Tom Peed is primarily a publisher and a cattle rancher, but he and the rest of his family are fast becoming serious players in the golf industry. Last week the Peeds raised their profile considerably by buying Dormie Club, a celebrated but under-performing venue in the Pinehurst, North Carolina area. (Dormie checks in at #49 on Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses.) The purchase comes on the heels of two other well-regarded properties that the Peeds have acquired over the past 18 months, Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, Virginia and Briggs Ranch Golf Club in suburban San Antonio, Texas. Combined with their ArborLinks Golf Club, in Nebraska City, Nebraska, the Peeds are fulfilling their promise to create a network of “pristine private destination courses” that serve “the needs of executives and corporate entities for retreats and other events.” Dormie features an 18-hole, Coore & Crenshaw-designed course, an asset that gives it major cred among opinion-makers in the golf industry. It fizzled out as a private club shortly after it opened, in 2010, but the Peeds told the Southern Pines Pilot that they intend “to restore it to its intended glory as one of the finest pure golf destination courses in the region.” The improvement plan will be executed by Landscapes Unlimited, which will also oversee the construction of a clubhouse and lodging on the 1,020-acre property.
Surplus Transactions – For an undisclosed price, Michael Mathews has acquired Prescott Golf & Country Club, a 45-year-old venue that members interviewed by the Prescott Valley Tribune believe has “lost some of its appeal.” The club, in Dewey, Arizona, features an 18-hole, Milton Coggins-designed course, part of which may someday be developed. The sellers were Jeff and Jessica Hall, who’d owned Prescott since 2011. . . . Last month, Margie and Dave Druce purchased Saddle Ridge Golf Course, the nine-hole centerpiece of a 350-house community in Portage, Wisconsin. The Druces have lived along Saddle Ridge’s fourth hole since 2006, and they told the Portage Daily Register that they want to “save” the course and make it “the best it can be for our community.” . . . Ronny Maxwell and a group described by the State as “determined citizens” have acquired the former Paw Paw Country Club, a financially stressed venue in Bamberg, South Carolina. Paw Paw, which is now called Bamberg Golf & Sports Club, had been closed through most of this year, and it’ll henceforth operate on what Maxwell calls “a tight budget.” It features a Russell Breeden-designed course that opened in 1981.
The owner of a destination for auto-racing enthusiasts outside Arrowtown, on New Zealand’s South Island, has set out to broaden his customer base. Tony Quinn hopes to secure permission to build “a world-class golf course and residential development” adjacent to his Highlands Motorsports Park, a facility that includes a race track, a Go-kart track, and an automobile museum. Quinn’s 18-hole, “inland links-style” course will be co-designed by Brett Thomson and former professional golfer Phil Tataurangi, the team that created Windross Farm Golf Course, a venue in suburban Auckland that Top 100 Golf Courses ranks among the nation’s best. Quinn, who reportedly made his money in the pet-food business, believes his course will lure travelers who come to the area to play the Hills Golf Club, Jack’s Point Golf Course, and Millbrook Resort Golf Course, all of which are ranked among New Zealand’s top 10 by Golf Digest.
Pipeline Overflow – Discovery Land Company wants to build a golf community on Barbuda, although it first needs to help rebuild the island ravaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria. “It’s basically uninhabitable,” DLC’s CEO, Mike Meldman, told Mansion Global. DLC hasn’t said much about its plans, but it appears to be working with John B Turbidy and John Paul DeJoria, the founder of the Paul Mitchell hair-care company. Incidentally, the hurricanes didn’t do any damage to DLC’s Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club in the Bahamas. . . . It’s taken more than two years, but Greg “the Living Brand” Norman has finally turned a little ceremonial sod at the Huntley, a long-delayed community in New South Wales, Australia. Visionary Investment Group, the Chinese entity that’s developing the project, now calls the community Silkari, and it promises to deliver “the best holiday experience on the planet, ever, period.” Still no word on when the course will open, though. . . . Allerthorpe Park Golf Course, an 18-hole track in East Yorkshire, England, will soon be raised from the dead. Allerthorpe closed four years ago, but it’s been purchased by a resort developer that intends to reopen it in the spring of next year, as the anchor of a community with 150 “luxury holiday homes.”
Burroughs & Chapin Company, the ever-shrinking owner/operator on South Carolina’s Grand Strand, has pulled the plug on a pair of 18-hole, par-3 golf courses. The dearly departed are the Midway and Cane Patch layouts, both located in Myrtle Beach, both designed by Ault Clark & Associates, and both former 27-hole complexes. The former opened its first holes in 1974, the latter in 1981. The Myrtle Beach Sun-News says that the courses had been “popular with families because the short lengths of the holes are ideal for young children and golf novices.” B&C has sold several golf properties in recent years, notably a track at its Grande Dunes community in Myrtle Beach, and its National Golf Management subsidiary sold many of the venues now in the Founders Group’s portfolio. B&C still owns several golf properties, but they’re also on the endangered list.
