The Week That Was, may 31, 2015

     Slowly but surely, Mike Keiser is making progress on his long-delayed “municipal” golf course in Bandon, Oregon, and last week he took a major step forward. After negotiating for more than five years, the state’s parks and recreation department has agreed to privatize the 280 acres that Keiser wants to transform into a 27-hole, Gil Hanse-designed golf complex. In exchange, Keiser has agreed to give the state, among other things, 219 acres of coastal lands, $2.5 million for future land acquisition, and $300,000 to combat the spread of gorse. “This has been a long time coming, and I think it would be a wonderful thing for the local area,” the town of Bandon’s mayor told the Associated Press. The land Keiser wants is in the Bandon State Natural Area, roughly 14 miles south of his Bandon Dunes resort. Before he can make the swap, however, he needs to cross one last hurdle, and it’s a big one: He needs the federal government to approve the transaction, a request that the news service says is “certain to trigger a deep review of the potential environmental impacts.”

     Now that détente with the United States appears to be just around the corner, Cuba’s economic prospects have brightened considerably. In recent months, a parade of high-ranking government officials and high-powered CEOs from France, Italy, Russia, China, Spain, Japan, Great Britain, and other nations have visited Havana, eager to swing deals that will prevent U.S. corporations from claiming a significant stake in the nation’s future. “If the embargo is lifted,” the head of a French company told the Associated Press, “the U.S. market, so much closer to Cuba, will be an important competitor for us.” Good times are beginning to roll in Cuba, and Corporate America -- the golf industry included -- remains where it’s been for more than a half-century: On the outside, looking in. British and Chinese groups have secured the only golf contracts announced by the Castro regime so far, but four to six others will be awarded in the near future, and right now it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which a U.S. company gets one. Cuba may ultimately be a small player in the global golf market, but that’s no reason to ignore development opportunities in our back yard. If the embargo isn’t lifted pretty darned soon, Asian and European groups are going to control Cuba’s golf business. How does that benefit us?

     As expected, a Greg Norman “signature” golf course will be the centerpiece of the forthcoming Adirondack Club in northern New York. According to Bloomberg, the Florida-based celebrity architect will put a fresh, modern, and more saleable face on the Donald Ross-designed layout that’s to be incorporated into the 6,300-acre community. The faded 18-hole track, currently part of Tupper Lake Golf Club, has been around since 1932. “The diamond is there,” Norman told the news service. “It just needs to be polished off.” As previously noted, “the Living Brand” recently agreed to become an investor in Adirondack Club, and he’s apparently taking a liking to Tupper Lake and its environs. “I never knew the beauty and the magnitude of the area,” Norman said. “There’s all this stuff up there that you’re kind of oblivious to.” Bloomberg reports that Norman intends to “preserve most of the design elements from Ross,” with the “polishing off” to be complete in 2018.

     Once again, Donald Trump has registered his intent to build a cemetery at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Pending approval from elected officials, the nearly 10-acre boneyard will emerge along the 13th hole of the club’s Old Course, and its 548 graves will be reserved for club members and military veterans. Some years ago, Trump expressed a desire to make the club his final resting place, but he’s changed his mind. He now wants to be buried in Florida.

The Week That Was, may 24, 2015

     California’s drought has claimed another victim, this one a well-regarded 18-hole golf course in the Central Valley. Stevinson Ranch Golf Club, which features a John Harbottle-designed layout that the Merced Sun Star says “was praised world-wide since the day it opened,” will close in July. George Kelley, the industrial farmer who’s owned the club since it opened in the mid 1990s, blames its demise on state-imposed water rationing that’s forced him to allocate his limited liquid assets to a more profitable operation. “We had to make a business decision,” he told the newspaper. “Our family almond business had to come first over the golf business.” Of course, the drought isn’t solely the cause of Stevinson Ranch’s troubles. The course has lost 14,000 rounds in recent years (it reportedly rings up about 30,000 nowadays), and it’s suffered from a fire and an infestation of nematodes. But Kelley says that “the water situation” is “the straw that broke the camel’s back” and that he feels “just terrible about it.” Without question, golf courses drink a lot of water. But did you know that it takes a gallon of water to produce a single almond? Or that most of the almonds we grow in California are shipped to foreign countries, to China and Hong Kong in particular?

