When it comes to international travel, the United States is losing market share. Citing data collected by a British economic forecasting firm, Forbes reports that travel into the United States from outside North America increased by just 2 percent in 2018, a number that lags behind the international average (6 percent). The reason, according to Oxford Economics: “The global economy is slowing, most currencies have weakened against the dollar, and U.S. policy and rhetoric have damaged sentiment.” In particular, the United States is losing travelers from China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East, and South Korea.
Jadranka Hotels’ overdue golf resort on Croatia’s Cres Island has received a governmental thumbs-up that removes, according to Total Croatia News, “the main administrative obstacle” that’s stood in its way. Eco Golf Resort Matalda, an 800-acre community that’s been proceeding at a snail’s pace (it was announced in 2014, if not before), has been master-planned to include villas, a hotel, a marina, a heliport, and a pair of 18-hole, Ernie Els “signature” golf courses, one of which will be capable of hosting professional tournaments. Jadranka’s CEO, pleased to have secured the “legal preconditions” for construction, believes that Matalda will attract tourists from Russia, Great Britain, and Scandinavia who might have otherwise vacationed in towns along Croatia’s Istrian peninsula or in other Mediterranean nations.
Some information in the preceding post was originally published in the November 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Pipeline Overflow – The tony Desert Mountain Club, in Scottsdale, Arizona, expects to take the wraps off its seventh course, an 18-hole, par-3 layout befittingly named No. 7, this spring. The club will be the centerpiece of a 90-acre, 190-house community, and a press release points out that all but three of the houses “will sit directly on the golf course.” . . . The Bob Moore-designed 18-hole track at Parahyangan Golf Bandung, outside Kota Baru, Indonesia, is now in operation. Golfasian thinks the 18-hole track offers “incomparable visual drama” in an “awe-inspiring landscape” and leaves “an indelible impression with first-time visitors and seasoned golfers alike.” . . . After 14 years’ worth of fits and starts, the 18-hole layout at the New Giza community in suburban Cairo, Egypt has finally been unveiled. The course is among the final ventures initiated by Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the now-defunct Australian “signature” design firm founded by golf legend Peter Thomson. Tim Lobb, who’s been overseeing the construction, views the process as “a labor of love.”
Tam O’Shanter Country Club, a venue on New York’s Long Island that was once accused of entertaining its members with strippers and prostitutes, has changed hands. Titan Golf LLC, a New Jersey-based owner/operator, has reportedly paid $15 million for Tam O’Shanter, an under-performing club that it views as “the jewel of the North Shore.” The club, which occupies 157 acres in Brookville (“of the best zip codes in the country,” according to Titan) has been in business since 1962, and it features an 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course. Titan also owns another golf property on Long Island, Woodmere Club, and it’s on the prowl for other private clubs that might benefit from an infusion of investment.
Surplus Transactions – Pending a successful closing, homeowners operating via the University Park Recreation District will acquire University Park Country Club, a property developed by Pat Neal and Rolf Pasold in the early 1990s. The sale includes a 27-hole, Ron Garl-designed golf complex, the usual assortment of vertical structures, and 100 acres of raw land, all to be sold for nearly $17 million, a price that some residents believe is inflated. . . . Though he’s acknowledged that “buying a golf course in the winter is a bad idea,” last month Bob Friend reportedly paid $1.2 million for Brookwoods Golf Club, a 43-year-old facility in suburban Richmond, Virginia that employs him as its superintendent. He bought Brookwoods, which features an 18-hole, Algie Pulley-designed track, from Gilbey and Brian Campbell, who’ve described the property as “a workingman’s golf course.” . . . For a price of $650,000, the Nez Perce Tribe has taken ownership of Clarkston Golf & Country Club, a 45-year-old property that the Lewiston Tribune says has fallen “on financial hard times.” The club is located in Clarkston, Washington, across the Snake River from Lewiston, Idaho, and the tribe intends to transform its 18-hole, Keith Hellstrom-designed course into what the newspaper says will be “a premier golf course for the area.”
Duly Noted – As its relationship with Keith Foster fades from memory, Olympia Fields Country Club has enlisted Andy Staples to oversee a makeover of its South Course, an 18-hole track that was co-designed by Willie Watson and Tom Bendelow. The club, a Golden Age property in Chicagoland that will host next year’s BMW Championship, hasn’t yet secured member approval and financing for the overhaul, however. . . .
