The Open Championship always seems extra-special when it’s played at the Old Course at St. Andrews, and last year’s event had an extra-special economic impact on Scotland. The numbers are a little soft, but the R&A reports that the event produced £140 million (more than $199 million) worth of economic benefits to the nation, “the largest amount ever achieved by a golf event in the United Kingdom or Ireland.” For comparison’s sake, last year’s U.S. Open Championship reportedly delivered $134 million to the Pierce County, Washington area.
The European Tour’s real-estate division has landed in Bulgaria. Lighthouse Golf & Spa Resort, a “lifestyle” community outside Balchik, has become the 18th link in the fast-growing chain of European Tour Properties, a group that includes high-priced spreads in Austria, England, France, Germany, Spain, and other civilized nations. Lighthouse features an 18-hole golf course that was co-designed by Ian Woosnam and European Golf Design, a firm just happens to be co-owned by the European Tour, as well as luxury houses, a hotel, and a nearby private beach. The tour added four communities to its properties network last year, and it’s got plenty of time to match that number this year.
Donald Trump’s presidential prospects may be heating up among the Republican electorate, but his company’s gilded brand is fast losing its sizzle among those who vote with their wallets. According to a survey by a division of Young & Rubicam, the big advertising company, “the value of the Trump name is collapsing” among “the people Trump’s business depends on,” namely consumers who earn more than $100,000 a year. In a story written for Politico, the researchers who conducted the survey say that “the Trump brand has lost the confidence of the people who can afford to stay at one of his hotels, play at one of his country clubs, or purchase a home in one of his developments.” It’ll be a while before we can determine the effects of this brand erosion on the Organization’s golf assets, but it’s important to note that Trump still appears to have the confidence of our industry’s power elites. That being said, in the world of business, everything you say can be held against you.
Further proof that the rich do indeed get richer: The world’s One Percenters now control more wealth than the rest of humanity put together, says a report on income inequality by Oxfam International. “These are unprecedented levels of stratification in all of human history,” a political scientist said in a comment on Oxfam’s findings. What’s more, wealth is quickly and increasingly being concentrated at the very top of the very top, at the expense of those who have little to begin with. Over the past five years, according to Oxfam’s calculations, the 62 richest people on the planet have seen their wealth grow by 44 percent, while the 3.6 billion people on the bottom half of the income scale have seen their wealth fall by 41 percent. As a result, the world’s 62 richest people are now worth as much as the bottom 50 percent.
The golf industry has its own version of a wealth gap, and it manifests itself in the success of select properties at the top of the economic scale. “What we have found recently,” Steve Skinner of KemperSports says in an interview with Golf Course Industry magazine, “is the higher-end properties are doing better than some of the mid-tier and lower-end properties. People are willing to pay for good service and a great experience.” In golf operations these days, according to Skinner, “everybody is looking for value,” and the keys to prosperity include “a good location” and “a unique product.”
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
Desolation Row, january 29, 2016
Sunol, California. Sunol Valley Golf Club, a two-course venue that aimed to offer “a country-club feel for the blue-collar worker,” ceased operations earlier this month. The Ivaldi family, which had operated Sunol Valley from the day it opened in 1968, blamed the club’s demise on the economy, a saturated local golf market, and the state’s persistent drought. “It just isn’t feasible to continue to operate a 36-hole golf course under the current circumstances,” the club’s general manager told the Contra Costa Times. Sunol Valley rang up roughly 68,000 rounds last year, about half the number it attracted in the late 1990s. The club is located 280 acres owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which doesn’t appear to have a jones for golf.
Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The end of the year was the end of the line for Hawthorne Country Club. Hawthorne, which opened in 1968, was especially vulnerable, for it featured a nine-hole golf course. Its operation had “proven not to be economically viable,” according to its owner, Kevin Santos. “It was a difficult decision,” Santos told South Coast Today, “but I have to accept the reality of the business.” Santos bought the 56-acre club at an auction in 2011, reportedly for $2.5 million. Citing a local assessment, the newspaper says the property is currently worth $1.6 million.
Hollywood, Florida. It’s not official yet, but it now appears that both of the golf courses in the Hillcrest community will be lost to residential development. Hillcrest’s nine-hole, executive-length track, supposedly an ideal site for two condo towers, was closed years ago, and in late 2015 local officials also blessed a proposal to eliminate the 18-hole course at Hillcrest Golf & Country Club. The houses can’t be built until the proposal is approved by county and state officials, but City Hall has made its opinion crystal clear. “People are asking for new homes,” a city commissioner told the Sun-Sentinel. “This really rejuvenates our whole city.” The club, which features a layout that was co-designed by Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge, opened in 1965. The course was subsequently redesigned by Joe Lee.
Clifton Park, New York. On the last day of last year, the owner of Eagle Crest Golf Course submitted a redevelopment proposal to town officials. William Paulsen, Jr. is seeking permission to replace his 18-hole, 206-acre golf course with housing for seniors, a move he reportedly believes is necessary to protect his investment. The course was designed by Gino Turchi, its original owner, and opened in 1965. Paulsen has owned the property since 1991.
Jacksonville, Texas. The venue that opened in 1936 as Cherokee Country Club and briefly operated as the Challenge at the Woods is no longer in business, and the Jacksonville Daily Progress reports that much of its perimeter has been “secured by a barbed-wire fence.” Glen Rhodes, reportedly a veterinarian from Louisiana, bought the venue in early 2014 and renamed it Jacksonville Country Club.. According to the newspaper, the club “faced a challenging economic environment.”
Huntsville, Alabama. The golf course adjacent to Huntsville International Airport is about to be grounded for eternity. Sunset Landing Golf Course, a Bob Baldock design that dates from the late 1960s, will close at the end of the month, and its roughly 100 acres will eventually be used for airport expansion.
Leesburg, Virginia. If it makes you feel any better, you can think of Goose Creek Golf Club as being only half dead. The home builder that bought Goose Creek in 2000 has, after a long battle, won permission to raze half of the club’s 18 holes and replace them with single-family houses, townhouses, a hotel, and a restaurant. As the club stood, the home builder told elected officials in fast-growing Loudoun County, it didn’t “represent a reasonably viable economic use.” Goose Creek’s William Gordon-designed course opened in 1952. The 111-acre track was redesigned by Rick Jacobson in the mid 2000s.