Desolation Row Extended – Speaking of 18-hole, par-3 courses, the lights have been turned out on one in greater Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. West View Golf Course, a 52-year-old venue in the town of Akron, has been sold to HandiVangelism International Ministries, which will build office space, a dining hall, and three houses on the 16-acre property. Neither HandiVangelism nor the seller, Robin Seidel, has disclosed the sale price. . . . One of the two golf courses at the Omni resort on Amelia Island, in Florida, has bitten the dust. The 18-hole Ocean Links, which has nine Pete Dye-designed holes and nine Bobby Weed-designed holes, had operated since 1975. The resort is investing the money it saves on maintenance into improvements to its Oak Marsh course, which Dye created in 1972. . . . To shore up its bottom line, a nearly century-old club in Maryland is looking to build houses on nine of its 27 holes. Sparrows Point Country Club, founded by Bethlehem Steel and relocated to a waterfront site in suburban Baltimore in the mid 1950s, is now owned by members who fear for its survival. They plan to use the proceeds from the land sale to make long-overdue improvements to their course, clubhouse, and marina in an effort to attract new members.
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Sunday, November 19, 2017
The Week That Was, november 19, 2017
The stain of sexual harassment charges has soiled one of America’s greatest golf destinations.
In court documents, a woman alleges that Hank Hickox, the former general manager of Bandon Dunes, directed inappropriate sexual advances and comments at her and at other female staffers for years. She also alleges that Bandon Dunes was a hostile environment for women and that its management company, KemperSports, neglected to address her complaints in a timely, sincere way.
These sad and troubling accusations have been made by Darla Hamblin, who went to work at Bandon Dunes in 2000. Hamblin filed a $501,000 lawsuit against Hickox and KemperSports but withdrew it earlier this month, just days before a trial was scheduled to start. The action suggests that the parties have reached a settlement.
Mike Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes, isn’t named in the lawsuit.
Hamblin’s court filings contend that Hickox compared the size of her breasts to those of other employees, touched her in unwelcome ways, gave her an unwanted, open-mouthed kiss during a work party, questioned her about her sex life, and expressed an interest in having a sexual relationship with her.
Hamblin reportedly didn’t file a formal complaint about Hickox’s behavior with KemperSports until 2015 because she feared for her job. According to KGW-TV, she believes that KemperSports has “a company-wide culture of permissiveness” and that Hickox, who had close relationships with KemperSports’ leadership, once warned her “not to ‘bite the hand that feeds you.’”
In a court filing, KemperSports acknowledges that Hickox “was forced into early retirement” last year.
Hamblin’s allegations are supported by a court declaration submitted by Adrienne Fitzgerald, a former KemperSports executive. Fitzgerald told the court that Hickox was “notorious in the company for being sexually inappropriate and horribly offensive.”
Fitzgerald, who worked at the company’s headquarters in suburban Chicago, states that she learned of Hamblin’s complaints when she overheard some of her male colleagues joking about them.
“These men constantly talked about sex during work hours and gossiped about which female employees in the company were sexy and attractive and which ones were ugly and not worth f---ing,” declared Fitzgerald, who’s quit her job at KemperSports. “For a woman to stay or succeed in management, she had to be one of the boys and put up with their inappropriate behavior.”
In a statement to Golf.com, KemperSports insists that it took “decisive remedial action” when it heard about “the alleged inappropriate behavior at Bandon Dunes” and that it’s retained “independent outside counsel” to “investigate the situation.” It also says that it’s “committed to providing a workplace environment that is rewarding, comfortable, and free from discrimination and harassment.”
The statute of limitations has passed on many of Hamblin’s allegations, but the legalities of her case aren’t the issue here. When it comes to men and their customary insensitive treatment of women, a day of reckoning has arrived. As recent headlines prove, predatory behavior will no longer be tolerated. Women will no longer remain silent.
Like their counterparts in politics, the movie and fashion industries, and every other walk of life, men in the golf industry need to address their demons and exorcise them. If they don’t, they’re going to be brought before a judge, either in a court of law or in the court of public opinion. Either way, the verdict will be harshly rendered.
Like his U.S. counterpart, Kim Jong-un is finding it difficult to shake his golf dreams. Earlier this year, it was revealed that North Korea’s Peerless Leader aims to build “a sports and ecological resort” near Lake Mubong, in the northern part of his impoverished nation. Now comes word of a second golf-focused resort, this one at the slowly emerging Wonsan–Mount Kumgang International Tourist Zone, near the city of Wonsan. Kim Jong-un reportedly wants to turn Wonsan into a “world-famous tourist city,” and he apparently figures that a golf course – along with planned resort-style hotels, beaches, a ski area, and other attractions – will do the trick. But who’s kidding whom? Most vacation spots promise that you’ll return home with pleasant memories. North Korea may very well send you home with tapeworms in your intestines.
Pipeline Overflow – Jack Nicklaus has celebrated the soft opening of his 300th “signature” design. It’s in West Palm Beach, Florida, and it’s a remake of the old Robert Trent Jones-designed course at Presidents Country Club, which now operates as Banyan Cay Resort. Nicklaus believes he’s created “a modern-day golf course and something special,” with “a lot of excitement” and “a lot of challenges.” . . . Romania’s top poultry producer has opened his nation’s second 18-hole golf course. The course, designed by Ioan Străjan, will anchor a 166-acre resort (sorry, but I can’t find the name) that Ioan Popa is building outside Alba Iulia, and it’s expected to put Romania “on the map of world-class golf.” The nation’s only other 18-hole layout is Paul Tomita Golf Club in Alba . . . Sometime next spring, Forrest Richardson will debut his re-do of Palo Alto, California’s flood-prone municipal golf course. The 18-hole track, originally designed by William F. Bell, will henceforth be known as Baylands Golf Links, and it’ll be accompanied by a three-hole “youth” layout and a short-game practice zone.