Golf magazine reports that Vietnam is now home to “an estimated 30,000” golfers, a number it views as “a tenfold increase from 20 years ago.” Unfortunately, the magazine didn’t cite a source for its comments. . . . Regarding those 30,000 home-grown golfers in Vietnam: They apparently view golf the way most American golfers did in the 1980s and 1990s. Jack Nicklaus II told Golf that his most important client emphasizes “beauty and difficulty,” and Brian Curley reported that “a lot [of] golfers here are gluttons for punishment and seem to think it’s not golf if you don’t lose a few sleeves along the way.”
In compliance with European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Sunday, February 17, 2019
The Week That Was, february 17, 2019
The truth can hurt. So, especially in times of stress, people occasionally try to dull the pain by stretching the facts or telling half-truths or putting a happy face on a situation. They try, in other words, to make things seem to be better than they actually are.
A recent example of such embroidery comes from Golf Advisor, in an article headlined “17 New Golf Courses Opening in 2019.” In the article, Golf Advisor not only contends that the collapse of golf development is “not necessarily a bad thing” (echoes of the National Golf Foundation!) but blissfully attempts to redefine the word new, which has been with us, according to Merriam-Webster, since before the 12th century.
Clearly, the ground beneath our feet has shifted. When the NGF and golf’s other opinion-makers feel compelled to change definitions that have stood for eons, it’s because those definitions measure performance in ways that are too troubling.
Did Golf Advisor actually find 17 new courses that will open this year? Absolutely not. It found 11 courses that, by the customary definition of the word new, are expected to open. And of those 11, only seven are in the United States.
Regarding the six other courses on Golf Advisor’s list, they’re what we used to call major remodelings. In most cases, no doubt, the remodelings are dramatic. Still, back when developers were opening hundreds of courses a year, they wouldn’t have been considered new.
Golf Advisor doesn’t want to deep-dive into the distinctions between traditionally defined new courses and newish courses that take shape atop existing courses. “There are some cases,” it acknowledges, “where one could potentially argue whether some of the ‘new golf courses’ on this list are actually heavy renovations.”
You don’t say.
Make no mistake: A broader definition of new, as originally championed by the NGF, doesn’t benefit the golf industry. It’s just a phony, transparent attempt to gloss over the truth about the current state of U.S. golf development. It doesn’t clarify. It doesn’t make people smarter. In fact, by muddying the facts, it clouds the issues.
If we expect to solve golf’s problems, we have to be honest about the dimensions of those problems. I know many people in the golf business, and they can all handle the truth. Seven is an honest number. Seventeen is not.
What’s been described as “the first major smart sustainable city” in Europe and “a place where you want to work, live, and play” could soon take shape in Castilblanco, a city in Badajoz, Spain. Eco- and family-friendly Elysium City has been master-planned to include houses, hotels, casinos, a Formula One race track, a “Disney-level” theme park, a waterpark, a 40,000-seat sports stadium, shopping areas, a high-speed train station, and an 18-hole golf course. A developer hasn’t been identified, but government officials hope to complete the city’s first phase of construction in 2023.
Pipeline Overflow – A pair of South Korean companies may build resorts, complete with golf courses, in Primorye, Russia’s dedicated gambling zone. The companies are Ramid Hotels & Resorts and K International, and the quality of Ramid’s venue will reportedly be “at the level of recognized world entertainment centers Las Vegas, Hong Kong and Dubai.” . . . What’s said to be “a large-scale golf course development” is expected to take shape in Paralimni, a vacation spot on the eastern coast of Cyprus. A site hasn’t yet been chosen, and environmental concerns will have to be addressed, but the Mediterranean island has been angling to become a golf destination for many years. . . . Planning officials in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India, are looking for a private-sector group that’s willing to build the city’s first 18-hole golf course. The city has two nine-hole tracks, but the Lucknow Development Authority believes a regulation-sized layout is necessary to satisfy a “growing population.”
Here’s a rundown of significant course closing that have occurred over the past month or so:
– Sable Oaks Golf Club, a 30-year-old venue that features what’s been described as “probably the most significant 18-hole [course] that’s ever gone away in the state of Maine, without a doubt.” The course, in suburban Portland, was co-designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva, and its 179 acres are slated for residential development.
– White Hawk Golf Club, the centerpiece of a golf community in Bixby, Oklahoma. Roger Rodich, who bought the 25-year-old club last year, hopes to build houses on the property’s 18-hole, Randy Heckenkemper-designed golf course.
– Possum Trot Golf Club, which has operated on South Carolina’s Grand Strand since 1968, the year that the Smithsonian says “shattered America.” Possum Trot is operated on a lease that expires this fall, and it appears that the owners of the nearly 170-acre property are intent on residential development.