Loogootee, Indiana. Speaking of courses being cut in half, a solar-energy farm is going to claim nine of the holes at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center’s golf course. The naval center, in the southwestern part of the state, opened Eagle View Golf Course in 1966. But today, according to a spokesperson for the facility, the course is “being underutilized and is suitable for this alternative energy project.” Duke Energy hopes that the 76,000 solar panels it plants on the property will begin producing electricity before the end of this year.
Holts Summit, Missouri. Does bad news really come in threes? Because the 17-year-old, Larry Flatt-designed course at Railwood Golf Club has also lost nine of its 18 holes. “The owner just decided that it was time to do something different with part of the property,” the club’s general manager told the Jefferson City News Tribune. I don’t know about you, but I’m betting that the “something different” involves houses.
Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The end of the year was the end of the line for Hawthorne Country Club. Hawthorne, which opened in 1968, was especially vulnerable, for it featured a nine-hole golf course. Its operation had “proven not to be economically viable,” according to its owner, Kevin Santos. “It was a difficult decision,” Santos told South Coast Today, “but I have to accept the reality of the business.” Santos bought the 56-acre club at an auction in 2011, reportedly for $2.5 million. Citing a local assessment, the newspaper says the property is currently worth $1.6 million.
Hollywood, Florida. It’s not official yet, but it now appears that both of the golf courses in the Hillcrest community will be lost to residential development. Hillcrest’s nine-hole, executive-length track, supposedly an ideal site for two condo towers, was closed years ago, and in late 2015 local officials also blessed a proposal to eliminate the 18-hole course at Hillcrest Golf & Country Club. The houses can’t be built until the proposal is approved by county and state officials, but City Hall has made its opinion crystal clear. “People are asking for new homes,” a city commissioner told the Sun-Sentinel. “This really rejuvenates our whole city.” The club, which features a layout that was co-designed by Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge, opened in 1965. The course was subsequently redesigned by Joe Lee.
Clifton Park, New York. On the last day of last year, the owner of Eagle Crest Golf Course submitted a redevelopment proposal to town officials. William Paulsen, Jr. is seeking permission to replace his 18-hole, 206-acre golf course with housing for seniors, a move he reportedly believes is necessary to protect his investment. The course was designed by Gino Turchi, its original owner, and opened in 1965. Paulsen has owned the property since 1991.
Jacksonville, Texas. The venue that opened in 1936 as Cherokee Country Club and briefly operated as the Challenge at the Woods is no longer in business, and the Jacksonville Daily Progress reports that much of its perimeter has been “secured by a barbed-wire fence.” Glen Rhodes, reportedly a veterinarian from Louisiana, bought the venue in early 2014 and renamed it Jacksonville Country Club.. According to the newspaper, the club “faced a challenging economic environment.”
Huntsville, Alabama. The golf course adjacent to Huntsville International Airport is about to be grounded for eternity. Sunset Landing Golf Course, a Bob Baldock design that dates from the late 1960s, will close at the end of the month, and its roughly 100 acres will eventually be used for airport expansion.
Leesburg, Virginia. If it makes you feel any better, you can think of Goose Creek Golf Club as being only half dead. The home builder that bought Goose Creek in 2000 has, after a long battle, won permission to raze half of the club’s 18 holes and replace them with single-family houses, townhouses, a hotel, and a restaurant. As the club stood, the home builder told elected officials in fast-growing Loudoun County, it didn’t “represent a reasonably viable economic use.” Goose Creek’s William Gordon-designed course opened in 1952. The 111-acre track was redesigned by Rick Jacobson in the mid 2000s.
Loogootee, Indiana. Speaking of courses being cut in half, a solar-energy farm is going to claim nine of the holes at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center’s golf course. The naval center, in the southwestern part of the state, opened Eagle View Golf Course in 1966. But today, according to a spokesperson for the facility, the course is “being underutilized and is suitable for this alternative energy project.” Duke Energy hopes that the 76,000 solar panels it plants on the property will begin producing electricity before the end of this year.
Holts Summit, Missouri. Does bad news really come in threes? Because the 17-year-old, Larry Flatt-designed course at Railwood Golf Club has also lost nine of its 18 holes. “The owner just decided that it was time to do something different with part of the property,” the club’s general manager told the Jefferson City News Tribune. I don’t know about you, but I’m betting that the “something different” involves houses.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
The Week That Was, january 24, 2016
Two years ago, when it published its inaugural ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, Golf Digest apologized for seeming to favor tracks in the United States and Great Britain & Ireland and promised that it wouldn’t happen again. With this year’s ranking, the magazine makes amends.
In 2014, the United States and Great Britain & Ireland combined to place 72 courses on Golf Digest’s list, and the magazine’s evaluators found it difficult to identify worthy venues in Europe (only two made the grade), Africa (two), the Caribbean (one), and Mexico (one), let alone the Middle East (none) and South America (none). By contrast, only about half of the courses on this year’s list are in the United States (32) and Great Britain & Ireland (20). The current inventory includes 11 venues in Australia & New Zealand, nine in Asia, five in Canada, three apiece in Africa, Europe, Mexico, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and two in the Caribbean (both of them in the Dominican Republic).
Worldly enough for you?
The magazine ranks Royal County Down, in Northern Ireland, as the world’s top course (“On a clear spring day,” it writes, “there is no lovelier place in golf”), and its list, particularly near the top, has plenty of familiar venues. Among them: The Old Course at St. Andrews, in Scotland (“ground zero for all golf architecture”), Cape Kidnappers Golf Course, in New Zealand (“stratospheric Pebble Beach”), Sand Hills Golf Course, in Nebraska (“undoubtedly the most natural golf course in America”), and the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, in South Carolina (it “might well be Pete Dye's most diabolical creation”).
Needless to say, though, the list is full of first-time callers -- 24 in all -- and two that have opened in recent months -- Cabot Cliffs (#19), in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Cape Wickham Links (#24), on King Island in Tasmania -- apparently didn’t need any seasoning before they were ranked among the planet’s true elites. Of course, by and large the newcomers don’t rank high. Only five won a place among the top 57, and 13 check in at #76 and lower.
And if Golf Digest added new courses to its list, then it also had to subtract some. Among those that no longer rate: The Old course at Ballybunion Golf Club, in Ireland; the Black course at Bethpage State Park, in New York; Ballyneal Golf Club, in Colorado; Castle Stuart Golf Links, in Scotland; the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass, in Florida; and Loch Lomond Golf Club, in Scotland.