     For the Trump Organization, golf development is paving the way for potentially more lucrative business opportunities in the Middle East. With its first golf course in Dubai, the one designed by Gil Hanse, scheduled to open later this year, Donald Trump’s family-operated company is actively exploring hotel-development opportunities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. “I think there is an opportunity to exceed what’s been done in the Middle East and create something truly iconic and special,” Ivanka Trump told Hotelier Middle East. She calls Hanse’s track, which is taking shape at the luxurious Akoya community, “an exceptional golf course” that will be “unlike any other built in the region.” Clearly, she’s learned a lot about self-promotion from her father.

     Before the bulldozers get to working on his new Coore & Crenshaw track, Johnny Morris has some holes to fill at the golf course that made his Big Cedar Lodge famous. Various sources report that four large sinkholes have opened at Top of the Rock Golf Course, Morris’ Jack Nicklaus “signature” layout in Ridgedale, Missouri. The sinkholes don’t directly impact any holes on the nine-hole, par-3 course, but biggest one is reportedly as large as a nice-sized green -- roughly 4,800 square feet -- and roughly 35 feet deep. Morris still hasn’t announced when he plans to break ground on his forthcoming course, but he expects it to make Big Cedar “the premier golf destination in the Midwest.”

     The liquor division of the Nicklaus empire has introduced a line of low-priced wines. The new line, called Jack’s House, consists of a chardonnay and a cabernet, and it complements the higher-priced vino that Jack Nicklaus has produced with Terlato Wines International since 2010. Terlato calls the new products, which retail for about $15, “high-quality, easy-drinking wines,” and it plans to give 30 cents from the sale of each bottle to the Jack’s House Foundation, a charitable group. The list of Nicklaus-branded products available for purchase is growing fast, and it now includes ice cream, lemonade, shoes, sunglasses, hats, golf balls, and other stuff that’s better because it’s branded.

The Pipeline, may 22, 2015

     Belek, Turkey. The Turkish Golf Federation has set out to build a $50 million, links-style track that would be designed specifically to host the Ryder Cup and other major international events. The course will take shape on an inland site in Belek, the nation’s most popular vacation area and already the home of several high-profile golf properties. A designer hasn’t yet been selected, but the federation would be crazy not to work with European Golf Design, a British firm that’s co-owned by the European Tour, the group that sponsors the Ryder Cup. Though it has fewer than two dozen golf properties, Turkey aims to become one of the world’s favorite golf destinations, a title that will be easier to secure if it can host an event on the scale of the Ryder Cup. It’s not aiming to host the games of 2022, but it’ll almost certainly pull out all the stops to secure the competition of 2026.

     Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The chairman of Augusta National Golf Club is looking to create an exclusive golf venue in the Rocky Mountains. Billy Payne and a fellow member of Augusta National, Dirk Ziff, have petitioned to build a nine-hole, Tom Fazio-designed layout at Windwalker Ranch, their ultra-private, 514-acre vacation spot outside Steamboat Springs. Access to the course will be limited to the ranch’s eight owners, along with family members and guests. According to Steamboat Today, Payne, Ziff, and their partners paid $17.65 million for the property in 2012. Their course will be compact, as it’ll feature three fairways and five greens, and so far nobody is talking about how impeccably it’ll be maintained.

