Naturalizers may nowadays be winning all the most coveted golf commissions, but there’s still plenty of life in “signature” architecture. Here’s proof: Hollis Cavner and his partners have hired two members of golf royalty, Arnold Palmer and Annika Sorenstam, to add some pizzazz to Tartan Park Golf Course, a fading complex they’ve purchased from 3M Company. Tartan Park, in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, currently has 27 holes, but when it reopens next year, as the King & the Queen, it’ll have nine Palmer-designed holes and nine Sorenstam-designed holes. “They epitomize the respectful, family-focused nature of this timeless outdoor sport,” Cavner said in a press release. “The spirit they bring to the game and their work will continue to have a huge impact on future generations who get to experience the new Tartan Park.” Like others who understand the value of “signature” designers, Cavner and his partners plan to build houses on part of their 480-acre property.
A few weeks ago, Donald “the Candidate” Trump made an off-handed comment about golf -- he called it “small potatoes” -- and Eamon Lynch immediately crossed his fingers and began hoping that those words might signal the Republican front-runner’s imminent exit from our industry. In a post on his website, the former editor of Golf.com practically begged for Trump’s departure, calling him “a blustering vulgarian” whose “incoherence and immodesty” make him “ill-suited to a gentleman’s game.”
Sadly, this is just gentlemanly wishful thinking. For the record, here’s what Trump said about the golf business: “I don’t care about that stuff anymore. It is like small potatoes, right? I’ll let my kids run it, have fun with it, let my executives have a good time, but I don’t care about it. I care about making America great again.”
Okay, we get it: These days, Trump has bigger fish to fry. If the truth be told, though, he’s exaggerating his role in the Trump Organization’s golf operations. His kids, Eric in particular, have been effectively running Trump Golf for years. Today, Trump basically has one just job, although it’s one whose value shouldn’t be underestimated. He’s the face of the franchise. He shakes the most important hands and closes the most critical deals. He walks and talks almost exclusively with major power.
And while I won’t dispute Lynch’s conclusion -- “If he has forsaken us, well then he can at least be said to have made golf great again” -- I have to admit that Trump is right about golf being small potatoes. Equity funds may now be buying golf properties and golf-management firms may be far larger than they used to be, but at its core the golf industry is still made up of hundreds of mom-and-pop companies. Last year one of true powerhouses in our business, the golf and country club division of ClubCorp, posted revenues of $842.6 million. To put that number in perspective, the #500 company on the Fortune 500 posted revenues of almost $5.2 billion. The #1000 company posted revenues of more than $2 billion.
However much Lynch might wish for it, Trump loves golf too much to walk out the door anytime soon. In fact, given the resilience he’s shown on the campaign trail so far, he may come back stronger than ever.
The world’s wealthiest people are by and large made in the USA, and their numbers are going to grow. At the end of last year, Knight Frank counted 187,468 ultra-high net-worth individuals on the planet, with the largest number of them -- 65,713 -- here at home. China (13,013) checks in at a distant number two, followed by the United Kingdom (9,968), Japan (6,448), and Germany (9,310). Over the next decade, Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2016 predicts that the greatest growth among UHNWIs -- people with $30 million or more in net assets, not including their primary residences -- will take place in the United States, which is expected to see an increase of 19,714, to 85,427. Next in line are China (an increase of 9,760, to 22,773), India (an increase of 6,321, to 12,341), the Russian Federation (an increase of 3,847, to 9,190), and the United Kingdom (an increase of 2,990, to 12,958). Other nations that are expected to see significant increases among UHNWIs: Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Brazil.
For those who understand the importance of following the money, here’s one final note about the Wealth Report 2016: Knight Frank identifies 21 cities that are home to at least 1,000 UHNWIs, a group led by New York City (5,600). The rest of the top five: London (4,905), Moscow (3,457), Los Angeles (2,820), and Singapore (2,360). The rest of the top 10: Beijng (2,073), Taipei (2,062), Tokyo (2,035), Chicago (2,030), and Zurich (1,754).
Robert Trent Jones, Jr. has often enjoyed comparing golf architecture to jazz and other forms of art, and now he’s comparing it to wine production. “Golf is like wine,” he recently said. “It’s pleasure, you are socializing, you are sharing, and you work from the land.” Okay, maybe he’s stretching a bit, but Jones was spreading cheer on behalf of this year’s Ryder Cup, which will be decided at Hazeltine National Golf Club in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jones’ legendary father designed Hazeltine’s golf course, and Junior designed the label for the event’s official wine.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Sunday, March 20, 2016
The Week That Was, march 20, 2016
In 2015, for the third consecutive year, U.S. golf properties increased in value. Marcus & Millichap has crunched the numbers, and it’s determined that last year golf courses sold for 7.5 percent more than they did in 2014, with the average sales price breaking $5 million for the first time since 2009. “It’s becoming more and more clear that the golf market is stabilizing,” M&M’s Leisure Investment Properties Group writes in its 2015 year in review. More importantly, the group predicts that “a healthy U.S. economy” will “continue to affect golf in positive ways.” The message, in a nutshell: “Expanding payrolls, solid consumption growth, and housing-market momentum all set the stage for higher consumer spending, meaning more money can and will be spent on golf.” When the transactions of 2015 are fully accounted for, M&M expects that between 145 and 181 golf courses will have changed hands.
