The Week That Was, december 8, 2019

     Now that its Vooty Golf County has opened, Dream Valley Group is turning its attention to the other golf ventures on its to-do list. By 2025, the Hyderabad, India-based company aims to be working on three additional golf communities in the metropolis, with Haldi Golf Resort in Medchai likely to be the first to come on line. “We believe people in Hyderabad have the desire and affordability to play golf and buy properties in mixed development projects comprising of a golf course,” the company’s founder, Santoosh Reddy, told Telangana Today. Reddy hasn’t offered any details on his forthcoming communities, but they’ll likely be similar to Vooty, a 240-acre spread whose centerpiece is an 18-hole, Phil Ryan-designed golf course. Dream Valley markets Vooty as “a path-breaking venture that will complement your high-spirited lifestyle.”  

     Pipeline Overflow – In an effort to save some money, government officials in Boca Raton, Florida have decided to re-open their search for a course architect eager to redesign Ocean Breeze Golf Club. Nick Price and Tom Fazio II, who were chosen to oversee the project last spring, had proposed to spend $13 million, an amount now considered to be excessive. . . . Longtime readers of the World Golf Report will be pleased to learn that the development group that set out to build the third golf course in Serbia more than a decade ago “has not given up.” The commission for the all-but-forgotten track in suburban Belgrade, now being described as a tournament-worthy track, was originally given to Peter Harradine. The El Golf partnership now claims to have secured financing and expects construction to begin next year. . . . The slow-developing, 3,000-acre Mandalika resort on Indonesia’s increasingly water-challenged Lombok Island expects to open its racetrack (now a MotoGP track) in 2021, but it’s not made any announcements about its golf course (now appearing to be a single 27-hole complex) for nearly two years. Years ago, Nicklaus Design was angling for the golf commission, but a notice about a contract isn’t listed on the firm’s website.

     When it comes to U.S. course closings, 2019 figures to be another banner year. Here’s the round-up for December, and let me remind you once again that many more of the dearly departed aren’t mentioned.
     – Wesselman Par 3 Golf Course, a municipal track described by the Courier Press as “a place where young golfers can learn the game and where older ones maintain their love for it,” will close when elected officials in Evansville, Indiana decide that winter has officially arrived. A petition urging the city to keep the 18-hole, Ed Ault-designed layout open reportedly received just 75 signatures.
     – Perhaps not surprisingly, Town Park Villas Golf Course, a venue in San Diego, California that’s said to have “brown greens with gopher holes in the middle of them,” has gone belly up. The track’s fate is reportedly uncertain, but here’s a clue: The nine-hole, par-3 layout is owned by an apartment developer.
     – Time has run out on Rosemont Country Club, a venue in suburban Akron, Ohio that was established in 1920. The club, which features an 18-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed golf course, claims to have suffered losses of more than $500,000 over the past two years, and its board has decided to end operations at the end of 2019 “unless an unforeseen opportunity presents itself.”
     – Pearl Golf Links, a 36-hole complex across the North Carolina state line from Myrtle Beach, will draw the curtains on nine of its holes before the end of the year. Odell Williamson, Jr., a member of the family that owns the Pearl’s Dan Maples-designed golf courses, told the Sun News that the lost holes will probably be developed.
     – The final rounds have been played at Bridgewood Golf Course, a nine-hole track outside Appleton, Wisconsin. Citing comments from Bridgewood’s owner, the Appleton Post-Crescent says that the course, which once had 18 holes, closed as a result of “competition, unpredictable Wisconsin weather, and shortened playing seasons.”
     – Citing losses of up to $300,000 annually, Washoe County, Nevada has pulled the plug on one of the two tracks at Wildcreek Golf Course, a venue in suburban Reno that opened in the 1970s. Wildcreek’s 18-hole, Dick Phelps/Brad Benz co-design will be razed to make way for a high school, but its nine-hole, executive-length course will continue to operate.
     – Oak Shadows Golf Club, outside Canton, Ohio, is likely to soon become the site of new elementary and secondary schools. The New Philadelphia Board of Education has agreed to buy Oak Shadows’ 280 acres for $3 million, pending the passage of a bond issue that would finance the school construction.
     – The fate of Weddington Golf & Tennis, a 60-year-old venue in Studio City, California, has been sealed. Harvard-Westlake School, which bought Weddington and its nine-hole course two years ago, plans to build what’s been described as “state-of-the-art athletic facilities” on the club’s 16-acre property. The course will operate until the school green-lights the redevelopment, which could be as long as two years.
     – Hollydale Golf Course, an 18-hole, 55-year-old track outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, will close at the end of this year’s golf season. Hollydale’s owners, Rick and Lynette Deziel, will likely sell their 160 acres to a residential developer.
     – The lights have been turned off at Eagle Crest Golf Course, a 22-year-old venue outside Fort Smith, Arkansas. The 18-hole track, described by a local television station as “one of the premier golf courses in the River Valley,” was designed by former professional golfer Mark Hays.
     – Sinnissippi Park Golf Club, despite having been recommended for “permanent closure” by park district officials in Rockford, Illinois, will open for the 2020 season. Sinnissippi’s pending demise reportedly led to a show of ardent support that persuaded the board to give the course a one-year reprieve.  

     Duly Noted – Michael Featherston, described by the Irish Times as “a low-profile Dublin nursing homes operator and hotelier,” has agreed to acquire one of Ireland’s highest-profile golf properties. For a price believed to be in the vicinity of €70 million ($77.4 million), Featherston has agreed to buy the K Club, the site of the Ryder Cup competition in 2006. The property, currently owned by Michael Smurfit, features a pair of Arnold Palmer-designed golf courses. . . . Once again, there’s reason for me to say something nice about Tiger Woods. For the second consecutive year, he’s passed on a chance to play in the Saudi International and pocket an appearance fee of more than $3 million. . . . The bad news is that in 2018, for the fifth consecutive year, the slowly eroding Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg again failed to turn a profit, this time posting a loss of $1.7 million. The good news is that Doonbeg’s financial picture is improving, as it lost $2.1 million in 2017.

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