The Week That Was, november 24, 2019

   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.

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