Has Pacific Links International decided that owning golf courses isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? The Chinese/Canadian company has sold two of its golf properties in recent weeks, and now it’s looking to sell another one: Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport, West Virginia. The club is among the most prominent in PLI’s portfolio, for its Pete Dye-designed track checks in at #53 on Golf Digest’s current list of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. Over the past year, PLI has found buyers for three of its U.S. golf properties. In March 2015, it parted with Kapolei Golf Course, on O’ahu in Hawaii, and so far this year it’s sold (or agreed to sell) Olomana Golf Links, also on O’ahu, and DragonRidge Country Club, in Henderson, Nevada. PLI is an international network of more than 450 limited-access clubs, a few of them company owned but most of them merely affiliates. Seeing as how a spokesman for PLI has acknowledged that the affiliate program has become the network’s “primary focus,” it’s easy to conclude that the company is eager to lighten its ownership load. In fact, the spokesman told Nevada Business that he hopes the new owner of Pete Dye Golf Club will “maintain a relationship with Pacific Links through the affiliate program.”
ClubCorp has begun “Building Relationships and Enriching Lives” -- its trademarked motto -- at a former member-owned private club in Northern California. The publicly traded, Dallas, Texas-based company has acquired Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club, a venue that dates to either 1914 or 1916, depending on which source you believe. The club moved to its current location, in the city of Santa Rosa, in the late 1950s, with an 18-hole golf course that was co-designed by Jack Fleming and Ben Harmon. (The track was reportedly redesigned by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. in 1979 and by Fred Bliss in 1991.) In a press release, ClubCorp’s CEO called Santa Rosa “a perfect complement” to the company’s portfolio, which includes, by my count, 19 other golf properties in the state. ClubCorp’s nearby venues include Teal Bend Golf Club in Sacramento, Turkey Creek Golf Club in Lincoln, Empire Ranch Golf Club in Folsom, and Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville.
The European Tour’s real-estate division has made its way into the Czech Republic. Albatross Golf Resort, a community in suburban Prague, has become the 19th link in the fast-growing chain of European Tour Properties, a group that includes high-priced, supposedly exclusive spreads in Austria, England, France, Germany, Spain, and other nations. Albatross, which opened in 2009, hosted an event on the Ladies European Tour in 2011 and 2012 and is now the home of the D+D REAL Czech Masters. It features a championship-worthy course that was designed by Keith Preston, an Austrian architect whose portfolio consists of a half-dozen new 18-hole tracks in Austria and others in Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic. The tour added four communities to its properties network last year, and Albatross is the second to join this year, after Lighthouse Golf & Spa Resort in Balchik, Bulgaria.
If you’re looking for the world’s ultra-high net-worth individuals -- people who are worth $30 million or more -- you’ll find them at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January, the Masters in April, the Monaco Grand Prix in May, the Aspen Ideas Festival in late June, and Art Basel in Miami Beach in December. But you may need to look harder, because Knight Frank has determined that the number of UHNWIs fell by almost 6,000 last year. “This downward shift,” the British real-estate consultancy writes in the Wealth Report 2016, “reflected slower economic growth and the more volatile financial climate.” Citing data provided by an “intelligence company” called New World Wealth, Knight Frank has determined that the global population of UHNWIs increased by 61 percent, from 116,800 to 193,115, between 2005 and 2014. Last year, however, the number dropped to 187,468, a decline of 3 percent. Over the next decade Knight Frank expects the rich to keep getting richer, but it predicts that the pace of growth will be “significantly slower” than it was between 2005 and 2014. By 2025, it forecasts the number of UHNWIs across the planet to grow by 41 percent, to 263,500.
One other note about the Wealth Report 2016: Knight Frank has plenty of nice things to say about India, Vietnam, China, Australia, and other nations, but it reserves its nicest comment for the United States. “Since the global financial crisis,” the firm writes, “the U.S. has led the developed world’s economic recovery and demonstrated an enviable ability to convert innovation into enterprise.” If you’re among those who dream about making America great again, read that sentence again.
Has Pacific Links International decided that owning golf courses isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? The Chinese/Canadian company has sold two of its golf properties in recent weeks, and now it’s looking to sell another one: Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport, West Virginia. The club is among the most prominent in PLI’s portfolio, for its Pete Dye-designed track checks in at #53 on Golf Digest’s current list of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. Over the past year, PLI has found buyers for three of its U.S. golf properties. In March 2015, it parted with Kapolei Golf Course, on O’ahu in Hawaii, and so far this year it’s sold (or agreed to sell) Olomana Golf Links, also on O’ahu, and DragonRidge Country Club, in Henderson, Nevada. PLI is an international network of more than 450 limited-access clubs, a few of them company owned but most of them merely affiliates. Seeing as how a spokesman for PLI has acknowledged that the affiliate program has become the network’s “primary focus,” it’s easy to conclude that the company is eager to lighten its ownership load. In fact, the spokesman told Nevada Business that he hopes the new owner of Pete Dye Golf Club will “maintain a relationship with Pacific Links through the affiliate program.”