In court documents, a woman alleges that Hank Hickox, the former general manager of Bandon Dunes, directed inappropriate sexual advances and comments at her and at other female staffers for years. She also alleges that Bandon Dunes was a hostile environment for women and that its management company, KemperSports, neglected to address her complaints in a timely, sincere way.
These sad and troubling accusations have been made by Darla Hamblin, who went to work at Bandon Dunes in 2000. Hamblin filed a $501,000 lawsuit against Hickox and KemperSports but withdrew it earlier this month, just days before a trial was scheduled to start. The action suggests that the parties have reached a settlement.
Mike Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes, isn’t named in the lawsuit.
Hamblin’s court filings contend that Hickox compared the size of her breasts to those of other employees, touched her in unwelcome ways, gave her an unwanted, open-mouthed kiss during a work party, questioned her about her sex life, and expressed an interest in having a sexual relationship with her.
Hamblin reportedly didn’t file a formal complaint about Hickox’s behavior with KemperSports until 2015 because she feared for her job. According to KGW-TV, she believes that KemperSports has “a company-wide culture of permissiveness” and that Hickox, who had close relationships with KemperSports’ leadership, once warned her “not to ‘bite the hand that feeds you.’”
In a court filing, KemperSports acknowledges that Hickox “was forced into early retirement” last year.
Hamblin’s allegations are supported by a court declaration submitted by Adrienne Fitzgerald, a former KemperSports executive. Fitzgerald told the court that Hickox was “notorious in the company for being sexually inappropriate and horribly offensive.”
Fitzgerald, who worked at the company’s headquarters in suburban Chicago, states that she learned of Hamblin’s complaints when she overheard some of her male colleagues joking about them.
“These men constantly talked about sex during work hours and gossiped about which female employees in the company were sexy and attractive and which ones were ugly and not worth f---ing,” declared Fitzgerald, who’s quit her job at KemperSports. “For a woman to stay or succeed in management, she had to be one of the boys and put up with their inappropriate behavior.”
In a statement to Golf.com, KemperSports insists that it took “decisive remedial action” when it heard about “the alleged inappropriate behavior at Bandon Dunes” and that it’s retained “independent outside counsel” to “investigate the situation.” It also says that it’s “committed to providing a workplace environment that is rewarding, comfortable, and free from discrimination and harassment.”
The statute of limitations has passed on many of Hamblin’s allegations, but the legalities of her case aren’t the issue here. When it comes to men and their customary insensitive treatment of women, a day of reckoning has arrived. As recent headlines prove, predatory behavior will no longer be tolerated. Women will no longer remain silent.
Like their counterparts in politics, the movie and fashion industries, and every other walk of life, men in the golf industry need to address their demons and exorcise them. If they don’t, they’re going to be brought before a judge, either in a court of law or in the court of public opinion. Either way, the verdict will be harshly rendered.
Like his U.S. counterpart, Kim Jong-un is finding it difficult to shake his golf dreams. Earlier this year, it was revealed that North Korea’s Peerless Leader aims to build “a sports and ecological resort” near Lake Mubong, in the northern part of his impoverished nation. Now comes word of a second golf-focused resort, this one at the slowly emerging Wonsan–Mount Kumgang International Tourist Zone, near the city of Wonsan. Kim Jong-un reportedly wants to turn Wonsan into a “world-famous tourist city,” and he apparently figures that a golf course – along with planned resort-style hotels, beaches, a ski area, and other attractions – will do the trick. But who’s kidding whom? Most vacation spots promise that you’ll return home with pleasant memories. North Korea may very well send you home with tapeworms in your intestines.
Pipeline Overflow – Jack Nicklaus has celebrated the soft opening of his 300th “signature” design. It’s in West Palm Beach, Florida, and it’s a remake of the old Robert Trent Jones-designed course at Presidents Country Club, which now operates as Banyan Cay Resort. Nicklaus believes he’s created “a modern-day golf course and something special,” with “a lot of excitement” and “a lot of challenges.” . . . Romania’s top poultry producer has opened his nation’s second 18-hole golf course. The course, designed by Ioan Străjan, will anchor a 166-acre resort (sorry, but I can’t find the name) that Ioan Popa is building outside Alba Iulia, and it’s expected to put Romania “on the map of world-class golf.” The nation’s only other 18-hole layout is Paul Tomita Golf Club in Alba . . . Sometime next spring, Forrest Richardson will debut his re-do of Palo Alto, California’s flood-prone municipal golf course. The 18-hole track, originally designed by William F. Bell, will henceforth be known as Baylands Golf Links, and it’ll be accompanied by a three-hole “youth” layout and a short-game practice zone.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
The Week That Was, november 12, 2017
One of golf’s most influential people has left our industry’s power elites in a state of uncertainty. Giles Morgan, who formerly flexed his marketing muscle as the head of sponsorship for HSBC, has become an “independent advisor” to companies in the sports industry that might benefit from “a second opinion” about their operations. Under his direction, HSBC became the primary underwriter of the Open Championship and other high-profile golf events, and when he talked, golf listened. When he suggested, for example, that he might stop writing checks if professional tournaments continued to be held at male-only clubs, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews quickly voted to open its doors to women. Morgan hasn’t explained why he’s leaving HSBC, and the bank hasn’t outlined its future golf-related plans. As for his new job, Morgan says that the sports industry “faces one of the most exciting crossroads in its history” and that he’s “looking forward to playing a role in the next chapter in this rapidly evolving industry.” Next year, he expects to begin publishing a monthly e-newsletter called Rive Gauche, which translates as “left bank.” It’s a phrase that can be interpreted in a couple of different ways.
