Over the past year, the value of Donald “the Nominee” Trump’s golf properties has “soared,” according to an assessment by Bloomberg. The news service believes that Trump’s properties are now worth $710 million, nearly double the $375 million estimate they received a year ago. Citing an appraisal done by Cushman & Wakefield in 2015, Bloomberg identifies Trump National Doral Golf Club as the most precious prize in the collection, as it supposedly provides more than half -- $366 million -- of the group’s total value. Bloomberg didn’t provide any valuations for Trump’s other properties, but it fingered his European properties as financial drags, indicating that “they’re all unprofitable.” One other thing: Although Trump insists that he’s worth $10 billion, Bloomberg thinks he’s worth only $3 billion. Peanuts!
Judas Priest’s former lead guitarist is pressing ahead with plans to make his golf course the centerpiece of a world-class golf resort. Ken “KK” Dowling has been hoping to take his 320-acre estate, Astbury Hall, to the next level since 2010, when he opened its 18-hole golf course. The track has been well received, and the estate seems well on its way to becoming what Dowling once promised it would be: “A top-class golf center with no snobbery.” A couple of years ago Darren Clarke, the captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup team, agreed to serve as the golf club’s “global ambassador,” and now Dowling has taken another step forward, as he’s bought out his financial partners and secured permission to proceed with ancillary development. His master plan for the Astbury, in suburban Birmingham, calls for a boutique hotel, a spa, a restaurant, and other attractions, including another nine-hole layout. “The plan is to put Shropshire on the golfing map,” Dowling told the Birmingham Post, “and it is starting to come to fruition.” The newspaper also reports that Dowling, who got to play many of the world’s greatest golf courses while touring with his band, eventually hopes to bring “top international golf competitions” to the Astbury.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The first private-equity golf club in Sin City, and certainly its most colorful, will soon have new owners. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the members of Las Vegas Country Club are weighing four offers for their 120-acre property, the centerpiece of which is an 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed course. The newspaper says that the club, which opened in 1967, is “steeped in tradition,” which in Las Vegas means that over the years its members have included famous entertainers (Frank Sinatra), sportsmen (Andre Agassi), professional stunt men (“Evel” Knievel), local movers and shakers (Mayor Oscar Goodman, the late Kirk Kerkorian), and a parade of mobsters (“Lefty” Rosenthal, Tony Spilotro). The members expect to get as much as $24 million for the club, which sounds like a lot until you remember that Steve Wynn, a member, offered $40 million in 2004.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Sunday, July 24, 2016
The Week That Was, july 24, 2016
Mike Keiser’s golf venture in Scotland has encountered an unexpected setback. Environmentalists in Dornoch contend that the 805-acre Coul Links property is home to an endangered fly, and they’ve petitioned local authorities to prevent Keiser and his partner, Todd Warnoch, from building their proposed Coore & Crenshaw-designed golf course. A few weeks ago, Keiser and his partners reported that their development efforts were “advancing nicely,” and they’re scheduled to have a public meeting about their proposal next month. So far, they haven’t commented on how the fly’s presence might affect their plans, though the situation must be bugging them.
Royal Troon Golf Club changed its membership policy to ensure that it remains in the rotation for the Open Championship, but the mere presence of women won’t likely bring the event back to the historic venue in South Ayrshire, Scotland anytime soon. This year’s Open attracted only 173,134 spectators, nearly 3,300 fewer than it did the last time it was held at Royal Troon, way back in 2004. The Daily Mail suggests that high ticket prices led to the nearly 2 percent decline in attendance.
A Hispanic painter has won a court battle against Donald “the Nominee” Trump’s world-famous resort in Miami, Florida. Juan Carlos Enriquez of the Paint Spot argued that the owner of Trump National Doral Golf Club had unfairly failed to pay him nearly $35,000 in connection with work done at the resort’s Blue Monster course in 2014, and a circuit court judge agreed. The ruling: Trump must pay $34,863 to Enriquez and cover $282,950 in legal and other fees that Enriquez had rung up. According to the Miami Herald, during the proceedings Trump’s lawyers tried to persuade the court that the Paint Spot had been “paid enough” for the work it did.
