The Week That Was, october 4, 2015

     The great dream of Bandon Muni is dead. After years of fruitlessly trying to placate distrustful conservationists and negotiate a complicated land swap with bewildered government officials, Mike Keiser has canceled his plans to build a 27-hole, municipally owned golf complex on property south of his Bandon Dunes resort on Oregon’s Pacific coast. Keiser had initiated the venture in 2008 and spent who knows how much trying to make it a reality, and he’s going to continue running a tab until an accountant somewhere tallies every nickel that every public agency believes it’s owed. Keiser’s decision, which he says was made “with great regret,” came just days after he discovered that federal officials had imposed new rules that would’ve have cost him an additional $450,000 for land acquisition and made it impossible to operate the venue the way he wanted to, with dirt-cheap greens fees for local residents and college scholarships for brainy caddies. The moral of the story: On occasion, people will indeed look a gift horse in the mouth.

     For the time being, at least, Keiser’s decision to pull the plug on Bandon Muni ends Gil Hanse’s opportunity to join the elite group of architects who’ve put their talents on display at Bandon Dunes. However, it probably makes him one of the favorites to win a commission for course #3 or #4 at Keiser’s forthcoming Sand Valley complex in Wisconsin.

     Gifts of Gab: Donald Trump’s insults and mischaracterizations continue to echo across the U.S. electoral landscape, but they haven’t negatively impacted Turnberry’s chances of hosting golf’s greatest professional tournament. “To think that we are going to determine where an Open Championship is held because of something somebody said on the political trail in America is absurd,” said Peter Dawson, the R&A’s retiring chief executive. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Dawson’s comment offers insight into how golf’s power brokers operate: All that really matters is what’s said behind closed doors.

     For the past three-plus years, Phil Mickelson has been working on a redesign of the North course at Torrey Pines and acting as a friendly persuader to get it done. Now, thanks to a technicality in the bidding process, he and his design team won’t be allowed to compete for the final contract. “I’m deeply disappointed with this entire process,” said Mickelson, who lives not far from Torrey Pines, in Rancho Santa Fe. The city of San Diego, which expects to spend $12.6 million on the overhaul, aims to select the primary vendors for the project by the end of the year, so the construction can begin in early 2016.

     The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail has spawned many imitators, but the 11-property, 26-course chain is, financially speaking, an under-performer. Over the past three years, the trail has delivered a return of only 1.59 percent on investments made by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, far below the hoped-for target of 8 percent. But the trail wasn’t created to be a major money-maker, says the RSA’s CEO, and its true value can’t be measured by focusing exclusively on the bottom line. “I always expected the trail to be a loss leader,” David Bronner told the Alabama Media Group. “In order to pull you into the hotels that make money or the spas that make money or the bars that make money, I had to have a vehicle. I could have the best hotels in the world, but if I didn’t have great golf, there’s no reason to come here.”

     Come January 1, there will be no more Joy in England Golf. I refer to David Joy, who’s moving on to his next career challenge after serving as England Golf’s executive director for just 30 months. Curiously, a press release announcing Joy’s resignation includes no comments from Joy. In what may be viewed as a signal of which sport has the greener pastures, beginning next year Joy will become the CEO of British Canoeing.