A major golf destination is emerging on the northern coast of Ireland, in County Donegal. It’s being created by Frank Casey, the owner of Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort, who this week purchased his defunct next-door neighbor, St. Patrick’s Golf Links. The acquisition adds 36 holes to Casey’s 45-hole complex at Rosapenna and creates what’s said to be “the largest links golf destination in Europe after St. Andrews.” For now, at least, Casey’s primary attractions are the ancient and modern layouts at Rosapenna -- the former designed by Old Tom Morris, the latter by Pat Ruddy -- but the courses at St. Patrick’s are believed to have great potential as well. (Some years ago, an official with Nicklaus Design described the St. Patrick’s property as “what Ireland golf is supposed to be” and “an incredible site.”) The courses at St. Patrick’s have been closed for years, but Casey plans to reopen them -- or at least one of them -- next year.
A Canadian group has acquired a troubled golf property in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Geosam Capital, Ltd. reportedly paid $5.5 million for Venetian Bay Golf Club, which features a four-year-old, Lloyd Clifton-designed golf course, plus some developable residential and commercial sites. Geosam says that Venetian Bay is “not a profitable golf club at this time,” but it’s hoping that Kitson & Partners, the club’s new manager, can turn it into one.
Deacon’s Lodge Golf Course in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota is about to get new owners. Sienna Corporation has agreed to sell the 13-year-old, Arnold Palmer-designed layout to Whitebirch, Inc., the owner of the nearby Breezy Point Resort. Whitebirch owns and operates a pair of 18-hole layouts at Breezy Point, and it has another 18-hole course at Forest Hills Golf & RV Resort in Detroit Lakes.
Calderwood Valley Golf Course in New South Wales, Australia has new owners whose identities haven't been revealed. The 18-hole course, in metropolitan Sydney, was built by the late Noel Smithers in 1995 and “has always been a profitable business,” according to Smithers’ widow, Alison. The new owners are said to be a group of Australian and Chinese investors who don’t plan to make fundamental changes to the Ken Mackay-designed course. “The whole goal,” the broker who facilitated the sale explained, is “to keep running it as it is, because they feel it’s a successful model.”
The owners of the Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach, Florida have purchased Hamlet Country Club and given it a new name: Seagate Country Club. The club features a Joe Lee-designed golf course -- a press release calls it “one of the best championship golf courses in Palm Beach County” -- and once upon a time its members rubbed shoulders with Jack Nicklaus, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Beth Daniels. That was long ago, of course. Today the club’s mission is to provide “the ultimate vacation experience that our guests are looking for,” an ambition that leaves me longing for the good old days.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
worth reading In Florida, an Old Idea Revived
Since the onset of the Great Recession, the smart money has been saying that golf has lost its appeal among retirees. But it doesn’t appear that one of our nation’s biggest home builders has been listening.
Taylor Woodrow has decided to build an 18-hole golf course at a seniors-only community within Lakewood Ranch in Bradenton, Florida. The track, to be designed by Chris Wilczynski, will anchor a 400-acre, 800-house community that’s been tailored to the people Del Webb identified as “active adults.”
A decade ago, Taylor Woodrow’s announcement would hardly have qualified as news. Today, however, it’s an act of faith that’s worthy of notice.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune has put Taylor Woodrow’s plans in context. Here’s some of what the newspaper had to say:
At a time when golf is waning in popularity and retiring baby boomers appear poised to take up other sports, builder Taylor Morrison plans to bet millions of dollars that a new golf course will draw home buyers to Manatee County.
The builder’s plans for an 18-hole, championship golf course at its Esplanade community in Lakewood Ranch come as several Southwest Florida courses -- especially newer links with expensive clubhouses and other amenities -- have struggled amid the prolonged economic downturn.
“For a long time now, builders have been hesitant about starting new projects, and with good reason -- there was too much unsold inventory,” said John Brady, founder and editor of TopRetirements.com, a website that ranks retirement communities.
“The bloom has been off the rose for golf courses as well -- too many of them exist, and there’s declining interest in the game,” Brady said. “Many courses have closed or gone public, and while builders like Pulte and Del Webb have been building new communities with extensive amenities, they usually have not been with golf.” . . .
For its part, the home builder maintains that the Great Recession has created a void that the Esplanade Golf & Country Club at Lakewood Ranch will fill.
“There are fewer golf courses to play. We see that as an opportunity to meet a niche that there will be demand for,” said Cammie Longenecker, a Taylor Morrison vice president of sales and marketing.
Active boomers -- part of the cohort of 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 -- will be the target market.
“We do see a large percentage of our buyers will be near retirement age or will be retiring soon,” Longenecker said. . . .
From a development perspective, a prominent Taylor Morrison competitor in Southwest Florida agrees that golf courses are once again in vogue.