Nine may be fine, but the European Tour thinks six is the true fix for what ails golf. In an attempt to make the sport attractive to young people, the tour hopes to stage six-hole professional events that would feature music played through loudspeakers during play, a shot clock to quicken the action, fewer clubs in each player’s bag, and, in the words of the Daily Mail, “elements of theater to add to the spectacle.” It appears that the show-biz elements would include non-traditional fashion choices, as Keith Pelley, the tour’s CEO, told the newspaper that the players “would probably be dressed a bit differently.” Here’s Pelley’s justification for the “radical new format,” as the newspaper calls it: “If you’re not prepared to change -- you’re not prepared to be innovative, if you’re not prepared to actually take chances -- then sports will fall behind.” Pelley aims to add the six-hole events to the tour’s tournament mix in 2018.
Royal Troon Golf Club changed its membership policy to ensure that it remains in the rotation for the Open Championship, but the mere presence of women won’t likely bring the event back to the historic venue in South Ayrshire, Scotland anytime soon. This year’s Open attracted only 173,134 spectators, nearly 3,300 fewer than it did the last time it was held at Royal Troon, way back in 2004. The Daily Mail suggests that high ticket prices led to the nearly 2 percent decline in attendance.
A Hispanic painter has won a court battle against Donald “the Nominee” Trump’s world-famous resort in Miami, Florida. Juan Carlos Enriquez of the Paint Spot argued that the owner of Trump National Doral Golf Club had unfairly failed to pay him nearly $35,000 in connection with work done at the resort’s Blue Monster course in 2014, and a circuit court judge agreed. The ruling: Trump must pay $34,863 to Enriquez and cover $282,950 in legal and other fees that Enriquez had rung up. According to the Miami Herald, during the proceedings Trump’s lawyers tried to persuade the court that the Paint Spot had been “paid enough” for the work it did.
Nine may be fine, but the European Tour thinks six is the true fix for what ails golf. In an attempt to make the sport attractive to young people, the tour hopes to stage six-hole professional events that would feature music played through loudspeakers during play, a shot clock to quicken the action, fewer clubs in each player’s bag, and, in the words of the Daily Mail, “elements of theater to add to the spectacle.” It appears that the show-biz elements would include non-traditional fashion choices, as Keith Pelley, the tour’s CEO, told the newspaper that the players “would probably be dressed a bit differently.” Here’s Pelley’s justification for the “radical new format,” as the newspaper calls it: “If you’re not prepared to change -- you’re not prepared to be innovative, if you’re not prepared to actually take chances -- then sports will fall behind.” Pelley aims to add the six-hole events to the tour’s tournament mix in 2018.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Vital Signs, july 22, 2016
Over the next three to five years, will golf become more popular or less popular? The forecast, according to 72 top industry executives surveyed by the National Golf Foundation, isn’t particularly encouraging, as the majority of respondents think golf’s level of popularity will remain about where it is today. The NGF provides no hard data in the wrap-up story on its polling, but it says that “slightly more than half” of the corporate leaders predict “about the same,” while “slightly less than half” predict “more popular.” When the question turns to players and rounds, the responses are similar. About half of the respondents, the NGF says, expect more of what we currently have, while the rest are “biased towards growth.” I view such results as a disappointment and a cause for concern, but the NGF appears to believe that they indicate progress.
Golf Get Ready may be finding its groove. Last year a record number of adults, virtually of them newcomers to golf, participated in the PGA of America’s eight-year-old grow-the-game initiative. Here’s the story: Get Golf Ready programs in the United States attracted 107,485 players in 2015, an increase of 9 percent over the number enrolled in 2014. Some relevant details from a progress report indicate that 66 percent of the participants were women, 39 percent had never previously played golf, and 24 percent were people from what’s been described as “multi-cultural backgrounds.” These are all positive results. The bigger picture, though, is that Get Golf Ready has had two consecutive good years. If my math is correct, roughly 44 percent of the 465,000 people who’ve taken part in the program since it was established in 2009 were counted in 2014 and 2015. Get Golf Ready still has a long way to go, but it’s on a promising trajectory.
