The Week That Was, march 17, 2019

   Tara Iti, the acclaimed, Tom Doak-designed private layout on New Zealand’s North Island, may soon have some daily-fee company. The New Zealand Herald reports that Ric Kayne, the wealthy financier responsible for Tara Iti, aims to turn a nearby slice of paradise into what he believes will be a “world golfing destination.”
     “We intend to create a treasure unlike any other place in the world,” Kayne told the newspaper.
     Specifically, Kayne wants to build a pair of “beachfront links-style courses,” one by Doak and the other by Coore & Crenshaw, on part of a 1,900-acre spread located just south of his exclusive, high-priced club. The courses will serve as drawing cards for Mangawhai South Forest, which will also feature 60 houses, overnight accommodations for travelers, a campground, and a shopping area.
     The project has been percolating for several years. Mangawhai South Forest will take shape on land that Kayne intends to lease from the Ngāti Manuhiri people, a Māori tribe, outside the town of Leigh, some 80 miles north of Auckland. The tribe figures that Kayne’s idea will “realize the potential for the land” as well as “tribal aspirations, both commercial and cultural.” The lease has to be approved by several government agencies, but Kayne appears to have clear sailing ahead.
     Kayne has a net worth of $1.3 billion, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal. He hasn’t announced the role that Tara Iti will play in his “world golfing destination,” but it’s hard to imagine bucket-list golfers making the trek to a remote part of New Zealand without having an opportunity to play the track that Golf Digest ranks as the sixth-best in the world.
     One last thing: As if the similarities weren’t obvious, Kayne has acknowledged that his venture in New Zealand has been inspired by Bandon Dunes, the impeccable golf destination on Oregon’s Pacific coast. There’s some mutual admiration involved here, because two years ago Mike Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes, told me that Doak’s track at Tara Iti was “the most beautiful golf course I’ve ever seen.”  

     Pipeline Overflow – Collier Enterprises aims to build an 18-hole golf course at Rivergrass Village, a forthcoming community in the mostly undeveloped eastern part of Collier County, Florida. Rivergrass Village, which has been master-planned for 2,500 houses, will be Collier Enterprises’ second golf community. The company also owns Old Collier Golf Club, a venue in Naples that features a Tom Fazio-designed track. . . . An entity affiliated with a Chinese development group has secured permission to build a resort community in Botum Sakor National Park, in southwestern Cambodia. According to the Phnom Penh Post, the community will feature houses, 800 hotel rooms, an amusement park, a water park, and other attractions, including a golf course. . . . Last fall, a group led by Marcos Malespin broke ground on Vistas del Pedregal Golf & Country Club, a venue outside Santo Domingo that will feature Greg Norman’s first course in the Dominican Republic. “The Living Brand” promises that the 18-hole track will offer “a unique experience for generations of golfers to come.”

     Sasada Sports International has reportedly paid $11.3 million for Willows Run Golf Course, a 45-hole complex in suburban Seattle, Washington. “My family shares a passion for golf,” Yuki Sasada said in a press release. “We’re looking forward to sharing the sport with generations to come at Willows Run.” Willows Run, which occupies 300 acres, features a pair of 18-hole regulation-length courses (both co-designed by Ted Locke and Lisa Maki), a “family-friendly” nine-hole track, and an 18-hole putting course. An affiliate of Vulcan, Inc., a holding company created by Paul Allen, the late co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, had owned Willows Run since 1993. Vulcan put the property on the market roughly a year ago.

     Surplus Transactions – The heirs of John G. Williams have sold their Liberty Forge Golf Course, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, to their food-and-beverage provider. Altland House paid $1.5 million for Liberty Forge, an executive-length track that’s said to be “challenging for the serious golfer yet very playable for the ‘weekend warrior.’” . . . The brothers who own a Pittsburgh-area funeral home have sold their 50-percent interest in River Forest Country Club, which has operated in Freeport since 1964. R. Gary and J. Rodney Duster are out, and Robert and Jamy Rankin have become Steve Irwin’s new partners. . . . For a little more than $1 million, Mark Lovell has become the sole owner of Stonebridge Golf Course, an 18-hole, George Cobb-designed layout in suburban Memphis, Tennessee. Lovell had previously owned Stonebridge with his brother-in-law, with whom he reportedly has “legal disputes.”

     Phil “the Gambler” Mickelson apparently doesn’t want to make a bad bet on his kids’ college educations. For the past three years, he and his wife have been clients of Rick Singer’s criminally corrupt Edge College & Career Network, which secured admissions at elite schools for undeserving students by engaging in cheating and bribery. “He was highly recommended by numerous friends that checked out, so we ended up using him,” Mickelson acknowledged in comments published by Golf Channel. Mickelson emphasized, however, that he and his family were “probably more shocked than anyone” to learn of Singer’s illegal activities and were “obviously” not part of any fraud, despite the testimonial that they provided to Singer’s website. In an example of the privileges that come with wealth and fame, Mickelson said that “schools are like fighting to get” students like his children, due to their “grades and their outside activities, and their worldly views on things.” The Mickelsons’ daughter, Amanda, is reportedly a sophomore at Brown University, while their other two children are still in high school.

     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 – a weekly compendium of stories collected from newspapers, magazines, and other sources – 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.