The Week That Was, december 30, 2018

     Alchemy Resorts has acquired the time-worn Aetna Springs resort, a 672-acre spread in Pope Valley, California that boasts one of America’s top-rated nine-hole golf courses. Alchemy believes the resort, despite its remote location, can become pure gold, as it’s pledged to transform the historic property into “a world-class luxury resort that showcases Napa’s food and wine combined with leading wellness programs.” Aetna Springs’ course, a 125-year-old layout that was redesigned a decade ago by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina, has been described as “fun and formidable, without being brutish.” Alchemy hasn’t specifically stated that the course will be reopened, but it’s hard to imagine Aetna Springs being restored to “its original grandeur” without it.

     Surplus Transactions – Davis Sezna is the new owner of CrossWinds Golf Course, a property in Greenville, South Carolina that Ron Whitten once called “a really fun par-3 course with enough variety to hold everyone’s interest.” The track is notable because each of its 18 holes was designed by a different architect. Sezna, a former CEO of Cliffs Communities and Heritage Golf Group, aims to play up the course’s entertainment value and might take the concept national. . . . Watermark Properties has agreed to buy Macatawa Legends Golf Club, which bills itself as the “premier destination for golf in West Michigan.” If the transaction is completed, Macatawa Legends will become Watermark’s seventh golf property. The 13-year-old club in Holland features an 18-hole, Ray Hearn-designed course, and the prospective owners expect to take it to “its greatest potential.” . . . One of the oldest golf venues in Indiana has changed hands. In August, Tommy and Jeanna Riddle paid an undisclosed price for Meshingomesia Golf & Social Club, a facility that’s operated in Marion since 1906. Bill Diddle redesigned the club’s original nine in 1927 and added a second nine in the mid or late 1950s.

     Surplus Surplus Transactions – The lease on the golf course at Carnegie Abbey Club, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, has been turned over to a group of members who are said to be “committed to restoring the club to the high standards it has historically been known for.” At a foreclosure auction, the members reportedly offered $6.7 million for the property, which features an 18-hole layout that was co-designed by a trio of British architects: Donald Steel, Tom MacKenzie, and Martin Ebert. . . . Confessing that he’s been “looking for ways to get away from the automobile repair business,” John Tenneson has purchased Clarks Grove Golf Course, a nine-hole track outside Albert Lea, Minnesota. Tenneson told the Albert Lea Tribune that the 37-year-old course was on the brink of foreclosure. . . . For $850,000, an investment group linked to Ron Perkins has acquired Springfield Golf Club, a 62-year-old venue in Springfield, Oregon. The club features an 18-hole, Sid Milligan-designed golf course whose future is uncertain, as the Eugene Register-Guard ominously notes that it’s “unclear what the buyers’ plan for the property is.”

     Duly Noted – The fallout from Keith Foster’s guilty plea continues. Last week, the Middleburg, Virginia-based architect, who’s admitted to smuggling some 100 prohibited items into the United States, lost his contract with Olympia Fields Country Club, in greater Chicago, and Golden Valley Country Club, in suburban Minneapolis, is reportedly “likely moving on” as well. The status of Foster’s contracts with Omaha Country Club and Brook Hollow Golf Club are uncertain. . . . Phú Quốc Island, which has rapidly become one of Vietnam’s most popular vacation destinations, welcomed 1.96 million visitors last year, a 35 percent increase over the number from 2016, and this year it expects to receive an estimated 2.5 million. Given this traffic, it’s time to wonder when Vinpearl, which operates the only golf property on the island, will add its long-planned a 14-course golf complex. . . . GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness, which operates roughly two dozen golf courses in Kansas and South Dakota, aims to begin doing business in Arizona, California, Missouri, Texas, Utah, and, eventually, other states as well. “I think we will be a national concept,” the company’s CEO, Tom Walsh, Sr., said in a press release. Walsh believes that GreatLIFE will generate $250 million in annual revenues within five years.

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