ClubCorp has begun “Building Relationships and Enriching Lives” -- its trademarked motto -- at a former member-owned private club in Northern California. The publicly traded, Dallas, Texas-based company has acquired Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club, a venue that dates to either 1914 or 1916, depending on which source you believe. The club moved to its current location, in the city of Santa Rosa, in the late 1950s, with an 18-hole golf course that was co-designed by Jack Fleming and Ben Harmon. (The track was reportedly redesigned by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. in 1979 and by Fred Bliss in 1991.) In a press release, ClubCorp’s CEO called Santa Rosa “a perfect complement” to the company’s portfolio, which includes, by my count, 19 other golf properties in the state. ClubCorp’s nearby venues include Teal Bend Golf Club in Sacramento, Turkey Creek Golf Club in Lincoln, Empire Ranch Golf Club in Folsom, and Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville.
The European Tour’s real-estate division has made its way into the Czech Republic. Albatross Golf Resort, a community in suburban Prague, has become the 19th link in the fast-growing chain of European Tour Properties, a group that includes high-priced, supposedly exclusive spreads in Austria, England, France, Germany, Spain, and other nations. Albatross, which opened in 2009, hosted an event on the Ladies European Tour in 2011 and 2012 and is now the home of the D+D REAL Czech Masters. It features a championship-worthy course that was designed by Keith Preston, an Austrian architect whose portfolio consists of a half-dozen new 18-hole tracks in Austria and others in Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic. The tour added four communities to its properties network last year, and Albatross is the second to join this year, after Lighthouse Golf & Spa Resort in Balchik, Bulgaria.
If you’re looking for the world’s ultra-high net-worth individuals -- people who are worth $30 million or more -- you’ll find them at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January, the Masters in April, the Monaco Grand Prix in May, the Aspen Ideas Festival in late June, and Art Basel in Miami Beach in December. But you may need to look harder, because Knight Frank has determined that the number of UHNWIs fell by almost 6,000 last year. “This downward shift,” the British real-estate consultancy writes in the Wealth Report 2016, “reflected slower economic growth and the more volatile financial climate.” Citing data provided by an “intelligence company” called New World Wealth, Knight Frank has determined that the global population of UHNWIs increased by 61 percent, from 116,800 to 193,115, between 2005 and 2014. Last year, however, the number dropped to 187,468, a decline of 3 percent. Over the next decade Knight Frank expects the rich to keep getting richer, but it predicts that the pace of growth will be “significantly slower” than it was between 2005 and 2014. By 2025, it forecasts the number of UHNWIs across the planet to grow by 41 percent, to 263,500.
One other note about the Wealth Report 2016: Knight Frank has plenty of nice things to say about India, Vietnam, China, Australia, and other nations, but it reserves its nicest comment for the United States. “Since the global financial crisis,” the firm writes, “the U.S. has led the developed world’s economic recovery and demonstrated an enviable ability to convert innovation into enterprise.” If you’re among those who dream about making America great again, read that sentence again.
Friday, March 18, 2016
Vital Signs, march 18, 2016
In the golf industry, down is now officially the new up. If this year’s Golf Industry Show truly saw “a rise in all measures,” as its sponsors and presenters claim, it’s only because they’re taking an extremely restrictive view of their situation. The 12,600 visitors who came through the turnstiles at the 2016 show may have constituted “a rise,” but it’s
a measly 200-person rise over the number recorded at the 2015 show. And let’s not forget that the 2014 show attracted 14,147 attendees, or that the 2008 show attracted 25,737 attendees. If the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and its partners really wanted to be honest with the rank and file in the golf industry, they’d admit that this year’s attendance was less than half of what it was in 2008. By trying so hard to sugar-coat reality, they’re leaving a sour taste in a lot of mouths.
Don’t count on seeing many people of color at your local golf course anytime soon. In a recent interview with Golfweek, Steve Mona concedes that his diversify-the-game initiatives have made “not a lot of progress” in bringing African-Americans into the golf industry, either as players, employees, or suppliers. “The best way to describe it,” the CEO of the World Golf Foundation acknowledged, “is we are probably about where we were in 2009.” He added: “It’s kind of a mish-mash and basically stagnant since 2009, and that’s not good enough.” In addition, Mona notes that he’s advised employers to continue hiring the best-qualified applicants -- no special treatment for minorities -- but to “work harder to make sure you get people from diverse backgrounds into the pipeline.” Of course, the distance from the pipeline to the finish line can be considerable.
