For at least the third consecutive year, KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice is using the word “stable” to characterize the state of the golf business in Europe. Translation: As of year-end 2018, the 46 countries surveyed by the big international accounting firm are essentially running in place, chasing growth but not catching it.
It's almost like Groundhog Day. The famous French proverb bears repeating: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
When it comes to the fundamental aspects of the golf economy, KPMG’s data indicates that nothing much changed in the Old World last year. Like the reports KPMG published in 2017 and in 2018, “Golf Participation Report for Europe (2019)” concludes that the overall European market is “still stable” regarding numbers of registered golfers and golf courses in operation and points out that there have been “no substantial changes in the overall supply and demand figures.”
Here’s the data: KPMG has determined that the number of registered golfers in Europe decreased slightly last year, by 0.6 percent (24,396 golfers), while the number of affiliated golf courses was essentially flat (a loss of three courses).
As far as the overall golf participation rate on the Continent goes, it’s a measly 0.5 percent, a number that KPMG acknowledges “has remained stable since 2015.” The report states that 45.5 percent of the surveyed countries registered a decline in participation last year while 31.8 percent registered an increase.
Notably, some of the declines took place in key markets, among them England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Combined, those five countries lost nearly 31,300 golfers. The growth-rate winners, on the other hand, were the Netherlands, Austria, and Norway, which collectively added just over 17,000 registered golfers.
It’s impossible to predict what will happen in Europe’s golf industry in 2019, but I’m betting on more stability.
With their playoff hopes rapidly disappearing, the Carolina Panthers intend to make golf a part of their future. For an as-yet undisclosed price, North Carolina’s professional football team has agreed to buy Waterford Golf Club, a 22-year-old venue that was once part of Jeff Silverstein’s now-defunct Carolina Trail. The team hasn’t outlined any specific plans for Waterford, but one of its top executives has indicated that the idea is “to try to improve it over its current state” and put “a Panthers brand or something that’s even better for the community” on it. The purchase is part of a new beginning for the Panthers, who are currently based in Charlotte but plan to break ground on a new headquarters and training facilities in nearby Rock Hill, South Carolina next spring. Waterford is by happy coincidence located in Rock Hill, just a short drive from the site of the team’s forthcoming new digs. The club, which features an 18-hole, Hale Irwin-designed golf course, has been in the hands of the lender that foreclosed on it in 2014.
Surplus Transactions – Preserve Communities has paid an undisclosed amount for Bay Creek Golf Club, a venue in Cape Charles, Virginia that features a pair of 18-hole “signature” golf courses, one designed by Arnold Palmer and the other by Jack Nicklaus. The purchase is bad news for the Nicklaus track, which will lose nine holes in order to deliver, in Preserve’s words, “the best golf experience for the membership.” . . . Roger Penske will likely soon own one of Pete Dye’s best-known golf courses. An entity tied to the auto-racing legend has agreed to buy the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other assets, one of which is Brickyard Crossing Golf Course, the 18-hole track that famously features four holes within the racetrack’s 2.5-mile oval. The transaction is expected to close early next year. . . . SJS Tomorrow LLC, a Korean company, has acquired Bermuda Dunes Country Club, a venue outside Palm Desert, California that reportedly “helped define the Coachella Valley as a golfing paradise in the 1950s.” Bermuda Dunes, which features a 27-hole complex designed by William F. Bell, is the fifth golf property in SJS’s Southern California collection, joining Bear Creek Golf Club, Dove Canyon Golf Club, Pauma Valley Country Club, and Steele Canyon Golf Club.
Surplus Surplus Transactions – Regarding ClubCorp’s recent purchase of seven “exceptional lifestyle clubs” from Toll Brothers: The Real Deal reports that the Dallas, Texas-based owner/operator paid $8 million for one of the properties, Jupiter Country Club in Jupiter, Florida. The 12-year-old venue features an 18-hole, Greg Norman-designed golf course that it believes is “a dream come true.” . . . A historic golf club in Schenectady, New York has changed hands. An LLC led by Mike Rutherford has reportedly paid $2.16 million for Mohawk Golf Club, a venue that was founded in 1898 and now features an 18-hole Devereux Emmet-designed golf course. The club says that the course is “feared by a few, respected by most, and adored by all who truly love the game.” . . . Alterra Mountain Company, one of the nation’s top four-season resort operators, has agreed to buy Sugarbush, a popular vacation spot in Vermont whose attractions include a Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course. Alterra owns 14 similar properties, several of which have golf courses.