Finally, like all best-of lists, Golf Digest’s World 100 features a popular side competition: The count of courses by architect. Among living designers, the big winners are Coore & Crenshaw, Pete Dye, and Tom Fazio, all of whom place five properties on the list. (Nota bene: I’m not counting renovations.) Norman has four, Tom Doak and Jack Nicklaus have three apiece, and Gary Player, Kyle Phillips, Ron Fream, and Robert Trent Jones, Jr. each have two. (Extra credit goes to Doak and Nicklaus, who also share a point for their collaboration at Sebonack Golf Club in New York.)
Golf Digest claims to have more than 600 international course raters, and it gives them credit for discovering the new courses on this year’s World 100. Finally, their voices are being heard.
In 2014, the United States and Great Britain & Ireland combined to place 72 courses on Golf Digest’s list, and the magazine’s evaluators found it difficult to identify worthy venues in Europe (only two made the grade), Africa (two), the Caribbean (one), and Mexico (one), let alone the Middle East (none) and South America (none). By contrast, only about half of the courses on this year’s list are in the United States (32) and Great Britain & Ireland (20). The current inventory includes 11 venues in Australia & New Zealand, nine in Asia, five in Canada, three apiece in Africa, Europe, Mexico, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and two in the Caribbean (both of them in the Dominican Republic).
Worldly enough for you?
The magazine ranks Royal County Down, in Northern Ireland, as the world’s top course (“On a clear spring day,” it writes, “there is no lovelier place in golf”), and its list, particularly near the top, has plenty of familiar venues. Among them: The Old Course at St. Andrews, in Scotland (“ground zero for all golf architecture”), Cape Kidnappers Golf Course, in New Zealand (“stratospheric Pebble Beach”), Sand Hills Golf Course, in Nebraska (“undoubtedly the most natural golf course in America”), and the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, in South Carolina (it “might well be Pete Dye's most diabolical creation”).
Needless to say, though, the list is full of first-time callers -- 24 in all -- and two that have opened in recent months -- Cabot Cliffs (#19), in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Cape Wickham Links (#24), on King Island in Tasmania -- apparently didn’t need any seasoning before they were ranked among the planet’s true elites. Of course, by and large the newcomers don’t rank high. Only five won a place among the top 57, and 13 check in at #76 and lower.
And if Golf Digest added new courses to its list, then it also had to subtract some. Among those that no longer rate: The Old course at Ballybunion Golf Club, in Ireland; the Black course at Bethpage State Park, in New York; Ballyneal Golf Club, in Colorado; Castle Stuart Golf Links, in Scotland; the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass, in Florida; and Loch Lomond Golf Club, in Scotland.
Finally, like all best-of lists, Golf Digest’s World 100 features a popular side competition: The count of courses by architect. Among living designers, the big winners are Coore & Crenshaw, Pete Dye, and Tom Fazio, all of whom place five properties on the list. (Nota bene: I’m not counting renovations.) Norman has four, Tom Doak and Jack Nicklaus have three apiece, and Gary Player, Kyle Phillips, Ron Fream, and Robert Trent Jones, Jr. each have two. (Extra credit goes to Doak and Nicklaus, who also share a point for their collaboration at Sebonack Golf Club in New York.)
Golf Digest claims to have more than 600 international course raters, and it gives them credit for discovering the new courses on this year’s World 100. Finally, their voices are being heard.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
The Week That Was, january 17, 2016
Will footgolf soon wear out its welcome at U.S. golf properties? It’s only a small sample size, but the Sacramento, California area -- “arguably the FootGolf capital of America,” according to the Sacramento Bee -- has lost one of its seven footgolf facilities, and another has registered a noteworthy decline in play. “The sport has plateaued locally,” the newspaper has concluded. The footgolf operation at Cherry Island Golf Course in Elverta has shut down, thanks in part to what the course’s management company, Empire Golf, called “negativity from traditional golfers,” and last year the one at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento rang up 10 percent fewer rounds than it did in 2014. What’s worse, it doesn’t appear that the area’s footgolfers could be persuaded to give traditional golf a try. “We didn’t see any crossover,” a representative of Empire Golf told the Bee. “That’s what we were hoping for.” We have yet to hear how the nation’s nearly 450 other footgolf facilities are doing, but Sacramento’s experience suggests that they aren’t likely to grow our game in any significant way.
Once again, the American Society of Golf Course Architects has honored a journalist with its top prize. Michael Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, will receive this year’s Donald Ross Award, in recognition for his contributions to golf and golf course architecture. Steve Smyers, the ASGCA’s president, said that his group chose Bamberger because it “respects his knowledge and perspective and appreciates how his efforts benefit the game of golf.” Last year, the ASGCA gave the Ross award to Bradley S. Klein of Golfweek. In previous years, it’s honored Herbert Warren Wind, Ron Whitten, and several other writers.
Tim Finchem has been appointed to serve as the chairman of our industry’s most exclusive policy-making group. The PGA’s Tour commissioner, one of golf’s most powerful people, will this year lead the World Golf Foundation, the collective that creates and promotes initiatives that it hopes will grow the game. In a sleepy press release, Finchem said that 2016, a year that marks golf’s return to the Olympics, will be “an exciting time for the industry” and give the WGF an opportunity to “take the game to new heights.” The WGF’s board consists of representatives from all of golf’s institutional powers: The R&A, the PGA of America, the United States Golf Association, the PGA Tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, the European Tour, and the Masters Tournament Foundation. The job won’t be new to Finchem, as he helped to create the WGF and served as its first chairman.
Golf’s power elites are hoping that this year’s Olympics will spark more world-wide interest in our sport, but as of right now the golf business in Asia isn’t cooperating. It’s a “pity,” says Asian Golf, but “Asia just does not care.” In their January issue, the magazine’s editors contend that “there is hardly any activity that points to Asian nations getting their game face ready” for the competition in Rio de Janeiro, and they aren’t convinced that the local industry “really cares about golf being re-admitted into the Olympics.” Of course, the nations most excited about the upcoming competitions are those with the best chances of winning. Outside of South Korea, which will undoubtedly contend on the women’s side, Asia doesn’t figure to win anything more than a participation prize.
Once again, the American Society of Golf Course Architects has honored a journalist with its top prize. Michael Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, will receive this year’s Donald Ross Award, in recognition for his contributions to golf and golf course architecture. Steve Smyers, the ASGCA’s president, said that his group chose Bamberger because it “respects his knowledge and perspective and appreciates how his efforts benefit the game of golf.” Last year, the ASGCA gave the Ross award to Bradley S. Klein of Golfweek. In previous years, it’s honored Herbert Warren Wind, Ron Whitten, and several other writers.