– Woodland Meadows Golf & Event Center, in suburban Sacramento, California, which “just doesn’t have the community support anymore,” according to its owner. The 40-acre property, featuring a nine-hole course that opened in 1996, is slated for redevelopment.
– Hawthorne Valley Golf Club, a 95-year-old facility in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, isn’t expected to reopen in 2019. The club, which has been living on borrowed time for several years, features an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed course.
– Badin Inn Golf Club, a venue outside Albemarle, North Carolina that’s operated since 1924. The 145-acre property has been sold to Newport Landowners Services, which told the Stanly News & Press that the inn’s an 18-hole, Ed Seay-designed track is “done as a golf course.”
– Blackhawk Run Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Stockton, Illinois. The owners of the 55-year-old property reportedly hope to find a buyer.
– Little River Resort’s golf course, an 18-hole, Dan Maples-designed track outside Pinehurst, North Carolina that’s in need of upgrades that might cost $1 million or more. The course reportedly lost its greens last summer, when its irrigation system failed, and Oceanico Group USA isn’t eager to spring for the repairs. It’s looking to sell.
Duly Noted – What do Portugal’s top golf courses have in common? Well, no surprise here: None of them were created by Portuguese architects. What’s mildly surprising, though, is that every one of the top five, according to Sports Daily, were created by Americans: Jack Nicklaus, Cynthia Dye McGarey, Arthur Hills, Robert Trent Jones, and Joe Lee. . . . Hard numbers can’t be found, but the BBC has wondered why “so few people” attended the European Tour’s recent tournament in Saudi Arabia. “The inaugural and lavish Saudi International,” the British news service noted, “was most certainly not funded by gate receipts.” . . . After he did some minor damage to a few golf greens during the Saudi International, it was said that Sergio Garcia had “made a fool of himself” and was “not in a well-balanced state of mind.” It was said that his actions constituted “an offense that deserves a suspension.” Sadly, similar outrage wasn’t expressed when Garcia spewed a racist joke about serving fried chicken to Tiger Woods.
Are you wondering how much of a week’s golf news I cover in this blog? The answer, unfortunately, is just a fraction of what passes my way. The golf business, particularly the development side of the golf business, has unquestionably perked up over the past year or two, and there’s no way for me to address all of it. So if your business requires a more comprehensive news digest, contact me via e-mail at golfcoursereport@aol.com. I’ll send you a sample issue of either U.S. or International Construction Clips, depending on your needs.
A recent example of such embroidery comes from Golf Advisor, in an article headlined “17 New Golf Courses Opening in 2019.” In the article, Golf Advisor not only contends that the collapse of golf development is “not necessarily a bad thing” (echoes of the National Golf Foundation!) but blissfully attempts to redefine the word new, which has been with us, according to Merriam-Webster, since before the 12th century.
Clearly, the ground beneath our feet has shifted. When the NGF and golf’s other opinion-makers feel compelled to change definitions that have stood for eons, it’s because those definitions measure performance in ways that are too troubling.
Did Golf Advisor actually find 17 new courses that will open this year? Absolutely not. It found 11 courses that, by the customary definition of the word new, are expected to open. And of those 11, only seven are in the United States.
Regarding the six other courses on Golf Advisor’s list, they’re what we used to call major remodelings. In most cases, no doubt, the remodelings are dramatic. Still, back when developers were opening hundreds of courses a year, they wouldn’t have been considered new.
Golf Advisor doesn’t want to deep-dive into the distinctions between traditionally defined new courses and newish courses that take shape atop existing courses. “There are some cases,” it acknowledges, “where one could potentially argue whether some of the ‘new golf courses’ on this list are actually heavy renovations.”
You don’t say.
Make no mistake: A broader definition of new, as originally championed by the NGF, doesn’t benefit the golf industry. It’s just a phony, transparent attempt to gloss over the truth about the current state of U.S. golf development. It doesn’t clarify. It doesn’t make people smarter. In fact, by muddying the facts, it clouds the issues.
If we expect to solve golf’s problems, we have to be honest about the dimensions of those problems. I know many people in the golf business, and they can all handle the truth. Seven is an honest number. Seventeen is not.
What’s been described as “the first major smart sustainable city” in Europe and “a place where you want to work, live, and play” could soon take shape in Castilblanco, a city in Badajoz, Spain. Eco- and family-friendly Elysium City has been master-planned to include houses, hotels, casinos, a Formula One race track, a “Disney-level” theme park, a waterpark, a 40,000-seat sports stadium, shopping areas, a high-speed train station, and an 18-hole golf course. A developer hasn’t been identified, but government officials hope to complete the city’s first phase of construction in 2023.
