The Week That Was, september 18, 2016

     Just months after a New York City-based hedge fund bitterly complained of ClubCorp’s “billion-dollar debt burden,” “lax course maintenance,” and “bad customer service,” a disgruntled minority shareholder wants the self-described “world leader in private clubs” to sell some -- or maybe all -- of its golf properties.
     In an open letter, FrontFour Capital Group LLC argues that the sale of “a select number of non-core, lower-returning clubs” would enable ClubCorp to pay off some of its debt and, in the process, boost the value of its under-performing stock. FrontFour’s most cherished desire, however, is that ClubCorp completely maximizes its value by pursuing “any and all strategic alternatives, including an outright sale of the company.”
     All these gripes about ClubCorp’s financial performance should serve to remind us of an unfortunate truth: ClubCorp, which went public in 2013, is today only incidentally involved in the golf business. Like the equity investment groups that now own so many golf properties, its primary responsibility is to its shareholders, few of whom have any genuine interest in golf or the golf industry. Their only concern is maximizing the return on their investments.
     Under pressure from groups like FrontFour, ClubCorp’s top executives are nowadays obliged to think almost exclusively in the short term, training their attention on their balance sheets and passing on choices that might, in the long run, benefit both ClubCorp and golf. This is not a prescription for making ClubCorp great again.

     For what it’s worth, FrontFour Capital Group’s open letter indicates that ClubCorp owns the land at 126 of its 160 golf and country-club properties, for a total of roughly 30,000 acres. (Translation: 238 acres, on average, per venue.) FrontFour also says that ClubCorp’s land is, according to a recent appraisal, worth about $1.5 billion.

     Don’t be surprised if Greg “the Living Brand” Norman soon picks up a design commission in Cuba. Blasting News says that West Palm Beach, Florida-based architect, apparently capitalizing on his Australian citizenship, “recently visited Cuba several times and has become involved in investment opportunities on the island.” Sadly, no details were reported. The news service also says that Norman will be “the guest of honor” at next month’s Great Golf Tournament of Cuba, “a high-profile event” (for Cuba, at least) that’s being played for the eighth time. It’s worth noting that two previous honorees at the two-round tournament, Ernie Els and Tony Jacklin, have at one time or another been linked to design projects in the island nation.

     The PGA Tour has branded its first Tournament Players Club in Southeast Asia. The venue is TPC Kuala Lumpur, a club outside Malaysia’s national capital that previously operated as Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club. In a press release, a spokesperson for the tour called TPC Kuala Lumpur “an excellent facility with world-class amenities” that can potentially “serve as a catalyst for more TPCs to emerge in Asia.” The club, which has been around since the early 1990s, features a pair of 18-hole, Robin Nelson-designed golf courses, and it’s hosted several professional events, including the European Tour’s Malaysian Open. It’s owned by Sime Darby Property, the nation’s biggest real-estate developer, and it believes that its affiliation with the PGA Tour will make it “the paradise for golfing and leisure.” The TPC network now consists of 31 properties in the United States and others in Colombia (TPC Cartagena at Karibana) and Puerto Rico (TPC Dorado Beach).

     To position his firm for future growth, one of South Africa’s best-known golf designers is grooming a “signature” architect. Peter Matkovich believes he’s found “the perfect partner” in professional golfer Louis Oosthuizen, who claims to be eager to “explore my passion for golf course design.” Matkovich, who’s said to be responsible for more than 50 courses in Africa, expects the partnership to give his Matkovich Group visibility in new markets, hopefully in nations off the continent. In a press release, he describes Oosthuizen as “a global golfer” who’ll “give us an opportunity to be more global as a company,” adding: “We are now looking at the next 10 to 15 years and the future of our brand.” Oosthuizen scored his first professional victory on a Matkovich-designed track -- Arabella Golf Club on South Africa’s Western Cape -- and says that he loves “the playability of Peter’s golf courses and the fact that they always seem to reach that balance between being a good test but also fun to play.”

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the July 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Annika Sorenstam has increased her investment in Capillary Concrete. The Swedish golf legend is now a 50 percent owner of Martin Sternberg’s 14-year-old company, which has installed its porous bunker liners at more than 400 venues around the world. (Among the notables: Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia; Isleworth Country Club in Windermere, Florida; the Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee; the Kings course at Gleneagles in Perthshire, Scotland; and Le Golf National in suburban Paris, France.) Sorenstam became one of Sternberg’s partners in early 2015. She reportedly bought a stake previously owned by Almi Invest, a Swedish venture-capital firm.