The Week That Was, january 20, 2019

     If federal authorities approve, a local development group will build a 36-hole golf complex outside Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam’s largest metropolis. The complex, to be developed by Cần Giờ Tourism Urban Area JSC, will take shape on roughly 330 acres of reclaimed land in Cần Giờ, a coastal district roughly 35 miles south of the city, and it’ll be among the attractions at a massive vacation spot – nearly 7,200 acres – that the city has been hoping to create for several years. Needless to say, HCMC expects the place to become what a national news service calls “a destination for domestic and international tourists.” But the developers and the city have a problem: Vietnam’s current master plan for golf development says that HCMC can have only five golf courses by 2020, and it already has at least three. HCMC has petitioned for a larger allotment, but its request hasn’t yet been met.

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the December 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Pipeline Overflow – Speaking of Vietnam, FLC Group, one of the country’s premier golf developers, has set out to build a huge sports-focused complex in suburban Hà Nội. A site hasn’t yet been identified, but FLC needs enough land for, among other things, a 100,000-seat sports stadium, a Formula One track, a horse-racing track, a conference center, a “resort hospital,” and a golf course. . . . A Singapore-based entity has secured permission to build a “new city” in Santa Ana, a town on the northeastern tip of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Business World reports that the city, called Polaris, will include houses, hotels, casinos, “online gaming businesses,” a business park, “a cyberpark for digital currency firms,” and “golf courses.” . . . A joint venture led by a state-owned company aims to develop a 250-acre resort community on Langkawi Island, off the coast of northwestern Malaysia. 99°East Golf Club has been master-planned to include a hotel, 58 villas, some apartments, a polo center, an international school, and an 18-hole golf course.

     Renaissance Golf Group has made its third acquisition in less than a year, as the Raleigh-based firm has purchased Ironwood Golf & Country Club and its 18-hole, Lee Trevino-designed golf course. Ironwood, a 23-year-old facility in Greenville, is the fourth property in Renaissance’s all-North Carolina portfolio, joining Beaufort Club in Beaufort and two properties in Leland that Renaissance bought in 2018, Compass Pointe Golf Club and Magnolia Greens Golf Course. Jay Biggs, Renaissance’s president, believes that each of his company’s clubs offers “unique character and potential for growth.”  

      Surplus Transactions – For a price that appears to be in the vicinity of $3 million, Cathy Haley has found a buyer for Mountain View Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Santa Paula, California that’s been plagued by water shortages in recent years. The Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation expects to use Mountain View’s 60 acres as an education center, but it may maintain what the Ventura County Star describes as “a modified nine-hole golf course” on the property. . . . Pendleton Country Club, a financially desperate property in Pendleton, Oregon, may soon have a new owner. An unidentified entity or individual has agreed to buy the 90-year-old club, which features an 18-hole track that’s said to be “Eastern Oregon’s best-kept golfing secret.” . . . Oscar Booher leads a group that’s acquired Cree Meadows Country Club, a venue that’s operated in Ruidoso, New Mexico since 1947. In a comment that has the ring of a back-to-the-future moment, Booher told the Ruidoso News that the club, which features an 18-hole, 5,974-yard golf course, “will be operated under the same way it’s been since back in [the] 40s.”

     Duly Noted – Greg “the Living Brand” Norman, now serving a three-year term as Vietnam’s tourism ambassador, reports that he’s been “working very closely” with government officials to ensure that the socialist republic “will ultimately emerge as one of the world’s premiere tourist destinations.” In addition, he’s making “a big push for the development of academies and public-access golf courses.” . . . Talk about international events: Last year’s Open Championship, at Carnoustie Golf Links, attracted 172,000 customers, nearly half of whom (49.8 percent) arrived from countries outside Scotland. . . . Carnegie Abbey Club has assumed a new identity. The new ownership group now calls the 19-year-old, British-influenced venue, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the Aquidneck Club, and it promises that members “will enjoy everything that Carnegie Abbey had to offer and much more going forward.”

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