Tim Finchem has been appointed to serve as the chairman of our industry’s most exclusive policy-making group. The PGA’s Tour commissioner, one of golf’s most powerful people, will this year lead the World Golf Foundation, the collective that creates and promotes initiatives that it hopes will grow the game. In a sleepy press release, Finchem said that 2016, a year that marks golf’s return to the Olympics, will be “an exciting time for the industry” and give the WGF an opportunity to “take the game to new heights.” The WGF’s board consists of representatives from all of golf’s institutional powers: The R&A, the PGA of America, the United States Golf Association, the PGA Tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, the European Tour, and the Masters Tournament Foundation. The job won’t be new to Finchem, as he helped to create the WGF and served as its first chairman.
Golf’s power elites are hoping that this year’s Olympics will spark more world-wide interest in our sport, but as of right now the golf business in Asia isn’t cooperating. It’s a “pity,” says Asian Golf, but “Asia just does not care.” In their January issue, the magazine’s editors contend that “there is hardly any activity that points to Asian nations getting their game face ready” for the competition in Rio de Janeiro, and they aren’t convinced that the local industry “really cares about golf being re-admitted into the Olympics.” Of course, the nations most excited about the upcoming competitions are those with the best chances of winning. Outside of South Korea, which will undoubtedly contend on the women’s side, Asia doesn’t figure to win anything more than a participation prize.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Transactions, january 15, 2016
Canton, Massachusetts. Peter Nanula has come to the rescue of Blue Hill Country Club, the only venue in Massachusetts that’s hosted a PGA Championship. Blue Hill, which opened in 1925, has been losing members since 2012, when it spent $6 million on a clubhouse renovation, and it desperately needed an infusion of cash for upgrades that might lure them back. Nanula’s Concert Golf Partners hasn’t announced what it paid for Blue Hill, but the 210-acre property reportedly has an assessed value of $5.2 million. Concert owns 11 other golf properties, in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. “We look all over the country for large-scale private clubs that have a quality golf course and quality facilities,” Nanula told the Canton Citizen. Blue Hill’s quality facilities include an 18-hole, Skip Wogan-designed course and a nine-hole layout that was designed by Wogan’s son, Phil. The club was the site of the PGA Championship in 1956, and it hosted an event on the LPGA Tour through most of the 1990s.
Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Ron Jaworski has acquired his seventh golf property. A partnership led by the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback -- the group includes wealthy Philadelphia-based investor Ira Lubert and current Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco -- has paid an undisclosed amount for Ramblewood Country Club, a venue in suburban Philadelphia that opened in the early 1960s. Ramblewood features a 27-hole complex that was designed by Ed Ault. Jaworski and his partners bought it from John Goodwin and members of the Goodwin family, who’ve been trying to close the club and build houses on its acreage for a decade or more. Jaworski, who operates via Ron Jaworski Golf, has a controlling interest in four other golf properties in New Jersey -- among them RiverWinds Golf & Tennis Club in West Deptford and Running Deer Golf Club in Pittsgrove -- and two in Pennsylvania. He plans to retain John Goodwin as the club’s general manager.
Robinsonville, Mississippi. A Clearwater, Florida-based investment company has purchased the defunct Harrah’s Tunica casino property, a 2,200-acre spread that includes an 18-hole golf course. TJM Properties reportedly paid Caesars Entertainment Corporation $3 million for what was originally known as Grand Casino Tunica. The casino, which opened in the mid 1990s, closed in 2014. It was supposed to bring a spark of economic life to Tunica County, once the poorest county in the nation’s poorest state, but it went broke during the Great Recession. For its money, TJM gets two hotels (more than total 1,000 rooms), a convention center, an RV park, a shooting range, and a golf course that was designed by Stan Gentry of Hale Irwin Golf Design. In an e-mail to the Associated Press, a TJM official said that his firm was “considering both reopening the property or selling parcels to interested buyers.”
Newport Beach, California. An investment group led by Buck Johns plans to revitalize the faded Newport Beach Golf Course, a property it purchased late last year. Newport Beach’s 18-hole, executive-length course, a David Rainville design, was born on the Fourth of July in 1976. The Orange County Register reports that the lighted track nowadays attracts about 30,000 rounds a year, a sharp decline from the 87,000 rounds it once counted, and is “in desperate need of a facelift.” If they can extend the lease on the property, Johns and his partners plan to make “millions of dollars” worth of improvements, according to the newspaper, and they may hire Tom Fazio to oversee the work on the golf course. “There is an incomparable lifestyle in Newport Beach,” Johns told the newspaper, “and we should have the finest executive golf course anywhere in the world.” The venue is now called Newport Beach Golf Club.
Stony Creek, New York. Late last year, during a court-ordered auction, Carol McLean-Wright agreed to pay $1.4 million for 1000 Acres Ranch Resort, a 490-acre spread that features a nine-hole golf course. The resort, which opened in 1942, also has a lodge, cabins, swimming pools, and a rodeo arena. McLean-Wright plans to continue the property’s current operations and plans to add a science camp. “We are purchasing this with the idea of making this the Carnegie Hall of the science world,” she told the Glens Falls Post-Star. 1000 Acres Ranch had been owned by Jack Arehart, who declared for bankruptcy protection in early 2014.
Middletown, Ohio. The auctioneer who bought Weatherwax Golf Course is going, going, gone. Myron Bowling, who reportedly paid $1.6 million for the 36-hole, Arthur Hills-designed golf complex in 2014, sold it last fall, to MetroParks of Butler County. MetroParks has ended golf operations at the facility and plans to turn the 456-acre property into a park.
Alachua, Florida. In an attempt to boost the value of their homes, the residents of Turkey Creek Golf & Country Club have purchased their community’s 18-hole golf course. The Ward Northrup-designed layout has been closed since 2011, a victim of declining play and mounting financial losses. Wallace Cain reportedly accepted $1.35 million for the 38-year-old track, and $650,000 has been allocated for renovations. The transaction closed in late December. The homeowners, who’ve been trying to acquire the course for several years, are now looking for a management company.
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Mount Washington Resort, a National Historic Landmark in the state’s White Mountains, has been purchased by its operator. Omni Resorts & Hotels reportedly paid $90.5 million for Mount Washington, a property that features, among other things, a grand old hotel (it dates from 1902), a ski area, and two golf courses: An 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed track and a nine-hole, Alex Findlay-designed layout. The former reportedly opened in 1915, the latter in 1895. CNL Lifestyle Properties of Dallas bought Mount Washington in 2006 and hired Omni to operate it in 2009.