     Nowra, Australia. The Buddhist monks who’ve commercialized kung-fu fighting have closed on property in rural New South Wales that will eventually become a resort community with a 27-hole golf complex. Early this year, Shaolin Temple Foundation Australia completed its purchase of a 3,120-acre spread that will be the future home of Shaolin Village, which is to include a Buddhist temple, a kung-fu academy, housing for martial-arts students, meeting space, an amphitheater, office space, and other attractions. The monks have also reserved a site for a small farm, and in the future they hope to add 300 houses and a hotel. The foundation believes that the village will attract as many as 300,000 international visitors a year, plus an even greater number of domestic visitors.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands. The owner of Tinian Island’s only casino is looking to hedge its bets by building a multifaceted vacation spot with a 36-hole golf complex. Hong Kong-based Chinese Strategic Holdings Limited aims to make Tinian a gaming destination for high rollers from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other Asian locales, and it intends to build a to-be-named, 1,200-acre resort community on Puntan Kastiyu, a cape near the island’s airport. The community will feature 20 or 30 villas, a 1,000-room hotel, a bunch of restaurants and eateries, a shopping area, an equestrian center, and two “world-class” golf courses. The community will be located just a short drive from the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, which CSH purchased in 2013. CSH isn’t alone in believing that Tinian is capable of becoming a popular vacation destination. At least three other groups hope to build resort communities on the island, and one of them includes an 18-hole golf course in its plans.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Eros Park, Namibia. Outside Namibia’s capital city, a community geared to high-income home buyers will feature what a local newspaper calls “a top-class” golf course. Eros Valley will take shape on 590 acres in a suburb of Windhoek. It’s been in the works for nearly a decade -- in 2012, the Namibian Sun said it was being delayed by “bureaucratic and tedious town planning processes” -- but it was approved by local elected officials last year. In addition to the golf course, Eros Valley has been master-planned to include 466 houses, a hotel, and a boutique shopping area. Golf has been played in Namibia since the early 1940s, if not before. The nation currently has 15 golf properties, according to Golf Digest, and two of its highest-ranked venues -- Windhoek Golf & Country Club and Omeya Golf Club -- are in Windhoek.

     Halong Bay, Vietnam. Government officials in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam are trying to spark the construction of a golf complex in one of the world’s most photogenic vacation destinations. The 27-hole complex will be among the recreational amenities at Halong Star, a 367-acre resort community that will take shape on a bluff that rises 650 feet above the scenic, almost mystical waters of Halong Bay. Halong Star is to be developed by an entity controlled by Sovico Holdings, a Russian-Vietnamese company, and Limitless, a firm controlled by the government of Dubai. Limitless is the sister company of Nakheel, the company that was supposed to build the first Tiger Woods-designed golf course in Dubai. Limitless signed a development agreement with Quang Ninh in 2013, and provincial officials met with the company in Dubai last year, apparently in an attempt to jump-start construction. The province is trying to persuade various private-sector groups to build golf courses in the vicinity of Halong Bay, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

     Asopia, Greece. A local development group has set out to build a “holiday village,” complete with a 27-hole golf complex, in the Parnassos region of Greece. Sportsland SA’s community will take shape on 1,750 acres roughly 50 miles northwest of Athens, the nation’s capital. Along with a handful of similar resort ventures, it’s been “fast-tracked” by the national government, as part of an effort to expedite the approvals process for projects that might spark the moribund Greek economy. The community, appropriately dubbed Sportsland, has been master-planned to include houses, hotels and other overnight accommodations, a conference center, a spa, a “country village” with stores and eateries, an equestrian center, a recreation center, a regulation-length 18-hole golf course, and a nine-hole par-3 track.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Lokoja, Nigeria. A Nigerian governor who believes that golf is “a key ingredient for economic tourism” aims to prove it by building an 18-hole track in a prime location in his state’s capital city. Idris Wada, the governor of Kogi State, plans to build the course near Mount Patti in Lokoja, a city that was established by British merchants in the late 1850s and remains one of Nigeria’s chief centers of commerce. The way Wada sees it, a “world-class golf resort,” along with first-class hotels and other tourist-friendly attractions, can help to elevate Lokoja “to the status of cities that can host world-class events.” Unfortunately, Wada originally announced plans for the golf course in 2012 and doesn’t appear to have made much progress. If the layout is ever built, it’ll be Lokoja’s first.

