The Week That Was, january 28, 2018

     The last time Bob Lang set out to build a golf course, he nearly ended up broke. Nonetheless, he’s at it again. The entrepreneur who gave birth to Erin Hills, the site of last year’s U.S. Open, has laid claims on two sites in the Hartford, Wisconsin area that he believes can produce destination-worthy tracks and, in the process, cement the state’s growing reputation as a home for world-class golf. “Wisconsin can become to the United States in golf what Ireland is to Europe in golf,” Lang told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. And Lang isn’t alone in touting the properties’ potential. A reporter for the newspaper says that one of the sites is, “without equivocation” – wait for it – “spectacular.” Unfortunately, while the possibilities may be endless, the money is not. Lang concedes that the actual development, presuming it happens, would be done by someone whose pockets are deeper than his. For now, at least, he’s content to act as a facilitator, as long as he gets a piece of the action.

     Nicklaus Design has lost one of its most important facilitators. Vincent M. Gaughan, Jr., a Buffalo, New York native who laid a foundation for much of the empire’s work in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Asia, recently died in Turkmenistan, where he’d helped to land a multi-course contract. Gaughan was 65. “It was through Vincent’s efforts and persistence that we were able to introduce Nicklaus golf, and golf in general, to new markets around the world,” Jack Nicklaus said in a press release. Gaughan and Igor Malyshkov, the president of Moscow City Club, established Nicklaus Design East in 2004. In one of his last acts as the division’s president, he set the stage for a Nicklaus-designed course in Qatar.

     Pipeline Overflow – It’s old news, really, but the golf media is announcing Bobby Weed as the architect for Michael Jordan’s forthcoming golf course in Hobe Sound, Florida. The course will be the centerpiece of Grove XXIII – 23 was the primary number Jordan wore for the Chicago Bulls – and Weed expects it to be “a forward-thinking, progressive layout” with “a refined edge.” If all goes as planned, the 18-hole track will open next year. . . . Chinese vacationers are flocking to Vietnam’s Central Coast, and a Chinese developer aims to satisfy their golf desires. Silver Shores, which built the Silver Shores International Resort (and casino) on the waterfront just south of Đà Nẵng, has set out to build a resort community, including a golf course, on a 1,300-acre parcel west of the city. Silver Shores expects to sell package tours to travelers looking to lounge on the beach, gamble, and golf. . . . Kenya’s top golf evangelist dreams of building golf courses in all 47 of the nation’s counties. “We certainly cannot develop the game only in Nairobi, Mombasa, and other few places in the country,” Richard Wanjalla, the chairman of the Kenya Golf Union, has correctly surmised. Wanjalla has encouraged the nation’s governors to identify sites for golf courses, though most of them will likely be nine-hole tracks.

     Cuba may welcome 5 million tourists this year, even with a likely decline in traffic from the United States. The Marxist paradise attracted 4.7 million tourists last year, a record number, and it figured to break the record until the Trump administration re-imposed travel restrictions. So this year, we wait and see. For what it’s worth, 579,288 U.S. travelers made trips to the island nation through the first 11 months of 2017.

     A South Korean guitar and piano manufacturer has decided to tread where Discovery Land Company would not. Samick Musical Instruments has paid an undisclosed price for Las Vegas Country Club, a 50-year-old venue that once served as gathering place for famous entertainers (Frank Sinatra), sportsmen (Andre Agassi), professional stunt men (“Evel” Knievel), local movers and shakers (Mayor Oscar Goodman, the late Kirk Kerkorian), and a parade of mobsters (“Lefty” Rosenthal, Tony Spilotro). The 120-acre club features an 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed golf course. Discovery Land and Wolff Company agreed to buy Las Vegas in 2016, but last year they backed out of the deal for what they said were financial and water-related reasons. Samick, which makes most of its products in Indonesia, owns one other U.S. golf property, Redhawk Golf Club in Temecula, California.

     Surplus Transactions – The owners of Waterfall Club, on Lake Burton in northeastern Georgia, have added a handful of new investors, among them college football’s most famous coach, Nick Saban, who just weeks led Alabama to a national championship. Saban is said to be “an avid golfer,” and the club, which opened in 1999, features an 18-hole, Scott Pool-designed golf course. . . . A golf pro in suburban Buffalo, New York believes he’s close to acquiring Glen Oak Country Club, a nearly half-century old venue that features a Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course. “I’m on the 18th hole,” Timothy Fries told Buffalo Business First. Fries hopes to buy the club, which previously operated as Ransom Oaks Country Club and Country Club of Amherst, from Richard Meath. Despite its name, Glen Oak is open to the public. . . . Earlier this month, an investment group led by Bill Gustus and his wife, Laura Caron-Gustus, purchased Westminister Country Club. The club, in Westminster, Massachusetts, features an 18-hole track that was designed by Al LeBlanc and has remained in his family since it opened in 1957. Gustus and his family also own Settlers Crossing Golf Course, a nine-hole track in Lunenburg, Massachusetts.

     The president’s message to the world leaders who recently gathered in Davos was clear and direct: We are “open for business.” The speaker wasn’t the president of the United States, however. It was the president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who responded to a question about Africa’s “shithole” countries by extending a special invitation to the Trump Organization. “Come and build golf courses at Victoria Falls,” Mnangagwa said. “Build hotels. And we’ll give you incentives.” Undoubtedly, the Very Stable Genius won’t accept Mnangagwa’s offer. But Zimbabwe is a golf-friendly nation (it has 30 courses, according to Golf Digest), and it’s possible that an enterprising Chinese developer will.

     Are you wondering how much of a week’s golf news I cover in this blog? The answer, unfortunately, is just a fraction of what passes my way. The golf business has unquestionably perked up over the past year or two, and there’s no way for me to address all of it. So if your business requires a more comprehensive news digest, particularly news about development, contact me via e-mail at golfcoursereport@aol.com. I’ll send you a sample issue of either U.S. or International Construction Clips, depending on your needs.