In mid 2013, New Zealand’s tourism officials set out to double the number of international golf vacationers that the nation attracted -- to take it from 50,000 to 100,000. Their effort doesn’t appear to be paying off, because New Zealand lured only about 36,000 foreign golfers in 2015.
These days the world is full of people worth $1 million or more, and over the next decade there are going to be a lot more of them. Citing data provided by a research firm called New World Wealth, Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2016 counted more than 13.25 million millionaires last year, up from 8.73 million in 2005. Looking forward, by 2025 Knight Frank expects the number of millionaires to increase by 36 percent, to more than 18 million. Breaking it down by regions, the British real-estate consulting firm predicts that the number will grow by 72 percent in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, by more than 50 percent in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, by 42 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, by 30 percent or more in North America and Australasia, and by 26 percent in Europe. More specifically, Knight Frank predicts that 1.25 million new millionaires will be created in the United States, 490,500 in China, 253,500 in the United Kingdom, and 247,800 in India. As a group, Knight Frank and its partners estimate that the planet’s millionaires control net assets worth an estimated $66 trillion.
Don’t count on seeing many people of color at your local golf course anytime soon. In a recent interview with Golfweek, Steve Mona concedes that his diversify-the-game initiatives have made “not a lot of progress” in bringing African-Americans into the golf industry, either as players, employees, or suppliers. “The best way to describe it,” the CEO of the World Golf Foundation acknowledged, “is we are probably about where we were in 2009.” He added: “It’s kind of a mish-mash and basically stagnant since 2009, and that’s not good enough.” In addition, Mona notes that he’s advised employers to continue hiring the best-qualified applicants -- no special treatment for minorities -- but to “work harder to make sure you get people from diverse backgrounds into the pipeline.” Of course, the distance from the pipeline to the finish line can be considerable.
In mid 2013, New Zealand’s tourism officials set out to double the number of international golf vacationers that the nation attracted -- to take it from 50,000 to 100,000. Their effort doesn’t appear to be paying off, because New Zealand lured only about 36,000 foreign golfers in 2015.
These days the world is full of people worth $1 million or more, and over the next decade there are going to be a lot more of them. Citing data provided by a research firm called New World Wealth, Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2016 counted more than 13.25 million millionaires last year, up from 8.73 million in 2005. Looking forward, by 2025 Knight Frank expects the number of millionaires to increase by 36 percent, to more than 18 million. Breaking it down by regions, the British real-estate consulting firm predicts that the number will grow by 72 percent in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, by more than 50 percent in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, by 42 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, by 30 percent or more in North America and Australasia, and by 26 percent in Europe. More specifically, Knight Frank predicts that 1.25 million new millionaires will be created in the United States, 490,500 in China, 253,500 in the United Kingdom, and 247,800 in India. As a group, Knight Frank and its partners estimate that the planet’s millionaires control net assets worth an estimated $66 trillion.
Friday, March 11, 2016
The Pipeline, march 11, 2016
Caye Chapel Island, Belize. Three Mexican companies have teamed up to create what they believe will be “the most exclusive and spectacular tourist destination in Latin America.” The developers, a group led by Mexico City-based Thor Urbana Capital, will create their vacation spot on Caye Chapel Island, on property that’s currently home to an abandoned, formerly bankrupt resort community with an 18-hole golf course that was designed by its original owner. The existing track will be redesigned by Greg Norman, who’s been directed to create “an incomparable golf course” that “only an island like Caye Chapel can offer.” As Norman’s work proceeds, Thor Urbana and its partners intend to spiff up the resort’s existing amenities and add high-priced beachfront houses, a hotel, and other attractions. When the new Caye Chapel makes its formal debut, probably in 2017, they expect it to be “the home and meeting point of international jet setters.”
Tam Điệp, Vietnam. Nicklaus Design has secured a commission for its third golf course in Vietnam. The firm’s president, Jack Nicklaus II, has agreed to create an 18-hole track at Royal Golf Club, the centerpiece of a resort community that occupies 1,675 acres along Yen Thang Lake, roughly 70 miles south of Hà Nội. Nicklaus aims to break ground on his layout this summer, with the official unveiling likely to come in late 2017 or early 2018. The Yen Thang Lake community is being developed by a government-controlled company, PV-Inconess Investment Corporation. It’s expected to eventually include 1,500 vacation villas and bungalows, a high-end hotel, a shopping area, a water park, a campground, restaurants, and a sports complex. The community’s golf club has an existing 18-hole course, a Peter Rousseau design that opened in 2010, and it’s eventually supposed to get a third 18-hole track.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Wilmore, Kentucky. The “signature” wing of Nicklaus Design has been enlisted to create an 18-hole golf course for Legacy Point, a spread in suburban Lexington that aims to become “a magnificent community” and “a way of life.” Jack Nicklaus hasn’t yet begun to design the course. In a press release, he promises “to create an exceptional golf experience” on a site that has “enormous potential to create something unique and special.” A groundbreaking doesn’t appear to be on the immediate horizon, however, for the community’s developer, Legacy Point Capital, has begun advertising for investors eager “to participate in a quality deal and receive monthly returns.” Minimum investment: $5,000. For those who might be interested in writing a check, Legacy Point Capital describes itself as a “team of seasoned veterans and affinity relationships” that provides “transactional financial engineering services.”
