The Week That Was, march 5, 2017

     In an attempt to boost its bottom line, Pinehurst Country Club is relaxing its membership policies. Beginning on May 1, the self-described “cradle of American golf” will welcome not just property owners in the village of Pinehurst, North Carolina but anyone who lives within a 60-mile radius. The change is a reflection of tough times at the historic club, which promotes itself as “a way of life.” Unfortunately, life isn’t what it used to be, and Pinehurst has reportedly lost roughly 1,000 of the 2,400 golfing members it had in 2001. “Our main goal is to add some golf members,” one of the club’s executives has acknowledged. (The club’s total membership has “remained consistent,” says the Southern Pines Pilot.) As a sweetener, Pinehurst is also investing in upgrades, as it’s spiffed up some of facilities and appointed Gil Hanse to overhaul Course #4. But let’s not lose sight of the big picture. Pinehurst has been in business since 1895 and has never before needed to seek members outside the village. Even at its most elite levels, golf continues to suffer.

     Greg Norman has put the golf industry’s management companies on notice: He wants a piece of their business. “The Living Brand” is trying to persuade a Macau-based development group to let him both design and operate an 18-hole golf course at KUR-World, a forthcoming refuge for “relaxation and rejuvenation” outside Cairns, in northern Queensland, Australia. In addition to the golf course, KUR-World has reportedly been master-planned to include 380 vacation houses, a pair of resort-style hotels, an equestrian center, a variety of recreational amenities, and other attractions. The community’s developer, an entity controlled by former Wynn Resorts executive Ken Lee, admits to be negotiating with Norman but cautions that it’s “considering other golf-course design companies as well” and may choose to do “in-house management.” Norman has long had his fingers in a lot of pies, but as near as I can tell this is the first time he’s expressed an urge to compete against experienced, established companies like Troon Golf, KemperSports, and Billy Casper Golf. Does anyone believe he can out-perform them?

     Speaking of Greg Norman, one of the top courses in his design portfolio is about to fade into memory. Hary Tanoesoedibjo has turned out the lights at Nirwana Bali Golf Club, a track in Indonesia that checks in at #84 on Golf Digest’s list of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. “I for one will miss it greatly, as, I'm sure, will anyone else who has ever played there,” Mark Siegel of Golfasian wrote in a recent obituary. Norman’s course, a co-design with Bob Harrison, will give way to a new, presumably improved track that will be operated by the Trump Organization. Siegel believes that Tanoesoedibjo will “preserve elements of the existing Norman design,” but no official promises have been made. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that “signature” architect Phil Mickelson may be hired to oversee the redesign.

     One of the golf industry’s most generous, most reliable financial supporters is facing a worrisome money crunch. Bloomberg says that HSBC, the giant international bank that sponsors the Open Championship and several other high-profile golf events, is dramatically cutting expenses in an effort “to reverse five years of declining revenue.” Since 2011, HSBC has reportedly eliminated 40,000 jobs (with a promised 25,000 more to come), and now it’s got to contend with Brexit-related financial uncertainty, not to mention the potential of a global trade war touched off by the United States. All this begs an obvious question: How deeply will HSBC slash its marketing budget, and will those cuts affect the golf industry?

     The Czech Republic has more than 100 golf courses, according to KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice, and it’s set to add another one. The nation’s next golf property, Panorama Golf Club in suburban Prague, will make its official debut in the spring, after enjoying a soft opening last summer. Panorama’s 27-hole complex, in the town of Kácov, will eventually be the centerpiece of a 250-acre community that includes houses, a hotel, restaurants, and other attractions. The club has been a long time coming, as the trio of architects who produced it – project leader Libor Jirásek of Golfer s.r.o., his associate Michael Terech, and Rainer Preissman of Deutsche Golf Holding – were originally engaged nearly a decade ago. The delays allowed the architects to give Panorama a distinguishing feature, however, as each of its nines have been routed through a different landscape: through a forest, over a meadow, and along a river. “We worked hard to make sure we utilized as much natural beauty and on-site features as possible,” Terech told Golf Course Architecture. Jirásek has offices in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, while Preissman is based in Essen, Germany. They’ve been designing courses individually for decades and collaborating since 2001.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2017 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     It appears that the decision-makers at Kasumigaseki Country Club, the host of the golf competitions in the 2020 Olympics, have given assurances regarding their woman problem. The International Olympic Committee, which only recently threatened to relocate the golf events if Kasumigaseki doesn’t allow women to become full members, now says it expects the controversy to be “resolved by the end of June.” On the face of it, this is a win for women, a win for Japan, and a win for golf’s public image. If Kasumigaseki decides to end its exclusionary membership policies, it’ll be acknowledging that restrictions based on sex have no place in a modern society. But here’s the rub: A regular membership at Kasumigaseki, the level currently available to women, costs $70,800, according to the Associated Press. Anyone who wishes to become a full member will have to pay an additional $35,400. Membership does indeed have its privileges, but they come with a price.