Golf Get Ready may be finding its groove. Last year a record number of adults, virtually of them newcomers to golf, participated in the PGA of America’s eight-year-old grow-the-game initiative. Here’s the story: Get Golf Ready programs in the United States attracted 107,485 players in 2015, an increase of 9 percent over the number enrolled in 2014. Some relevant details from a progress report indicate that 66 percent of the participants were women, 39 percent had never previously played golf, and 24 percent were people from what’s been described as “multi-cultural backgrounds.” These are all positive results. The bigger picture, though, is that Get Golf Ready has had two consecutive good years. If my math is correct, roughly 44 percent of the 465,000 people who’ve taken part in the program since it was established in 2009 were counted in 2014 and 2015. Get Golf Ready still has a long way to go, but it’s on a promising trajectory.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
The Week That Was, july 17, 2016
Three years after it was foreclosed upon and sold, Ballyneal Golf Club is showing signs of life. The no-frills private club, now principally owned by Boulder, Colorado-based investor John C. Curlander, expects to open an elaborate putting course sometime this month, and it’s commissioned Tom Doak’s firm to create a 13-hole “short” course that’s scheduled to open a year from now. Doak is, of course, intimately familiar with the Ballyneal property, because he designed the club’s existing course, a 10-year-old, neo-classic track that checks in at #54 on Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. In a press release, the Traverse City, Michigan-based architect extolled the “dramatic possibilities” available to him and suggested that his new layout would feature “three or four holes that rival certain ones on the original 18.” To be sure, Curlander is hoping the investments he’s making will help to put Ballyneal firmly in the black. Presumably due to its location, in remote northeastern Colorado, the club has had trouble attracting members, and Curlander, who’d provided the original owner with a $1.7 million loan, took possession of the property in 2013. And who was Ballyneal’s deadbeat original owner? Curlander’s brother-in-law, Rupert O’Neal.
The primary golf market in Australia, according to the Australian Golf Industry Council, consists of 1.37 million people who played at least one round of golf during the past year and nearly 750,000 others who’d rather play miniature golf and are “at increasing risk of disengaging completely.” If you’re wondering why the AGIC even bothered to count people who admit to having “little interest in the traditional form of the game,” well, you aren’t alone. The AGIC doesn’t say. In fact, it doesn’t even say how many Australian men and women aged 18 and older it surveyed to create what it calls “the most in-depth analysis of the Australian golf industry since 2005,” although it does note that the respondents were overwhelmingly male (81 percent), metropolitan (76 percent), and over 40 (56 percent). Cynics might conclude that the AGIC is simply trying to puff up the golf industry’s numbers and spread hope among its members. If you’re one of them, it won’t surprise you to learn that the AGIC believes there are 3.87 million Australian who “have not played golf but would not reject playing in the future.”
A South Korean private equity firm wants to buy Japan’s best-known golf operator. MBK Partners has reportedly offered ¥160 billion ($1.5 billion) for Tokyo-based Accordia Golf Company, which owns 43 Japanese golf properties and manages 93 others. If the sale price is accurate, MBK will be paying a hefty premium for Accordia, which Reuters says has a market value of just ¥91 billion ($860 million). The price seems especially high when one considers that Japan’s golf business is struggling these days, with courses closing at the rate of one per week.
The primary golf market in Australia, according to the Australian Golf Industry Council, consists of 1.37 million people who played at least one round of golf during the past year and nearly 750,000 others who’d rather play miniature golf and are “at increasing risk of disengaging completely.” If you’re wondering why the AGIC even bothered to count people who admit to having “little interest in the traditional form of the game,” well, you aren’t alone. The AGIC doesn’t say. In fact, it doesn’t even say how many Australian men and women aged 18 and older it surveyed to create what it calls “the most in-depth analysis of the Australian golf industry since 2005,” although it does note that the respondents were overwhelmingly male (81 percent), metropolitan (76 percent), and over 40 (56 percent). Cynics might conclude that the AGIC is simply trying to puff up the golf industry’s numbers and spread hope among its members. If you’re one of them, it won’t surprise you to learn that the AGIC believes there are 3.87 million Australian who “have not played golf but would not reject playing in the future.”
A South Korean private equity firm wants to buy Japan’s best-known golf operator. MBK Partners has reportedly offered ¥160 billion ($1.5 billion) for Tokyo-based Accordia Golf Company, which owns 43 Japanese golf properties and manages 93 others. If the sale price is accurate, MBK will be paying a hefty premium for Accordia, which Reuters says has a market value of just ¥91 billion ($860 million). The price seems especially high when one considers that Japan’s golf business is struggling these days, with courses closing at the rate of one per week.