Duly Noted – In the mid 2000s, presumably before he realized its pervasive corruption, the current U.S. president tried to build a golf course in Ukraine. According to Politico, Donald Trump secured permission to build the course, in Kyiv, but for unexplained reasons the venture went nowhere. . . . Bob Moore’s recently opened course in Indonesia, Parahyangan Golf Bandung, has been recognized as the best new track in the Asia Pacific. The Jakarta Post says that he 18-hole course delivers “an unforgettable experience” and “challenges like no other,” while Moore, a principal of JMP Golf Design Group, has described it as “a highly strategic layout” that features “incomparable visual drama.” . . . Speaking of notable accomplishments, a tourism group has named Madeira, an island nation with three golf venues, the newest of which is 15 years old, as the “world’s best emerging golf destination.” Madeira, which most people couldn’t find if their lives depended on it (it’s in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Morocco), claimed the crown over Paris, Portugal, Sicily, Tasmania, Zanzibar, and the state of Missouri.
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Sunday, November 17, 2019
The Week That Was, november 17, 2019
One of the 13 (or maybe 20) golf courses planned to open over the next decade in Saudi Arabia will take shape at a so-called giga-project called Qiddiya that’s conceived to be the arid kingdom’s “capital of entertainment, sports, and the arts.” Qiddiya, which will sprawl across 85,000 acres of desert roughly 30 miles west of Riyadh, has been master-planned to include – take a deep breath – a variety of housing types, a slew of hotels, several concert and entertainment venues, skiing and ice-skating facilities (summer recreation!), a Six Flags theme park, a water park, a motorsports-themed park, a wildlife park, an equestrian center, large indoor and outdoor sports stadiums, an aquatic center, a grand mosque, schools, shopping areas, a hospital, and places to eat and drink. A press release doesn’t say where the water for these attractions (including an 18-hole, “ecologically sensitive” golf course) will come from, but its safe to assume that desalination plants will also be part of the mix. Qiddiya is being developed by an entity owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Company and led by Michael Reininger, who previously had stints with Walt Disney Company and St. Joe Company. Reininger expects to debut phase one of Qiddiya in 2022.
Pipeline Overflow – It’s taken something like 15 years, but FM Group seems to finally be ready to break ground on its Jack Nicklaus golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Aberdeen Evening Express reports that the developers “hope to begin construction” on the 18-hole “signaure” layout at the Ury Estate “by the end of the year.” . . . The owners of Quicksand Golf Course, an 18-hole venue in San Angelo, Texas, will reportedly add nine holes and perhaps a hotel with meeting space. The new nine will complement Quicksand’s 23-year-old, Michael Hurdzan-designed track, which bills itself as “one of the toughest courses in Texas.” . . . Jeff and Patricia Hoops have hired Terry LaGree, a principal of Harmony Links Golf, to design the golf course for their Grand Patrician resort in Milton, West Virginia. LaGree, whose motto is “Delivering Next Generation Golf Today,” intends to produce a “tribute” course whose nine par-3 holes and synthetic greens have been “inspired by the most famous golf holes in the world.”
Pipeline Overflow Overflow – Delhi Golf Club, one of India’s oldest and most exclusive golf venues, is about to debut its Gary Player-redesigned golf complex. The club believes that the re-do will provide “more challenging playing conditions,” serve as “a nurturing ground for budding golfers,” and ultimately be regarded as “one of the best golf courses in the country.” . . . Sometime next spring, Tim Lobb expects to unveil his fourth course in Turkey. The track, which is said to be the first 18-hole course in the nation’s capital city, will be the centerpiece of Regnum Ankara Golf Estate, a 500-acre community with houses tailored to first-time buyers. . . . Come next summer, Johnny Morris’ Big Cedar Lodge expects to open its 18-hole Payne’s Valley course, which Forbes is generously hyping as “a fun, playable, and visually impressive” layout with “great holes throughout.” In addition to Payne’s Valley, the first public venue designed by Tiger Woods, Big Cedar offers golf travelers brand-name work by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Fazio, Tom Watson, and Coore & Crenshaw.
