Transactions, june 24, 2016

     Gilroy, California. Our nation’s number-one Jack in the Box franchisee has acquired his second golf property, this one in the garlic capital of America. An entity controlled by Aniil Yadov has reportedly paid $3.8 million for Eagle Ridge Golf Course, an 18-hole track that was co-designed by Johnny Miller and David Dale of Golfplan. The Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that the seller was a group affiliated with Zgolf, a golf operator that acquired Eagle Ridge last year “for around the same price as it just sold for.” Eagle Ridge, which opened in 2000, is the centerpiece of a community that was reportedly developed by Shapell Industries. Yadov, who’s said to own 219 Jack in the Box restaurants and more than 40 other eateries, also owns Pala Mesa Golf Course in Fallbrook, California.

     Three Rivers, Michigan. A group of investors has purchased Sauganash Golf Club, which features an 18-hole course designed in part by A. W. Tillinghast. “We had heard rumors that the property was going to be sold to farmers and turned into a cornfield,” one of the 20 new owners told the Three Rivers Commercial News, adding, “We didn’t want to give up on this place.” Neither the investors nor Bob Bales, the seller, have announced the sales price. Tillinghast, who’s been called “one of the greatest course architects in the history of golf,” reportedly had a hand in the construction of 265 golf courses. His original designs include the Black course at Bethpage State Park in New York, Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey, Interlachen Country Club in Minnesota, and San Francisco Golf Club in California. He designed Sauganash’s original nine holes, which opened in 1924.

     Atlanta, Georgia. As a result of a land swap with the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia will soon take control of the run-down, 84-year-old Bobby Jones Golf Course. The 18-hole track, which honors the legendary amateur golfer who co-designed Augusta National Golf Club, is said to need “significant upgrades” that city officials didn’t wish to pay for. The state has agreed to spiff it up, but with a major change: The state doesn’t believe the course can survive in its current incarnation, so it’s hired Bob Cupp to turn it into a nine-hole reversible layout. Cupp’s influence, presumably, is the reversible, Tom Doak-designed course that will soon open at Forest Dunes Golf Club in Roscommon, Michigan.

     York, Pennsylvania. Rodney Krebs has come to the rescue of Regents’ Glen Country Club, a deeply troubled, 18-year-old venue that was forced to close last fall. Krebs reportedly paid $5 million for Regents’ Glen, the centerpiece of a community that the York Daily Record says “had been plagued with financial problems in recent months.” The club features an 18-hole, Arthur Hills-designed layout that Krebs believes is “without a doubt the best golf course in the area.” It’s open again, and Krebs plans to complete the master plan for the community that accompanies it.

      Pataskala, Ohio. T&R Properties has acquired its second Columbus-area golf property. The Dublin-based developer has reportedly paid $2.5 million for Cumberland Trail Golf Club, a facility that features a golf course designed by Michael Hurdzan. According to the Columbus Dispatch, T&R plans to make $500,000 worth of upgrades to the 17-year-old course, as it believes that an improved golf course will help it sell 100 single-family houses. Not to raise any red flags, but T&R recently submitted plans to build houses on nine of the 18 holes at its other golf property in the area, Delaware Golf Club. News reports about the proposal don’t say whether the company intends to raze Delaware’s Donald Ross-designed holes or its Hurdzan-designed holes.

     Sebring, Florida. A former McDonald’s franchisee has acquired Spring Lake Golf Resort and its 45-hole golf complex. Edd Vowels, a retiree who confesses to be “dumb to the golf course world,” told the Tampa Tribune that he made the investment because the bank that controlled the 16-year-old, financially troubled property was threatening to close it. “Somebody had to step up and do something,” Vowels said. “A lot of my friends live out here, and if the course closed, their property values would go down the tubes.” Spring Lake features two regulation-length 18-hole courses and a nine-hole, executive-length track.

     Jamesville, New York. Thanks in part to donations from both corporations (among them Wegmans Food Markets) and local charities (the Jim & Juli Boeheim Foundation), the First Tee of Syracuse has found a permanent home. The non-profit group has acquired Butternut Creek Golf Course, which features a nine-hole, Barry Jordan-designed golf course. “We needed a home,” the group’s executive director told the Syracuse Post-Standard. “This is the perfect site for us.” Improvements are forthcoming, the newspaper reports, including classrooms where the “core-value instruction” that is “the focus of First Tee’s mission” will take place. Just wondering: When did golf instruction stop being “the focus of First Tee’s mission”?