Hyderabad, India. In what will probably turn out to be an over-ambitious development gamble, Telangana’s tourism officials have set out to build as many as 10 golf courses on sites within an hour’s drive of the state’s capital city. The Hindu suggests that the program, if fully implemented, could turn Hyderabad into “one of the global golfing destinations in Asia.” At this time, the Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation is looking for five viable sites, but the newspaper says that the number could go up to 10 “depending on the availability of land.” Without question, the state’s proposal faces significant challenges. For one thing, it’s difficult to assemble large properties in India. For another, water is scarce. In addition, environmentalist groups have already issued public warnings about the potential dangers of pesticide use on golf courses. Nonetheless, the state’s chief minister has reportedly blessed the idea, and the TSTDC hopes to break ground on the first course either this year or next.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the December 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Naivasha, Kenya. A Nairobi-based development group has set out to bring world-class golf to Kenya. Panda Development Company, Ltd. has commissioned European Golf Design to produce an 18-hole layout for Aberdare Hills Golf Club, the centerpiece of a 1,665-acre, “eco-friendly” community in greater Nairobi. Gary Johnston, the course’s designer, believes that the site he’s working with is “truly fantastic,” with all the natural attributes necessary to create “one of the best courses in all Africa.” Over the years, Johnston has worked with Colin Montgomerie to produce courses in Turkey (Montgomerie Maxx Royal) and Morocco (Montgomerie Marrakech), and with Ian Woosman on courses in Bulgaria (Pirin Golf & Country Club) and St. Kitts (Irie Fields Golf Course at Kittitian Hill). He expects to open the course at Aberdare Hills in 2018.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Pula, Croatia. The Croatian government wants to turn an abandoned military base on the Muzil Peninsula into a resort community with an 18-hole golf course. The Muzil project, as it’s being called, will create a 425-acre vacation spot that also includes 2,200 units of what’s been described as “high-quality accommodation,” a marina with slips for 380 boats, and other attractions. The base is located outside Pula, an ancient city along the southern tip of the Istrian Peninsula that’s said to be “an internationally popular summer vacation destination,” with most travelers these days attracted by well-preserved structures that were created by the Roman Empire. The project is being promoted by Croatia’s ministry of tourism, which believes that the Pula Riviera, as it’s known, is a natural for resort development. The private-sector group that secures the concession will get a 99-year lease on the property.
Óbidos, Portugal. After 15 years of planning and permitting, not to mention a change of ownership, Cynthia Dye has broken ground on her first golf course in Continental Europe. The Castle Pines, Colorado-based architect, born into one of the golf industry’s most recognized design families, is finally overseeing the construction of the 18-hole layout at Falesia D’El Rey, a 600-acre waterfront community on Portugal’s Silver Coast. “I have never worked so hard for so long to see a project through to construction,” she said in a press release. Dye, one of the principals of Dye Designs Group, expects the track at Falesia D’El Rey to open in the spring of 2017. She received lessons in golf architecture by working on courses designed by members of her family -- Pete Dye, Roy Dye, and P. B. Dye -- and she applied those lessons at her own courses in China (among them West Coast Golf Club on Hainan Island), New Caledonia (Exclusiv’ Golf de Deva Club in Bourail), and Azerbaijan (Dreamland Golf Club in Baku). Falesia D’El Rey was initiated by affiliates of Beltico Group, an entity that now appears to be insolvent.
Salalah, Oman. A high-octane Omani developer hasn’t given up on its dream of creating “the Venice of the Middle East.” Muriya Tourism Development Company’s little slice of Italy, a resort community called Salalah Beach, is slowly taking shape on 3,850 acres along Oman’s southern coast. It’s been master-planned to fuse “the best of modern amenities and night life” with “an age-old Arabian charm,” and at build-out it’ll will have houses, five hotels, a town center on the waterfront, a marina, and two 18-hole, David Hemstock-designed golf courses. Muriya was created by Omran, the tourism-development arm of the Omani government. Omran enlisted an affiliate of Orascom Development Holding, a Swiss company, as its private-sector partner, in large part because Orascom has a proven, bankable vision for resort communities in the Middle East. Under the direction of Samih Sawiris, Orascom has built two huge, wildly popular golf-focused resorts in Egypt, the famed El Gouna spread on the Red Sea coast and Taba Heights, which is along the Gulf of Aqaba on the Sinai Peninsula. Today it’s developing Luštica Bay, a 1,400-acre resort community along the Adriatic coast in Montenegro; Andermatt, a mountain resort in the Swiss Alps; and Chbika, a 1,235-acre spread in Morocco’s Sahara Desert.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Dallas, Texas. The future home of AT&T Byron Nelson is getting ready for its close-up. I’m talking, of course, about the Coore & Crenshaw-designed track at Trinity Forest Golf Club, which figures to become the city’s top choice for professional tournaments. Prospective members are already playing on some holes, and the club’s developers are polishing their marketing pitches. “It looks better than I could have dreamed,” one of them told the Dallas Morning News. “The experts in professional golf and golf course architecture that have been out here have been blown away. It has exceeded our expectations.” The club is on track to open this fall, possibly by Labor Day.