With each passing day, Donald Trump becomes a larger thorn in the side of Mike Keiser. It’s bad enough that several conservation groups have joined forces to battle against Coul Links, their argument being that Keiser’s Coore & Crenshaw-designed track will threaten “an irreplaceable piece of Scotland’s natural heritage.” What’s worse is that Scottish newspapers and commentators have taken to portraying Keiser as a carbon copy of Trump, who’s now been accused of destroying the dunes that serve as the home of his failing resort in Aberdeenshire. Trump’s reputation in Scotland couldn’t be worse, and Keiser is paying the price. He and his partners recently submitted their development proposal for the Coul Links property to local officials, and they’ll most likely learn its fate before the end of the year. The Ugly American syndrome lives on.
Pipeline Overflow – Regarding Grand Oaks Reserve, the forthcoming Chinese-financed community in suburban Houston, Texas: Mike Nuzzo has designed two nine-hole courses for the 615-acre spread, one of them a par-3 layout, along with a putting course. The whole shebang is being built by Don Mahaffey, who collaborated with Nuzzo to create Wolf Point Golf Club, the naturalist pièce de résistance outside Port Lavaca, Texas. Nuzzo says that Mahaffey is doing “minimal earthwork,” and he expects at least one of the nines to open in late 2018. . . . As part of a flood-control effort, the city of Denver, Colorado is redesigning City Park Golf Course, a parkland-style track that’s said to have “unbeatable skyline and mountain views.” The transformation is being overseen by the team of signature architect Hale Irwin and Todd Schoeder of iConGolf Studio, which previously created a course at Glacier Club in Durango, California and Lodestone Golf Club in McHenry, Maryland. The 18-hole layout at City Park is expected to re-open in 2019. . . . Monte Rei Golf & Country Club, which features the best golf course in Portugal, is serious about adding its long-delayed companion track. The club, part of what’s been described as “the rural, rugged, peaceful version of a luxury golf resort,” expects to break ground on its second Jack Nicklaus-designed layout next year, and future plans include a boutique hotel and a beach club.
Doug Manchester’s deep pockets have put him in line to get a plum political-patronage job, so he’s ended his pursuit of a past-its-prime club in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Forest Creek Golf Club had hoped that a sale to one of San Diego’s best-known businessmen would restore its reputation as “a premier golf course destination community,” but Manchester, a major contributor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, is now studying to become our nation’s ambassador to the Bahamas. He has no foreign policy experience, but he does own a home in the island nation, which has reportedly been without a U.S. ambassador since 2011. Forest Creek’s members will presumably renew their search for a buyer who might be interested in their property, which is anchored by a pair of 18-hole, well-regarded, Tom Fazio-designed golf courses.
Surplus Transactions – New York City-based Blackstone Group, a gargantuan investment company, has reportedly agreed to pay $330 million for Turtle Bay Resort, a 1,300-acre spread on the northern coast of O’ahu, Hawaii. For its money, Blackstone will acquire a 450-room, resort-style hotel, a substantial amount of undeveloped property, and 18-hole golf courses that were designed by George Fazio (his course opened in 1972) and Arnold Palmer (1992). Blackstone owns some prominent hotel chains (Hilton, Wyndham, La Quinta Inns, Motel 6), and over the years it’s purchased (and later sold) several golf properties, among them two in Florida, Naples Grande Golf Club in Naples and Grande Oaks Golf Club in Fort Lauderdale. . . . Wilson Gee, a financially besieged golf-course owner in Phoenix, Arizona, has found a buyer for Club West Golf Course. The Inter Tribal Golf Association has agreed to buy Club West, a dried-out Brian Whitcomb/Ken Kavanaugh-designed track that’s said to “look horrible” and reportedly needs $4 million worth of improvements. Gee sold Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course a year or so ago, and he’s apparently willing to sell his remaining venues, Ahwatukee Country Club and the Duke at Rancho El Dorado. . . . The clock is ticking on an 18-hole, Press Maxwell-designed golf course in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An unidentified group has acquired the struggling MeadowBrook Country Club, which has operated since 1955 and will stay open for a year or so before it meets its fate as a subdivision.
The city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin has offered to sell part of Lakeshore Municipal Golf Course – about 35 acres – to the state’s largest federal contractor. It’s an insurance policy of sorts, as Oshkosh Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that manufactures military vehicles from its plant in the city, is looking for a new headquarters and has suggested that it might relocate to another city. A proposed agreement stipulates that the company would pay $3.5 million for the golf course property, but it would receive $13 million in tax breaks and other concessions. If the company accepts the offer, Lakeshore’s remaining 70 acres might become a park.
