area in northern New York. “He flew in with some of his team to look over the Adirondack Club project,” a local Realtor told North County Public Radio. Adirondack Club, a controversial 6,200-acre resort community near the town of Tupper Lake, has been kicking around for years and was, until last year, hung up by legal challenges from environmentalists and slow-growthers. Its developers, Tom Lawson and Michael Foxman, are presumably luring Norman by offering him a chance to redesign an existing golf course that they plan to incorporate into their community. According to the Realtor, further talks are scheduled.

     An LLC affiliated with Brue Capital Partners has closed on its expected purchase of Adam’s Mountain Country Club and Adam’s Rib Ranch. The LLC, led by Chad Brue and Dan Bennett, bought the properties from entities controlled by Fred Kummer, a St. Louis, Missouri-based hotelier who began developing his 2,655 acres in Eagle, Colorado in the early 1970s. Bennett, the principal of Southwest Greens of Colorado, considers the Adam’s Rib property to be “a gem that has been off the radar for decades,” and Brue believes it’s “poised for a bright future,” thanks in part to “an increasingly robust real estate market.” The partners have determined that Kummer invested more than $100 million into Adam’s Rib Ranch. They haven’t announced what they paid for the properties, but last month the Vail Daily reported that they’d agreed on a price between $20 million and $30 million. Adam’s Mountain features an 18-hole, Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course that opened in 2007. The club is said to operate “at substantial annual loss,” but the new owners don’t intend to sell it, for they believe it’s “critical” to future real estate sales.

     New Delhi-based DLF, Ltd., India’s biggest real estate developer, has taken the wraps off its Gary Player “signature” golf course. The 18-hole track, the centerpiece of DLF Golf & Country Club, replaces an 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed layout that opened in the late 1990s and hosted some of Asia’s most highly regarded professional events, including the Johnnie Walker Classic, the Indian Open, and the Avantha Masters. DLF’s new course also figures to attract high-profile tournaments, and Player thinks it “will truly stand beside any in the world.” The club is one of the attractions at DLF City, a 3,000-acre mini-metropolis in Gurgaon, a close-in southwestern suburb of New Delhi. According to Wikipedia, half of the Fortune 500 has established a presence in Gurgaon, even though the city “does not have reliable power and water supply, public transport, and utilities.”

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the July 2012 and June 2010 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Gifts of Gab: As municipalities across the nation debate the value of their golf operations, maybe they should consider some counsel from the city attorney in Gallup, New Mexico. “I think the golf course is sort of like a hospital,” George Kozeliski said last year, as the city was weighing the future of Fox Run Golf Course. “If you don’t have one, you have a tough time getting any kind of economic development. A city our size should have one.... It’s just one of those things to attract and maintain investment and quality of life for citizens.” Based at least in part on Kozeliski’s advice, which was published by the Gallup Independent (the story is no longer available online), the city chose to outsource the course’s operation.

     Steve Smyers, who views himself and his colleagues as “forward-thinking guys who bring innovation to the game,” has been elected as the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. In a press release, he suggested that under his direction the group would attempt to “inspire golfers to play 10 percent more golf each year” and to “continue to pioneer improved standards and focus on striving to make what is already a great game even better.” Smyers, who’s based in Lakeland, Florida, will serve as the ASGCA’s leader through April 2016.