The Week That Was, september 15, 2019

     Last week, in connection with a story that I’m writing for Golf, Inc., I had the pleasure of talking with Robert Trent Jones, Jr. He’s a terrific and fun interview, but not an easy one. Because he’s well-educated, well-read, well-traveled, and well-connected, he often takes a philosophical or historical detour before and after he answers questions.
     I’m not going to tell you what my forthcoming story is about. What I’m going to do is list some of the subjects that came up during our 70-minute conversation. Here goes:
     Monet’s garden. The blues. The assassination of South Korea’s president in 1979. Disorder and chaos. Simplicity versus complexity in golf design. Friedrich Nietsche. Best-of lists. CEOs who are passionate golfers. Snow angels. Why it’s difficult to create “interesting” golf courses. Golf-related clickbait. Greg Norman. The future of Donald Trump’s golf properties. Flatland architecture versus three-dimensional architecture. The way Bryson DeChambeau resembles Richard Wagner. What it means to be a pioneer. Oral histories. The Asian golf mentality. The beginning of the naturalist school of golf architecture. Golf magazines that are perceived as being controlled by advertisers. The California Coastal Commission. What it’s like to work in countries where people don’t know anything about golf. George Walker Bush. Rock music. Harmony in golf architecture. Things that make a golf course seem beautiful.
     I’m already looking for an excuse to call him again.

     Some of the most powerful people in golf want you to believe that reports of erosion in play and participation are largely a media fabrication. So let’s hear what the president of Sierra Golf Management has to say on the subject. “Golf is a declining sport,” Jeff Christensen recently told the Sonora Union Democrat, “and we’re seeing the mortality of a lot of golf courses that might not weather the change in golf. That person who was 45 and playing golf is 70-plus now, and the game’s gotten too time-consuming.”
     With those words ringing in our ears, let’s document some recent closings.
     – Phoenix Lake Golf Course, a nine-hole, Bert Stamp-designed layout in Sonora, California, will shut its doors next month. “I’m getting older, and it’s time to move on,” one of the owners told the Sonora Union Democrat. The 50-year-old venue, which is said to be debt free, is for sale.
     – Royce Brook Golf Course, a 36-hole facility outside New Brunswick, New Jersey, needs a financial jolt, and it aims to get one by selling one of its Steve Smyers-designed 18s to a home builder. Billy Casper Golf, which bought Royce Brook in 2007, says the transaction, if completed, will “insure long-term operation.”
     – Glenn Dale Golf Club and its 18-hole, George Cobb-designed golf course have gone dark, following what the Washington Post describes as “years of financial woes.” Glenn Dale opened in 1956, as Prospect Hill Country Club, and its 125 acres are now owed by a home builder.
     – Swan Lakes Golf Course, a nine-hole, executive-length track in Layton, Utah, closed earlier this month, after being sold to a local development group. Swan Lakes’ owners say the course was designed by “the Arnold Palmer group,” but the group doesn’t list it on its website.
     – High Lands Golf Club, a 62-year-old venue in the outer suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, turned out its lights last month. An entity tied to Kassel Property Management bought the former member-owned club and its 18-hole, “Scottish-style” course in 2014, promising to “preserve the atmosphere that attracted people to the club for decades.”
     – The Ponds at Battle Creek, which is said to be one of the top nine-hole tracks in Minnesota, will be shuttered at the end of the 2020 golf season. The Garrett Gill-designed course in suburban St. Paul, reportedly the worst performer in Ramsey County’s golf portfolio, has lost money in eight of the past 10 years.
     – Cypress Creek Golf Course may not officially be among the dearly departed, but the 18-hole track in Laurinburg, North Carolina hasn’t operated since this time last year, when Hurricane Florence blew through the area. The Laurinburg Exchange reports that the venue “remains padlocked and visibly neglected.”
     – Old Orchard Golf Course, an 18-hole, executive-length layout in Elkhart, Indiana that’s filled “a niche for beginners and women players” since 1966, will close next month. WSBT-TV reports that Coleman Davis has sold his under-performing, 53-year-old property to a developer.
     – Sedgewood Country Club, a 187-acre spread in suburban Columbia, South Carolina, has been sold to a pick-your-own farm operation. The club, which features an 18-hole, Russell Breeden-designed golf course, opened in 1965 and reportedly “fell on hard times” in recent decades.

     Duly Noted – Earlier this year, FLC Group, one of Vietnam’s top golf developers, declared that it aims to develop “about 100 courses” across the nation. Seeing as how the socialist republic has a cap on development – it’s currently set at a total of 96 courses for all developers – FLC’s goal begs a question: Does it know something the rest of us don’t? . . . Through the first half of this year, according to the National Golf Foundation, the number of rounds played in the United States fell by 1 percent from the number posted in 2018. In typical fashion, the NGF blames the decline on “increased precipitation” in various regions of the country. . . . Marsh Benson, the inventor of the SubAir moisture-control system that’s widely used on high-end golf venues all over the world, has won the 2020 Don A. Rossi Award for his contributions to the golf industry. The Golf Course Builders Association of America will formally present the honor to Benson in January, at the Golf Industry Show.

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