Pipeline Overflow – A pair of South Korean companies may build resorts, complete with golf courses, in Primorye, Russia’s dedicated gambling zone. The companies are Ramid Hotels & Resorts and K International, and the quality of Ramid’s venue will reportedly be “at the level of recognized world entertainment centers Las Vegas, Hong Kong and Dubai.” . . . What’s said to be “a large-scale golf course development” is expected to take shape in Paralimni, a vacation spot on the eastern coast of Cyprus. A site hasn’t yet been chosen, and environmental concerns will have to be addressed, but the Mediterranean island has been angling to become a golf destination for many years. . . . Planning officials in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India, are looking for a private-sector group that’s willing to build the city’s first 18-hole golf course. The city has two nine-hole tracks, but the Lucknow Development Authority believes a regulation-sized layout is necessary to satisfy a “growing population.”
Here’s a rundown of significant course closing that have occurred over the past month or so:
– Sable Oaks Golf Club, a 30-year-old venue that features what’s been described as “probably the most significant 18-hole [course] that’s ever gone away in the state of Maine, without a doubt.” The course, in suburban Portland, was co-designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva, and its 179 acres are slated for residential development.
– White Hawk Golf Club, the centerpiece of a golf community in Bixby, Oklahoma. Roger Rodich, who bought the 25-year-old club last year, hopes to build houses on the property’s 18-hole, Randy Heckenkemper-designed golf course.
– Possum Trot Golf Club, which has operated on South Carolina’s Grand Strand since 1968, the year that the Smithsonian says “shattered America.” Possum Trot is operated on a lease that expires this fall, and it appears that the owners of the nearly 170-acre property are intent on residential development.
– Woodland Meadows Golf & Event Center, in suburban Sacramento, California, which “just doesn’t have the community support anymore,” according to its owner. The 40-acre property, featuring a nine-hole course that opened in 1996, is slated for redevelopment.
– Hawthorne Valley Golf Club, a 95-year-old facility in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, isn’t expected to reopen in 2019. The club, which has been living on borrowed time for several years, features an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed course.
– Badin Inn Golf Club, a venue outside Albemarle, North Carolina that’s operated since 1924. The 145-acre property has been sold to Newport Landowners Services, which told the Stanly News & Press that the inn’s an 18-hole, Ed Seay-designed track is “done as a golf course.”
– Blackhawk Run Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Stockton, Illinois. The owners of the 55-year-old property reportedly hope to find a buyer.
– Little River Resort’s golf course, an 18-hole, Dan Maples-designed track outside Pinehurst, North Carolina that’s in need of upgrades that might cost $1 million or more. The course reportedly lost its greens last summer, when its irrigation system failed, and Oceanico Group USA isn’t eager to spring for the repairs. It’s looking to sell.
Duly Noted – What do Portugal’s top golf courses have in common? Well, no surprise here: None of them were created by Portuguese architects. What’s mildly surprising, though, is that every one of the top five, according to Sports Daily, were created by Americans: Jack Nicklaus, Cynthia Dye McGarey, Arthur Hills, Robert Trent Jones, and Joe Lee. . . . Hard numbers can’t be found, but the BBC has wondered why “so few people” attended the European Tour’s recent tournament in Saudi Arabia. “The inaugural and lavish Saudi International,” the British news service noted, “was most certainly not funded by gate receipts.” . . . After he did some minor damage to a few golf greens during the Saudi International, it was said that Sergio Garcia had “made a fool of himself” and was “not in a well-balanced state of mind.” It was said that his actions constituted “an offense that deserves a suspension.” Sadly, similar outrage wasn’t expressed when Garcia spewed a racist joke about serving fried chicken to Tiger Woods.
Are you wondering how much of a week’s golf news I cover in this blog? The answer, unfortunately, is just a fraction of what passes my way. The golf business, particularly the development side of the golf business, has unquestionably perked up over the past year or two, and there’s no way for me to address all of it. So if your business requires a more comprehensive news digest, contact me via e-mail at golfcoursereport@aol.com. I’ll send you a sample issue of either U.S. or International Construction Clips, depending on your needs.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
The Week That Was, february 10, 2019
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most notorious human-rights offenders, aims to capitalize on the validation it’s received from the European Tour.
