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?
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