Duly Noted – Topgolf Entertainment Group will soon blaze new frontiers in Asia, as the Dallas, Texas-based company has struck a deal with partners who aim to open 70 Topgolf-branded venues in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and the Philippines. “We’ve done a fairly thorough analysis of cities across the world in which a Topgolf venue could be successful,” the company’s CEO acknowledged in a statement published by Fortune, “and we realized there’s twice the opportunity internationally than exists domestically.” . . . A company that bills itself as “the leading manufacturer of custom needlepoint accessories” is going to put Jack Nicklaus’ good name on “a special Nicklaus Collection” of belts, bar wear, key fobs, and god knows what else. Sadly, a spokesperson for the empire has called such products “the perfect fit for our brand.” . . . When he isn’t stripping naked for photos or protesting against the injustice of the U.S. tax code, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman complains about Tiger Woods’ manners, dreams of living until he’s 110, and draws a direct line between “a pure golf shot” and “having an orgasm.”
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
Pipeline Overflow – It’s taken something like 15 years, but FM Group seems to finally be ready to break ground on its Jack Nicklaus golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Aberdeen Evening Express reports that the developers “hope to begin construction” on the 18-hole “signaure” layout at the Ury Estate “by the end of the year.” . . . The owners of Quicksand Golf Course, an 18-hole venue in San Angelo, Texas, will reportedly add nine holes and perhaps a hotel with meeting space. The new nine will complement Quicksand’s 23-year-old, Michael Hurdzan-designed track, which bills itself as “one of the toughest courses in Texas.” . . . Jeff and Patricia Hoops have hired Terry LaGree, a principal of Harmony Links Golf, to design the golf course for their Grand Patrician resort in Milton, West Virginia. LaGree, whose motto is “Delivering Next Generation Golf Today,” intends to produce a “tribute” course whose nine par-3 holes and synthetic greens have been “inspired by the most famous golf holes in the world.”
Pipeline Overflow Overflow – Delhi Golf Club, one of India’s oldest and most exclusive golf venues, is about to debut its Gary Player-redesigned golf complex. The club believes that the re-do will provide “more challenging playing conditions,” serve as “a nurturing ground for budding golfers,” and ultimately be regarded as “one of the best golf courses in the country.” . . . Sometime next spring, Tim Lobb expects to unveil his fourth course in Turkey. The track, which is said to be the first 18-hole course in the nation’s capital city, will be the centerpiece of Regnum Ankara Golf Estate, a 500-acre community with houses tailored to first-time buyers. . . . Come next summer, Johnny Morris’ Big Cedar Lodge expects to open its 18-hole Payne’s Valley course, which Forbes is generously hyping as “a fun, playable, and visually impressive” layout with “great holes throughout.” In addition to Payne’s Valley, the first public venue designed by Tiger Woods, Big Cedar offers golf travelers brand-name work by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Fazio, Tom Watson, and Coore & Crenshaw.
Duly Noted – Topgolf Entertainment Group will soon blaze new frontiers in Asia, as the Dallas, Texas-based company has struck a deal with partners who aim to open 70 Topgolf-branded venues in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and the Philippines. “We’ve done a fairly thorough analysis of cities across the world in which a Topgolf venue could be successful,” the company’s CEO acknowledged in a statement published by Fortune, “and we realized there’s twice the opportunity internationally than exists domestically.” . . . A company that bills itself as “the leading manufacturer of custom needlepoint accessories” is going to put Jack Nicklaus’ good name on “a special Nicklaus Collection” of belts, bar wear, key fobs, and god knows what else. Sadly, a spokesperson for the empire has called such products “the perfect fit for our brand.” . . . When he isn’t stripping naked for photos or protesting against the injustice of the U.S. tax code, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman complains about Tiger Woods’ manners, dreams of living until he’s 110, and draws a direct line between “a pure golf shot” and “having an orgasm.”
