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.”

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