Desolation Row Extended – Windtree Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, is scheduled to close on the day before Thanksgiving. Danny Hale, one of the course’s co-owners, had hoped to secure permission to build houses on his property, but he was denied. He hasn’t announced any plans for the future, but the Lebanon Democrat reports that he’s received an offer for the 26-year-old course. . . . By the end of the year, Brooklyn Country Club – “a cute little golf course for families or people who aren’t that great at golfing,” according to one of its longtime customers – will bite the dust. The club, in eastern Connecticut, features a nine-hole track that opened in 1960. Its owner, Richard Riges, told the Norwich Bulletin that he’s “unsure” about the property’s future. . . . The future of Reidy Creek Golf Course, an 18-hole, par-3 layout in Escondido, California, is in jeopardy. The course, one of two owned by the city, has lost money since it opened in 2002, and its 54 acres represent a potential source of income that can’t be ignored. “It’s a loss every year,” Escondido’s city manager said in a comment published by the San Diego Union-Tribune. “That’s not sustainable. It has to stop.” The city is reportedly weighing its options.
Luke Donald, part of the next wave of signature architects, set out to design one of the best courses in Vietnam, and it appears that he’s succeeded. Donald’s 18-hole layout at Bà Nà Hills Golf Club, which opened last year on the outskirts of Đà Nẵng, has been honored as the World’s Best New Course by the World Golf Awards, the Best New Course in the Asia Pacific by the Asia Pacific Golf Summit, and, most recently, as the Best New Course 2016-17 by Việt Nam Golf magazine. Of course, some credit for these accolades should go to Brit Stenson of IMG Golf, who held Donald’s hand through the design process.
With each passing day, Donald Trump becomes a larger thorn in the side of Mike Keiser. It’s bad enough that several conservation groups have joined forces to battle against Coul Links, their argument being that Keiser’s Coore & Crenshaw-designed track will threaten “an irreplaceable piece of Scotland’s natural heritage.” What’s worse is that Scottish newspapers and commentators have taken to portraying Keiser as a carbon copy of Trump, who’s now been accused of destroying the dunes that serve as the home of his failing resort in Aberdeenshire. Trump’s reputation in Scotland couldn’t be worse, and Keiser is paying the price. He and his partners recently submitted their development proposal for the Coul Links property to local officials, and they’ll most likely learn its fate before the end of the year. The Ugly American syndrome lives on.
Pipeline Overflow – Regarding Grand Oaks Reserve, the forthcoming Chinese-financed community in suburban Houston, Texas: Mike Nuzzo has designed two nine-hole courses for the 615-acre spread, one of them a par-3 layout, along with a putting course. The whole shebang is being built by Don Mahaffey, who collaborated with Nuzzo to create Wolf Point Golf Club, the naturalist pièce de résistance outside Port Lavaca, Texas. Nuzzo says that Mahaffey is doing “minimal earthwork,” and he expects at least one of the nines to open in late 2018. . . . As part of a flood-control effort, the city of Denver, Colorado is redesigning City Park Golf Course, a parkland-style track that’s said to have “unbeatable skyline and mountain views.” The transformation is being overseen by the team of signature architect Hale Irwin and Todd Schoeder of iConGolf Studio, which previously created a course at Glacier Club in Durango, California and Lodestone Golf Club in McHenry, Maryland. The 18-hole layout at City Park is expected to re-open in 2019. . . . Monte Rei Golf & Country Club, which features the best golf course in Portugal, is serious about adding its long-delayed companion track. The club, part of what’s been described as “the rural, rugged, peaceful version of a luxury golf resort,” expects to break ground on its second Jack Nicklaus-designed layout next year, and future plans include a boutique hotel and a beach club.
Doug Manchester’s deep pockets have put him in line to get a plum political-patronage job, so he’s ended his pursuit of a past-its-prime club in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Forest Creek Golf Club had hoped that a sale to one of San Diego’s best-known businessmen would restore its reputation as “a premier golf course destination community,” but Manchester, a major contributor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, is now studying to become our nation’s ambassador to the Bahamas. He has no foreign policy experience, but he does own a home in the island nation, which has reportedly been without a U.S. ambassador since 2011. Forest Creek’s members will presumably renew their search for a buyer who might be interested in their property, which is anchored by a pair of 18-hole, well-regarded, Tom Fazio-designed golf courses.
Surplus Transactions – New York City-based Blackstone Group, a gargantuan investment company, has reportedly agreed to pay $330 million for Turtle Bay Resort, a 1,300-acre spread on the northern coast of O’ahu, Hawaii. For its money, Blackstone will acquire a 450-room, resort-style hotel, a substantial amount of undeveloped property, and 18-hole golf courses that were designed by George Fazio (his course opened in 1972) and Arnold Palmer (1992). Blackstone owns some prominent hotel chains (Hilton, Wyndham, La Quinta Inns, Motel 6), and over the years it’s purchased (and later sold) several golf properties, among them two in Florida, Naples Grande Golf Club in Naples and Grande Oaks Golf Club in Fort Lauderdale. . . . Wilson Gee, a financially besieged golf-course owner in Phoenix, Arizona, has found a buyer for Club West Golf Course. The Inter Tribal Golf Association has agreed to buy Club West, a dried-out Brian Whitcomb/Ken Kavanaugh-designed track that’s said to “look horrible” and reportedly needs $4 million worth of improvements. Gee sold Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course a year or so ago, and he’s apparently willing to sell his remaining venues, Ahwatukee Country Club and the Duke at Rancho El Dorado. . . . The clock is ticking on an 18-hole, Press Maxwell-designed golf course in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An unidentified group has acquired the struggling MeadowBrook Country Club, which has operated since 1955 and will stay open for a year or so before it meets its fate as a subdivision.