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”
Sunday, November 10, 2019
The Week That Was, november 10, 2019
In what amounts to a fire sale, an entity controlled by HNA Group, a financially besieged Chinese conglomerate, has agreed to sell its golf holdings in the Pacific Northwest. Citing “negative market circumstances,” and noting that it’s been “searching for interested buyers for quite some time,” CWT International Ltd. has announced that it’ll accept $86.5 million for the eight Seattle, Washington-area properties that it purchased from Scott Oki for $137.5 million in 2016. The sale has been triggered by the plight of HNA Group, which is being pressured by Chinese authorities to relieve the massive debt it’s carrying. The prospective purchaser is Magic Radiance, Ltd., a Samoan-registered group led by Elaine Bai, who hasn’t made any public statements about the transaction. For its money, Magic Radiance is getting two 36-hole complexes, Golf Club at Newcastle and Golf Club at Hawks Prairie, and six 18-hole facilities, among them Trophy Lake Golf & Casting Club, Indian Summer Golf & Country Club, Washington National Golf Club, and Golf Club at Redmond Ridge. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, CWT International asserted that it’s been “a challenge” to “identify suitable buyers” and claimed that the golf courses “do not have significant investment appeal.”
Surplus Transactions – A little more than a year after paying “nearly $1 million” for Red Hawk Run Golf Club, in Findlay, Ohio, Nick Reinhart has agreed to sell the 21-year-old venue and its 18-hole, Arthur Hills-designed course to the homeowners’ association in the surrounding community. A local radio station says that Reinhart cited “a significant drop in the number of rounds of golf being played across the country” as his reason for making the sale. . . . For a reported $600,000, Greg and Heather Norsby have purchased Hickory Grove Golf Course, a nine-hole track outside Waterloo, Iowa. The seller, Larry Bomkamp, marketed Hickory Grove, which dates from the mid 1960s, as “the best nine-hole course in Iowa.” . . . Forest Hills Golf Course, a nine-hole, Jack Kidwell-designed layout in suburban Columbus, Ohio, has changed hands. A pair of local couples, operating as Compound Enterprises LLC, paid an undisclosed price the 50-year-old facility, which reportedly has an assessed value of $538,800. The property now operates as Forest Hills Grill & Golf.
The long, slow drain of U.S. golf properties shows no sign of letting up. Here are some recent closings:
– Gulf Hills Golf Club, a venue on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast whose lounge was once frequented by “movie stars, gangsters, and even Elvis Presley,” bit the dust last month. “If you don’t have people walking through the door, you can’t pay the bills,” a board member told WLOX-TV. Gulf Hills, which is for sale for $2.5 million, features an 18-hole, Jack Daray-designed course that dates from 1927.
– Reames Golf & Country Club, a private venue in Klamath Falls, Oregon, is scheduled to end its 94-year run this month. The Herald & News says that the club, which has an 18-hole golf course (the original nine was designed by Chandler Egan), blames its demise on “declining membership and other economic factors.”
– Oak Lake Golf Course, a 34-year-old track in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has closed because its owners reportedly “wanted to do something else with their time.” The owners, the heirs of the late Bernie Conley, have been trying to sell their 18-hole, Fred Garbin-designed course for more than a year.
– Willow Creek Golf Course, a 27-hole, Jim Spear-designed complex in Rochester, Minnesota, is now controlled by a local bank. “After four years of terrible weather, we just couldn’t sustain it any longer,” Wendell Pittenger, the venue’s owner, told the Rochester Post Bulletin. In 2013, financial struggles forced Pittenger to give up his lease on a municipal course in Red Wing, Minnesota.
– Norton Knolls Golf Course, a nine-hole track in that’s operated in Oakland, Illinois since 1969. The course’s owners view golf as being on a “downhill slide” and expect to grow hemp for CBD products on about half their 65 acres.
– Spuyten Duyval, which is said to be “one of the oldest golf courses in the [Toledo, Ohio] area” (it dates from the late 1920s), closed on Halloween. The complex, featuring 27 regulation-length holes and a nine-hole executive-length layout, has been purchased by Metroparks Toledo and will be converted to parkland.
– Rogala Public Links, a nine-hole course in Mattoon, Illinois, will draw its curtains on New Year’s Eve. “We felt we hung on as long as we could,” confessed Donna Meaker, who’s owned the property since 1974.