Friday, July 15, 2016
The Pipeline, july 15, 2016
Nayarit, Mexico. Costa Capomo, a forthcoming resort community on the Riviera Nayarit, has a new name and a new architectural team for its golf course. The community is now called Costa Canuva, and its 18-hole course, originally intended to be a solo Greg Norman product, will now be the world’s first track to be co-designed by Norman and Lorena Ochoa. The retired mega-stars on their respective professional golf tours have been joined in a marriage of marketing convenience since 2010, when they made a failed attempt to win the commission for the course that will host the golf competition at this year’s Olympic Games. For the course at Costa Canuva, they’ve promised to deliver what’s been described as “an unforgettable playing experience.” As for the rest of Costa Canuva, little else has changed. The community is still being developed by an affiliate of Mota-Engil, a major Portuguese construction conglomerate, and it’ll still take shape on 630 acres, including more than four miles’ worth of beaches, in La Peñita de Jaltemba, a town roughly 40 miles north of Puerto Vallarta International Airport. Mota-Engil Tourismo has master-planned the community to include 2,500 housing units of various kinds, five hotels, a beach club, and other attractions. Ochoa, Mexico’s most famous golfer and the world’s top-ranked female golfer in the late 2000s, has called the commission at Costa Canuva “a dream come true.” It’s also a second-chance opportunity for the Norman/Ochoa partnership, which had agreed to co-design a golf course at the Mayakoba resort, on the Riviera Maya, in early 2011. So far, however, the course hasn’t been built.
Cienfuegos Province, Cuba. A Spanish group is negotiating for the right to create a six-course golf complex in the Cuban city known as “the Pearl of the South.” If an agreement is reached, Madrid-based Urbas Grupo Financiero SA will build Cuba’s largest golf resort at Rancho Luna, a resort community that’s slated to take shape in the city of Cienfuegos, on the nation’s southern coast. The property, which Cuban authorities earmarked for a golf resort years ago, has been master-planned to include 4,500 villas and apartments, six hotels, a marina, places to eat and drink, and other attractions, including the 18-hole golf courses. Urbas Grupo appears to have chosen an attractive location for its first golf venture, as Cienfuegos, the capital of Cienfuegos Province, has been likened to Paris, France. Lonely Planet says the city, located roughly 200 miles southeast of Havana, overlooks Cuba’s “most spectacular natural bay” and has “long seduced travelers from around the island with its elegance, enlightened French spirit, and feisty Caribbean panache.” A construction schedule hasn’t been announced.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the April 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sohar, Oman. A group of Omani business leaders think it’s the right time to build the first golf course in the mythical home of Sinbad the Sailor. At a meeting earlier this year, more than two dozen top-level executives in Sohar, a bustling port city, established a steering committee to determine if a nine- or 18-hole course might be financially viable. The idea is likely to get a thumbs-up, for Oman currently has only a handful of 18-hole “grassed” golf courses, and most of them are in and around Muscat, a trip of more than 100 miles from Sohar. “There are a lot people in Sohar who are interested to play golf regularly,” said Mundhir Al Barwani, the chairman of the Oman Golf Committee, the overseer of golf in the sultanate. “Building a golf course in Sohar will encourage more people to take up the sport and embed it in the Oman sporting culture.” Al Barwani is a member of the steering committee, along with representatives from the Port of Sohar, Majis Industrial Services Company, Sohar Aluminum, and other local corporations.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
New South Wales, Australia. Road construction in southern Sydney is going to force a long-established golf club to relocate. Kogarah Golf Club, a venue in Arncliffe that opened in the 1930s, will be moving to a site in nearby Barton Park. A time line hasn’t yet been set, but the news comes as no surprise to the club’s members, as work on the planned WestConnex motorway has been in the works for more than a decade. In fact, the club isn’t reluctant to relocate, because it’s lost members in recent years and believes a new home, especially one with a freshly built, “international-standard” course, will help to attract new members and ensure its long-term economic viability. Kogarah’s current home is located on property owned by Rockdale Council. When the club departs, a technology park that includes a hotel and a shopping area is expected to take its place.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Walsall, England. To reverse a serious decline in membership, a golf club in suburban Birmingham, England aims to “target a different audience” with what it’s called “a different approach to golf.” It’s been said that Calderfields Golf & Country Club is “fast becoming one of the most prestigious golf and leisure facilities in the Midlands,” but since 2010 the club has reportedly seen its membership drop by nearly 43 percent, from 620 to 355. Calderfields believes it can solve its financial troubles by building new attractions, in particular a nine-hole golf course and a training center with a short-game practice area. The club hopes the additions will encourage more participation from women, children, beginners, people with disabilities, and anyone who’s “put off by the membership money involved and the length of an 18-hole course.” The new attractions will complement the club’s 18-hole, Roy Winters-designed layout.
