The Week That Was, december 29, 2019

     It’s been a great year for Tiger Woods, who exactly a decade ago sunk as low as a legendary athlete can go, and he capped off 2019 by announcing that Pebble Beach Company has commissioned him to redesign its nine-hole Peter Hay course. Admitting to “giddiness,” Pebble Beach called its relationship with Woods “a match made in heaven” and welcomed the opportunity to let once-disgraced star create “a nice legacy” for himself on its revered grounds. Befitting Woods’ rise-fall-rise story, this contract is symbolic. All the doors that had once been closed to Woods are now wide open, and the former serial adulterer and painkiller abuser has been officially forgiven by the golf industry. A reputation that meant so much money to so many people has been fully restored. Make it rain, Tiger!

     Pipeline Overflow – Beckwith Gilbert, a U.S. merchant banker, aims to develop as many as three golf courses on coastal property in Little Harbour, Nova Scotia. According to CBC News, Gilbert’s goal is to build “something similar to the Cabot resort or Bandon Dunes.” Controversies are already bubbling, as local elected officials support idea but environmentalists don't. . . . Wesley Group, a firm based in suburban Detroit, Michigan, has received a “letter of award” that gives it permission to build a 27-hole golf complex outside Bhopal, India. In addition to what’s been described as an “international-level” golf facility, Wesley’s master plan includes a hotel, meeting space, and a helipad, all of which may be difficult to squeeze onto the allotted 175 acres. . . . Widus Group, a Philippine hotelier, aims to build what the Manila Standard calls a “luxury mountain resort” on 1,125 acres in New Clark City. In addition to Banyan Tree, Westin, and Marriott hotels, the Hann Lux property has been master-planned to include a variety of housing types, retail and commercial areas, and three 18-hole, “championship” golf courses.

     Pipeline Overflow Overflow – Golf architects nowadays always try to make the artificial look natural, and Clive Clark has by all accounts hit the nail on the head with Dumbarnie Links, his forthcoming layout in St. Andrews, Scotland. Clark and Paul Kimber reportedly moved 500,000 cubic yards of dirt to shape the 18-hole course, creating 600 man-made dunes in the process, but the result has been described as a course that “looks like it’s been there for 100 years.” Dumbarnie Links is scheduled to open in May. . . . Robert Trent Jones, Jr., has described his recently unveiled Costa Palmas Golf Club, on Mexico’s Baha California Sur, as “a golf symphony composed of three movements and two transitions.” Such comments are music to the ears of Irongate, the community’s developer, which promises that Jones’s course will offer “a one-of-a-kind golf experience.” Irongate, a firm that claims to create “one-of-a-kind opportunities” for upscale buyers, also says that Costa Palmas’s Four Seasons hotel will be accompanied by “one-of-a-kind amenities” and “one-of-a-kind” villas. . . . Barry Ehlert, the developer of the soon-to-open Mickelson National Golf Club, outside Calgary, Alberta, contends that “there’s not another golf course like this in Canada.” Strictly speaking, what he says is true, because all courses are unique, even the largely fabricated ones that anchor subdivisions. We’ll learn more about Phil Mickelson’s track this spring, when the 18-hole “signature” track is expected to make its debut.

     At long last, it appears that we’re going to close the book on the sale of Southern Pines Golf Club, a more than century-old venue outside Pinehurst, North Carolina. A group whose partners include Kelly Miller, a co-owner of the nearby Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, has agreed to buy Southern Pines, the home of an 18-hole, Donald Ross course that’s said to rank “near the top of best courses to play in North Carolina.” A price hasn’t been disclosed, but Miller’s Kaveri Investments has presumably made an offer that the local Elks Lodge found more attractive than those made by John McConnell and anonymous others in 2017 and 2018. Assuming that the sale is consummated – the Elks have had trouble crossing the finish line – Miller, a member of the Elks club, will own a trio of Ross-designed tracks, as Pine Needles and his Mid-Pines Inn & Golf Club both feature Ross layouts. The transaction is expected to close in February.

     Surplus Transactions – For an undisclosed price, Jared Brecher and Dan Klein have acquired Seawane Country Club, a 92-year-old facility on the South Shore of New York’s Long Island. The new owners hope to remake Seawane, which features an 18-hole Devereux Emmet-designed golf course, into a resort-style, family-focused club, and they’ll get an infusion of new members next year, when the nearby Woodmere Club closes. . . . Operating as Great Century, a pair of Hong Kong-based investors, Peter Lam and Cym Chan, have likewise paid an undisclosed price for the entity that owns the Fairmont St. Andrews resort in St. Andrews, Scotland. The 520-acre resort features a hotel, meeting space, bars and restaurants, and a pair of 18-hole golf courses, one co-designed by Gene Sarazen and Sam Torrance, the other by Sarazen and Bruce Devlin. . . . After more than 20 tumultuous years, Marise Cipriani no longer dreams of turning her ski area in Granby, Colorado into a destination-worthy venue. To avoid a foreclosure, the Brazilian developer has turned over the title to Granby Ranch to her lender, citing “many ups and downs” and admitting that it’s “time for a new chapter to be written.” Cipriani and her husband bought the 5,000-acre property in 1995, added an 18-hole, Mike Asmundson-designed golf course, and then sprung for a re-do by Nicklaus Design.

     Duly Noted – They weren’t all golfers, but a record number of foreign tourists – 18 million of them – made their way to Vietnam last year, and tourism officials in the socialist republic estimate that the number will exceed 20 million in 2020. Last year’s visitors came mostly from Asia (14.3 million), in particular from China (5.8 million) and South Korea (4.3 million). . . . After losing control of his enviable golf portfolio and lying low for the better part of a decade, Lyle Anderson has resurfaced. The developer who set the bar for luxury golf communities in greater Phoenix has begun selling high-priced houses in Quivira Los Cabos, a tony spread in Mexico. And yes, it’s a happy coincidence that Quivira features a Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course, seeing as how Nicklaus tracks were once Anderson’s bread and butter. . . . For those who believe that Barack Obama played too much golf – he reportedly averaged 38 rounds a year across his eight years in office – our current president is reportedly playing 83 rounds a year. According to research by the Washington, DC-based Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics, at his current pace Donald Trump will play more golf in one term than Obama played in two.

     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.