The Saudi Golf Federation, its eyes trained on what’s said to be “a large, young, and affluent population with a growing interest in sports,” claims to be “committed” to building somewhere between 13 and 20 golf courses by 2030, at least some them to take shape in the puritanical kingdom’s forthcoming “economic cities.” If such dreams come true – for an untested golf market, a course a year for the next decade is a tall order – Saudi Arabia is going to emerge as a certified hot spot for golf development.
Of course, it’s appropriate to wonder who’s going to fill the tee times and membership rolls on a dozen or more courses, as a Chinese news agency reports that Saudi Arabia has only 220 homegrown “registered” golfers, along with an estimated 6,000 other players. And perhaps more importantly, who’s going to design and build all those courses? We already know that European Golf Design is amenable to working in the monarchy, as it created the course that hosted the recent Saudi International, but how many other individuals or firms might be willing to lend credibility to a regime that censors free speech, discriminates against women, assassinates journalists, and slaughters innocent people in Yemen?
Saudi Arabia will likely soon be a wonderful opportunity for the golf industry. It’s also going to expose our industry’s true values.
Pipeline Overflow – Jim Urbina has been tabbed to redesign the nine-hole, par-3 layout that serves as the home course for the First Tee of Greater Portland, in Oregon. The remodeled track, the centerpiece of Seamus Golf Park at the Children’s Course, is being created by Seamus Golf, which built a course in Winter Garden, Florida that’s been called “short, architecturally interesting, and affordable.” . . . A Texas-based turf company reports that Tour 18 and a residential developer have teamed up to build a 2,000-acre golf community in North Houston, Texas. Details are scarce, but history tells us that the course at the to-be-named community will be a replica layout, like the Tour 18 venue in nearby Humble. . . . Glasgow Golf & Country Club, a venue in greater Bowling Green, Kentucky that was shuttered last year, may be revived. John Riley, the owner of a fireplace store, aims to buy and reopen the 85-year-old club, which is currently controlled by a local bank.
Traditional Golf Properties has found a buyer for the last of the three Richmond, Virginia-area golf venues it put on the market in 2017. Late last year Joe Sanders, the owner of a local construction company, paid $800,000 for the dormant Stonehouse Golf Club (a.k.a. Tradition Club at Stonehouse), a 23-year-old property in Toano that features an 18-hole, Mike Strantz-designed layout. “The more I did the math, the more I thought it was a good buy and a reasonable investment if the business is run correctly,” Sanders told Richmond Biz Sense. In separate transactions last year, Traditional sold Brickshire Golf Club and Royal New Kent Golf Club. The company took a major haircut on Stonehouse, for which it reportedly paid $5 million in 2001. The price appeared to be a deep discount at the time, considering that Stonehouse’s previous owner had, according to the magazine, paid $16.3 million for the club in 1997.
Surplus Transactions – On the final day of 2018, Joseph Hernandez, described as a “New York biotechnology entrepreneur” and a “philanthropist with ties to the University of Florida,” paid an undisclosed price for Gainesville Country Club. The 56-year-old, member-owned venue, which Hernandez acknowledges has had “great days and challenging days,” features an 18-hole, George Cobb-designed golf course. . . . Middleton Golf Course, an 18-hole layout co-designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Bill Robinson, will end its 54-year run next month. The town of Middleton, a northern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, has agreed to pay $3.8 million for the course’s 52 acres, which will be developed with community facilities. . . . For $1 million, and as part of what’s been called “a public service,” the city of Moberly, Missouri has acquired Heritage Hills Golf Course. Heritage Hills feature an 18-hole layout that opened in 1965, and the city believes that it can “figure out operational activities in a timely manner.”
Duly Noted – Later this year, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman expects to start selling “branded” CBD products to “active adult men and women” across America. Like other aging Baby Boomers, the LB has taken to complaining about the “significant wear and tear” that life has taken on his body, and he’s presumably discovered that CBD, a non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana, can provide relief. . . . Speaking of the LB, Sandals Resorts International has pulled the plug on its proposed golf resort on the island of Tobago. The resort was supposed to feature a Norman-designed track that would lure “international tournaments” and make Tobago “a golfing destination.” . . . The self-described “world leader in private clubs” has hired Robert Morse, a former president of hospitality for Caesars Entertainment Corporation, as its chief operating officer. ClubCorp believes that Morse’s “wealth of operational knowledge” will prove to be valuable as it “transforms to a lifestyle company.”
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
The Saudi Golf Federation, its eyes trained on what’s said to be “a large, young, and affluent population with a growing interest in sports,” claims to be “committed” to building somewhere between 13 and 20 golf courses by 2030, at least some them to take shape in the puritanical kingdom’s forthcoming “economic cities.” If such dreams come true – for an untested golf market, a course a year for the next decade is a tall order – Saudi Arabia is going to emerge as a certified hot spot for golf development.