– Locust Valley Golf Course, a 101-acre facility outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, will soon be the site of a 125-unit, seniors-only community. Robert Ashford says that his 18-hole course, designed by William and David Gordon and opened in 1954, will remain open at least through April of next year.
– Aztec Municipal Golf Course, outside Farmington, New Mexico, will be shuttered by the end of the year unless the city can find a buyer. The 18-hole track, opened in 1950 as Hidden Valley Golf Club, has been struggling financially for years.
– Willowbrook Country Club, in Connersville, Indiana, has hosted its last rounds under the ownership of Rob Fitzgerald and his siblings. “Nobody ever closes down a money-making business,” said Fitzgerald, who hopes to find a buyer. Willowbrook, now with an 18-hole, Bill Diddel-designed course, was established (as Connersville Country Club) in 1902.
Duly Noted – The sad decline of Phil Mickelson continues: “The Gambler,” no longer a factor on the professional tours, has decided to cash checks from a beer company. A light beer company. Hard to see how this boosts the value of his name. . . . Newsweek reports that the tap water at Individual #1’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey is “contaminated with toxic ‘forever chemicals.’” No surprise, seeing as how he’s already poisoned our body politic. . . . From the Department of Oddities Discovered While Doing Golf Research: The New York Times says that the king of Thailand, a man who lords over one of Southeast Asia’s major golf destinations, has “owned a number of pet poodles, one of which was granted the military rank of air chief marshal.”
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 of late, 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.
Surplus Transactions – A little more than a year after paying “nearly $1 million” for Red Hawk Run Golf Club, in Findlay, Ohio, Nick Reinhart has agreed to sell the 21-year-old venue and its 18-hole, Arthur Hills-designed course to the homeowners’ association in the surrounding community. A local radio station says that Reinhart cited “a significant drop in the number of rounds of golf being played across the country” as his reason for making the sale. . . . For a reported $600,000, Greg and Heather Norsby have purchased Hickory Grove Golf Course, a nine-hole track outside Waterloo, Iowa. The seller, Larry Bomkamp, marketed Hickory Grove, which dates from the mid 1960s, as “the best nine-hole course in Iowa.” . . . Forest Hills Golf Course, a nine-hole, Jack Kidwell-designed layout in suburban Columbus, Ohio, has changed hands. A pair of local couples, operating as Compound Enterprises LLC, paid an undisclosed price the 50-year-old facility, which reportedly has an assessed value of $538,800. The property now operates as Forest Hills Grill & Golf.
The long, slow drain of U.S. golf properties shows no sign of letting up. Here are some recent closings:
– Gulf Hills Golf Club, a venue on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast whose lounge was once frequented by “movie stars, gangsters, and even Elvis Presley,” bit the dust last month. “If you don’t have people walking through the door, you can’t pay the bills,” a board member told WLOX-TV. Gulf Hills, which is for sale for $2.5 million, features an 18-hole, Jack Daray-designed course that dates from 1927.
– Reames Golf & Country Club, a private venue in Klamath Falls, Oregon, is scheduled to end its 94-year run this month. The Herald & News says that the club, which has an 18-hole golf course (the original nine was designed by Chandler Egan), blames its demise on “declining membership and other economic factors.”
– Oak Lake Golf Course, a 34-year-old track in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has closed because its owners reportedly “wanted to do something else with their time.” The owners, the heirs of the late Bernie Conley, have been trying to sell their 18-hole, Fred Garbin-designed course for more than a year.
– Willow Creek Golf Course, a 27-hole, Jim Spear-designed complex in Rochester, Minnesota, is now controlled by a local bank. “After four years of terrible weather, we just couldn’t sustain it any longer,” Wendell Pittenger, the venue’s owner, told the Rochester Post Bulletin. In 2013, financial struggles forced Pittenger to give up his lease on a municipal course in Red Wing, Minnesota.
– Norton Knolls Golf Course, a nine-hole track in that’s operated in Oakland, Illinois since 1969. The course’s owners view golf as being on a “downhill slide” and expect to grow hemp for CBD products on about half their 65 acres.
– Spuyten Duyval, which is said to be “one of the oldest golf courses in the [Toledo, Ohio] area” (it dates from the late 1920s), closed on Halloween. The complex, featuring 27 regulation-length holes and a nine-hole executive-length layout, has been purchased by Metroparks Toledo and will be converted to parkland.