Butler, Pennsylvania. An affiliate of a company that operates retirement communities and assisted-living centers has acquired a pair of Butler’s golf courses. St. Barnabas Communities has taken possession of Conley Resort and Suncrest Golf Course, which are located on adjoining properties and which feature 18-hole tracks. Conley’s course opened in 1960, Suncrest’s in 1948. The sellers were, respectively, Wayne and Barbara Conley and Keith and Linda Reddinger.
Worland, Wyoming. According to the Northern Wyoming Daily News -- sorry, but I can’t find a link -- in October 2015 the city of Worland purchased Green Hills Golf Course. The 18-hole track, which describes itself as “Northwest Wyoming’s Hidden Gem,” opened in 1960 and reportedly attracts roughly 20,000 rounds a year. Various sources say that Green Hills was co-designed and built by Dennis Bower and Frank Lebarron, who were presumably its original owners. I can’t determine if they were also the sellers. The city will seek a private-sector manager for the property.
Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Ron Jaworski has acquired his seventh golf property. A partnership led by the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback -- the group includes wealthy Philadelphia-based investor Ira Lubert and current Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco -- has paid an undisclosed amount for Ramblewood Country Club, a venue in suburban Philadelphia that opened in the early 1960s. Ramblewood features a 27-hole complex that was designed by Ed Ault. Jaworski and his partners bought it from John Goodwin and members of the Goodwin family, who’ve been trying to close the club and build houses on its acreage for a decade or more. Jaworski, who operates via Ron Jaworski Golf, has a controlling interest in four other golf properties in New Jersey -- among them RiverWinds Golf & Tennis Club in West Deptford and Running Deer Golf Club in Pittsgrove -- and two in Pennsylvania. He plans to retain John Goodwin as the club’s general manager.
Robinsonville, Mississippi. A Clearwater, Florida-based investment company has purchased the defunct Harrah’s Tunica casino property, a 2,200-acre spread that includes an 18-hole golf course. TJM Properties reportedly paid Caesars Entertainment Corporation $3 million for what was originally known as Grand Casino Tunica. The casino, which opened in the mid 1990s, closed in 2014. It was supposed to bring a spark of economic life to Tunica County, once the poorest county in the nation’s poorest state, but it went broke during the Great Recession. For its money, TJM gets two hotels (more than total 1,000 rooms), a convention center, an RV park, a shooting range, and a golf course that was designed by Stan Gentry of Hale Irwin Golf Design. In an e-mail to the Associated Press, a TJM official said that his firm was “considering both reopening the property or selling parcels to interested buyers.”
Newport Beach, California. An investment group led by Buck Johns plans to revitalize the faded Newport Beach Golf Course, a property it purchased late last year. Newport Beach’s 18-hole, executive-length course, a David Rainville design, was born on the Fourth of July in 1976. The Orange County Register reports that the lighted track nowadays attracts about 30,000 rounds a year, a sharp decline from the 87,000 rounds it once counted, and is “in desperate need of a facelift.” If they can extend the lease on the property, Johns and his partners plan to make “millions of dollars” worth of improvements, according to the newspaper, and they may hire Tom Fazio to oversee the work on the golf course. “There is an incomparable lifestyle in Newport Beach,” Johns told the newspaper, “and we should have the finest executive golf course anywhere in the world.” The venue is now called Newport Beach Golf Club.
Stony Creek, New York. Late last year, during a court-ordered auction, Carol McLean-Wright agreed to pay $1.4 million for 1000 Acres Ranch Resort, a 490-acre spread that features a nine-hole golf course. The resort, which opened in 1942, also has a lodge, cabins, swimming pools, and a rodeo arena. McLean-Wright plans to continue the property’s current operations and plans to add a science camp. “We are purchasing this with the idea of making this the Carnegie Hall of the science world,” she told the Glens Falls Post-Star. 1000 Acres Ranch had been owned by Jack Arehart, who declared for bankruptcy protection in early 2014.
Middletown, Ohio. The auctioneer who bought Weatherwax Golf Course is going, going, gone. Myron Bowling, who reportedly paid $1.6 million for the 36-hole, Arthur Hills-designed golf complex in 2014, sold it last fall, to MetroParks of Butler County. MetroParks has ended golf operations at the facility and plans to turn the 456-acre property into a park.
Alachua, Florida. In an attempt to boost the value of their homes, the residents of Turkey Creek Golf & Country Club have purchased their community’s 18-hole golf course. The Ward Northrup-designed layout has been closed since 2011, a victim of declining play and mounting financial losses. Wallace Cain reportedly accepted $1.35 million for the 38-year-old track, and $650,000 has been allocated for renovations. The transaction closed in late December. The homeowners, who’ve been trying to acquire the course for several years, are now looking for a management company.
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Mount Washington Resort, a National Historic Landmark in the state’s White Mountains, has been purchased by its operator. Omni Resorts & Hotels reportedly paid $90.5 million for Mount Washington, a property that features, among other things, a grand old hotel (it dates from 1902), a ski area, and two golf courses: An 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed track and a nine-hole, Alex Findlay-designed layout. The former reportedly opened in 1915, the latter in 1895. CNL Lifestyle Properties of Dallas bought Mount Washington in 2006 and hired Omni to operate it in 2009.
Butler, Pennsylvania. An affiliate of a company that operates retirement communities and assisted-living centers has acquired a pair of Butler’s golf courses. St. Barnabas Communities has taken possession of Conley Resort and Suncrest Golf Course, which are located on adjoining properties and which feature 18-hole tracks. Conley’s course opened in 1960, Suncrest’s in 1948. The sellers were, respectively, Wayne and Barbara Conley and Keith and Linda Reddinger.