Of course, it’s appropriate to wonder who’s going to fill the tee times and membership rolls on a dozen or more courses, as a Chinese news agency reports that Saudi Arabia has only 220 homegrown “registered” golfers, along with an estimated 6,000 other players. And perhaps more importantly, who’s going to design and build all those courses? We already know that European Golf Design is amenable to working in the monarchy, as it created the course that hosted the recent Saudi International, but how many other individuals or firms might be willing to lend credibility to a regime that censors free speech, discriminates against women, assassinates journalists, and slaughters innocent people in Yemen?
Saudi Arabia will likely soon be a wonderful opportunity for the golf industry. It’s also going to expose our industry’s true values.
Pipeline Overflow – Jim Urbina has been tabbed to redesign the nine-hole, par-3 layout that serves as the home course for the First Tee of Greater Portland, in Oregon. The remodeled track, the centerpiece of Seamus Golf Park at the Children’s Course, is being created by Seamus Golf, which built a course in Winter Garden, Florida that’s been called “short, architecturally interesting, and affordable.” . . . A Texas-based turf company reports that Tour 18 and a residential developer have teamed up to build a 2,000-acre golf community in North Houston, Texas. Details are scarce, but history tells us that the course at the to-be-named community will be a replica layout, like the Tour 18 venue in nearby Humble. . . . Glasgow Golf & Country Club, a venue in greater Bowling Green, Kentucky that was shuttered last year, may be revived. John Riley, the owner of a fireplace store, aims to buy and reopen the 85-year-old club, which is currently controlled by a local bank.
Traditional Golf Properties has found a buyer for the last of the three Richmond, Virginia-area golf venues it put on the market in 2017. Late last year Joe Sanders, the owner of a local construction company, paid $800,000 for the dormant Stonehouse Golf Club (a.k.a. Tradition Club at Stonehouse), a 23-year-old property in Toano that features an 18-hole, Mike Strantz-designed layout. “The more I did the math, the more I thought it was a good buy and a reasonable investment if the business is run correctly,” Sanders told Richmond Biz Sense. In separate transactions last year, Traditional sold Brickshire Golf Club and Royal New Kent Golf Club. The company took a major haircut on Stonehouse, for which it reportedly paid $5 million in 2001. The price appeared to be a deep discount at the time, considering that Stonehouse’s previous owner had, according to the magazine, paid $16.3 million for the club in 1997.
Surplus Transactions – On the final day of 2018, Joseph Hernandez, described as a “New York biotechnology entrepreneur” and a “philanthropist with ties to the University of Florida,” paid an undisclosed price for Gainesville Country Club. The 56-year-old, member-owned venue, which Hernandez acknowledges has had “great days and challenging days,” features an 18-hole, George Cobb-designed golf course. . . . Middleton Golf Course, an 18-hole layout co-designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Bill Robinson, will end its 54-year run next month. The town of Middleton, a northern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, has agreed to pay $3.8 million for the course’s 52 acres, which will be developed with community facilities. . . . For $1 million, and as part of what’s been called “a public service,” the city of Moberly, Missouri has acquired Heritage Hills Golf Course. Heritage Hills feature an 18-hole layout that opened in 1965, and the city believes that it can “figure out operational activities in a timely manner.”
Duly Noted – Later this year, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman expects to start selling “branded” CBD products to “active adult men and women” across America. Like other aging Baby Boomers, the LB has taken to complaining about the “significant wear and tear” that life has taken on his body, and he’s presumably discovered that CBD, a non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana, can provide relief. . . . Speaking of the LB, Sandals Resorts International has pulled the plug on its proposed golf resort on the island of Tobago. The resort was supposed to feature a Norman-designed track that would lure “international tournaments” and make Tobago “a golfing destination.” . . . The self-described “world leader in private clubs” has hired Robert Morse, a former president of hospitality for Caesars Entertainment Corporation, as its chief operating officer. ClubCorp believes that Morse’s “wealth of operational knowledge” will prove to be valuable as it “transforms to a lifestyle company.”
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
Sunday, February 3, 2019
The Week That Was, february 3, 2019
Alice Dye’s death leaves a void in an industry controlled by privileged men.
Dye, who died last week at 91, was an individual of great accomplishments as an amateur player and course designer and a determined advocate for the place of women in a sport that routinely shuns them. The men who’ve so far commented on her passing remember her as “a trailblazer,” “the Patron Saint of the Forward Tee,” the “consummate partner” to her much more famous husband, and “the first lady of golf architecture.”