– Rogala Public Links, a nine-hole course in Mattoon, Illinois, will draw its curtains on New Year’s Eve. “We felt we hung on as long as we could,” confessed Donna Meaker, who’s owned the property since 1974.
– Locust Valley Golf Course, a 101-acre facility outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, will soon be the site of a 125-unit, seniors-only community. Robert Ashford says that his 18-hole course, designed by William and David Gordon and opened in 1954, will remain open at least through April of next year.
– Aztec Municipal Golf Course, outside Farmington, New Mexico, will be shuttered by the end of the year unless the city can find a buyer. The 18-hole track, opened in 1950 as Hidden Valley Golf Club, has been struggling financially for years.
– Willowbrook Country Club, in Connersville, Indiana, has hosted its last rounds under the ownership of Rob Fitzgerald and his siblings. “Nobody ever closes down a money-making business,” said Fitzgerald, who hopes to find a buyer. Willowbrook, now with an 18-hole, Bill Diddel-designed course, was established (as Connersville Country Club) in 1902.
Duly Noted – The sad decline of Phil Mickelson continues: “The Gambler,” no longer a factor on the professional tours, has decided to cash checks from a beer company. A light beer company. Hard to see how this boosts the value of his name. . . . Newsweek reports that the tap water at Individual #1’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey is “contaminated with toxic ‘forever chemicals.’” No surprise, seeing as how he’s already poisoned our body politic. . . . From the Department of Oddities Discovered While Doing Golf Research: The New York Times says that the king of Thailand, a man who lords over one of Southeast Asia’s major golf destinations, has “owned a number of pet poodles, one of which was granted the military rank of air chief marshal.”
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 of late, 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.
Sunday, November 3, 2019
The Week That Was, november 3, 2019
It turns out that ClubCorp’s prospective purchase of two golf properties from Toll Brothers was just a taste of what was to come.
Last week, the giant owner/operator acquired seven venues from the big national homebuilder, all of them on the East Coast and in what ClubCorp calls “ideal locations near some of our key markets.” As the Philadelphia Business Journal reported last month, two of the facilities are Hasentree Club and Brier Creek Country Club, which are located in and around Raleigh, North Carolina. The rest of the collection, says a press release, consists of Oak Creek Golf Club in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, Jupiter Country Club in Jupiter, Florida, and three properties in Northern Virginia: Belmont Country Club, Dominion Valley Country Club, and Regency at Dominion Valley Country Club.
ClubCorp describes the properties, its first acquisitions of 2019, as “exceptional lifestyle clubs” and promises to help their members “achieve the life and lifestyle to which they aspire.” All but one of them features signature golf – four courses by Arnold Palmer and one each by Tom Fazio and Greg Norman. The exception, Oak Creek, has an Ed Ault-designed layout.
Toll hasn’t said why it relieved itself of these clubs, but a lighter corporate load will certainly enable it to concentrate on its core operations. Let’s face it: For Toll, golf has always been a side business. According to its website, the company has just one remaining venue in its golf portfolio, Parkland Golf & Country Club in greater Miami, Florida.
Surplus Transactions – A homeowners’ association in Bend, Oregon has agreed to pay $6.4 million for the primary recreational asset in their gated community. The 26-year-old Broken Top Club features an 18-hole course, co-designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, that an online reviewer says “will not only flatter your game but also lift your spirits.” . . . Kennedy Wilson, a U.S. real-estate investment group, has sold its golf venue in Dublin, Ireland to a big Canadian hotel company. Northland Properties Group reportedly paid “about €50 million” (almost $56 million) for Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links, a 160-acre spread that features a Bernhard Langer “signature” course that was co-designed by Stan Eby of European Golf Design. . . . Regarding the recent sale of Cape Fear National at Brunswick Forest, a recently upgraded (new greens, renovated bunkers), 10-year-old club outside Wilmington, North Carolina: Atlantic Golf Management reportedly paid a measly $400,000 for the club and its 18-hole, Tim Cate-designed course. No wonder Atlantic calls its purchase “maybe the best acquisition we’ve made with the most possibilities.”
