The Week That Was, october 13, 2019

     Earth won’t likely be moved for several years, but David McLay Kidd has been directed to bring what’s been described as “a destination golf experience” to Westport, Washington, a town along the Pacific coast west of Olympia. Assuming that an LLC led by Ryann Day can persuade enough hearts and minds, Kidd’s “artisanal,” world-class track will take shape in Westport Light State Park, a 600-acre spread, and be accompanied by a 40-room inn. At a recent public meeting, Kidd drew comparisons to St. Andrews in Scotland and Bandon Dunes in Oregon, both of which feature his work, and promised “to find a way to wind a course through [the park].” Local residents appear to be warm to Day’s proposal, and the state has set out to do “a deep dive to find out what we know, what we don’t know, and what we need to know.”  

     Pipeline Overflow – The translation leaves much to be desired, but it appears that the city of Belgrade, Serbia may enlist private-sector investors to build an 18-hole golf course. The track would be part of a 180-acre indoor/outdoor recreation complex, and if it’s actually built, it would be Serbia’s third. . . . Sun Group, the company responsible for the popular, award-winning Bà Nà Hills Golf Club in greater Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, has hired IMG Golf to design a course in the nation’s Lào Cai Province, which borders China’s Yunnan Province. Golfasian reports that the course, appropriately named Lào Cai Golf Club, is expected to debut in late 2020. It’ll be one of nearly a dozen that IMG has done in the socialist republic. . . . Johncorp, a home builder in Northern Ireland, has set out to downsize the 18-hole track at Mount Ober Golf & Country Club, in suburban Belfast, to create space for 65 single-family houses. The property’s forthcoming nine-hole course, accompanied by a new clubhouse, will complement the practice facilities at the existing Knockbracken Golf Centre.

     Courses continue to drop like flies, and my backlog of recent course closings has reached historic proportions. Here are the ones I can document this month:
     – Northwood Country Club, a ClubCorp-owned property in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, will go dark unless a buyer emerges to save it. ClubCorp called the Northwood’s demise a “business decision.” The 60-year-old venue features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Willard Byrd and George Cobb.
     – Inverrary Country Club and its 36-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf complex will go belly up in June 2020. The club, once the host of PGA Tour events, is reportedly being financially squeezed by the “oversupply of golf courses in Florida,” and its ownership group intends to develop its 292-acre property.
     – Valley Green Golf & Country Club, in suburban Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, will end its 55-year run at the end of the current golf season. Linda Rusnock, the club’s owner, told a local newspaper that she and her 18-hole, X. G. Hassenplug-designed golf course “had a great run.”
     – Indian Wells Golf Club, a 35-year-old venue outside Myrtle Beach, South Carolina that’s owned by Chinese investors, will shut its doors by the end of the year. Founders Group aims to develop the club’s 150 acres, currently the home of an 18-hole, Gene Hamm-designed course.
     – South Grove Golf Course, an 18-hole municipal track in Indianapolis, Indiana, will drop dead at a to-be-determined date in the future, probably after the 2024 golf season. The city pulled the plug on its nine-hole Riverside course earlier this year, and its entire golf portfolio is suffering from what the Indianapolis Business Journal called “steady declines in revenue, less interest in playing the sport, and millions of dollars in needed facility upgrades.”
     – Diablo Grande Golf & Country Club, having lost its Jack Nicklaus-designed course in 2014, is about to lose its remaining Denis Griffiths/Gene Sarazen-designed layout. Citing “financial challenges” and “reasons beyond our control,” the owners of the club, outside Modesto, California, called the closing “temporary,” presumably because they hope to find a buyer.
     – VanderView Golf Course, a nine-hole, executive-length layout in southwestern New York that’s said to be “a great place for beginners, a great place for women, a great place for seniors,” will close later this year. Tony Galeazzo, who’s owned VanderView since 1999, wants to retire, and he’s likewise hoping to find a buyer.
     – Silver Lake Country Club, a 95-year-old venue outside Grand Rapids, Michigan, was expected to close last month. A local television station reports that the club’s owners are negotiating a sale of their property to a developer.
     – Shawnee State Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Friendship, Ohio that was co-designed by Jack Kidwell and Michael Hurdzan, will host its final rounds at the end of the 2019 golf season. The state agencies that oversee the 40-year-old property believe it can no longer operate profitably and figure to replace it with recreational amenities.
     – Westpark Golf Club, a long-threatened 130-acre property in Leesburg, Virginia, will be sold to a home builder and replaced with housing. The club, which had been in business since 1968, features an 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed golf course.
     – Sinnissippi Park Golf Club has been recommended for what’s been called “permanent closure” by park district officials in Rockford, Illinois. The club, which features a nine-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed course that’s operated since 1912, will reportedly lose $100,000 this season.
     – Deer Ridge Golf Club, a 15-year-old venue in Brentwood, California that’s said to have experienced “huge losses through the years,” has now experienced “a permanent closure.” The owners of Deer Ridge, which features an 18-hole, Andy Raugust-designed golf course, blamed the club’s passing on “ever-increasing maintenance, operational cost, and lower revenues.”  

     Duly Noted – Bandon Dunes has opened the first nine holes of its Coore & Crenshaw-designed Sheep Ranch course, and Golf magazine is already convinced that the full 18, which debuts next summer, will surpass Pacific Dunes as the resort’s number-one track. Sometimes I wonder why Mike Keiser would spend even a nickel on marketing. . . . It appears that the U.S. military needs to book a lot more troops for overnight stays at Trump Turnberry. The historic Scottish golf resort lost more than £10.7 million ($13.5 million) last year, and its balance sheet is roughly £43 million ($54.4 million) in the red since our nation’s businessman/president bought it in 2014. . . . Forever in search of a fresh income stream, Tiger Woods has set out to design putting courses for what’s being billed as a “technology-infused golf-entertainment concept.” Translation: Upmarket mini-golf with pricey food and drinks. In a press release, Woods calls the new venture “a natural extension of my golf course design philosophy and my TGR Design business.”

     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 recently, 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.