That last phrase strikes a particular chord for me, because I remember a comment Dye made almost exactly a year ago, when she recalled what “a struggle” it was for her to become the first female member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. And I can’t help but note that not one of the many obituaries I’ve read since I learned of her death reached out to a woman for a tribute. If anyone needs further proof that golf remains fundamentally an old boys’ club, there it is.
The men who grip the levers of power in our business need to recognize and remove the obstacles that women have to overcome in order to make valuable, lasting contributions. If there’s a lesson to be learned from a person’s life, that was Dye’s.
Greg Norman is capitalizing on his role as Vietnam’s tourism ambassador. In a conversation with Golf magazine, “the Living Brand” reports that he hopes to start building a golf course next year on property that has “sand dunes that dwarf anything you’ve seen.” He’s also snooping around for golf-friendly sites outside the city of Sa Pả, in mountainous Lào Cai Province. Unfortunately, he provided no details. For some perspective, Lonely Planet says that Sa Pả’s tiny, remote villages, in the northwestern part of the nation, seem “a world apart,” and Wikipedia remarks that the people who live in the area are “very poor even by Vietnam’s rural standards.”
The ink hadn’t even dried on its contract with Genzon Golf Club before European Tour Properties added another property to its fast-growing collection of branded destinations. The tour’s second signee of 2019 (and its third in the past three months) is Constance Lemuria, a high-priced, 250-acre resort on Praslin, a tropical island in the Seychelles that Lonely Planet regards as “a wicked seductress” with “lots of temptations.” Constance Lemuria is home to the only 18-hole course in the Seychelles, a track that was co-designed by Rodney Wright and Marc Antoine Farry, a Frenchman who used to play on the European Tour. Top 100 Golf Courses considers it to be “quite a fine golf course,” and an online reviewer says it’s set in a landscape that’s “so beautiful it becomes almost impossible to describe.” Constance Lemuria resort is owned by Constance Hotels & Resorts, which also maintains a 36-hole complex at its resort on Mauritius, another island in the Indian Ocean. In a press release, the tour said it was “committed to building the reputation of the venue.”
Peter Thomson’s former design associates at now-defunct Thomson Perrett & Lobb have set out to blaze fresh trails with new partners. South Melbourne, Australia-based Ross Perrett has joined Karrie Webb, a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, to create Perrett Webb, while Tim Lobb, who operates out of an office in London, England, is looking to find clients in Canada via a collaboration with Alex Hay, who used to work for European Golf Design. The Lobb-Hay venture hasn’t yet signed any contracts (in a press release, Hay reports that it has “a number of exciting prospects that we are reviewing”), but Perrett Webb has been commissioned to turn Indooroopilly Golf Club, in suburban Brisbane, Queensland, into “a world-class facility.”
Year over year, the number of rounds played on South Carolina’s Grand Strand, a bellwether of the U.S. golf market, fell by more than 7 percent in 2018. The culprit, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, is “one of the worst weather years in memory.” On the bright side, however, course owners and operators in the Myrtle Beach area expect an uptick this year.
ClubCorp, once a golf company but now a self-described “lifestyle company,” has a master plan for growth that involves upscale dining, aquatics, fitness, wellness, racket sports, and various forms of family-based entertainments, including high-tech golf gaming. David Pillsbury, the company’s CEO, thinks such family-friendly, “low-friction” attractions can function as a gateway to golf, which, as he and many others believe, intimidates people with its steep learning curve. ClubCorp’s idea is to introduce the sport in enjoyable, easily digestible nuggets and, slowly but surely, get its members hooked on it.
“I believe that for decades now that most of the problems in golf are self-inflicted,” Pillsbury explained in an interview with the National Golf Foundation. “We don’t have a demand problem or an interest problem, we have a conversion problem. That’s a function of our inability as an industry to convert people who are interested in the game into becoming golfers. That’s because there’s so much friction in the process of conversion. So, what we’re after is taking that friction away, using all the contemporary tools to make golf more attractive, more fun, less intimidating, so we can migrate people down the funnel to ultimately become core, avid golfers. We believe, certainly within our ecosystem, you might start out as a fitness member, but if we’ve done our job, five or 10 years later you should be enjoying golf. That’s up to us. We have to manage that conversion from interest to trial. That’s where I think the industry has fallen short.”
