The Week That Was, july 19, 2015

     The billionaire who founded GoDaddy, Inc. has fleshed out the next phase of development at Scottsdale National Golf Club. Bob Parsons, who bought the former Golf Club Scottsdale in 2013, has set out to create one of our nation’s elite private venues, and his vision includes a second 18-hole golf course, a par-3 course, lodging for the club’s wealthy members, and a 175,000-square-foot clubhouse -- a building “roughly the size of a department store,” as the Arizona Republic helpfully notes. The forthcoming tracks will complement Scottsdale National’s existing 18-hole course, which was co-designed by Jay Morrish and Dick Bailey. Parsons, who reportedly paid $600,000 for the club, hasn’t yet publicly named the designer of the second course.

     Though it has admitted to laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and terrorist organizations, HSBC has nonetheless won the right to continue serving as the primary financial sponsor of the Open Championship, golf’s oldest and most cherished professional event. In a press release, the bank called the five-year extension it’s signed “a landmark moment for HSBC,” and Peter Dawson of the R&A, the architect of the deal, called HSBC “a valued partner for the Championship.” To be fair, HSBC has invested a lot of money in a variety of grow-the-game initiatives all over the world. But it also understands the concept of money well spent, and it wouldn’t have renewed its contract if it wasn’t profiting from the marketing investments it’s made in golf. In every business relationship, one hand washes another. In this particular case, however, wouldn’t it be nice to be washed by cleaner hands?

     When you’re the leader of the most powerful institution in golf, you have to take some tough stands on controversial issues. Unless you’re Peter Dawson, that is. Paying little or no mind to Donald Trump’s racial insults and social insensitivities, the R&A’s chief executive has decided that Trump Turnberry should remain in the running for an upcoming Open Championship. “We’ll just let a bit of time pass,” Dawson told reporters this week, “and future championship committees will deal with them at the time.” Translation: Dawson, who’ll retire later this year, is hoping that Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants will soon be forgotten. And if they aren’t, the golf industry’s foremost defender of the status quo is going to pass the buck to his successor.

     Lough Erne Resort, which has struggled for years and been in the hands of administrators since 2011, finally has new owners. An investment group led by Michael Saliba of Chicago, Illinois-based Vine Avenue Advisors reportedly paid €8.4 million -- $9.2 million -- for Lough Erne, a 600-acre spread in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, that features 120 accommodations for overnight guests, meeting space, a spa, restaurants, five helipads, the Faldo Championship Golf Course, Castle Hume Golf Course, and a golf academy. What’s more, the eight-year-old resort hosted the G-8 Summit of world leaders in 2013, Rory McIlroy serves as the public face of its golf operation, and it’ll host the Irish Open in 2017. All that being said, Lough Erne competes for vacationers and business meetings with lots of similar resorts in Northern Ireland and throughout Great Britain, so the new owners intend to refresh the entire property, in particular its Nick Faldo-designed golf course. The sale of Lough Erne was originally scheduled to take place last fall but was held up due to what’s been described as “a legal dispute with a local landowner.”

     A British hotelier that claims to “enjoy the path less traveled” and “thrive on challenging the status quo” has purchased one of Scotland’s most popular and most traditional golf resorts. London-based Ennismore has acquired Gleneagles, the world-famous, 850-acre resort in Perthshire, from Diageo PLC, a liquor colossus that’s looking to shed its non-core assets. A price hasn’t been disclosed, but the Guardian believes Ennismore paid about £150 million ($234 million), which, if accurate, is less than the estimate (£200 million, or $312 million) offered earlier this year by the Times of London. Gleneagles features a 232-room hotel, grouse-hunting grounds, the British School of Falconry, and three 18-hole courses, one of which -- the Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA Centenary course -- was the site of last year’s Ryder Cup matches. Ennismore has promised to “preserve the special appeal of this Scottish landmark,” and it intends to keep selling Diageo-produced products, a line that includes Guinness, Smirnoff, Gordon’s, Tanqueray, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Bailey’s, Harp, Red Stripe, Johnny Walker, and J&B.

     In a video post on his Facebook page, Lee Westwood says that golf “needs to be made fun,” “needs to be promoted better,” “needs to be more available to the man in the street,” “needs a two-hour format,” and, by all means, needs to be “less expensive.” Geez, you’d think the game didn’t have anything going for it.