Tam Điệp, Vietnam. Nicklaus Design has secured a commission for its third golf course in Vietnam. The firm’s president, Jack Nicklaus II, has agreed to create an 18-hole track at Royal Golf Club, the centerpiece of a resort community that occupies 1,675 acres along Yen Thang Lake, roughly 70 miles south of Hà Nội. Nicklaus aims to break ground on his layout this summer, with the official unveiling likely to come in late 2017 or early 2018. The Yen Thang Lake community is being developed by a government-controlled company, PV-Inconess Investment Corporation. It’s expected to eventually include 1,500 vacation villas and bungalows, a high-end hotel, a shopping area, a water park, a campground, restaurants, and a sports complex. The community’s golf club has an existing 18-hole course, a Peter Rousseau design that opened in 2010, and it’s eventually supposed to get a third 18-hole track.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Wilmore, Kentucky. The “signature” wing of Nicklaus Design has been enlisted to create an 18-hole golf course for Legacy Point, a spread in suburban Lexington that aims to become “a magnificent community” and “a way of life.” Jack Nicklaus hasn’t yet begun to design the course. In a press release, he promises “to create an exceptional golf experience” on a site that has “enormous potential to create something unique and special.” A groundbreaking doesn’t appear to be on the immediate horizon, however, for the community’s developer, Legacy Point Capital, has begun advertising for investors eager “to participate in a quality deal and receive monthly returns.” Minimum investment: $5,000. For those who might be interested in writing a check, Legacy Point Capital describes itself as a “team of seasoned veterans and affinity relationships” that provides “transactional financial engineering services.”
Hyderabad, India. In what will probably turn out to be an over-ambitious development gamble, Telangana’s tourism officials have set out to build as many as 10 golf courses on sites within an hour’s drive of the state’s capital city. The Hindu suggests that the program, if fully implemented, could turn Hyderabad into “one of the global golfing destinations in Asia.” At this time, the Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation is looking for five viable sites, but the newspaper says that the number could go up to 10 “depending on the availability of land.” Without question, the state’s proposal faces significant challenges. For one thing, it’s difficult to assemble large properties in India. For another, water is scarce. In addition, environmentalist groups have already issued public warnings about the potential dangers of pesticide use on golf courses. Nonetheless, the state’s chief minister has reportedly blessed the idea, and the TSTDC hopes to break ground on the first course either this year or next.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the December 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Naivasha, Kenya. A Nairobi-based development group has set out to bring world-class golf to Kenya. Panda Development Company, Ltd. has commissioned European Golf Design to produce an 18-hole layout for Aberdare Hills Golf Club, the centerpiece of a 1,665-acre, “eco-friendly” community in greater Nairobi. Gary Johnston, the course’s designer, believes that the site he’s working with is “truly fantastic,” with all the natural attributes necessary to create “one of the best courses in all Africa.” Over the years, Johnston has worked with Colin Montgomerie to produce courses in Turkey (Montgomerie Maxx Royal) and Morocco (Montgomerie Marrakech), and with Ian Woosman on courses in Bulgaria (Pirin Golf & Country Club) and St. Kitts (Irie Fields Golf Course at Kittitian Hill). He expects to open the course at Aberdare Hills in 2018.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Pula, Croatia. The Croatian government wants to turn an abandoned military base on the Muzil Peninsula into a resort community with an 18-hole golf course. The Muzil project, as it’s being called, will create a 425-acre vacation spot that also includes 2,200 units of what’s been described as “high-quality accommodation,” a marina with slips for 380 boats, and other attractions. The base is located outside Pula, an ancient city along the southern tip of the Istrian Peninsula that’s said to be “an internationally popular summer vacation destination,” with most travelers these days attracted by well-preserved structures that were created by the Roman Empire. The project is being promoted by Croatia’s ministry of tourism, which believes that the Pula Riviera, as it’s known, is a natural for resort development. The private-sector group that secures the concession will get a 99-year lease on the property.
Óbidos, Portugal. After 15 years of planning and permitting, not to mention a change of ownership, Cynthia Dye has broken ground on her first golf course in Continental Europe. The Castle Pines, Colorado-based architect, born into one of the golf industry’s most recognized design families, is finally overseeing the construction of the 18-hole layout at Falesia D’El Rey, a 600-acre waterfront community on Portugal’s Silver Coast. “I have never worked so hard for so long to see a project through to construction,” she said in a press release. Dye, one of the principals of Dye Designs Group, expects the track at Falesia D’El Rey to open in the spring of 2017. She received lessons in golf architecture by working on courses designed by members of her family -- Pete Dye, Roy Dye, and P. B. Dye -- and she applied those lessons at her own courses in China (among them West Coast Golf Club on Hainan Island), New Caledonia (Exclusiv’ Golf de Deva Club in Bourail), and Azerbaijan (Dreamland Golf Club in Baku). Falesia D’El Rey was initiated by affiliates of Beltico Group, an entity that now appears to be insolvent.