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
Dye, who died last week at 91, was an individual of great accomplishments as an amateur player and course designer and a determined advocate for the place of women in a sport that routinely shuns them. The men who’ve so far commented on her passing remember her as “a trailblazer,” “the Patron Saint of the Forward Tee,” the “consummate partner” to her much more famous husband, and “the first lady of golf architecture.”
That last phrase strikes a particular chord for me, because I remember a comment Dye made almost exactly a year ago, when she recalled what “a struggle” it was for her to become the first female member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. And I can’t help but note that not one of the many obituaries I’ve read since I learned of her death reached out to a woman for a tribute. If anyone needs further proof that golf remains fundamentally an old boys’ club, there it is.
The men who grip the levers of power in our business need to recognize and remove the obstacles that women have to overcome in order to make valuable, lasting contributions. If there’s a lesson to be learned from a person’s life, that was Dye’s.
Greg Norman is capitalizing on his role as Vietnam’s tourism ambassador. In a conversation with Golf magazine, “the Living Brand” reports that he hopes to start building a golf course next year on property that has “sand dunes that dwarf anything you’ve seen.” He’s also snooping around for golf-friendly sites outside the city of Sa Pả, in mountainous Lào Cai Province. Unfortunately, he provided no details. For some perspective, Lonely Planet says that Sa Pả’s tiny, remote villages, in the northwestern part of the nation, seem “a world apart,” and Wikipedia remarks that the people who live in the area are “very poor even by Vietnam’s rural standards.”
The ink hadn’t even dried on its contract with Genzon Golf Club before European Tour Properties added another property to its fast-growing collection of branded destinations. The tour’s second signee of 2019 (and its third in the past three months) is Constance Lemuria, a high-priced, 250-acre resort on Praslin, a tropical island in the Seychelles that Lonely Planet regards as “a wicked seductress” with “lots of temptations.” Constance Lemuria is home to the only 18-hole course in the Seychelles, a track that was co-designed by Rodney Wright and Marc Antoine Farry, a Frenchman who used to play on the European Tour. Top 100 Golf Courses considers it to be “quite a fine golf course,” and an online reviewer says it’s set in a landscape that’s “so beautiful it becomes almost impossible to describe.” Constance Lemuria resort is owned by Constance Hotels & Resorts, which also maintains a 36-hole complex at its resort on Mauritius, another island in the Indian Ocean. In a press release, the tour said it was “committed to building the reputation of the venue.”
Peter Thomson’s former design associates at now-defunct Thomson Perrett & Lobb have set out to blaze fresh trails with new partners. South Melbourne, Australia-based Ross Perrett has joined Karrie Webb, a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, to create Perrett Webb, while Tim Lobb, who operates out of an office in London, England, is looking to find clients in Canada via a collaboration with Alex Hay, who used to work for European Golf Design. The Lobb-Hay venture hasn’t yet signed any contracts (in a press release, Hay reports that it has “a number of exciting prospects that we are reviewing”), but Perrett Webb has been commissioned to turn Indooroopilly Golf Club, in suburban Brisbane, Queensland, into “a world-class facility.”
Year over year, the number of rounds played on South Carolina’s Grand Strand, a bellwether of the U.S. golf market, fell by more than 7 percent in 2018. The culprit, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, is “one of the worst weather years in memory.” On the bright side, however, course owners and operators in the Myrtle Beach area expect an uptick this year.
ClubCorp, once a golf company but now a self-described “lifestyle company,” has a master plan for growth that involves upscale dining, aquatics, fitness, wellness, racket sports, and various forms of family-based entertainments, including high-tech golf gaming. David Pillsbury, the company’s CEO, thinks such family-friendly, “low-friction” attractions can function as a gateway to golf, which, as he and many others believe, intimidates people with its steep learning curve. ClubCorp’s idea is to introduce the sport in enjoyable, easily digestible nuggets and, slowly but surely, get its members hooked on it.
“I believe that for decades now that most of the problems in golf are self-inflicted,” Pillsbury explained in an interview with the National Golf Foundation. “We don’t have a demand problem or an interest problem, we have a conversion problem. That’s a function of our inability as an industry to convert people who are interested in the game into becoming golfers. That’s because there’s so much friction in the process of conversion. So, what we’re after is taking that friction away, using all the contemporary tools to make golf more attractive, more fun, less intimidating, so we can migrate people down the funnel to ultimately become core, avid golfers. We believe, certainly within our ecosystem, you might start out as a fitness member, but if we’ve done our job, five or 10 years later you should be enjoying golf. That’s up to us. We have to manage that conversion from interest to trial. That’s where I think the industry has fallen short.”
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