“Golf is back, especially in a bundled format,” said Pat Neal, a Lakewood Ranch-based developer, referring to buyers’ desire for communities that offer a variety of activities.
Neal said that six courses closed in the Sarasota-Manatee region during the recession, which has created an opportunity for builders.
“There are still 78 million boomers who stopped purchasing during this housing crisis for six or seven years, and their biological clocks are ticking,” Neal said. “So we are full of customers.” . . .
The Esplanade course will be the region’s first since Royal Lakes opened in Lakewood Ranch in early 2008, following a trio of courses -- at the Founders Club, the Concession, and a course for Ritz-Carlton Sarasota members and guests. Those three debuted during the real estate boom of the mid 2000s. . . .
“No one has built a golf course that I know of in the past few years,” said Keith Pope, chief executive of Pope Golf of Sarasota, which will manage the new Taylor Morrison course. “It is all tied to home sales, and we are seeing an uptick in the housing market, so it makes sense.” . . .
Taylor Woodrow has decided to build an 18-hole golf course at a seniors-only community within Lakewood Ranch in Bradenton, Florida. The track, to be designed by Chris Wilczynski, will anchor a 400-acre, 800-house community that’s been tailored to the people Del Webb identified as “active adults.”
A decade ago, Taylor Woodrow’s announcement would hardly have qualified as news. Today, however, it’s an act of faith that’s worthy of notice.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune has put Taylor Woodrow’s plans in context. Here’s some of what the newspaper had to say:
At a time when golf is waning in popularity and retiring baby boomers appear poised to take up other sports, builder Taylor Morrison plans to bet millions of dollars that a new golf course will draw home buyers to Manatee County.
The builder’s plans for an 18-hole, championship golf course at its Esplanade community in Lakewood Ranch come as several Southwest Florida courses -- especially newer links with expensive clubhouses and other amenities -- have struggled amid the prolonged economic downturn.
“For a long time now, builders have been hesitant about starting new projects, and with good reason -- there was too much unsold inventory,” said John Brady, founder and editor of TopRetirements.com, a website that ranks retirement communities.
“The bloom has been off the rose for golf courses as well -- too many of them exist, and there’s declining interest in the game,” Brady said. “Many courses have closed or gone public, and while builders like Pulte and Del Webb have been building new communities with extensive amenities, they usually have not been with golf.” . . .
For its part, the home builder maintains that the Great Recession has created a void that the Esplanade Golf & Country Club at Lakewood Ranch will fill.
“There are fewer golf courses to play. We see that as an opportunity to meet a niche that there will be demand for,” said Cammie Longenecker, a Taylor Morrison vice president of sales and marketing.
Active boomers -- part of the cohort of 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 -- will be the target market.
“We do see a large percentage of our buyers will be near retirement age or will be retiring soon,” Longenecker said. . . .
From a development perspective, a prominent Taylor Morrison competitor in Southwest Florida agrees that golf courses are once again in vogue.
“Golf is back, especially in a bundled format,” said Pat Neal, a Lakewood Ranch-based developer, referring to buyers’ desire for communities that offer a variety of activities.
Neal said that six courses closed in the Sarasota-Manatee region during the recession, which has created an opportunity for builders.
“There are still 78 million boomers who stopped purchasing during this housing crisis for six or seven years, and their biological clocks are ticking,” Neal said. “So we are full of customers.” . . .
The Esplanade course will be the region’s first since Royal Lakes opened in Lakewood Ranch in early 2008, following a trio of courses -- at the Founders Club, the Concession, and a course for Ritz-Carlton Sarasota members and guests. Those three debuted during the real estate boom of the mid 2000s. . . .
“No one has built a golf course that I know of in the past few years,” said Keith Pope, chief executive of Pope Golf of Sarasota, which will manage the new Taylor Morrison course. “It is all tied to home sales, and we are seeing an uptick in the housing market, so it makes sense.” . . .
Sunday, November 25, 2012
The Week That Was, november 25, 2012
You can add Bill Clinton’s name to the list of VIPs itching to play Donald Trump’s golf course in Scotland. The Scotsman reports that the former Democratic president and the Republican presidential
pretender have “forged an unlikely friendship in recent years” and that a tee time in Aberdeenshire has been penciled in for next summer. “I love playing golf with him,” Clinton told CNN earlier this year.
Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority is investigating one of the nation’s premier golf properties for the unlawful use of banned herbicides and pesticides. The EPA has targeted suburban Sydney’s Lakes Golf Club, the home of next month’s Australian Open, for actions it took two years ago to prevent nematodes from destroying its turf. The club is said to be cooperating with the inquiry.
What’s the significance of a Chinese teenager getting an invite to play in the Masters? “It’s the latest example of what might happen should China embrace golf other than superficially,” argues John Strege of Golf Digest. There’s a little too much conditional word usage in that statement for my tastes, but Strege helpfully notes that Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old in question, trains in Florida.