The Week That Was, may 17, 2015

     The end may be near for one of China’s elite golf properties. CTS Tycoon (Shenzhen) Golf Club, a 45-hole complex outside Hong Kong, in Guangdong Province, was supposed to close last week, as authorities have deemed that it imperils a reservoir that provides drinking water for the area’s residents. For China Travel Service, the club’s owner, the frustrating part is that Tycoon has been in place since the 1990s, when it opened as Honichi Golf Club. “We’ve been driven to a hopeless situation,” an official of state-owned CTS told the Wall Street Journal. Honichi, which was created by a Japanese group, originally had an 18-hole course, then a 27-hole complex. Later, Hurdzan-Fry Environmental Golf Design redesigned the 18-hole track, and Cynthia Dye-McGarey of Dye Designs Group created a tournament-worthy 18 and a lighted nine. Tycoon, which reportedly has more than 1,000 members and an initiation fee of more than $130,000, is said to be “bitter” about what’s happened and is trying to extend its life. It’s fighting an uphill battle.

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the March 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Arthur Spring, an Irish golf architect who chased a dream project in southwestern Ireland for nearly two decades, has died. He was 70. Spring began designing golf courses in the late 1980s, but he never got to build the ones that consumed him in his later years: A series of tracks on more than 1,200 acres along Inch Strand, near Dingle. The property was special enough to get the attention of Mike Keiser, the world’s foremost developer of contemporary links courses, who considered becoming Spring’s development partner. “When I first saw the property, 10 years ago, it looked like Pacific Dunes but even better,” Keiser told Golf magazine late last year, referring to one of his courses at Bandon Dunes. Spring’s portfolio includes Cregmore Park Golf Club in County Galway, East Clare Golf Club in County Clare, and Beaufort Golf Course in County Kerry. He felt that he could design courses “without putting undue strains on the finances of the proprietors.” The Kerryman reports that thousands of people attended his funeral.

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the December 2009 and December 2014 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Just weeks after making a site visit, Greg Norman has agreed to become an investor in the Adirondack Club, a proposed four-season resort in Tupper Lake, New York. “It’s a big deal for Tupper Lake,” one of the developers told the Lake Placid News. “It’s real exciting what’s going on here and the caliber of people that are coming here and what we’re proposing to do up on the mountain.” The developers haven’t yet announced any specifics about the role Norman will play in the venture, and it’s not clear whether he’ll be involved in upgrading the municipal golf course that’s lies adjacent to their property. One thing’s for certain, however: “The Living Brand” has already picked out the lot where his vacation home will be built.

     After several false starts, an Edinburgh-based firm finally appears ready to build a “world-class” golf community in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The development entity, an affiliate of FM Group, aims to build more than 400 houses on the 1,500-acre Ury Estate, along with a shopping area and an 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course. “Aberdeenshire is a beautiful area, and this site is particularly special,” Nicklaus told the BBC. “I think Ury Estate provides us all the components to create a memorable golf experience.” If this venture sounds familiar, it’s probably because FM Group has been trying to develop the Ury Estate for years. The firm originally laid out its vision for the property in the mid 2000s, but it was forced to declare for bankruptcy protection during the Great Recession. It re-emerged in 2011, with a downsized and downscaled version of its original plan, but the venture nevertheless languished. Now, however, FM Group says that the project is “fully back on track.” Local planning officials are currently reviewing the group’s development proposal.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Gifts of Gab: In 2008, Rolling Stone asked B. B. King, who died this week, a question: When you’re deep into a solo, when you’re playing a solo, what’s in your head? His answer: I wish I knew how to tell you. Sometimes I forget who I am. When I’m on the stage, I won’t be 


 
thinking about, hey, boy, I’m something else. I’m thinking about trying to tell this story that I want you to understand. It’s like now, just talking with you, it makes me feel good if I can make you understand what I’m trying to tell you. Even if I don’t have all the words, I’m doing my best. That’s the same way I think about the music.