Castle Stuart, the home of a true world-class golf course that’s hosted the Scottish Open four times, has renewed its desire to build a second championship-worthy layout, an idea originally floated years ago. The Press & Journal reports that the bucket-list property in Inverness, created a decade ago by a team led by the late Mark Parsinen, recently submitted a development application and has been for several months “in discussions with a number of potential investors.”
One of those potential investors is the Arnold Palmer Group, which in 2015 had an agreement to design Castle Stuart’s second course and become an equity partner in Parsinen’s ownership group. The status of that agreement hasn’t been discussed by either party, but it’s evident that Castle Stuart is now weighing its options.
Parsinen died earlier this year, and Castle Stuart’s future appears to be in the hands of Grant Sword, a hotelier and a longtime investor in the property. If he sticks to Parsinen’s master plan, Sword will build a pair of hotels, the obligatory spa, and a short course of some kind.
The forthcoming course will complement Castle Stuart’s existing layout, which was co-designed by Parsinen and Gil Hanse and checks in at #53 on Golf Digest’s list of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. One suspects that Sword wants the new track to be of comparable quality.
Pipeline Overflow – Forrest Richardson, an evangelist for short, fun-to-play courses, has been tabbed to design a 12-hole track for an upscale RV park in suburban Phoenix, Arizona. The course, scheduled to open in 2021, is tentatively being called On the Rocks, and it’ll be accompanied by “innovative playgrounds,” “meditation trails,” and, most importantly, 800 spaces for land yachts. . . . Truong An Golf Company, a Vietnamese developer, has green-lighted the second 18-hole course at Stone Valley Golf Resort, a 500-acre community in Hà Nam Province. Brian Curley, who believes that his first course at Stone Valley is “unlike most anything in the Hà Nội market,” reports that the venue’s third nine is now under construction. . . . A convention center, an amphitheater, a hotel, and an 18-hole golf course are among the attractions planned for Kisumu, a city located along Lake Victoria is southwestern Kenya. Local government officials believe that a revitalized waterfront in Kisumu will boost the area’s economy and attract tourists.
Duly Noted – Another sign of growing stability in U.S. private-club operations: Wilderness Ridge Country Club, which has catered to daily-fee golfers since it opened in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2001, expects to become a members-only venue in 2021. “Golf is a popular sport in this part of the city,” the club’s general manager told a local newspaper, “and we're a good location to provide what people are looking for.” . . . The seven resident-owned golf courses in Sun City West, a place that markets itself as “Arizona’s finest golf retirement community,” ring up, on average, almost 289,600 rounds a year – nearly 41,400 apiece. Still, the community’s golf operation lost more than $1.4 million last year, a deficit that was covered by the dues that residents pay. . . . Australia’s golf-design business has experienced another merger. Karrie Webb, an LPGA star and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has joined forces with Ross Perrett, who had a long association with the late Peter Thomson.
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Last week, the giant owner/operator acquired seven venues from the big national homebuilder, all of them on the East Coast and in what ClubCorp calls “ideal locations near some of our key markets.” As the Philadelphia Business Journal reported last month, two of the facilities are Hasentree Club and Brier Creek Country Club, which are located in and around Raleigh, North Carolina. The rest of the collection, says a press release, consists of Oak Creek Golf Club in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, Jupiter Country Club in Jupiter, Florida, and three properties in Northern Virginia: Belmont Country Club, Dominion Valley Country Club, and Regency at Dominion Valley Country Club.
ClubCorp describes the properties, its first acquisitions of 2019, as “exceptional lifestyle clubs” and promises to help their members “achieve the life and lifestyle to which they aspire.” All but one of them features signature golf – four courses by Arnold Palmer and one each by Tom Fazio and Greg Norman. The exception, Oak Creek, has an Ed Ault-designed layout.
Toll hasn’t said why it relieved itself of these clubs, but a lighter corporate load will certainly enable it to concentrate on its core operations. Let’s face it: For Toll, golf has always been a side business. According to its website, the company has just one remaining venue in its golf portfolio, Parkland Golf & Country Club in greater Miami, Florida.
