The Week That Was, october 28, 2018

     If you abhor change, you’ll love the latest “country snapshot” published by KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice.
     KPMG’s “Golf Participation Report for Europe 2018” concludes that trends established in recent years continue to linger, as there have been “no significant changes in the overall supply and demand figures” since the last time KPMG took an in-depth look at the golf business in the Old Country. In other words, the business remains “stable,” to use KPMG’s word, which is, unfortunately, another way of saying “still no growth.”
     Let’s start with the big picture: In 2017, according to KPMG’s new report, Europe had a total of 4.15 million golfers and 6,861 courses.
     Now, let’s dig a little deeper. In 2017, KPMG says, the number of “registered” golfers (that is, golfers who are members of clubs or associations) fell by 0.8 percent from the number posted in 2016 (a loss of 34,925 actual golfers), while the number of “affiliated” golf courses (courses that are members of their golf associations) fell by 1 percent (a loss of 71 courses). The largest losses were found in two of Europe’s biggest, most-important markets, England (35) and Scotland (18).
     The largest decreases in players were registered in England (-38,784), the Netherlands (-12,913), Ireland (7,422), and Scotland (4,731), while the largest increases were registered in Italy (+8,478), the Czech Republic (+5,983), and Sweden (+4,618). When you add, subtract, multiply, and divide all the numbers across the Continent, you get an overall participation rate of 0.86 percent, which is worse than the 0.92 percent that was reported for 2016 but close enough for KPMG to characterize it as “stable.”
     KPMG views the losses it’s recorded as statistically insignificant, but they are declines nonetheless. Year by year, a small erosion here and a small erosion there may not amount to much, but they eventually create a canyon.

     Star Resort Group, a firm based in Bozeman, Montana, will oversee the development of a community that it describes in a press release as “the Bahamas’ first eco-engineered luxury waterfront destination.” Port St. George will occupy 882 acres on Long Island, and it’ll feature 15 vacation villas, 500 condominiums and townhouses, a village center with retail and commercial space, a hotel, a spa, a 640-berth marina (the largest in the Bahamas), yacht and beach clubs, “an abundance of dining options” (including a lighthouse with a bar and a café), a culinary school, sports facilities, and an 18-hole golf course. SRG believes that the community will attract people who seek “an experience characterized by an authentic Bahamian environment, luxurious, modern amenities, and an eco-friendly lifestyle.”

     Pipeline Overflow – A golf insider in Lake County, California reports that the throwback Brambles golf venture, originally announced in 2014, appears to be “getting closer to fruition.” Coore & Crenshaw, who’ve been hired to create a course in the tradition of North Berwick, Prestwick, and the Old Course at St. Andrews, are said to have made a site visit last week. . . . Lebanon, which the Economist contends is “plagued by sectarian divides,” facing a possible “banking crisis,” and “tipping into a property slump,” may nonetheless add to its meager golf portfolio. Intra Investment, a company owned primarily by the nation’s Central Bank, hopes to build a hotel, some houses, and an 18-hole golf course on 148 acres in suburban Beirut. . . . In collaboration with a local developer, Wanderers Golf Club has set out to add high-end housing, office space, retail space, and other attractions to its property in suburban Johannesburg, South Africa. According to the Business Report, the venture will require the club’s 18-hole golf course to be “partially redesigned and substantially upgraded.”

     One of the few U.S. golf venues with its own air strip has changed hands. The member/owners of Pauma Valley Golf Club, in suburban San Diego, have sold their property to Sis Rainbow, a closely held entity that now owns at least four clubs in Southern California. A sales price hasn’t yet been disclosed, but Sis Rainbow apparently agreed to pay off Pauma Valley’s debt, allocate money for capital improvements, and promise to preserve the club’s private “heritage.” Pauma Valley, which has been in business since 1960, features an 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course. It’ll complement Sis Rainbow’s other properties, namely Steele Canyon Golf Club in Jamul, Dove Canyon Golf Club outside Irvine, and Bear Creek in Temecula.

     Surplus Transactions – The group that operates the Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine, Washington has accepted $3.75 million for Loomis Trail Golf Course, a nearby 18-hole, Graham Cooke-designed track. Along with the golf course, the business arm of the Lummi Indian tribe, already the owner of a casino just down the road, acquired a small hotel, meeting space, and 180 acres of presumably undeveloped land. . . . To preserve open space, the members of the Sea Palms West homeowners’ association have agreed to buy their community’s West course, a nine-hole, Tom Jackson-designed layout that opened in 1969. The association, on Saint Simons Island, Georgia, hopes to complete the $2 million purchase next month, according to the Brunswick News, and will eventually pull the plug on the golf course. . . . Dennis Napier has sold Ranch Club Golf Course, a nine-hole layout that’s operated in Priest River, Idaho since the early 1950s. The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that new owners are John Vickers and his wife, Debbie Soderblom, who’ve hired Napier to help run the place.

     Duly Noted – John Malone, a Colorado-based billionaire (Forbes estimates that he’s worth $7.2 billion), is among the bidders for K Club, the luxurious golf resort (and former Ryder Cup venue) in County Kildare, Ireland. Malone already owns a castle and a historic estate in Ireland, and his other holdings include investments in the Atlanta Braves, Formula One, Discovery Communications, and Sirius XM. . . . The air quality in many Chinese cities often requires people to wear respirators, but Bloomberg says that the world’s 10 most polluted cities are in India. Enjoy your rounds, golf travelers! . . . The Independent reports that in 2004 Donald Trump offered to buy a picturesque Irish golf property, sight unseen. The owners of Old Head Links, currently #83 on Golf Digest’s list of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, told him it wasn’t for sale.