The city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin has offered to sell part of Lakeshore Municipal Golf Course – about 35 acres – to the state’s largest federal contractor. It’s an insurance policy of sorts, as Oshkosh Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that manufactures military vehicles from its plant in the city, is looking for a new headquarters and has suggested that it might relocate to another city. A proposed agreement stipulates that the company would pay $3.5 million for the golf course property, but it would receive $13 million in tax breaks and other concessions. If the company accepts the offer, Lakeshore’s remaining 70 acres might become a park.
Desolation Row Extended – Windtree Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, is scheduled to close on the day before Thanksgiving. Danny Hale, one of the course’s co-owners, had hoped to secure permission to build houses on his property, but he was denied. He hasn’t announced any plans for the future, but the Lebanon Democrat reports that he’s received an offer for the 26-year-old course. . . . By the end of the year, Brooklyn Country Club – “a cute little golf course for families or people who aren’t that great at golfing,” according to one of its longtime customers – will bite the dust. The club, in eastern Connecticut, features a nine-hole track that opened in 1960. Its owner, Richard Riges, told the Norwich Bulletin that he’s “unsure” about the property’s future. . . . The future of Reidy Creek Golf Course, an 18-hole, par-3 layout in Escondido, California, is in jeopardy. The course, one of two owned by the city, has lost money since it opened in 2002, and its 54 acres represent a potential source of income that can’t be ignored. “It’s a loss every year,” Escondido’s city manager said in a comment published by the San Diego Union-Tribune. “That’s not sustainable. It has to stop.” The city is reportedly weighing its options.
Luke Donald, part of the next wave of signature architects, set out to design one of the best courses in Vietnam, and it appears that he’s succeeded. Donald’s 18-hole layout at Bà Nà Hills Golf Club, which opened last year on the outskirts of Đà Nẵng, has been honored as the World’s Best New Course by the World Golf Awards, the Best New Course in the Asia Pacific by the Asia Pacific Golf Summit, and, most recently, as the Best New Course 2016-17 by Việt Nam Golf magazine. Of course, some credit for these accolades should go to Brit Stenson of IMG Golf, who held Donald’s hand through the design process.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
The Week That Was, november 5, 2017
Roger Packard, who was once described as “probably the best designer you’ve never heard of, or certainly not enough of,” died last month. He was 70. His career was overshadowed by that of his father, Larry Packard, who had a hand in designing or redesigning hundreds of courses in the United States, foremost among them the three 18-hole tracks at the Innisbrook resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. Nonetheless, Roger was involved in the creation of several dozen courses, most of them in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Texas, some of them designed alone, some with his father, and some with PGA pro Andy North. The group includes three 18-hole layouts at the Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa in Galena, Illinois, a 27-hole complex at Cantigny Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois, a 27-hole complex at Trappers Turn Golf Club in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and a pair of 18s at Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas. In a sad remembrance, Ron Whitten of Golf Digest says that in 2002 Roger told him that he was suffering from “drastic personal financial difficulties” related to the downturn in post-9/11 golf development. Later that year Roger moved to Shanghai, presumably to find work, and Whitten suggests that Roger’s lack of notoriety stems in part from the fact that he’d lived abroad, out of touch with his U.S. colleagues, for more than a decade. Roger had cancer. He spent the last days of his life in Palm Harbor, Whitten reports, where he was treated by the same caregiver who looked after his late father.
Roger Packard was one of two second-generation architects who died last month. The other was David Gordon, the son of William Gordon, one of the original members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and the builder of courses designed by Donald Ross, Devereux Emmet, and Willie Park, Jr. The Gordons collaborated on more than two dozen golf courses, a group that includes the Grace and Weyhill courses at Saucon Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Montchanin course at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Williamsburg Country Club in Williamsburg, Virginia. David also claims credit for many on his own, among them the Monocacy course at Bethlehem Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Frosty Valley Country Club in Danville, Pennsylvania. David joined the ASGCA in 1951 and was, at the time of his death, the organization’s longest-tenured member. He was 95.
In what’s been described as a “near-unanimous” vote, the members of Frosty Valley Country Club, in Danville, Pennsylvania, have approved a sale of their property. The members of the self-described “community gem” appear to have been desperate to make the sale, as the lease on their financially stressed club was unexpectedly abandoned earlier this year by Integrity Golf Company, a Kissimmee, Florida-based management firm that’s no longer in business. “We were in a difficult position,” the chairman of the club’s board conceded to the Daily Item. Frosty Valley’s new owner is the Liberty Group, which claims to be “committed to taking Frosty Valley to the next level.” Liberty also owns Clinton Country Club in nearby Mill Hall. It hasn’t disclosed what it paid for Frosty Valley, which features a nine-hole course that was designed by David Gordon and opened in the early 1960s.
