The Week That Was, march 24, 2019

     Lennar Corporation aims to build an 18-hole golf course at Greenbriar Downs, a seniors-only community that will take shape in an unincorporated area south of St. Johns, in the western part of St. Johns County, Florida. In addition to the golf course, the 784-acre community, which has been kicking around since 2016, has been master-planned to include 818 houses and retail and commercial space. According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, Lennar’s rezoning application promised that home buyers would enjoy “structured activities, socialization, and a sense of community.” The planned course will be private, and Lennar reportedly expects it to provide “a different kind of experience.” A designer hasn’t been identified, but Lennar is working on two other golf communities in Florida, both of which will feature tracks designed by Gordy Lewis.

     Pipeline Overflow – Hills Golf Club, arguably New Zealand’s premier tournament venue, has unveiled its Darius Oliver-designed, free-form golf course. Oliver says that the nine-hole track, known as the Farm and inspired by layouts such as Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes, is full of “fun holes” that will allow the Hills’ members to “make their round as easy or as difficult as they wish.” . . . Golfasian reports that Dagon Golf City, the centerpiece of an upscale community in Yangon, Myanmar, has unveiled its 18-hole, Phil Ryan-designed golf course. The Bangkok-based travel operator thinks the track is “worthy of a play for anyone interested in golf in Myanmar,” but it obviously has reservations, for it noted that “many holes look like they have been squeezed together to the point that landing areas are almost non-existent.” . . . Nor is Golfasian particularly keen on Blue Star Golf Course, a new, 18-hole track outside Kanchanaburi, Thailand. The company says that the course, designed by Blue Sapphire Construction, is “a bit tricked up in parts” and “hilly and challenging,” with greens that are “severely tapered to make scoring well even more difficult.”

     An LLC linked to Charles Staples, the CEO of Manassas, Virginia-based Fore Golf Partners, has agreed to sell Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club, a venue in Seminole, Florida that once hosted men’s and women’s professional events. Though the club “appears to be thriving,” according to the Tampa Bay Times, the prospective owners, a pair of development groups, appear set to end its 48-year run. They aim to turn the club’s 150 acres into a master-planned community, provided that they can successfully negotiate the entitlement process. Bardmoor, which opened in 1971, features an 18-hole, Bill Diddle-designed golf course, and Staples’ Bayou Golf LCC reportedly paid $12.5 million for it in 2006.

     Duly Noted, Special Wall-to-Wall Greg Norman Edition. “The Living Brand,” who it’s said “now transcends the game of golf,” has affixed his name to what he insists is “the best jerky available,” one made of, in the words of a press release, “beautifully marbled, savory, authentic Australian Wagyu beef.” The product, which comes in two flavors, gets mixed reviews on Amazon, where it sells for $10.99 for 2.5 ounces. . . . The LB has also decided to compete with Starbucks. In partnership with a Vietnamese company, he intends to open a chain of coffee shops in Asia, with the hope of eventually bringing some Greg Norman NutiCafés to the United States. According to a newspaper in Hồ Chí Minh City, Norman believes that Vietnamese coffee is “much more tasty than the coffee in Western countries.” . . . Finally, the LB has unveiled the first house that he and his wife have designed for what’s being marketed as the “most exclusive address” at Rancho San Lucas, an oceanfront community in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The single-family houses, said to be “a natural continuation of Greg’s distinctive lifestyle,” will range in price from $3.5 million to $7 million, while the high-rise condos are expected to fetch $1.5 million to $4.3 million.

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