The Week That Was, december 23, 2018

     Keith Foster, a course architect who in recent years has dedicated himself to reviving faded, Golden Age courses, faces jail time because he smuggled illegal goods into the United States. He’s pleaded guilty to breaking a federal law that prohibits the trafficking of items made from endangered species, a crime that could put him in prison for up to five years.
     A neo-classicist whose work is much respected by his peers, Foster typically takes on only two or three projects a year due to, as I once described it in a story for Golf Inc, “a commitment to his craft that borders on obsession.” Over the years, he’s built a first-class reputation by completing so-called sympathetic restorations of a dozen or more courses, including those at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Philadelphia, Baltimore Country Club in Baltimore, Moraine Country Club in Dayton, Ohio, and the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
     Foster recently won a commission to revitalize the Blue course at Congressional Country Club, but the contract has been withdrawn. Citing “rumors,” the Fried Egg reports that he’s also lost assignments from Omaha Country Club in Nebraska and Brook Hollow Golf Club in Dallas, Texas.
     Foster usually spent his winters traveling around the world, searching for unique items that he could sell in his antiques store in Middleburg, Virginia. The U.S. Department of Justice charges that he illegally imported more than 100 prohibited items, including mounted birds of prey and products made from ivory, coral, sea turtles and crocodiles. He sold some of the items to an undercover agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
     The sentencing is scheduled to take place in March 2019. A press release from the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia notes that “actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties,” but the golf industry may very well give Foster what amounts to a life term.

     With fewer course-design contracts coming its way, Gary Player Group is lending its name to what it hopes will be a new revenue stream. The group has established Black Knight Management, a division whose operations will apparently be overseen by staffers from two existing companies, Crown Colony Management and Links Management. Employing this curious system, Black Knight promises to “break the traditional model” with “a member-centric approach” that will “make each contracted organization flourish to its full potential.” A press release doesn’t disclose any clients.

     A 600-acre estate in the southwestern corner of France is expected to become “a world-class golf destination” and a link in the fast-growing chain of European Tour Properties. Sparben Golf Resort, outside Biarritz, has been master-planned to include, among other things, several hundred houses, a resort-style hotel with a spa and a conference center, a wellness center, a “short” golf course, and a pair of 18-hole layouts, one designed by Colin Montgomerie and the other by Jean Van de Velde. Only one problem: The venture, which is for now being overseen by a local planning authority, hasn’t yet found a developer. If it’s built, Sparben will become the tour’s third property in France, joining Le Golf National in Paris and Terre Blanche Hotel Spa Golf Resort in Provence. A press release doesn’t mention it, but architects from European Golf Design will probably be involved in creating the golf courses. And while we’re on the subject, Van de Velde’s golf course will be his first. He expects it to “find its place among the world’s most elite golf courses.”

     Pipeline Overflow – A circuit-court judge in Nassau County, Florida has ordered the owners of the Omni resort, on Amelia Island, to rebuild and reopen the property’s Ocean Links track, which was closed and partially razed just weeks ago. The resort, part of a chain of Omni-owned properties, claims that the 18-hole Ocean Links layout was “by far the poorest quality course in Omni’s entire golf portfolio of 21 courses.” The company plans to appeal the ruling. . . . Ogilvy Clayton Cocking & Mead has completed its overhaul of Yangtze Dunes, one of the two 18-hole layouts at Lanhai International Country Club in Shanghai, China. A press release declares that the Melbourne, Australia-based design firm has created “the first proper links track on the Asian mainland,” one that will deliver “a golfing experience that would compete with the world’s best.” . . . Pyongyang Golf Club, the 30-year-old venue where Kim Jong-il once famously needed only 34 strokes to complete 18 holes, may soon get a new nine. NK News says that the club, outside North Korea’s capital city, is also adding lodging as part of an effort “to improve tourist amenities nationwide.” No word on whether recording and listening devices are part of the master plan.

     Duly Noted – Forrest Fezler, a former professional golfer who formed a course-design firm with the late Mike Strantz, died last week, reportedly of brain cancer. As a designer, he said that his goal was “to make you feel heroic by creating visuals that will seem intimidating but in reality are quite easy to accomplish.” He was 69. . . . As a reward for having “resurrected the timeless design of golf course architecture,” Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw will receive the 2019 Don A. Rossi award, the top honor that can be bestowed by the Golf Course Builders Association of America. Since 1991, when the award was first presented, the GCBAA has honored nearly a dozen other architects, among them Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Rees Jones, and Geoff Cornish. . . . A Chinese news service reports that more than 120,000 golfers from 30 nations have visited Antalya, Turkey so far this year, contributing €125 million (roughly $142.3 million) to the nation’s economy. Most of the travelers to Antalya come from Scandinavia, Germany and Britain, and the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies expects a 10 to 15 percent increase in their numbers next year.

     Happy Holidays, Everyone!