Salalah, Oman. A high-octane Omani developer hasn’t given up on its dream of creating “the Venice of the Middle East.” Muriya Tourism Development Company’s little slice of Italy, a resort community called Salalah Beach, is slowly taking shape on 3,850 acres along Oman’s southern coast. It’s been master-planned to fuse “the best of modern amenities and night life” with “an age-old Arabian charm,” and at build-out it’ll will have houses, five hotels, a town center on the waterfront, a marina, and two 18-hole, David Hemstock-designed golf courses. Muriya was created by Omran, the tourism-development arm of the Omani government. Omran enlisted an affiliate of Orascom Development Holding, a Swiss company, as its private-sector partner, in large part because Orascom has a proven, bankable vision for resort communities in the Middle East. Under the direction of Samih Sawiris, Orascom has built two huge, wildly popular golf-focused resorts in Egypt, the famed El Gouna spread on the Red Sea coast and Taba Heights, which is along the Gulf of Aqaba on the Sinai Peninsula. Today it’s developing Luštica Bay, a 1,400-acre resort community along the Adriatic coast in Montenegro; Andermatt, a mountain resort in the Swiss Alps; and Chbika, a 1,235-acre spread in Morocco’s Sahara Desert.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Dallas, Texas. The future home of AT&T Byron Nelson is getting ready for its close-up. I’m talking, of course, about the Coore & Crenshaw-designed track at Trinity Forest Golf Club, which figures to become the city’s top choice for professional tournaments. Prospective members are already playing on some holes, and the club’s developers are polishing their marketing pitches. “It looks better than I could have dreamed,” one of them told the Dallas Morning News. “The experts in professional golf and golf course architecture that have been out here have been blown away. It has exceeded our expectations.” The club is on track to open this fall, possibly by Labor Day.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
The Week That Was, march 6, 2016
Topgolf Entertainment Group, a company’s that’s got dollar signs in its eyes, has taken on another investor. For an undisclosed price, Providence Equity Partners has acquired what’s said to be “a sizable minority investment” in Topgolf, a chain that attracts young fun-seekers by combining food, drinks, music, and flashing lights with target-style golf. Topgolf’s 24 U.S. and international venues attracted 8 million customers in 2015, and the Financial Times, citing “people familiar with the matter,” reports that it generated revenues of about $300 million. Topgolf intends to open seven or more venues this year, including one on the Las Vegas Strip, and it believes it’ll increase its customer base by at least 50 percent. Providence has also taken stakes in the YES television network, the Ironman Triathlon, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, and other sports-related entities. It joins Callaway Golf and a company described as “a subprime car lender” as an investor in Topgolf, which is majority owned by WestRiver Group.
Better late than never, the group that oversees our industry’s failed grow-the-game initiatives is looking to capitalize on Topgolf’s success. The World Golf Foundation has set out to “formalize a process” designed to enroll some of Topgolf’s customers in programs such as Get Golf Ready and eventually -- fingers crossed -- convert them to our game. “I’m having conversations with Topgolf right now on how do we tactically formalize our relationship,” Steve Mona, the WGF’s chief executive, acknowledged in an interview with Golfweek. “Long story short,” he noted, “that’s where we are going to put our emphasis in 2016.” For what it’s worth, Mona also hopes to establish a similar working relationship with the people who created Footgolf.
Tim Finchem can be a real kidder. A few weeks ago, at a tournament stop in California, the commissioner of the PGA Tour claimed that his organization was “apolitical” and promised that it’s “going to stay that way.” But who does Finchem think he’s fooling? According to Webster’s, an “apolitical” person or group has “no interest or involvement in political affairs.” In fact, though, the PGA Tour has plenty of interest in politics. Like all entities that wish to shape legislation, it pays lobbyists to plead its case throughout the halls of Congress. It has a political action committee that has, over the years, contributed to elected officials on both sides of the aisle, among them John Boehner, Orrin Hatch, and Joe Manchin III. Finchem himself has written checks to several Republican and Democratic congressional candidates, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Friends of John Boehner, and Obama for America. Are these the habits of people with no interest or involvement in political affairs? The plain truth is, Finchem and golf’s other power elites engage in politics when it suits them and avoid the subject when it has the potential to harm them. More often than not, it’s a winning strategy. If you aren’t careful, though, it can blow up in your face.