Desolation Row, may 15, 2015

     Old Brookville, New York. The owners of CedarBrook Club have seen the future, and it consists of multimillion-dollar houses on three-acre lots. They plan to operate CedarBrook, which is suffering from what the Long Island Business News describes as “declining membership,” only until a home builder steps up and buys it. The sellers, said to be a “group of Great Neck-based families,” reportedly paid $12.5 million for the 125-acre club in 1987. Its centerpiece is an 18-hole, Al Zikorus-designed golf course that opened in the early 1960s.

     San Diego, California. Delivering on a promise it made last year, Laureus Corporation has closed Carmel Highland Golf Course, a track operated by Troon Golf. “Unfortunately, it’s part of the times,” the course’s general manager told the San Diego Union-Tribune. He added: “Without growth, you just don’t have enough people coming in, and the owners keep digging more and more into their pockets.” Carmel Highland opened in 1967, as Rancho Penasquitos Golf Course. It reportedly spends $500,000 a year on water, and play on its 18-hole, William F. Bell-designed course has declined by more than 15,000 rounds since 2011, when Laureus bought it.

     Sherman, Texas. Drew LaBarbera has apparently pulled the plug on Northern Challenge Golf Course, a 12-year-old track that he co-owns with his brother. KTEN-TV reports that the phone is no longer being answered at the 18-hole, John Colligan-designed layout, which reportedly anchors a community with “a few dozen high-dollar homes.” An online reviewer once recommended the course, saying, “It's worth going a little out of your way to play this course.” Apparently not enough readers took the advice.

     Nampa, Idaho. “April is the cruellest month,” T. S. Eliot once wrote, though he wasn’t talking about taxes or the fate of Broadmore Golf Club. The club and its 85-year-old golf course will close at the end of the month. “The economy has affected us,” one of the club’s board members told the Idaho Press-Tribune. “People just couldn’t afford to play golf. When they do, people like 18 holes, and we’re a nine-hole course.” Broadmore had been owned by 18 investors who put it on the market two years ago. It now belongs to Golf Ready LLC, which doesn’t intend to operate a golf course on the 40-acre property.

     Rockford, Tennessee. A proposed highway bypass has all but spelled the end of Pine Lakes Golf Course, an 18-hole track that opened in 1971. The road has created development opportunities in suburban Knoxville, and an investment group has signed an option to buy Pine Lakes’ 165 acres. “I think there’s a lot of different things that we could do with the property, given the location,” one of the prospective owners told the Maryville Daily Times. The seller, a family owned entity led by Blount County Sheriff James Berrong, also owns Lambert Acres Golf Club in Maryville.

     Dunnellon, Florida. Don’t expect Rainbow Springs Golf & Country Club to reopen anytime soon, if ever. “I gotta tell you, the likelihood of the club ever reopening is very, very, very small,” Mark Kaprelian, the club’s owner, told the Ocala Star Banner. Kaprelian and his wife have owned the club since 2008, and today they’re battling with the state of Florida, which has scheduled road construction that will impact the golf course, and with some residents of the Rainbow Springs community, who feel “alienated” and have decided to “go seek enjoyment someplace else.” Rainbow Springs’ 18-hole, Joe Lee-designed golf course opened in 1979.

     North Aurora, Illinois. Fox Valley Golf Course survived the Great Depression, but not the Great Recession. The city of Aurora has agreed to sell Fox Valley, which opened in 1929, to a Michigan-based developer of housing for seniors. “We’ve been looking to get out of the golf business,” an alderman told the Chicago Tribune. “The course is not up to speed, compared to others in the area.” What’s more, the price was right: $5 million. The 18-hole, Charles Maddox-designed track will likely remain open through the 2015 season. The city, which has owned the course since the late 1980s, expects to close on the sale in the second quarter of 2016.

     Rockford, Michigan. Braeside Golf Course isn’t going to open this season, and the bank that foreclosed on its owner is marketing the 116-acre property as an ideal site for a subdivision. United Bank of Michigan is hoping to get $965,000 for Braeside, an 18-hole course that opened in 1981. The course operated under bankruptcy protection last year, and a spokesperson for Amicus Management, a court-appointed receiver, told the Grand Rapids Business Journal that it’s been “marginal on profitability for several years.”

