The Week That Was, july 14, 2019

     At long last, Cleve Trimble’s proposed world-class golf course in the Sand Hills of Nebraska is taking shape. Unfortunately, the forthcoming 18-hole track, located on property adjacent to the Prairie Club in Valentine, is being built largely without Trimble, who’s now involved in the venture only as a “respected elderly consultant.” Last year Trimble, who once owned the Prairie Club, sold the tract that’s to become the home of the Ranch Golf Club to an investment group led by John Schuele, the president of a firm that manages investments for the fellow who founded Gateway Computers. Schuele has renewed ties with Trimble’s architect of choice, Gil Hanse, who told the Omaha World-Herald that he’s working on “a property I loved from the moment I walked on it.” The new owners plan to build some cottages for overnight stays, but they aren’t promoting the “haunting serenity” that Trimble once promised, maybe because they fear it might scare off potential members.

     Pipeline Overflow – Only a year ago, Nicklaus Design bragged of having so much work in Asia and Southeast Asia that “it is sometimes a challenge to keep up with it.” The challenge appears to have been met, because the empire has announced that it’s “finalizing agreements for additional new projects in Thailand, China, and Vietnam.” . . . Politico suggests that the Trump Organization’s partnership with MNC Land won’t be limited to the two previously announced resorts in Indonesia. Although it provides no details, MNC has indicated that an “aggressive global expansion” of Trump-branded properties in on the horizon, with “numerous projects in the pipeline.” . . . An Arizona-based developer hopes to re-imagine the 18-hole, Press Maxwell-designed layout at a recently deceased club in Germantown, Tennessee as a nine-hole short course that’s “fun, but still challenging.” Millennium Companies intends “to maintain the spirit and memories of Germantown Country Club” by surrounding its proposed Forrest Richardson-designed track with single-family houses, townhouses, and a shopping area.

     Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, the owner of the destination-worthy Cedar Point amusement park outside Cleveland, Ohio (it’s the self-described “roller coaster capital of the world”), has sprung for what’s said to be the fourth solo design by Tom Fazio. The 18-hole layout, the first in Cedar Fair’s fast-growing real-estate portfolio, is the centerpiece of the nearby Sawmill Creek Resort, a faded lakefront spread that features a 236-room hotel, meeting space, a marina, and, naturally, a shopping area. Cedar Fair reportedly paid $13.5 million for the 235-acre property.

     Surplus Transactions – A development group has paid $24 million for Park Hill Golf Club, an 88-year-old venue in Denver, Colorado. Westside Investment Partners hasn’t outlined its plans for the club’s 155 acres, but affordable houses and a shopping area appear to be the prime considerations. . . . The clock is ticking on Golden Gate Country Club, a 53-year-old property in Naples, Florida that features an 18-hole, Dick Wilson-designed layout. Elected officials in Collier County have voted to pay $29.1 million for the club, as they believe its 167 acres are well-suited for houses and office space, although one commissioner thinks the area can support a 12-hole course. . . . For an undisclosed price, a Texas-based investment group has acquired Five Oaks Golf & Country Club, an 18-year-old venue in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. The new owners plan to “get to know some membership and get to know the area and try and figure out what works and what doesn't work.”

     The municipal golf operations in Louisville, Kentucky and Portland, Oregon are being squeezed by all the oft-cited financial pressures, and both cities are considering substantive changes, including course closures. Here’s a bit of what else is happening on Desolation Row:
     – Deer Run Golf Course, known upon its opening (in 2003) as Country Club of Deer Run, is nowadays reportedly “not a pretty sight to see,” with “dead greens, burnt grass, and an empty parking lot.” Bob Dello Russo and some partners paid $1.5 million for the then-struggling 18-hole Lloyd Clifton-designed layout in Casselberry, Florida in 2005, and now they’ve pulled the plug on it. A former employee asserted that the owners had “not put any money into the golf course in a few years.”
     – Gypsy Hill Golf Course will operate through 2020, but after that all bets are off. City officials in Staunton, Virginia have reportedly been thinking for years about closing the money-losing 18-hole layout, which this year celebrates its 100th birthday.
     – Ranchland Hills Country Club, an 18-hole golf course in Midland, Texas, will operate for another year or two, but it’ll eventually become the site of a new high school. The Midland Independent School District recently paid $9.5 million for the 117-acre property, which has been a golf course since 1948.
     – Candlewood Golf Course, a nine-hole track that’s operated in Ipswich, Massachusetts since 1993, reportedly “looks to be a golf course no more,” with fairways that have “knee-high weeds growing in them.” Candlewood’s owners haven’t responded to inquiries from a local newspaper, and they haven’t informed the city about their plans for the property.
     – Golf Club at Ballantyne, a recreational amenity for a 2,000-acre office park in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina, has been sold, and its new owner plans to replace it with apartments, an amphitheater, a town center, and other attractions. The 18-hole course has been in business since 1997.
     – Apple Valley Golf Course, in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, may soon become a subdivision. A planning official told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal that the owner of the nine-hole track “says he’s not making any money.”
     – Mill Creek Golf Course, an 18-hole, Roy Case-design in Geneva, Illinois, has been closed all of this year and part of last year, but its owners are said to be conducting “inspections of the facilities and grounds to determine what needs to be done to open the course for the 2020 season.”
     – Margate Executive Golf Course, a going concern outside Boca Raton since the 1970s, has been targeted for residential development. A division of Lennar Corporation believes that the course is “suffering from the oversupply of golf courses” in South Florida.
     – Northcliffe Golf Course, a Joe Finger-designed track in greater San Antonio, Texas, closed in late May. Though nearby residents want Northcliffe to remain open, it’s said to be one of “at least four other courses” that Darsen Chen, a Taiwanese businessman, has shuttered after, in the words of the San Antonio Express-News, “investment in the course fell off and business declined.”

     Duly Noted – Mike Keiser has organized support for his dream of building an airport within a short drive of Cabot Links, and a Canadian news service reports that government officials at both the provincial and federal levels “are prepared to consider” an $18 million funding package. A critic has called the arguments in favor of construction “thin” and “misleading,” but pressure to increase tourism on Cape Breton Island may prove to be irresistible. . . . Speaking of Mike Keiser, his golf community on Saint Lucia has sparked controversy and, as a result, is experiencing political turbulence. It turns out that the Cabot Point venture is being financed in part (perhaps in large part) by an island-based pension fund, and critics are wondering why their retirement money is being invested in a project that, in one detractor’s words, “enrich private foreign investors.” . . . Forbes is underwhelmed by the recently opened Jack Nicklaus “signature” layout in Ifrane, Morocco. Except for a short stretch of holes on the back nine, the magazine believes that Michlifen Golf Club is “a mixed bag” with “straightforward hole strategies and generic bunker shaping” that make for “a somewhat vanilla game.” Conclusion: “It feels like the kind of course that American ski resorts develop in order to offer a low-season amenity.”

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