One other comment about politics and the PGA Tour: When Donald “the Candidate” Trump shows up at a PGA Tour event, even if he isn’t wearing his “Make America Great Again” cap, golf is engaging in politics. Mute the sound on your television and look at the pictures: Are you at a sporting event or on the campaign trail? The tour may wish to distance itself from some of the more distasteful values that Trump espouses, but the general public doesn’t grasp the nuance. It’s the same problem Trump had when he believed he could safely distance himself from David Duke: When you get an endorsement from a Ku Klux Klansman, you must completely disavow. If you don’t, people question your character. The same goes for the golf industry: By endorsing Trump’s golf properties as suitable sites for important events, it implicitly endorses his politics. If golf truly was as welcoming and inclusive as it claims to be, the business would have run from Trump ages ago.
Pacific Links International has yet again lightened its golf portfolio. Last year, the Hawaiian subsidiary of the Chinese/Canadian company sold Kapolei Golf Course, on O’ahu, and last month it agreed to sell Olomana Golf Links, also on O’ahu. Now comes word that it expects to sell DragonRidge Country Club, in Henderson, Nevada, to the developer who originally built it. The transaction was expected to close on March 1. Rich MacDonald wouldn’t tell the Las Vegas Review Journal what he was going to pay for DragonRidge, but he said it was less than the $11 million that PLI spent in 2014. If you’re wondering what PLI is up to, the company’s president told the newspaper that he’s merely “going through a review of our assets to determine our long-term strategy. All of our clubs are being reviewed, as they always are, for possible sales or acquisitions.” PLI still owns two other golf properties in the Las Vegas area, SouthShore Golf Course and Southern Highlands Golf Club.
Just wondering: Who becomes a “signature” architect first -- Rory McIlory, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, or Jordan Spieth?
Better late than never, the group that oversees our industry’s failed grow-the-game initiatives is looking to capitalize on Topgolf’s success. The World Golf Foundation has set out to “formalize a process” designed to enroll some of Topgolf’s customers in programs such as Get Golf Ready and eventually -- fingers crossed -- convert them to our game. “I’m having conversations with Topgolf right now on how do we tactically formalize our relationship,” Steve Mona, the WGF’s chief executive, acknowledged in an interview with Golfweek. “Long story short,” he noted, “that’s where we are going to put our emphasis in 2016.” For what it’s worth, Mona also hopes to establish a similar working relationship with the people who created Footgolf.
Tim Finchem can be a real kidder. A few weeks ago, at a tournament stop in California, the commissioner of the PGA Tour claimed that his organization was “apolitical” and promised that it’s “going to stay that way.” But who does Finchem think he’s fooling? According to Webster’s, an “apolitical” person or group has “no interest or involvement in political affairs.” In fact, though, the PGA Tour has plenty of interest in politics. Like all entities that wish to shape legislation, it pays lobbyists to plead its case throughout the halls of Congress. It has a political action committee that has, over the years, contributed to elected officials on both sides of the aisle, among them John Boehner, Orrin Hatch, and Joe Manchin III. Finchem himself has written checks to several Republican and Democratic congressional candidates, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Friends of John Boehner, and Obama for America. Are these the habits of people with no interest or involvement in political affairs? The plain truth is, Finchem and golf’s other power elites engage in politics when it suits them and avoid the subject when it has the potential to harm them. More often than not, it’s a winning strategy. If you aren’t careful, though, it can blow up in your face.
One other comment about politics and the PGA Tour: When Donald “the Candidate” Trump shows up at a PGA Tour event, even if he isn’t wearing his “Make America Great Again” cap, golf is engaging in politics. Mute the sound on your television and look at the pictures: Are you at a sporting event or on the campaign trail? The tour may wish to distance itself from some of the more distasteful values that Trump espouses, but the general public doesn’t grasp the nuance. It’s the same problem Trump had when he believed he could safely distance himself from David Duke: When you get an endorsement from a Ku Klux Klansman, you must completely disavow. If you don’t, people question your character. The same goes for the golf industry: By endorsing Trump’s golf properties as suitable sites for important events, it implicitly endorses his politics. If golf truly was as welcoming and inclusive as it claims to be, the business would have run from Trump ages ago.
Pacific Links International has yet again lightened its golf portfolio. Last year, the Hawaiian subsidiary of the Chinese/Canadian company sold Kapolei Golf Course, on O’ahu, and last month it agreed to sell Olomana Golf Links, also on O’ahu. Now comes word that it expects to sell DragonRidge Country Club, in Henderson, Nevada, to the developer who originally built it. The transaction was expected to close on March 1. Rich MacDonald wouldn’t tell the Las Vegas Review Journal what he was going to pay for DragonRidge, but he said it was less than the $11 million that PLI spent in 2014. If you’re wondering what PLI is up to, the company’s president told the newspaper that he’s merely “going through a review of our assets to determine our long-term strategy. All of our clubs are being reviewed, as they always are, for possible sales or acquisitions.” PLI still owns two other golf properties in the Las Vegas area, SouthShore Golf Course and Southern Highlands Golf Club.
Just wondering: Who becomes a “signature” architect first -- Rory McIlory, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, or Jordan Spieth?
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