Worland, Wyoming. According to the Northern Wyoming Daily News -- sorry, but I can’t find a link -- in October 2015 the city of Worland purchased Green Hills Golf Course. The 18-hole track, which describes itself as “Northwest Wyoming’s Hidden Gem,” opened in 1960 and reportedly attracts roughly 20,000 rounds a year. Various sources say that Green Hills was co-designed and built by Dennis Bower and Frank Lebarron, who were presumably its original owners. I can’t determine if they were also the sellers. The city will seek a private-sector manager for the property.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
The Week That Was, january 10, 2016
The Carolinas can no longer contain McConnell Golf. The Raleigh, North Carolina-based ownership group now owns one of Tennessee’s top golf properties, Holston Hills Country Club, a venue that’s said to have a “nearly untouched” Donald Ross-designed golf course. Holston Hills, in suburban Knoxville, opened in the late 1920s. It’s McConnell Golf’s 11th property, and its acquisition signals the company’s willingness -- and perhaps even its desire -- to operate outside its comfort zone in North and South Carolina. “I think a lot of these clubs don’t want to run them anymore,” John McConnell told the Raleigh News & Observer. McConnell Golf’s portfolio features courses designed by Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, and Arnold Palmer, but the firm appears to be actively collecting Ross layouts. “Once I saw [Holston Hills’] golf course, I knew it was one we wanted,” McConnell said. “This gives us four Donald Ross courses. Nobody has four Donald Ross golf courses.” McConnell continues to search for undervalued golf properties, and the newspaper reports that he’s currently “working on a deal” to purchase one in the Charlotte area.
One of the world’s preeminent golf properties -- the first venue in Continental Europe to host a Ryder Cup championship -- has changed hands. In a measure of Spain’s gradually improving real-estate markets, a British affiliate of Grupo la Zagaleta Holding reportedly paid €40 million (almost $43.7 million) for Valderrama, a tony resort community in Cádiz. Valderrama’s championship-worthy 18-hole golf course, a Robert Trent Jones design, is generally acknowledged to be the nation’s best, and it checks in at #79 on Golf Digest’s recently published list of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. The master plan for Valderrama has identified a site for another 18-hole track -- Robert Rulewich, who once served as Jones’ right-hand man, was originally expected to design it -- and Grupo la Zagaleta has already announced a plan to build it. Valderrama is Grupo la Zagaleta’s second golf property. The company also owns a 36-hole complex at La Zagaleta, a high-profile resort community in Andalucia.
Christy O’Connor, Jr., a retired professional golfer turned “signature” architect, died last week while vacationing in Tenerife. He was 67. During his career as a touring pro, he won four events on the European Tour and two Senior British Open titles, and he was one of the stars of Europe’s Ryder Cup team in 1989. As an architect, he designed or co-designed close to 20 courses, all but two of them in Ireland. Among them: Fota Island Golf Club in County Cork (with Peter McEvoy), Galway Bay Golf Resort in County Galway (he was reportedly a part owner of the property), Knightsbrook Golf Club in County Meath, and Rathsallagh Golf & Country Club (again with McEvoy) in County Wicklow. “Professional golfers do not always make great golf course architects, but Christy was an exception,” said Tom Mackenzie, the president of the European Institute of Golf Course Architect, in a press release. “His talent, enthusiasm, and dedication to the sport made him one of the most prolific architects of recent years, and his loss will be mourned by the whole of the golf industry.” At the time of his death, O’Connor had also agreed to design courses in Ireland, France, Hungary, and St. Lucia.
Pacific Links International may be acquiring golf properties and making its presence felt all over the world, but it’s downsizing in Hawaii. The Chinese/Canadian company plans to reduce its Makaha golf holdings on Oahu -- the 18-hole Makaha Golf Club (also known as the West course) and the 18-hole Makaha Valley Country Club (the East course) -- to what’s been described as a “PGA Tour-certified” 27-hole complex. The re-do will be overseen by Greg “the Living Brand” Norman, who was, several years ago, commissioned to turn the West track into “an unforgettable championship course” and to oversee what a newspaper said would be “enhancements” to the East course. PLI has obviously had a change of heart. The likely reason: The company’s project manager told Pacific Business News that “we lose some money” on the West course.
The National Golf Foundation has added two new board members: Brendan Ripp of Sports Illustrated Group and Dick Sullivan of PGA Tour Superstore. The rest of the NGF’s 10-member board consists of executives from industry associations, manufacturers of clubs, balls, and apparel, a turf-equipment manufacturer, a course management company, and a tour operator. Although it claims to serve “all segments of the [golf] business,” the group’s board has no representatives from the development, design, and construction wings of the industry. It does, however, collect annual dues from companies that work in those areas.
One of the world’s preeminent golf properties -- the first venue in Continental Europe to host a Ryder Cup championship -- has changed hands. In a measure of Spain’s gradually improving real-estate markets, a British affiliate of Grupo la Zagaleta Holding reportedly paid €40 million (almost $43.7 million) for Valderrama, a tony resort community in Cádiz. Valderrama’s championship-worthy 18-hole golf course, a Robert Trent Jones design, is generally acknowledged to be the nation’s best, and it checks in at #79 on Golf Digest’s recently published list of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. The master plan for Valderrama has identified a site for another 18-hole track -- Robert Rulewich, who once served as Jones’ right-hand man, was originally expected to design it -- and Grupo la Zagaleta has already announced a plan to build it. Valderrama is Grupo la Zagaleta’s second golf property. The company also owns a 36-hole complex at La Zagaleta, a high-profile resort community in Andalucia.
Christy O’Connor, Jr., a retired professional golfer turned “signature” architect, died last week while vacationing in Tenerife. He was 67. During his career as a touring pro, he won four events on the European Tour and two Senior British Open titles, and he was one of the stars of Europe’s Ryder Cup team in 1989. As an architect, he designed or co-designed close to 20 courses, all but two of them in Ireland. Among them: Fota Island Golf Club in County Cork (with Peter McEvoy), Galway Bay Golf Resort in County Galway (he was reportedly a part owner of the property), Knightsbrook Golf Club in County Meath, and Rathsallagh Golf & Country Club (again with McEvoy) in County Wicklow. “Professional golfers do not always make great golf course architects, but Christy was an exception,” said Tom Mackenzie, the president of the European Institute of Golf Course Architect, in a press release. “His talent, enthusiasm, and dedication to the sport made him one of the most prolific architects of recent years, and his loss will be mourned by the whole of the golf industry.” At the time of his death, O’Connor had also agreed to design courses in Ireland, France, Hungary, and St. Lucia.
Pacific Links International may be acquiring golf properties and making its presence felt all over the world, but it’s downsizing in Hawaii. The Chinese/Canadian company plans to reduce its Makaha golf holdings on Oahu -- the 18-hole Makaha Golf Club (also known as the West course) and the 18-hole Makaha Valley Country Club (the East course) -- to what’s been described as a “PGA Tour-certified” 27-hole complex. The re-do will be overseen by Greg “the Living Brand” Norman, who was, several years ago, commissioned to turn the West track into “an unforgettable championship course” and to oversee what a newspaper said would be “enhancements” to the East course. PLI has obviously had a change of heart. The likely reason: The company’s project manager told Pacific Business News that “we lose some money” on the West course.
