The Week That Was, january 31, 2016

     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.”