The Week That Was, june 18, 2017

     Can the Chinese government count? According to an official report, the People’s Republic currently has 496 golf properties with 569 18-hole courses, although roughly 50 of them are still either under construction or in planning. However, the National Golf Foundation is disputing China’s numbers. Although the Jupiter, Florida-based trade group hasn’t yet accused China of being a currency manipulator or a cheater on the trade front, it sees “inconsistencies” in the nation’s golf data and suggests that some of its courses are being counted “multiple times.” The nerve! By its “official count,” which is the one red-blooded Americans are supposed to believe, the NGF says that China has 383 golf venues and 565 courses that are “open and operating.” But the NGF’s math is always in doubt. So which untrustworthy actor do you believe?

     Thanks to the U.S. Department of Commerce, we’ve learning a little more about the alliance that Jack Nicklaus’ design firm has made with one of Vietnam’s top golf developers. Late last year, North Palm Beach, Florida-based Nicklaus Design signed an exclusivity contract that binds it to create golf courses initiated by BRG Group in 22 of Vietnam’s 58 provinces. The provinces haven’t been identified and the number of courses hasn’t been specified, but a press release says that the parties have inked a 10-course, $260 million deal. The idea for the partnership was hatched by BRG’s CEO, Nguyen Thi Nga, who believes Nicklaus’ designers are “the best in the world” and can help her “refresh the Vietnamese golf industry and bring new vitality to the game countrywide.” The parties already know each other well, for Jack Nicklaus II, the golf legend’s son, designed the third 18-hole layout at BRG’s Kings Island Golf Resort (the track is currently under construction) and redesigned the course that became Legend Hill Golf Resort. Both courses are in metropolitan Hà Nội, where BRG also operates a Nicklaus-branded training center. It’s possible, of course, that Nicklaus and BRG will sign contracts for another wave of work in the future, and it’s worth noting that Nicklaus is free to work with other developers in 36 other Vietnamese provinces.

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

     Pipeline Overflow – Colonial Country Club, the host of last month’s Dean & DeLuca Invitational, has hired Gil Hanse to give its golf course the back-to-the-future treatment. Plans haven’t yet been firmed up – “We’re just talking,” a club official insists – but Hanse has reportedly been directed to create a master plan for improvements to Colonial’s 18-hole layout, which dates from the mid 1930s. The club, in Fort Worth, Texas, apparently wants to restore the look and feel that the track had in 1941, when it hosted the U.S. Open. . . . Details are scarce, but a forthcoming vacation spot on St. Lucia will feature an 18-hole golf course. The track will be the main attraction at Honeymoon Bay Resort, which will also have two hotels (330 total rooms) and a museum of some sort. A developer hasn’t been identified, but the island nation’s tourism minister recently said that the groundbreaking is expected to take place “very soon.” . . . A spa that considers itself to be among “the most beautiful places you can visit in Slovakia” plans to build a nine-hole golf course. Spa Bardejovské Kúpele, near Bardejov in the northeastern part of the nation, has been luring health-minded vacationers for five centuries or more, and last year it reportedly drew them in record numbers. The spa hasn’t announced a construction schedule, but the track will occupy 60 acres.

     As part of what he called “a long-term commitment,” an investment group led by Bruce Thomas has acquired Piper Glen Golf Club, a 21-year-old venue in Springfield, Illinois. Piper Glen’s operator thinks the club’s 18-hole, Bob Lohmann-designed golf course is “one of the best in Springfield,” and he expects the new owners “to return it to its former glory.” Thomas and his partners paid an undisclosed price for Piper Glen. The seller, Illinois National Bank, bought the property at a foreclosure sale in early 2016, reportedly for $1.7 million. Thomas, who owns a local trucking company, lives in the community surrounding the club.

     Surplus Transactions – The owners of Pine Lakes Golf Club, in Palm Coast, Florida, have purchased a golf property in Vermont. Doreen Holl and Chris McLaren, operating via an entity called Firinn Golf Group, have reportedly paid $850,000 for St. Johnsbury Country Club, a venue that they believe has “a nice pedigree and a nice history.” St. Johnsbury opened in 1923, with a nine-hole track that was designed by Willie Park, Jr. Geoffrey Cornish created the club’s second nine in 1992. . . . Pulaski Country Club, a venue in Pulaski, Virginia that’s reportedly been suffering from “years of financial struggle and declining memberships,” has changed hands in a foreclosure auction. David Sale, the owner of Radford Auto Auction, reportedly paid $900,000 for the club, which is said to have $1 million in outstanding loans. Pulaski features an 18-hole golf course. Sale hasn’t announced what he plans to do with the 146-acre property. . . . In what it described as a “strategic” purchase for its “long-term benefit,” Nichols College has agreed to pay $200,000 for Dudley Hill Golf Club and its nine-hole golf course. The 62-acre club, in Dudley, Massachusetts, is the home of the college’s golf teams. It’s operated since 1926.