     Mesa, Arizona. A seniors-only community in suburban Phoenix has lost its nine-hole, executive-length golf course. Last year, the owners of Dreamland Villa reportedly accepted $4.3 million for the 30-acre track, which was subsequently razed. The new owner, William Lyon Homes, believes the property can accommodate 240 dwelling units.

     Dublin, Ohio. A sales agreement has been in place for a couple of years, and now the end is truly near for Riviera Golf Club. Local officials have blessed Charlie Ruma’s redevelopment plans, and Riviera’s 18-hole, Jack Kidwell-designed golf course will soon be replaced by 185 houses. The American Italian Golf Association, which didn’t open the 167-acre course this season, will reportedly pocket $7.2 million on the transaction.

The Week That Was, may 10, 2015

     Offering proof that change never comes easily or quickly, a famed all-male golf club in Ireland has laid a foundation that will eventually enable it to admit women. Portmarnock Golf Club, a fixture in greater Dublin since 1894, has embarked upon a cumbersome three-stage “consultative process” to determine how its members feel about dropping their gender bias, although it’s clear that the process is actually an attempt to build a consensus for change. “This is a sensitive issue wrapped in strong opinions,” the club’s captain acknowledged in a letter to the members, while emphasizing that the issue “has important implications for the future of our club.” Change is often motivated by fear, and Portmarnock fears losing the Irish Open, an event it’s hosted 19 times. Perceptions matter, and Portmarnock Golf Club and Royal Dublin Golf Club are, according to the Irish Times, the only golf clubs in Ireland that deny membership to women. To be fair, however, it should be noted that Portmarnock’s doors aren’t completely closed to the opposite sex. The Independent reports that the wives and daughters of members are allowed on the course on Sundays.

     Escalante Golf has placed the Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe, one of its two golf properties in California, under bankruptcy protection. The Texas-based course owner and operator hasn’t explained why or otherwise discussed the matter publicly, but a court filing indicates that the club has assets worth up to $50 million and owes between $10 million to $50 million. Escalante bought the Crosby in 2009, from an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group. The 14-year-old club, which is located within a private, gated community, features an 18-hole course that wears the “signature” of Fred Couples. The club last made headlines in late 2012, when it was accused of skimming tip money from its restaurant staffers. Escalante’s other golf property in the Golden State is Sonoma Golf Club in Sonoma.

     The sixth edition of Richard Mandell’s “Symposium on Affordable Golf” will be held in Canton, Ohio, at Tam O’Shanter Golf Course. The dates: October 12-13, 2015. Admission is free, and the Pinehurst, North Carolina-based golf architect believes that the attendance at this year’s event “should be the best ever.” The symposium’s mission: “We will continue to explore the meaning of affordable golf and how we all can learn from mistakes of the past and adopt ideas for the future.” Coming sign of the apocalypse: One of the featured speakers will be the founder of the American FootGolf League.

     In many urban areas of China, golf courses are sometimes portrayed as “green oases” that offer breathable air amid clouds of smog. Here’s how bad suffocation levels have become in Beijing, where at least three golf courses were recently closes: In periods when the pollution is especially thick, the city’s residents will be prohibited from driving on consecutive days.

Transactions, may 8, 2015

     Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Ron Jaworski has acquired his sixth golf property. The ESPN analyst and former Philadelphia Eagle quarterback is the leader of a group that purchased Downingtown Country Club, which features an 18-hole, George Fazio-designed course that opened in the mid 1960s. “The course is in really good shape,” Jaworski’s son, B.J., said in a press release. “We’re just going to see if we can put our little touch on it to make it a little bit better.” Jaworski’s partnership includes Ira Lubert, the founder of a major Philadelphia-based investment company, Lubert-Adler Partners. The partners bought the property from an entity controlled by Adam Loew of J. Loew & Associates, which has its headquarters on a site overlooking the course’s 12th hole. “We felt a new owner would bring a new vitality to the club,” Loew said. “I feel confident the new owner will bring a new level of attention to the golf club.” Jaworski’s portfolio includes one other property in Pennsylvania (Honey Run Golf Club in York) and four in New Jersey (among them Blue Heron Pines Golf Club in Egg Harbor City and Running Deer Golf Club in Pittsgrove).