Saint-Tropez, France. In a venture that it believes will propel the golf industry “into a new dimension,” a U.S. company has been contracted to build an all-synthetic golf course on the eastern end of the French Riviera. Southwest Greens International, a firm based in Calhoun, Georgia, will create the nine-hole track at a Golf Up facility in Saint-Tropez, a one-time vacation spot for European jet-setters and French New Wave filmmakers. The facility, scheduled to open in the spring of next year, has been designed by Jean-Claude Cornillot, an architect based in Wasquehal, France, and it’ll be built by SGI’s Netherlands-based construction affiliate, Southwest Greens Construction. It’s being developed by Robert Roussille of Nice-based Golf Up, and it’ll be accompanied by a driving range, a practice area, a clubhouse, and a group of apartments that will, according to a press release, capture “the essence of a typical charming village in Provence.”
Cienfuegos Province, Cuba. A Spanish group is negotiating for the right to create a six-course golf complex in the Cuban city known as “the Pearl of the South.” If an agreement is reached, Madrid-based Urbas Grupo Financiero SA will build Cuba’s largest golf resort at Rancho Luna, a resort community that’s slated to take shape in the city of Cienfuegos, on the nation’s southern coast. The property, which Cuban authorities earmarked for a golf resort years ago, has been master-planned to include 4,500 villas and apartments, six hotels, a marina, places to eat and drink, and other attractions, including the 18-hole golf courses. Urbas Grupo appears to have chosen an attractive location for its first golf venture, as Cienfuegos, the capital of Cienfuegos Province, has been likened to Paris, France. Lonely Planet says the city, located roughly 200 miles southeast of Havana, overlooks Cuba’s “most spectacular natural bay” and has “long seduced travelers from around the island with its elegance, enlightened French spirit, and feisty Caribbean panache.” A construction schedule hasn’t been announced.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the April 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sohar, Oman. A group of Omani business leaders think it’s the right time to build the first golf course in the mythical home of Sinbad the Sailor. At a meeting earlier this year, more than two dozen top-level executives in Sohar, a bustling port city, established a steering committee to determine if a nine- or 18-hole course might be financially viable. The idea is likely to get a thumbs-up, for Oman currently has only a handful of 18-hole “grassed” golf courses, and most of them are in and around Muscat, a trip of more than 100 miles from Sohar. “There are a lot people in Sohar who are interested to play golf regularly,” said Mundhir Al Barwani, the chairman of the Oman Golf Committee, the overseer of golf in the sultanate. “Building a golf course in Sohar will encourage more people to take up the sport and embed it in the Oman sporting culture.” Al Barwani is a member of the steering committee, along with representatives from the Port of Sohar, Majis Industrial Services Company, Sohar Aluminum, and other local corporations.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
New South Wales, Australia. Road construction in southern Sydney is going to force a long-established golf club to relocate. Kogarah Golf Club, a venue in Arncliffe that opened in the 1930s, will be moving to a site in nearby Barton Park. A time line hasn’t yet been set, but the news comes as no surprise to the club’s members, as work on the planned WestConnex motorway has been in the works for more than a decade. In fact, the club isn’t reluctant to relocate, because it’s lost members in recent years and believes a new home, especially one with a freshly built, “international-standard” course, will help to attract new members and ensure its long-term economic viability. Kogarah’s current home is located on property owned by Rockdale Council. When the club departs, a technology park that includes a hotel and a shopping area is expected to take its place.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Walsall, England. To reverse a serious decline in membership, a golf club in suburban Birmingham, England aims to “target a different audience” with what it’s called “a different approach to golf.” It’s been said that Calderfields Golf & Country Club is “fast becoming one of the most prestigious golf and leisure facilities in the Midlands,” but since 2010 the club has reportedly seen its membership drop by nearly 43 percent, from 620 to 355. Calderfields believes it can solve its financial troubles by building new attractions, in particular a nine-hole golf course and a training center with a short-game practice area. The club hopes the additions will encourage more participation from women, children, beginners, people with disabilities, and anyone who’s “put off by the membership money involved and the length of an 18-hole course.” The new attractions will complement the club’s 18-hole, Roy Winters-designed layout.
Saint-Tropez, France. In a venture that it believes will propel the golf industry “into a new dimension,” a U.S. company has been contracted to build an all-synthetic golf course on the eastern end of the French Riviera. Southwest Greens International, a firm based in Calhoun, Georgia, will create the nine-hole track at a Golf Up facility in Saint-Tropez, a one-time vacation spot for European jet-setters and French New Wave filmmakers. The facility, scheduled to open in the spring of next year, has been designed by Jean-Claude Cornillot, an architect based in Wasquehal, France, and it’ll be built by SGI’s Netherlands-based construction affiliate, Southwest Greens Construction. It’s being developed by Robert Roussille of Nice-based Golf Up, and it’ll be accompanied by a driving range, a practice area, a clubhouse, and a group of apartments that will, according to a press release, capture “the essence of a typical charming village in Provence.”