Surplus Transactions – Half of the 18-hole layout at Donald Ross Golf Club, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, will soon be replaced by a softball stadium and a track-and-field complex. The other half will continue to operate as a daily-fee golf course and as a practice center for the golf teams from the Indiana Institute of Technology, which has agreed to buy the 90-year-old property. Before it assumed the name of its designer, the venue had operated as Fairview Golf Club. It got its current name from Dave Alverson and Quinn Griffin, who bought Fairview in 2006. . . . An unidentified group has acquired Oak Creek Golf Course, a nine-hole track in Red Bluff, California that’s said to be “a great place for senior citizens to get out and hit a golf ball.” The new owners are expected to revived Oak Creek, which opened in 1975 but has, according to a local newspaper, “been going downhill for the last four years.” . . . Jaime and Stacey Sumners have purchased Spruce Ridge Golf Course, which has been described as one of the “most beloved” venues in Dowagiac, Michigan. The 18-hole facility has operated since 1962, and the new owners hope to make it “a good golf course, in great shape, at an affordable price.” Spruce Ridge has reportedly been closed for a year, and the Sumners aim to reopen it in the spring of next year.
Still More Surplus Transactions – Andy Clouse has acquired a golf property that he’s been playing since he was a kid. In September, Clouse paid an undisclosed price for Loudon Meadows Golf Club, which features an 18-hole track that’s been in business since 1962. Loudon Meadows is in Fostoria, Ohio, like Clouse’s Fostoria Country Club, and just a short drive from Hillcrest Golf Course in Findlay, which Clouse purchased in April. Clouse plans to sell memberships that will enable local golfers to play all three courses. . . . Bobcat Trail Golf Club, a 19-year-old venue in North Port, Florida, has a new owner and a new name. Roger Delagrange, who purchased Bobcat Trail in 2004, has sold what’s now called Charlotte Harbor National Golf Club to its pro, Rich Smith. The club features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Bob Tway and Lee Singletary, and Smith has promised “some positive changes and community involvement.” . . . With a pledge to give it “the attention it deserves,” a commercial real-estate company has purchased the Orchards by Cobblestone Golf Course in Lawrence, Kansas. Block & Company paid an undisclosed price for the nine-hole course, which was once known as Orchards Golf Course and then Cobblestone Golf Course. The track, which opened in 1979, is said to be located “just down the road” from the University of Kansas, but it may be linked to a covenant that prevents Block from developing its 30 acres.
It appears that another golf property on South Carolina’s Grand Strand is about to bite the dust. Pending approval of a rezoning application, Heather Glen Golf Links, a 27-hole complex in Little River, will be sold to a home builder and closed within weeks. “We can’t afford to operate the golf course, so we’re shutting it down,” the managing partner of Glens Group, the facility’s lessee, told the Myrtle Beach Sun-News. Heather Glen, which spreads across 420 acres, features an 18-hole, Willard Byrd-designed course and a nine-hole, Clyde Johnston-designed track. The complex is owned by a trust controlled by the family of Vivian E. Vereen. The newspaper reports that Golf Digest selected Byrd’s track as named America’s best new course in 1987.
Desolation Row Extended – Time has run out on Vermilion Oaks Country Club, which has operated in Abbeville, Louisiana since 1929, when it was known as Abbeville Country Club. The club’s owners have put their 105-acre property on the market, with an asking price of $1.8 million. Vermilion Oaks is said to be the last remaining golf venue in Vermilion Parish. . . . The fate of Patuxent Greens Country Club, an 18-hole venue in Laurel, Maryland, has been sealed. In July, Cohen Siegel Investors paid $5.4 million for the 200-acre spread, with plans to build up to 450 housing units on it. Cohen Siegel figures that it’ll take perhaps two years to secure approval for its plans, and it’s promised to keep Patuxent Greens’ Russell Roberts-designed golf course open until then. The seller was Fore Golf Partners, which sold another one of its golf properties just weeks ago. . . . So what’s the other course Fore Golf Partners recently sold? It’s Hidden Creek Country Club, in Reston, Virginia, a nearly 50-year-old venue that features an 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed layout. Hidden Creek’s new owner is a home builder that will maintain the golf operation in the near term but reportedly “reserves the right to redesignate” the 164-acre property for houses in the future.
Greg “the Living Brand” Norman is a salesman par excellence, and not a very trustworthy one. For months, the LB has promised that Greg Norman Company and Verizon would soon unveil some sort of “innovative and disruptive technology” that would “change the way people play and view” the game of golf. Well, last week the LB showed us what he had in mind, and it boils down to this: Golf carts outfitted video screens that will stream music, news, sports, and whatever, because playing golf is simply not stimulating enough on its own. The LB calls this concept the Shark Experience, but the rest of the world has already dismissed it much ado about nothing. Next time you have a bright idea, Greg, don’t call us. We’ll call you.
Roger Packard was one of two second-generation architects who died last month. The other was David Gordon, the son of William Gordon, one of the original members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and the builder of courses designed by Donald Ross, Devereux Emmet, and Willie Park, Jr. The Gordons collaborated on more than two dozen golf courses, a group that includes the Grace and Weyhill courses at Saucon Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Montchanin course at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Williamsburg Country Club in Williamsburg, Virginia. David also claims credit for many on his own, among them the Monocacy course at Bethlehem Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Frosty Valley Country Club in Danville, Pennsylvania. David joined the ASGCA in 1951 and was, at the time of his death, the organization’s longest-tenured member. He was 95.
