The Week That Was, december 9, 2018

     Zach Peed is about to add a second Coore & Crenshaw-designed golf course to his Dormie Network, a stable of “pristine private destination courses” that might someday extend from coast to coast. For an undisclosed price, Peed has agreed to buy Hidden Creek Golf Club, a Roger Hansen-owned venue outside Atlantic City, New Jersey that’s been in business since 2002. In a press release, Peed called Hidden Creek “an absolutely exceptional club and a perfect fit” the Dormie Network, which caters to “the needs of executives and corporate entities for retreats and other events.” Hidden Creek will be the network’s sixth property, and the first in the Northeast. The remainder of the group features well-regarded clubs in the mid-Atlantic (North Carolina and Virginia), the Midwest (Indiana and Nebraska), and the South (Texas), so it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Peed next acquired a property in the West or Northwest. If all goes as expected with Hansen, the Hidden Creek transaction will close next month.

     Surplus Transactions – It appears that HNA Group, one of the heavyweights in China’s golf industry, left something to be desired at the golf club it bought in Monterey, California in 2013. A group of local investors has purchased the club, changed its name from Nicklaus Club Monterey to the Club at Pasadera, and vowed to “restore and rejuvenate everything at the club to its former greatness.” . . . For $170 million, the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort has changed hands. Xenia Hotels & Resorts’ purchase, from a lender that’s controlled the 222-acre property for more than a year, includes a hotel, meeting space, a spa, and an 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course that serves as the centerpiece of Aviara Golf Club. . . . Uniontown Country Club, a venue in Uniontown, Pennsylvania that dates back to the early 1920s, has been sold to the owners of a nearby golf venue. Phoenix LLC, the owner of Duck Hollow Golf Club, has set out to “carry on the tradition” at Uniontown and make it a place where members can “spend their personal and family time together.”

     Surplus Surplus Transactions – Toll Golf, the operations arm of the giant homebuilding company, has accepted $18.5 million for Snowmass Club, a venue outside Aspen, Colorado that’s operated since the early 1980s. Originally a Chaffin/Light property, Snowmass features an 18-hole, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course that was redesigned by Jim Engh in 2004. . . . In press statement littered with corporate-speak (“strategic capital,” “demand generators,” “value-add opportunity”), a pair of investment firms announced their acquisition of Grande Lakes Orlando Resort. The 409-acre “institutional-quality asset” features two hotels, meeting space, places to eat and drink, and a variety of recreational amenities, including an 18-hole, Greg Norman-designed golf course. . . . The city of Sullivan has purchased Sullivan Country Club, a 68-year-old venue that calls itself “the hidden jewel” and “the premier golf bargain in all of south-central Missouri.” The city paid $790,000 for the 118-acre property and its 18-hole golf course.

     Here’s this month’s accounting of recent course closings:
      – Black Mountain Golf & Country Club, a property outside Las Vegas, Nevada that marketed itself as “a sure bet to make your day unforgettable.” The club had operated since the late 1950s, sometimes with as many as 27 holes.
     – Oakhurst Country Club, a 59-year-old venue in Grove City, Ohio with an 18-hole, Jack Kidwell-designed course. In the 1960s, according to the listing agent who recently brokered a potential sale of the property, Oakhurst was “one of the nicest courses in the city and very exclusive.”
     – Hickory Ridge Golf Club, a 150-acre spread in Amherst, Massachusetts that might be replaced by a solar farm. “It’s no secret that the golf industry has been contracting,” the course’s owner told the Springfield Republican.
     – Stonehenge Golf Club, a 30-year-old venue outside Fort Wayne, Indiana that’s reportedly “no longer a viable business.” The club and its Ron Garl-designed course had been for sale for a year before its owner pulled the plug.
     – Refuge Golf Club, an 18-hole, Earl Stone-designed track that’s located in a state park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. In a press statement, the state acknowledged that the course “has been losing money for several years.”
     – Glen Lakes Municipal Golf Course, a nine-hole track in suburban Phoenix, Arizona that dates from the mid 1960s. The decision was supposedly “very, very painful” for the city of Glendale, but keeping the Milton Coggins-designed layout open would have required an expenditure of $3.9 million on long overdue repairs and upgrades.
     – Willow Springs Golf Course, a “no longer profitable” 18-hole track that’s operated in Haslet, Texas since 1966. Willow Springs’ owner is said to be negotiating to sell his property to a residential developer.

     Duly Noted, PGA of America Special Edition – By now, everyone knows that Gil Hanse and Beau Welling have been selected to create the new courses at the PGA of America’s forthcoming golf complex in Frisco, Texas. Less known are the identities of the other finalists for the commission: Tom Doak, D. A. Weibring, and Chet Williams. . . . Hanse and Welling will likely be doing some significant terrain re-imagining before they get to work on their courses at the PGA’s complex. Citing a conversation with Chet Williams, the Dallas Morning News reports that “the property does not have significant elevation change and is not dramatic.” Here’s Williams’ opinion: “It was not the kind of property that you go, ‘Wow!’ It doesn't just blow your socks off.” . . . Texans prize their Longhorns, so it’s no surprise that the people involved with the relocation are spreading the bull. To wit: The move will be “transcendent” for the PGA, and “the beginning of a bold, new journey” that will “transform the sport.” Really? If you believe such public-relations fluff, you’ll certainly agree that the development itself – a color-by-numbers master plan featuring a hotel, a conference center, office space, the golf courses, and the PGA’s headquarters – will be “unique.”

     Duly Noted –A Vietnamese news service reports on an under-appreciated factor that’s slowing golf and resort development in the socialist republic: A lack of qualified labor. . . . For the third time in the past five years, the American Society of Golf Course Architects is giving its top award to a writer. The 2019 winner is Joe Passov, who’s being honored as one of “a small group of true golf writers” who are “producing thoughtful pieces that help the golfing public understand what golf course architects do.” The ASGCA presented its Donald Ross Award to Bradley S. Klein in 2015 and to Michael Bamberger in 2016. . . . Greg Norman and a partner have acquired a minority interest in Edison Interactive, a company that feeds advertising into taxis and other forms of transportation, including golf cars that are equipped with the Living Brand’s Shark Experience. The LB claims to be “encouraged by the growth and opportunity in the digital out-of-home space.”

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