Sunday, July 10, 2016
The Week That Was, july 10, 2016
Donald “the Candidate” Trump is threatening to pull the plug on his resort in Doonbeg, Ireland. Rough seas have been chewing up the dunes at Trump International Golf Links Ireland in recent years, so the Presumptive Nominee wants to build a wall (no jokes, please) to stop the encroachment. In a petition to County Clare, Trump’s consultants described the proposed two-mile wall as “vital to the survival of the business,” warned of massive job losses if the unthinkable should happen, and vowed to hold local elected officials “responsible for any resulting damages or lost income.” So far, though, Irish lawmakers and coastal protectors aren’t buying the resort’s argument, and that’s a real problem for Trump. He may be a climate-change denier on the campaign trail, but he’s seen first-hand the destructive power of raging oceans and knows that Doonbeg’s erosion troubles are only going to get worse.
For as much as he claims to aspire to greatness, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman also appears to view golf architecture as a numbers game. In a press release announcing the hiring of a new associate, Norman boasted about a recent achievement -- “100 courses opened across six continents and in 34 countries” -- and proclaimed himself ready to “embark on the journey to reach another 100 courses.” The trouble is, there are only 78 courses on the “completed” list at Norman's website, and one of them -- the Great White track at the property now known as Trump National Doral Golf Club -- no longer exists. So if Norman’s design group has truly reached the century mark, it’s either counting renovations and redesigns or failing to post a complete list of its portfolio. This really isn’t a knock on Norman, because golf-course architects are always fudging their numbers to beef up their resumes. But I’m wondering: Is the practice legitimate? Should renovations count the same as original works? And if they shouldn’t, why do we let architects value them equally?
On the eve of the Scottish Open, and with the Olympics right around the corner, Castle Stuart asked Gil Hanse to flesh out a little of his design philosophy. “The two words that Mark Parsinen kept telling us at Castle Stuart, as it relates to public playability, was to keep the golfers engaged and hopeful,” Hanse recalled in a press release. “We always felt that the way to do this was to create wide playing corridors for the tee shot and to have short-grass recovery shots, with humps and hollows around the greens. This type of course allows all golfers to remain in play and to be hopeful of hitting a comfortable, quality shot as they make their way around the course. These conditions allow players to ‘play’ the course and enjoy their round. However, for golfers to score on the golf course, their level of precision needs to be much higher, and this can be accomplished by building greens with some very challenging hole locations for the top-level golfers, so that they need to approach these hole locations from a particular angle in order to score. We believe that this style of design has worked at Castle Stuart and has been a great model for us on the Olympic course.”
For as much as he claims to aspire to greatness, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman also appears to view golf architecture as a numbers game. In a press release announcing the hiring of a new associate, Norman boasted about a recent achievement -- “100 courses opened across six continents and in 34 countries” -- and proclaimed himself ready to “embark on the journey to reach another 100 courses.” The trouble is, there are only 78 courses on the “completed” list at Norman's website, and one of them -- the Great White track at the property now known as Trump National Doral Golf Club -- no longer exists. So if Norman’s design group has truly reached the century mark, it’s either counting renovations and redesigns or failing to post a complete list of its portfolio. This really isn’t a knock on Norman, because golf-course architects are always fudging their numbers to beef up their resumes. But I’m wondering: Is the practice legitimate? Should renovations count the same as original works? And if they shouldn’t, why do we let architects value them equally?
On the eve of the Scottish Open, and with the Olympics right around the corner, Castle Stuart asked Gil Hanse to flesh out a little of his design philosophy. “The two words that Mark Parsinen kept telling us at Castle Stuart, as it relates to public playability, was to keep the golfers engaged and hopeful,” Hanse recalled in a press release. “We always felt that the way to do this was to create wide playing corridors for the tee shot and to have short-grass recovery shots, with humps and hollows around the greens. This type of course allows all golfers to remain in play and to be hopeful of hitting a comfortable, quality shot as they make their way around the course. These conditions allow players to ‘play’ the course and enjoy their round. However, for golfers to score on the golf course, their level of precision needs to be much higher, and this can be accomplished by building greens with some very challenging hole locations for the top-level golfers, so that they need to approach these hole locations from a particular angle in order to score. We believe that this style of design has worked at Castle Stuart and has been a great model for us on the Olympic course.”
