The Week That Was, february 12, 2017

     As if to prove the power of the presidency, the Trump Organization’s branding venture in the Dominican Republic has risen from the dead. Earlier this month Eric Trump paid a visit to Cap Cana, the scene of a potentially lucrative licensing venture that went haywire a decade ago, amid accusations, recriminations, and at least one lawsuit. Today, the resort community’s developers, Ricardo and Fernando Hazoury, appear ready to revive Farallon Trump, which was to feature several dozen high-priced houses, a Trump-branded hotel, a beach club, and two Gil Hanse-designed golf courses. A contract hasn’t yet been signed, but the brothers are clearly optimistic. “We are excited to be working with the Trump Organization in the future phases of the project,” they said in a press release. Such comments are a far cry from days gone by, when the Trumps accused the Hazourys of cooking their books and engaging in “textbook fraud.” The parties settled their differences out of court in 2013, and the Hazourys now say that the relationship is “incredibly strong” again. It’s just business, after all, and, as we all know, the best time to strike is while the iron is hot.

     An architect best known for creating “replica” courses will produce the 18-hole track for a forthcoming “doomsday” community in suburban Dallas, Texas. Dave Edsall has reportedly earned the opportunity to design the wryly named Course of the Gods, which will serve as the recreational component of Trident Lakes, a gated, 700-acre spread that’s been described as a “five-star playground with DEFCON 1 preparedness.” The Lakes is being marketed to the rich and fearful, who are being lured with “fortified subterranean condos built to withstand the apocalypse.” Edsall, who’s based in Annapolis, Maryland, created facsimile courses outside Dallas and Houston, venues built to prove that imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery. His course at the Lakes is expected to open next year. Of course, if the apocalypse really does someday befall us, the community’s residents might be pondering matters more important than golf.

     The tourism division of a big automobile dealership is looking to put a fresh new face on one of Mexico’s best-known and most menacing vacation spots.
     Grupo Autofin, which reportedly owns more than 50 auto dealerships in Mexico and others in Southern California, intends to make a $1 billion investment in Acapulco, the coastal city made famous by Hollywood stars and A-list celebrities during the 1950s and 1960s. The money will be spent in Punta Diamante, the city’s most upscale district, where Grupo Autofin owns a resort called Mundo Imperial.
     Mundo Imperial’s 395 acres are currently home to an 800-room hotel, a convention center, a spa, and several restaurants. Over the next few years, however, Mexico City-based Grupo Autofin plans to add as many as 6,000 additional hotel rooms, an amusement park, entertainment venues, a hospital, and at least one golf course.
     The venture is a financial risk, because these days most international travelers who vacation in Mexico prefer Cancún, Los Cabos, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta, and other, more fashionable oceanfront locales. Acapulco belongs to people who remember John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Rita Hayworth, and Ron and Nancy Reagan. When they moved on, Acapulco’s glamour faded.
     And being yesterday’s celebrity news is the least of Acapulco’s problems. The worst: Tourists have been frightened away by the drug-related violence and police corruption that’s plagued the city for a decade. Street crime and mass murders are bad for business.
     Nonetheless, Grupo Autofin has faith. It knows that Acapulco continues to attract Mexican vacationers in large numbers, and it believes that wary foreigner travelers will return when they’re convinced that the city is safe.
     The trouble is, nobody knows when that will be.

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

     One of golf architecture’s heavy hitters is trying to raise the profile of an historic golf course in Austin, Texas. Ben Crenshaw has reportedly worked up a restoration plan for Lions Municipal Golf Course, a 1920s-era venue that’s been slated for development since 2011. He’s long been among the leaders of the grass-roots effort to save what’s known locally as Muny, one of the first courses in the state to be desegregated. “I think that hopefully something can happen,” he told KXAN-TV. “It’s provided a lot of enjoyment for a lot of people.” Crenshaw is expected to unveil his plan this week. He usually co-designs with Bill Coore, but so far there’s been no indication that Coore is involved in the venture. His plan reportedly calls for an investment of $10 million or more, an amount that he believes can be raised without taxpayer funding.