     Johns Island, South Carolina. A U.S. bankruptcy court has endorsed a bid for Golf Club at Briar’s Creek that’s been submitted by the owner of the Houston Texans. Robert “Bob” McNair, one of the club’s founding members and a part-time local resident, expects to pay $11.3 million for the financially troubled 13-year-old venue and its Rees Jones-designed golf course. If all goes as planned, McNair will close on the transaction later this month.

     Sarasota, Florida. An entity led by Jon Whittemore has reportedly paid $3.25 million for Serenoa Golf Club, a 233-acre spread with an 18-hole, 25-year-old golf course. Serenoa is Whittemore’s second golf property in the city, as the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that last year he paid $1.5 million for Rolling Green Golf Club. Whittemore bought Serenoa from a partnership led by J. Michael Ussery of Austin, Texas-based OnCourse Strategies. Ussery’s group paid $2 million for the club in late 2012, after a lender had foreclosed on a previous owner. At the time, Ussery said that Serenoa “had potential to be a good investment for us.” Turns out he was right.

     St. Michaels, Maryland. Last month, Harbourtowne Golf Resort & Conference Center fetched $13 million from a buyer who’s hoping to remain anonymous. Marcus & Millichap, which brokered the sale of the 153-acre resort and its 18-hole, Pete Dye-designed golf course, describes the new owner as “an international hotel and leisure company with unique synergies to the property.” The Easton Star Democrat identifies the buyer as a group led by Richard D. Cohen, the principal of New York City-based Capital Properties. Cohen, who also owns the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels, reportedly bought Harbourtown from entity that calls itself Cal-Mar Associates. M&M says that its client expects to reposition Harbourtown as “a world-class luxury resort” and has “the resources” to do it.  

     North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. LStar Communities has paid $16 million for the 181-acre Waterway Hills Golf Club and 62 acres of adjacent property. It was a strategic purchase, as the properties are located along the northern edge of LStar’s Grande Dunes, a 2,200-acre master-planned community that needs capacity for expansion. Waterway Hills features a 27-hole complex that was designed by Robert Trent Jones. LStar’s managing partner told the Myrtle Beach Sun-News that he has “no plans for development at this time,” but he’s raised the possibility with local planning officials. For the time being, the Waterway Hills complex will complement Grande Dunes’ Members Club, which has an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Nick Price and Craig Schreiner. LStar bought Waterway Hills from an investment group controlled by Marjorie Holliday, one of the heirs of J. W. Holliday, a tobacco farmer and turpentine producer who helped to make Horry County what it is today.

     Clinton, Iowa. Jestun and Brenda Gatz have reportedly paid $700,000 for the Oaks, an 18-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed golf course that dates to 1920. They plan to restore the course’s original name, Valley Oaks, and reduce greens fees in the hope of generating more play. “I just feel that from a business standpoint, we wouldn’t charge more than what I’d be willing to pay myself,” Jestun Gatz told the Clinton Herald. “We feel like we can meet a large audience.” The couple also owns Silver Ridge Golf Course in Oregon, Illinois. They bought the Oaks from Clinton Country Club, Ltd., which paid $1.5 million for it in 2010.

     Snohomish, Washington. An unnamed “international investment group” is the new owner of Golf Club at Echo Falls, a 23-year-old venue that features an 18-hole, Jack Frei-designed golf course. According to the Everett Daily Herald, Echo Falls was the first golf property purchased by Scott Oki, a former Microsoft executive who currently owns seven other properties in the Puget Sound area. The Oki partnership’s holdings include Indian Summer Golf & Country Club in Olympia, Trophy Lake Golf & Casting Club in Port Orchard, and Washington National Golf Club in Auburn. The new owners of Echo Falls have hired Oki’s management company to manage their club.