Friday, July 8, 2016
Desolation Row, july 8, 2016
Carmel, California. The clock is ticking on Rancho Cañada Golf Club, a going concern since 1969. The club’s West course was supposed to close today, July 8, while the East course is expected to survive until the end of the year. Golf Digest reports that Hans-Peter Wild, a German/Swiss multi-billionaire with connections to Muhammad Ali, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, had offered to buy the property and maintain an 18-hole course on it, but the landowners chose instead to accept $10 million from the Trust for Public Land, which has other plans. One other thing: It appears that Clint Eastwood, who’s long desired to build houses on part of the Rancho Cañada, is going to see his wish fulfilled.
Pasadena, Texas. On its website, San Jacinto College says, “We love our golf here at San Jacinto College.” But that won’t stop the school from closing the affordably priced nine-hole course, which has been in business for 52 years. Citing a decline in play and an increase in operating expenses, San Jacinto will close the track when the students go home for Christmas break. And, as we all know, love means never having to say you’re sorry.
Pipestem, West Virginia. Come the end of the golf season, a budget crunch in West Virginia will claim the nine-hole course at Pipestem State Park. The state’s legislators have decided to maintain the park’s 18-hole, Geoffrey Cornish-designed layout, but they’re pulling the plug on the “short” course sometime after Labor Day. If you’re wondering, West Virginia has golf courses at four other state parks.
Morrison, Illinois. Time appears to have run out on Prairie Ridge Golf Course, which didn’t open this spring. The course made its debut with nine holes in 1911 -- at the time, and for decades thereafter, it operated as Morrison Country Club -- and Lowell Beggs changed its name and added nine holes sometime after he purchased it in 2007. Beggs hasn’t said what he plans to do with the property.
Farmville, Virginia. The nine-hole golf course at Longwood University has closed its doors to the public, and maybe soon to students as well. In the near term, the school will allow its golf teams to practice at the 80-year-old track. Long-term, however, Longwood thinks the course might better serve higher education as a botanical gardens or an arboretum.
Pasadena, Texas. On its website, San Jacinto College says, “We love our golf here at San Jacinto College.” But that won’t stop the school from closing the affordably priced nine-hole course, which has been in business for 52 years. Citing a decline in play and an increase in operating expenses, San Jacinto will close the track when the students go home for Christmas break. And, as we all know, love means never having to say you’re sorry.
Pipestem, West Virginia. Come the end of the golf season, a budget crunch in West Virginia will claim the nine-hole course at Pipestem State Park. The state’s legislators have decided to maintain the park’s 18-hole, Geoffrey Cornish-designed layout, but they’re pulling the plug on the “short” course sometime after Labor Day. If you’re wondering, West Virginia has golf courses at four other state parks.
Morrison, Illinois. Time appears to have run out on Prairie Ridge Golf Course, which didn’t open this spring. The course made its debut with nine holes in 1911 -- at the time, and for decades thereafter, it operated as Morrison Country Club -- and Lowell Beggs changed its name and added nine holes sometime after he purchased it in 2007. Beggs hasn’t said what he plans to do with the property.
Farmville, Virginia. The nine-hole golf course at Longwood University has closed its doors to the public, and maybe soon to students as well. In the near term, the school will allow its golf teams to practice at the 80-year-old track. Long-term, however, Longwood thinks the course might better serve higher education as a botanical gardens or an arboretum.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
The Week That Was, july 3, 2016
In golf’s battle of the sexes, another domino has fallen: The members of Royal Troon, a historic enclave in South Ayrshire, Scotland, have voted -- voted “overwhelmingly,” it’s been said, though no actual count was taken -- to allow women into their 138-year-old men’s club. Royal Troon’s decision comes after two other clubs in the rotation for the Open Championship -- the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in 2014 and Royal St. George’s Golf Club last year -- similarly chose to end their discriminatory membership policies. “I think this means that Royal Troon Golf Club is reflecting the society in which we exist in the 21st century,” the club’s captain told the New York Times. More importantly, the vote means that Royal Troon won’t suffer the fate of Muirfield, which was stripped of its spot in the rotation several weeks ago, when it decided to remain gender specific. Royal Troon’s captain reflected the greater truth when he said, “The importance of being in the international world of golf was recognized by the members.” Royal Troon has hosted the Open Championship eight times, and by happy coincidence it’ll do so again later his month.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the group that owns and operates Muirfield, has come to regret the decision it made regarding its woman problem. Just weeks after the fateful vote that maintained Muirfield as a men-only club -- a vote that cost the 272-year-old venue in East Lothian, Scotland its cherished spot in the rotation for the Open Championship -- the Edinburgh Golfers have come to realize the error of their ways. They’re hoping to take a second vote on a proposal to admit women, hopefully before the end of the year. “A substantial majority of our members voted for change, and many have voiced their disappointment with the ballot result and with subsequent events,” the club’s captain told the Scotsman. “The club committee believes that a clear and decisive vote in favor of admitting women as members is required to enable us to begin the task of restoring the reputation of the club that has been damaged by the earlier ballot outcome.” The R&A, which decides which properties are fit to host the Open, has encouraged Muirfield to join the 21st century.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania have proposed legislation that would enable private-sector groups to build and operate golf courses in state parks. Details are sketchy and opposition is mounting, but three elected officials are hoping to win support for bills that would allow for the construction of “a variety of modern and improved lodging and recreational opportunities” -- hotels, inns, meeting space, amusement parks, water parks, golf courses, and similar attractions -- in some of the state’s 121 parks. It appears that the bills have been proposed to fend off competitive threats from Ohio and West Virginia.
