The Week That Was, april 16, 2017

     A dramatic shift in direction may be taking place at ClubCorp, as two major news stories emerged at the embattled, Dallas, Texas-based course owner and operator last week.
     First, ClubCorp is no longer looking to sell itself. Just weeks ago, you’ll remember, the company responded to a litany of shareholder complaints by announcing that it was “in the early stages of an auction process that has attracted the interest of potential buyers.” For now, at least, it appears that a potential sale is off the table.
     Second, and more importantly, the self-described “world leader in private clubs” is cutting ties with its CEO. According to a press release, Eric Affeldt, who’s 59, “intends to retire” and will remain with the company until a successor can be named.
     Affeldt took over at ClubCorp in late 2006, when the company was purchased by KSL Capital Partners. Previously, he’d served in various capacities at KSL, in particular as the CEO of KSL Fairways, the firm’s golf division. He’ll probably be best remembered for taking ClubCorp public, a move he engineered in 2013.
     Under Affeldt’s direction, ClubCorp grew mostly by acquisition. Like the chief executives of the private-equity firms that have gained prominence in the golf industry, he used the economic power at his disposal to purchase a parade of private clubs that had been financially weakened by the Great Recession. Profits were elusive, however, and over the past year or so some of ClubCorp’s largest shareholders have been clamoring for a better return on their investments.
     In an attempt to increase value and silence the critics, Affeldt set out to reinvent ClubCorp. “We don’t like to consider ourselves a golf company,” he famously proclaimed last year. “We’re in the membership business, and we make money by creating an environment that would be [appealing] to people that aren’t just golfers.”
     Affeldt’s departure suggests that his reinvention hasn’t been successful. ClubCorp says that it’s “identified an internal candidate” who can take over as its chief executive, but it’s also working with a search firm “to identify additional outside candidates.”

     As it turns out, Tiger Woods’ entourage is as leaky as the White House. Just days after the Jupiter, Florida-based “signature” designer announced that he’d soon announce a forthcoming public course somewhere in the USA, No Laying Up revealed that the track will serve as an amenity for Johnny Morris’ Big Cedar Lodge, outside Branson, Missouri. Woods hasn’t confirmed the news, but the Fried Egg subsequently reported that the 18-hole course will take shape on property formerly occupied by Murder Rock Golf Club, a defunct venue that Morris acquired in 2013. In recent years, Morris has set out to turn Big Cedar into “the premier golf destination in the Midwest.” The main resort, in Ridgedale, features a nine-hole, Jack Nicklaus-designed par-3 course, an Arnold Palmer-designed practice facility, and a family-friendly, Gary Player-designed 13-hole track. Woods’ course will butt up against the resort’s Tom Fazio-designed Buffalo Ridge Springs Golf Course, and next year Morris expects to debut a Coore & Crenshaw-designed track on a nearby site. With all these brand-name architects to promote, Morris is clearly pulling out all the stops to achieve his goal. By the time he’s done, Big Cedar is going to give Mike Keiser’s complex in Wisconsin a run for its money.

     Vicki Martz, one of the golf industry’s precious few female architects, died last week. Martz got her start in course design in 1981, when she took a position with Mark McCumber’s company, and she spent a quarter-century at Arnold Palmer’s company, working alongside Ed Seay and Harrison Minchew. She established her own firm, Victoria Martz Golf Design, in 2010. As best I can determine, she was the third woman to earn membership in the American Society of Golf Course Architects, after Alice Dye and Jan Beljan. Ian Andrew, a Canadian architect, recently called her “as charming and engaging a person as you’d ever meet” and said she was “one of the architects I most look forward to seeing at the annual meetings.” Martz reportedly passed away in her home in Jacksonville, Florida. She was 72.

     Just a reminder: Yet another year has passed without a groundbreaking for a new golf course in Cuba. Since hope springs eternal, however, government authorities in the socialist republic have reportedly green-lighted a third golf venture, this one by a Spanish company in Pinar del Río Province, in Cuba’s far west. Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, provides no details, but my guess is that we’re talking about Punta Colorada Golf & Marina, which an entity called La Playa Golf & Resorts SL wants to build on a 4,000-acre spread along the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, near the village of La Fe. It’s worth noting that Punta Colorada has been described as “the largest tourism facility in the Caribbean.” It could end up being Cuba’s version of Pinehurst or Mission Hills Shenzhen, because at one time it was master-planned to include seven 18-hole golf courses. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For those who are still keeping score, Cuba previously inked contracts for Carbonera Golf & Country Club and Bellomonte Golf & Country Club, both of which are expected to take shape within a short drive of Havana, in Matanzas Province. It would be nice to see one of them get started, wouldn’t it?

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the September 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Pipeline Overflow -- Speaking of Cuba, Xinhua also reports that tourism officials expect to approve a fourth golf venture this year, on property west of Havana, and that “negotiations for three other such projects” might be concluded either “later this year or in early 2018.” As previously indicated: Don’t hold your breath. . . . The first course by freshly minted “signature” architect Louis Oosthuizen is apparently taking shape in Swaziland, one of the smallest nations in Africa. The 18-hole layout, dubbed Golden Eagle Links, has been in the works for several years, and Cape Argus News doesn’t say when it’ll open, but it’ll complement the Phil Jacobs-designed track at Nkonyeni Golf Estate, outside Manzini. Nkonyeni says that Oosthuizen’s design was inspired by his “ongoing love for St. Andrews” and will be “one of those courses that you can play over and over again.” . . . As part of a grow-the-game strategy, a practice center in Liverpool, England is seeking permission to add a nine-hole, par-3 track to its facilities. Bruce Weller, the course’s Surrey-based designer, has promised to create a “fun” and “exciting” course that “will be enjoyable and safe for both adults and children to use.”