The Week That Was, may 28, 2017

     A truce has been declared in the war between ClubCorp and one of its minority shareholders. The embattled Dallas, Texas-based owner/operator – “the world leader in private clubs,” it calls itself – has come to terms with FrontFour Capital Group, which seeks a better return on its investment and last year demanded that ClubCorp pursue “any and all strategic alternatives” that would enable it to boost the price of its under-performing stock, including “an outright sale of the company.” Under the terms of the treaty, FrontFour has agreed to stop complaining publicly, at least for a while, and to withdraw its nominations to ClubCorp’s board, while ClubCorp has agreed to give two board seats to FrontFour-favored directors. Making the best of a bad situation, ClubCorp has called the settlement “a constructive outcome” and has promised to “consider additional opportunities to drive growth.”

     A second Chinese group has won the right to build a golf community in Cuba. Details are a little fuzzy, but it appears that Yantai Golden Mountain Resort Development Company, Ltd. has signed a letter of intent to build Loma Linda Estates (Estancias de Golf Loma Linda), a 510-acre resort community in Holguin Province. Loma Linda, which has been kicking around since 2011 (and probably earlier), was initiated by a Canadian group, Standing Feather International, which had based its interest on the belief that Cuba’s tourism officials “want to move forward and bring golfers to their country.” The jury is still out on that idea. Yantai Golden Mountain, which is based in Shandong Province, hasn’t said what it plans to build at Loma Linda, but Standing Feather’s master plan included 1,200 villas, bungalows, and apartments, a 170-room waterfront hotel, a shopping area, and a pair of 18-hole, Graham Cooke-designed golf courses. U.S. politics being what they are, golf development in Cuba is currently in the hands of entities from Great Britain, Spain, Germany, and China. The first Chinese company to secure a development deal, Hong Kong-based Beijing Enterprises Holdings, Ltd., is at work on Bellomonte Golf & Country Club, which may someday emerge in a fishing village located a half-hour’s drive east of Havana.

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Pipeline Overflow – When he isn’t thinking about missile technology, Kim Jong-un thinks about tourism development. North Korea’s short-fingered dictator has set in motion a plan to build “a sports and ecological resort” in the Mubong International Tourism Special Zone, a nearly 5,000-acre spread near Lake Mubong, in the northern part of the impoverished nation. The resort will reportedly feature a ski area, hotels, duty-free shops, a shooting range, and a golf course. . . . The Delhi Development Authority, the major planning agency in India’s capital city, has re-committed to building its third 18-hole golf course. The “international-standard” track, in Dwarka, has long been on the DDA’s radar, and Phil Ryan, an Australian architect, was awarded the commission several years ago. I don’t know if Ryan is still in the picture, but the DDA hopes to open the course in 2019. It’ll complement the agency’s Qutab and Bhalswa layouts. . . . Greg Norman’s third golf course in Vietnam is scheduled to open before the end of the year, according to a report by GolfAsian. The 18-hole, links-style track will be the centerpiece of Cam Ranh Links Golf Resort, a 2,000-acre oceanfront resort community outside Nha Trang, along the socialist republic’s South Central Coast. Norman has set a high bar for himself, as Golf Digest ranks his two previous courses – Bluffs Ho Tram Strip and Đà Nẵng Golf Club – as the #1 and #2 tracks in Vietnam.

     An affiliate of a San Francisco-based development and management company has agreed to buy the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows, a well-known waterfront resort on Hawaii’s Big Island. For an undisclosed price, ProspectHill Group will acquire Mauna Lani’s hotel, restaurants, meeting space, undeveloped land, and recreational amenities, including two 18-hole golf courses. The seller is an affiliate of a Japanese company, Tokyu Corporation, which considers Mauna Lani to be “one of the world’s best resorts” and “a model of innovative planning and thoughtful land stewardship.” ProspectHill appears to have confidence in Hawaii’s future as a vacation destination, for not long ago it bought the Queen Kapiolani Hotel on Waikiki Beach. It expects to close on its purchase of Mauna Lani this summer.

     Surplus Transactions – If you listen closely, you can probably hear a gaggle of lawyers tapping on their keyboards. That’s because Tim Martin has purchased Desert Island Golf & Country Club, a 46-year-old venue in Rancho Mirage, California, and he’s given it a new name: Sinatra Resort & Country Club. But before you start thinking that Martin is just trying to cash in on the singer’s good name, you need to hear Martin’s side of the story. He argues that the property, which includes a Desmond Muirhead-designed golf course, is actually named for the street it’s on, Frank Sinatra Drive, and not for the internationally known music giant. Of course, if you don’t buy what Martin is selling, well, hardly anyone will blame you. . . . Late last year, for an undisclosed price, Fang Cheng Morrow and Nianping Wang bought Prospect Hill Golf Course, which had operated in Auburn, Maine since 1950. The seller was Don Sheldon, who’d owned the 18-hole track since 2008. . . . After serving for nearly 30 years in various capacities in the golf business, Cathy Harbin has purchased Pine Ridge Golf Course, an 18-hole, 5,855-yard track in Paris, Texas. She aims to make the 31-year-old venue “a welcoming environment that has its doors open to families, newcomers, and people who have played for years on in.” Harbin, who began her career as a golf pro, has worked for the PGA Tour, the World Golf Foundation, and Golf 20/20, and she learned golf management during stints with ClubCorp, American Golf Corporation, and Honours Golf. These days, she’s the president of her own management company, Dallas, Texas-based OnCourse Operations.