     San Diego, California. A San Francisco-based private equity firm and hedge-fund manager has acquired majority control of Grand Del Mar, a resort that features an 18-hole, Tom Fazio-designed golf course. Blum Capital Partners, a company founded by Richard C. Blum, reportedly paid $228 million for the 380-acre property, which also has some villas, a shopping area, a spa, and a 249-room hotel with meeting space. The property will be managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and operated as Fairmont Grand Del Mar.

     Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. A self-professed former “ski bum” has acquired one of New Hampshire’s oldest golf properties. Craig Larson paid an undisclosed price for Waterville Valley Golf Course, a nine-hole track in the White Mountains that’s been in business since 1898. Larson, who’s promised to be a “hands-on” owner, bought the course from the company that’s developing the Waterville Valley resort community.

      River Vale, New Jersey. Development is on the horizon for Edgewood Country Club. The 186-acre club, which features a 27-hole golf complex, was recently sold by its members to an entity controlled by Eric Witmondt, a local developer. The Herald News reports that Witmondt and his partner, Bruce Schonbraun, “plan at some point to seek approval to add a residential component to part of the property.” Edgewood was founded in 1956, but its John Handwerg-designed golf courses date to earlier times. It’s reportedly lost roughly 100 members over the past three years.

     Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii. Pacific Business News has identified the new Japanese owner of Kapolei Golf Club: Daito U.S., Inc., an affiliate of an Osaka-based manufacturing company. Daito paid nearly $32 million for the 20-year-old club and its 18-hole, Ted Robinson-designed golf course. The seller was Pacific Links Hawaii, an affiliate of Pacific Links International, which bought Kapolei from a Japanese group in 2010.

The Week That Was, may 3, 2015

     People have soured on golf, it’s often said, because the game is too time-consuming, too expensive, and too difficult. So how does one explain the results of the R&A’s just-released pace-of-play survey, which has determined that time, cost, and difficulty rank relatively low as factors that inhibit play? The respondents to the R&A’s investigation cited their jobs (34 percent) and family obligations (29 percent) as the top reasons that prevent them from playing, with the length of time required to complete a round finishing a distant third (16 percent). Cost (7 percent) and difficulty (1 percent) ranked fifth and sixth on the list, after a response the R&A calls “alternative hobbies.” (Translation: “Better things to do.”) It’s worth noting that the R&A received 56,248 responses to its survey, most of them, the group says, from people who play once or twice a week. Since the respondents tend to be people who are obviously devoted to golf, is it any wonder that 70 percent of them claim to be “generally happy” with the amount of time it takes to play a round?

     Just weeks after releasing a report on development opportunities along Europe’s Mediterranean coasts, KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice has published a similar overview on the state of golf in the Caribbean. Golf participation in the Caribbean increased by 7 percent between 2011 and 2014, according to KPMG, but that number needs to be put in context. Bermuda has the region’s highest participation rate (an underwhelming 3.86 percent), and no other nation can claim a participation rate of even 0.5 percent. Heck, there are only 18,827 total “registered” golfers in the seven nations that KPMG has studied, and more than half of them (10,353) are in the Dominican Republic. KPMG counts nine courses “under development” in the Caribbean and another 21 “at the planning stage,” but they’ll cater to tourists, not to local golfers.

     The “Open Doctor” has identified three hot spots for golf development. Rees Jones recently told Golf Course Architecture that “we’re going to see lots of activity in the Bahamas,” that “Mexico is starting to pop a little more,” and that “the Japanese golf business is surprisingly busy right now.”

     Gifts of Gab: Communist Party leaders in China may not fully appreciate the addictive power of golf. “Like fine liquor and tobacco, fancy cars and mansions, golf is a public-relations tool that businessmen use to hook officials,” the party’s anti-graft newspaper has warned. “The golf course is gradually changing into a muddy field where they trade money for power.” Of course, such alarms are likely to become the Reefer Madness of the People’s Republic. China’s golf industry couldn’t ask for a better advertisement.