In what’s been described as a “near-unanimous” vote, the members of Frosty Valley Country Club, in Danville, Pennsylvania, have approved a sale of their property. The members of the self-described “community gem” appear to have been desperate to make the sale, as the lease on their financially stressed club was unexpectedly abandoned earlier this year by Integrity Golf Company, a Kissimmee, Florida-based management firm that’s no longer in business. “We were in a difficult position,” the chairman of the club’s board conceded to the Daily Item. Frosty Valley’s new owner is the Liberty Group, which claims to be “committed to taking Frosty Valley to the next level.” Liberty also owns Clinton Country Club in nearby Mill Hall. It hasn’t disclosed what it paid for Frosty Valley, which features a nine-hole course that was designed by David Gordon and opened in the early 1960s.
Surplus Transactions – Half of the 18-hole layout at Donald Ross Golf Club, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, will soon be replaced by a softball stadium and a track-and-field complex. The other half will continue to operate as a daily-fee golf course and as a practice center for the golf teams from the Indiana Institute of Technology, which has agreed to buy the 90-year-old property. Before it assumed the name of its designer, the venue had operated as Fairview Golf Club. It got its current name from Dave Alverson and Quinn Griffin, who bought Fairview in 2006. . . . An unidentified group has acquired Oak Creek Golf Course, a nine-hole track in Red Bluff, California that’s said to be “a great place for senior citizens to get out and hit a golf ball.” The new owners are expected to revived Oak Creek, which opened in 1975 but has, according to a local newspaper, “been going downhill for the last four years.” . . . Jaime and Stacey Sumners have purchased Spruce Ridge Golf Course, which has been described as one of the “most beloved” venues in Dowagiac, Michigan. The 18-hole facility has operated since 1962, and the new owners hope to make it “a good golf course, in great shape, at an affordable price.” Spruce Ridge has reportedly been closed for a year, and the Sumners aim to reopen it in the spring of next year.
Still More Surplus Transactions – Andy Clouse has acquired a golf property that he’s been playing since he was a kid. In September, Clouse paid an undisclosed price for Loudon Meadows Golf Club, which features an 18-hole track that’s been in business since 1962. Loudon Meadows is in Fostoria, Ohio, like Clouse’s Fostoria Country Club, and just a short drive from Hillcrest Golf Course in Findlay, which Clouse purchased in April. Clouse plans to sell memberships that will enable local golfers to play all three courses. . . . Bobcat Trail Golf Club, a 19-year-old venue in North Port, Florida, has a new owner and a new name. Roger Delagrange, who purchased Bobcat Trail in 2004, has sold what’s now called Charlotte Harbor National Golf Club to its pro, Rich Smith. The club features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Bob Tway and Lee Singletary, and Smith has promised “some positive changes and community involvement.” . . . With a pledge to give it “the attention it deserves,” a commercial real-estate company has purchased the Orchards by Cobblestone Golf Course in Lawrence, Kansas. Block & Company paid an undisclosed price for the nine-hole course, which was once known as Orchards Golf Course and then Cobblestone Golf Course. The track, which opened in 1979, is said to be located “just down the road” from the University of Kansas, but it may be linked to a covenant that prevents Block from developing its 30 acres.
It appears that another golf property on South Carolina’s Grand Strand is about to bite the dust. Pending approval of a rezoning application, Heather Glen Golf Links, a 27-hole complex in Little River, will be sold to a home builder and closed within weeks. “We can’t afford to operate the golf course, so we’re shutting it down,” the managing partner of Glens Group, the facility’s lessee, told the Myrtle Beach Sun-News. Heather Glen, which spreads across 420 acres, features an 18-hole, Willard Byrd-designed course and a nine-hole, Clyde Johnston-designed track. The complex is owned by a trust controlled by the family of Vivian E. Vereen. The newspaper reports that Golf Digest selected Byrd’s track as named America’s best new course in 1987.
Desolation Row Extended – Time has run out on Vermilion Oaks Country Club, which has operated in Abbeville, Louisiana since 1929, when it was known as Abbeville Country Club. The club’s owners have put their 105-acre property on the market, with an asking price of $1.8 million. Vermilion Oaks is said to be the last remaining golf venue in Vermilion Parish. . . . The fate of Patuxent Greens Country Club, an 18-hole venue in Laurel, Maryland, has been sealed. In July, Cohen Siegel Investors paid $5.4 million for the 200-acre spread, with plans to build up to 450 housing units on it. Cohen Siegel figures that it’ll take perhaps two years to secure approval for its plans, and it’s promised to keep Patuxent Greens’ Russell Roberts-designed golf course open until then. The seller was Fore Golf Partners, which sold another one of its golf properties just weeks ago. . . . So what’s the other course Fore Golf Partners recently sold? It’s Hidden Creek Country Club, in Reston, Virginia, a nearly 50-year-old venue that features an 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed layout. Hidden Creek’s new owner is a home builder that will maintain the golf operation in the near term but reportedly “reserves the right to redesignate” the 164-acre property for houses in the future.
Greg “the Living Brand” Norman is a salesman par excellence, and not a very trustworthy one. For months, the LB has promised that Greg Norman Company and Verizon would soon unveil some sort of “innovative and disruptive technology” that would “change the way people play and view” the game of golf. Well, last week the LB showed us what he had in mind, and it boils down to this: Golf carts outfitted video screens that will stream music, news, sports, and whatever, because playing golf is simply not stimulating enough on its own. The LB calls this concept the Shark Experience, but the rest of the world has already dismissed it much ado about nothing. Next time you have a bright idea, Greg, don’t call us. We’ll call you.
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