One of the ritziest resorts in Arizona has changed hands. The Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain, once described as a “harmonious place where you’ll find every amenity under the sun,” now belongs to a group led by David Mehl of Cottonwood Properties and Humberto S. Lopez of HSL Properties. The price: $45.5 million. The purchase includes the infamous Golf Club at Dove Mountain, a venue that hosted the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship for several years until high-profile players rebelled -- the greens were too tough, they griped -- and forced the event to relocate. The greens they found difficult to negotiate were part of a 27-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” complex.
Regarding Concert Golf Partners’ expected acquisition of Crestview Country Club: The deal is done. Crestview, a financially troubled, 36-hole venue in Wichita, Kansas, has become the 13th property owned by CGP, and the 14th will likely be counted soon, as Peter Nanula’s investment group is scheduled to close on Norbeck Country Club in Rockville, Maryland later this month. A 15th doesn’t appear to be on the immediate horizon, but Nanula told the Orange County Business Journal that he and his partners aim to buy six to eight additional properties.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the group that owns and operates Muirfield, has come to regret the decision it made regarding its woman problem. Just weeks after the fateful vote that maintained Muirfield as a men-only club -- a vote that cost the 272-year-old venue in East Lothian, Scotland its cherished spot in the rotation for the Open Championship -- the Edinburgh Golfers have come to realize the error of their ways. They’re hoping to take a second vote on a proposal to admit women, hopefully before the end of the year. “A substantial majority of our members voted for change, and many have voiced their disappointment with the ballot result and with subsequent events,” the club’s captain told the Scotsman. “The club committee believes that a clear and decisive vote in favor of admitting women as members is required to enable us to begin the task of restoring the reputation of the club that has been damaged by the earlier ballot outcome.” The R&A, which decides which properties are fit to host the Open, has encouraged Muirfield to join the 21st century.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania have proposed legislation that would enable private-sector groups to build and operate golf courses in state parks. Details are sketchy and opposition is mounting, but three elected officials are hoping to win support for bills that would allow for the construction of “a variety of modern and improved lodging and recreational opportunities” -- hotels, inns, meeting space, amusement parks, water parks, golf courses, and similar attractions -- in some of the state’s 121 parks. It appears that the bills have been proposed to fend off competitive threats from Ohio and West Virginia.
One of the ritziest resorts in Arizona has changed hands. The Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain, once described as a “harmonious place where you’ll find every amenity under the sun,” now belongs to a group led by David Mehl of Cottonwood Properties and Humberto S. Lopez of HSL Properties. The price: $45.5 million. The purchase includes the infamous Golf Club at Dove Mountain, a venue that hosted the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship for several years until high-profile players rebelled -- the greens were too tough, they griped -- and forced the event to relocate. The greens they found difficult to negotiate were part of a 27-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” complex.
Regarding Concert Golf Partners’ expected acquisition of Crestview Country Club: The deal is done. Crestview, a financially troubled, 36-hole venue in Wichita, Kansas, has become the 13th property owned by CGP, and the 14th will likely be counted soon, as Peter Nanula’s investment group is scheduled to close on Norbeck Country Club in Rockville, Maryland later this month. A 15th doesn’t appear to be on the immediate horizon, but Nanula told the Orange County Business Journal that he and his partners aim to buy six to eight additional properties.
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