Surplus Transactions – A homeowners’ association in Bend, Oregon has agreed to pay $6.4 million for the primary recreational asset in their gated community. The 26-year-old Broken Top Club features an 18-hole course, co-designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, that an online reviewer says “will not only flatter your game but also lift your spirits.” . . . Kennedy Wilson, a U.S. real-estate investment group, has sold its golf venue in Dublin, Ireland to a big Canadian hotel company. Northland Properties Group reportedly paid “about €50 million” (almost $56 million) for Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links, a 160-acre spread that features a Bernhard Langer “signature” course that was co-designed by Stan Eby of European Golf Design. . . . Regarding the recent sale of Cape Fear National at Brunswick Forest, a recently upgraded (new greens, renovated bunkers), 10-year-old club outside Wilmington, North Carolina: Atlantic Golf Management reportedly paid a measly $400,000 for the club and its 18-hole, Tim Cate-designed course. No wonder Atlantic calls its purchase “maybe the best acquisition we’ve made with the most possibilities.”
Castle Stuart, the home of a true world-class golf course that’s hosted the Scottish Open four times, has renewed its desire to build a second championship-worthy layout, an idea originally floated years ago. The Press & Journal reports that the bucket-list property in Inverness, created a decade ago by a team led by the late Mark Parsinen, recently submitted a development application and has been for several months “in discussions with a number of potential investors.”
One of those potential investors is the Arnold Palmer Group, which in 2015 had an agreement to design Castle Stuart’s second course and become an equity partner in Parsinen’s ownership group. The status of that agreement hasn’t been discussed by either party, but it’s evident that Castle Stuart is now weighing its options.
Parsinen died earlier this year, and Castle Stuart’s future appears to be in the hands of Grant Sword, a hotelier and a longtime investor in the property. If he sticks to Parsinen’s master plan, Sword will build a pair of hotels, the obligatory spa, and a short course of some kind.
The forthcoming course will complement Castle Stuart’s existing layout, which was co-designed by Parsinen and Gil Hanse and checks in at #53 on Golf Digest’s list of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. One suspects that Sword wants the new track to be of comparable quality.
Pipeline Overflow – Forrest Richardson, an evangelist for short, fun-to-play courses, has been tabbed to design a 12-hole track for an upscale RV park in suburban Phoenix, Arizona. The course, scheduled to open in 2021, is tentatively being called On the Rocks, and it’ll be accompanied by “innovative playgrounds,” “meditation trails,” and, most importantly, 800 spaces for land yachts. . . . Truong An Golf Company, a Vietnamese developer, has green-lighted the second 18-hole course at Stone Valley Golf Resort, a 500-acre community in Hà Nam Province. Brian Curley, who believes that his first course at Stone Valley is “unlike most anything in the Hà Nội market,” reports that the venue’s third nine is now under construction. . . . A convention center, an amphitheater, a hotel, and an 18-hole golf course are among the attractions planned for Kisumu, a city located along Lake Victoria is southwestern Kenya. Local government officials believe that a revitalized waterfront in Kisumu will boost the area’s economy and attract tourists.
Duly Noted – Another sign of growing stability in U.S. private-club operations: Wilderness Ridge Country Club, which has catered to daily-fee golfers since it opened in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2001, expects to become a members-only venue in 2021. “Golf is a popular sport in this part of the city,” the club’s general manager told a local newspaper, “and we're a good location to provide what people are looking for.” . . . The seven resident-owned golf courses in Sun City West, a place that markets itself as “Arizona’s finest golf retirement community,” ring up, on average, almost 289,600 rounds a year – nearly 41,400 apiece. Still, the community’s golf operation lost more than $1.4 million last year, a deficit that was covered by the dues that residents pay. . . . Australia’s golf-design business has experienced another merger. Karrie Webb, an LPGA star and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has joined forces with Ross Perrett, who had a long association with the late Peter Thomson.
In compliance with recently issued European laws regarding data collection, I’ve been asked to provide a statement about my use of the data that’s collected about those of you who read the World Golf Report. So here’s what I have to say on the subject: I don’t collect any data, and I don’t put any cookies into your computer. That being said, here’s some language that Google, the company that maintains this slice of cyberspace, would probably approve of: “We and our partners use cookies on this site to improve our service, perform analytics, personalize advertising, measure advertising performance, and remember website preferences. By using the site, you consent to these cookies.”