The National Golf Foundation has added two new board members: Brendan Ripp of Sports Illustrated Group and Dick Sullivan of PGA Tour Superstore. The rest of the NGF’s 10-member board consists of executives from industry associations, manufacturers of clubs, balls, and apparel, a turf-equipment manufacturer, a course management company, and a tour operator. Although it claims to serve “all segments of the [golf] business,” the group’s board has no representatives from the development, design, and construction wings of the industry. It does, however, collect annual dues from companies that work in those areas.
Friday, January 8, 2016
Vital Signs, january 8, 2016
Golf tourism has been on the rise of late, and last year KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice took the pulse of roughly four dozen golf tour operators. Based on the results of its survey, in “Golf Tourism Growth Trends” KPMG argues that “today’s positive trends in the golf tourism industry will continue in the coming years,” which is certainly welcome news for nations whose golf operations rely heavily on tourist traffic. The most active travelers live in what KPMG describes as “affluent nations with long-standing golfing traditions” -- it cites Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, and Germany -- and their favorite destinations are Spain and Portugal. The up-and-coming destinations: South Africa, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Southeast Asia (particularly Thailand and Vietnam), and Bulgaria. KPMG believes that the United States and Scotland “remain ever popular,” but it’s concluded that “golf travelers are exploring more destinations for their golf holidays and are now keener to travel beyond traditional golfing destinations.” When it comes to choosing destinations for golf vacations, KPMG says, the most important factors are easy accessibility (direct flights are best), the price of the tour, and the quality of the courses and accommodations.
First, the good news: The five golf courses on Cyprus, the sunny Mediterranean island, had what the Cyprus Mail calls “one of the best years for golfing visitors” in 2014. The bad news? As a group, the courses managed to attract only 25,000 golfing visitors, just 1 percent of the total number of vacationers that Cyprus welcomed during 2014. The math works out to just 5,000 golfers -- most of them from Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France -- per course, which raises concerns about the local golf industry’s long-term viability. (KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice has calculated that the republic has only 1,303 “registered” golfers, a number hardly worth counting.) Nonetheless, the Mail says that the Cyprus Tourism Organization is “satisfied with this performance” because the golf traffic has been trending in the right direction in recent years. What’s more, the CTO believes that Cyprus would lure more golf travelers if it had more golf courses, so it’s trying to spark the construction of at least a half-dozen more.
The lack of an indigenous golf population is also a ticking time bomb in Turkey, a nation of 75 million people with just 6,776 “registered” golfers, according to a recent study by KPMG’s Golf Advisory Service. Turkey’s golf participation rate is too tiny to calculate, and KPMG estimates that 45 percent of the nation’s “registered” golfers -- more than 3,000 of them -- are juniors, a group also known as people without money. To survive, Turkey’s existing golf properties, virtually all them clustered in Belek, the nation’s favorite vacation spot, depend on what amounts to the kindness of strangers. In recent years, the strangers have been uncommonly generous -- international golfers played 513,000 rounds in Turkey in 2014, according to KPMG -- but they tend to be fickle (a lot of them have Tasmania and Vietnam on their must-visit lists these days) and not as dependable a source of income as resident golfers. KPMG emphasizes that “it is crucial to develop local demand for the sport,” but the nation’s golf developers aren’t listening. They’ve proposed to build more than 30 new courses in places where tourists congregate instead of in Turkey’s population centers.
’Tis the season to make forecasts about what’s to come in our business, so a Singapore-based magazine publishing company has made some predictions about the near-term future of golf in its part of the world. In the January issue of Asian Golf, Asia Pacific Golf Group contends that 2016 will be “a sluggish year” for the region’s golf industry, which is suffering from “blows to its solar plexus” and has as a result sunk into a “state of malaise.” While asserting that it doesn’t want to “indulge in negative thinking,” APGG says that China has “temporarily become a dud,” Japan is “continuing to slide down a grease-lined track,” and South Korea is “becoming a little jaded.” Mixed metaphors aside, it warns that “there are more challenges out there in 2016 than there are opportunities.” It’s always tricky to read between the lines, but it sounds as if APGG may be going through some tough times of its own. Maybe next month it’ll tell us how its advertising sales are going.
First, the good news: The five golf courses on Cyprus, the sunny Mediterranean island, had what the Cyprus Mail calls “one of the best years for golfing visitors” in 2014. The bad news? As a group, the courses managed to attract only 25,000 golfing visitors, just 1 percent of the total number of vacationers that Cyprus welcomed during 2014. The math works out to just 5,000 golfers -- most of them from Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France -- per course, which raises concerns about the local golf industry’s long-term viability. (KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice has calculated that the republic has only 1,303 “registered” golfers, a number hardly worth counting.) Nonetheless, the Mail says that the Cyprus Tourism Organization is “satisfied with this performance” because the golf traffic has been trending in the right direction in recent years. What’s more, the CTO believes that Cyprus would lure more golf travelers if it had more golf courses, so it’s trying to spark the construction of at least a half-dozen more.
The lack of an indigenous golf population is also a ticking time bomb in Turkey, a nation of 75 million people with just 6,776 “registered” golfers, according to a recent study by KPMG’s Golf Advisory Service. Turkey’s golf participation rate is too tiny to calculate, and KPMG estimates that 45 percent of the nation’s “registered” golfers -- more than 3,000 of them -- are juniors, a group also known as people without money. To survive, Turkey’s existing golf properties, virtually all them clustered in Belek, the nation’s favorite vacation spot, depend on what amounts to the kindness of strangers. In recent years, the strangers have been uncommonly generous -- international golfers played 513,000 rounds in Turkey in 2014, according to KPMG -- but they tend to be fickle (a lot of them have Tasmania and Vietnam on their must-visit lists these days) and not as dependable a source of income as resident golfers. KPMG emphasizes that “it is crucial to develop local demand for the sport,” but the nation’s golf developers aren’t listening. They’ve proposed to build more than 30 new courses in places where tourists congregate instead of in Turkey’s population centers.
’Tis the season to make forecasts about what’s to come in our business, so a Singapore-based magazine publishing company has made some predictions about the near-term future of golf in its part of the world. In the January issue of Asian Golf, Asia Pacific Golf Group contends that 2016 will be “a sluggish year” for the region’s golf industry, which is suffering from “blows to its solar plexus” and has as a result sunk into a “state of malaise.” While asserting that it doesn’t want to “indulge in negative thinking,” APGG says that China has “temporarily become a dud,” Japan is “continuing to slide down a grease-lined track,” and South Korea is “becoming a little jaded.” Mixed metaphors aside, it warns that “there are more challenges out there in 2016 than there are opportunities.” It’s always tricky to read between the lines, but it sounds as if APGG may be going through some tough times of its own. Maybe next month it’ll tell us how its advertising sales are going.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
The Week That Was, january 3, 2016
It appears that Cape Wickham Links, the eagerly anticipated layout on King Island in Tasmania, was worth the wait. The recently opened 18-hole track, a co-design by Mike DeVries and Darius Oliver, checks in among the elite on Golf Australia magazine’s just-published ranking of Australia’s top golf courses, ahead of longtime favorites such as National Golf Club’s Moonah course, Ellerston Golf Course, and Royal Adelaide Golf Club. Cape Wickham, #5 on the list, trails only Royal Melbourne Golf Club’s West course (#1), Kingston Heath Golf Club (#3), and the companion courses at Barnbougle Dunes, the Golf Links (#2) and Lost Farm (#4). For DeVries and Oliver, this is a notable achievement: They promised to create a world-class venue, and they delivered.
More bad news from the Land of the Rising Sun: In Japan these days, golf courses are reportedly going out of business at a rate of nearly one a week. The Financial Times blames the closings on the usual suspects -- high costs and busy lives -- as well as the demise of the nation’s “career-driven obligation to tee off with bosses or clients” and “skewed demographics,” which translates as a 17 percent increase in the number of golfers aged 70 and over. “Nobody has time for hours of golf and hours of travel,” a salesperson at a golf store in Tokyo told the newspaper, “and people who played it for work purposes now see it as a chore.” These factors have helped to erode the nation’s customer base, which the newspaper says now stands at 13.7 million golfers, half the number that the golf industry counted in the early 1990s.
Turkey may be angling to host a Ryder Cup and planning to build a slew of resort-style golf courses, but if it really expects to be a player on the world’s golf scene, somebody needs to put a muzzle on its president. It’s hard to imagine Turkey continuing to be a vacation spot now that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the nation’s despot in training, has cited “Hitler’s Germany” as a model for the kind of government he’d like to oversee. Not surprisingly, Erdoğan quickly back-tracked, issuing an official statement in which his publicists claimed that his comments were being “distorted by some news sources.” Ultimately, though, Erdoğan’s actions speak louder than his words. He has a fast-growing enemies list, and it prominently features journalists, Turkey’s Kurdish minority, and anyone reckless enough to criticize his government. He supports extremist right-wing groups and, at least tacitly, ISIS. If Donald Trump’s anti-minority intimidation ultimately prevents Turnberry from hosting an Open Championship, Erdoğan’s budding police state shouldn’t win a Ryder Cup.
More than a decade after Kim Jong-il played his first round of golf, carding a record-setting 38 across 18 holes, North Korea is reportedly “showing off its first golf course on state television.” United Press International didn’t identify the venue by name, but it’s presumably Pyongyang Golf Course, the layout outside Pyongyang where the late Dear Leader shot his purported historic round in 1994. The news service also didn’t say why Kim’s son and successor, Kim Jong-un, chose to highlight golf on a television broadcast, as it notes that “the vast majority of North Korea's population, who are impoverished,” can only dream of setting foot on “well-manicured putting greens.” No doubt, Kim Jong-un wouldn’t be the first government official who, on being told that his starving people have no bread, obliviously recommends that they eat cake instead. Then again, maybe he, like Donald Trump, figures that golf is at its core an aspirational sport and is looking to inspire a few wealthy elites. Either way, it’s always interesting to watch repressive regimes put golf to use for political ends.
More bad news from the Land of the Rising Sun: In Japan these days, golf courses are reportedly going out of business at a rate of nearly one a week. The Financial Times blames the closings on the usual suspects -- high costs and busy lives -- as well as the demise of the nation’s “career-driven obligation to tee off with bosses or clients” and “skewed demographics,” which translates as a 17 percent increase in the number of golfers aged 70 and over. “Nobody has time for hours of golf and hours of travel,” a salesperson at a golf store in Tokyo told the newspaper, “and people who played it for work purposes now see it as a chore.” These factors have helped to erode the nation’s customer base, which the newspaper says now stands at 13.7 million golfers, half the number that the golf industry counted in the early 1990s.
Turkey may be angling to host a Ryder Cup and planning to build a slew of resort-style golf courses, but if it really expects to be a player on the world’s golf scene, somebody needs to put a muzzle on its president. It’s hard to imagine Turkey continuing to be a vacation spot now that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the nation’s despot in training, has cited “Hitler’s Germany” as a model for the kind of government he’d like to oversee. Not surprisingly, Erdoğan quickly back-tracked, issuing an official statement in which his publicists claimed that his comments were being “distorted by some news sources.” Ultimately, though, Erdoğan’s actions speak louder than his words. He has a fast-growing enemies list, and it prominently features journalists, Turkey’s Kurdish minority, and anyone reckless enough to criticize his government. He supports extremist right-wing groups and, at least tacitly, ISIS. If Donald Trump’s anti-minority intimidation ultimately prevents Turnberry from hosting an Open Championship, Erdoğan’s budding police state shouldn’t win a Ryder Cup.
More than a decade after Kim Jong-il played his first round of golf, carding a record-setting 38 across 18 holes, North Korea is reportedly “showing off its first golf course on state television.” United Press International didn’t identify the venue by name, but it’s presumably Pyongyang Golf Course, the layout outside Pyongyang where the late Dear Leader shot his purported historic round in 1994. The news service also didn’t say why Kim’s son and successor, Kim Jong-un, chose to highlight golf on a television broadcast, as it notes that “the vast majority of North Korea's population, who are impoverished,” can only dream of setting foot on “well-manicured putting greens.” No doubt, Kim Jong-un wouldn’t be the first government official who, on being told that his starving people have no bread, obliviously recommends that they eat cake instead. Then again, maybe he, like Donald Trump, figures that golf is at its core an aspirational sport and is looking to inspire a few wealthy elites. Either way, it’s always interesting to watch repressive regimes put golf to use for political ends.
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