The members of Butler National Golf Club in suburban Chicago, Illinois have overwhelmingly voted down a motion that would have allowed women to become members. The vote was less a blow to the female gender than it is to the members’ immediate financial interest, for it will surely lead to resignations and dues increases to offset the resulting loss in revenue. As far as the club’s future is concerned, a member has concluded that“we’re in a death spiral.”
While women can’t get in the door at Butler National, the members of Redlands Country Club have elected a woman as their president. “This is a terrific honor,” said Carole Beswick, who becomes the first-ever female president of the Redlands, California-based club.
In an effort to preserve its open space and a consistent water supply, the town of Belleair, Florida has agreed to buy Belleview Biltmore Golf Club. The price: $3.5 million. As a bonus, the town gets an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course that dates from 1925.
A renovation by Ron Forse has helped to put Rolling Green Golf Club back into the limelight. The club, in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been selected to host the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in 2016. Forse restored the club’s course, co-designed by William S. Flynn and Howard Toomey, in a multiyear project during the mid to late 2000s.
Bandon Dunes’ 13-hole Preserve course has given Scott Michaux an idea for what the city of Augusta, Georgia can do to generate more play at its municipal golf course. His modest proposal: The city’s 18-hole track should shrink to fit the times. “Even without the panoramic views of the Pacific,” writes Michaux, a writer for the Augusta Chronicle, “a fun and challenging collection of par-3 holes would be inviting to newcomers to the game and give people a recreational option that doesn’t eat up four to five hours of the day.”
Bowing to the wishes of their customers, the three municipal golf courses in Vancouver, British Columbia may soon begin to sell beer on their fairways. “Those three golf courses are already seeing people consume alcohol illegally,” notes a councilmember. “If you’ve ever golfed there, you’ll see that people sneak their beer on anyways.”
Palms Mawson Lakes Golf Course, a nine-hole track in suburban Adelaide, South Australia, is about to get a makeover. The reconstruction, which has been in the works for three years, begins in February 2013.
If you’re willing to take vacation advice from Forbes, the magazine has five wintertime golf destinations for you to consider. Tops on the list: the Kapalua resort on Maui, because the editors are “bewitched by the Bay course.” Then come the soon-to-open Streamsong resort in Florida (the Tom Doak- and Coore & Crenshaw-designed tracks will provide “a golfing experience unlike anything in Florida”), the Villingili resort in the Maldives (its nine-hole course offers “sweeping views of the ocean that just can’t be matched elsewhere”), and the Apes Hill resort on Barbados (“a walk along the fairways is almost surreal”). Last but certainly not least is Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania, where the Doak- and Coore & Crenshaw-designed tracks are “part nod to Mother Nature and part challenge to the mind and body.”
pretender have “forged an unlikely friendship in recent years” and that a tee time in Aberdeenshire has been penciled in for next summer. “I love playing golf with him,” Clinton told CNN earlier this year.
Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority is investigating one of the nation’s premier golf properties for the unlawful use of banned herbicides and pesticides. The EPA has targeted suburban Sydney’s Lakes Golf Club, the home of next month’s Australian Open, for actions it took two years ago to prevent nematodes from destroying its turf. The club is said to be cooperating with the inquiry.
What’s the significance of a Chinese teenager getting an invite to play in the Masters? “It’s the latest example of what might happen should China embrace golf other than superficially,” argues John Strege of Golf Digest. There’s a little too much conditional word usage in that statement for my tastes, but Strege helpfully notes that Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old in question, trains in Florida.
The members of Butler National Golf Club in suburban Chicago, Illinois have overwhelmingly voted down a motion that would have allowed women to become members. The vote was less a blow to the female gender than it is to the members’ immediate financial interest, for it will surely lead to resignations and dues increases to offset the resulting loss in revenue. As far as the club’s future is concerned, a member has concluded that“we’re in a death spiral.”
While women can’t get in the door at Butler National, the members of Redlands Country Club have elected a woman as their president. “This is a terrific honor,” said Carole Beswick, who becomes the first-ever female president of the Redlands, California-based club.
In an effort to preserve its open space and a consistent water supply, the town of Belleair, Florida has agreed to buy Belleview Biltmore Golf Club. The price: $3.5 million. As a bonus, the town gets an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course that dates from 1925.
A renovation by Ron Forse has helped to put Rolling Green Golf Club back into the limelight. The club, in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been selected to host the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in 2016. Forse restored the club’s course, co-designed by William S. Flynn and Howard Toomey, in a multiyear project during the mid to late 2000s.
Bandon Dunes’ 13-hole Preserve course has given Scott Michaux an idea for what the city of Augusta, Georgia can do to generate more play at its municipal golf course. His modest proposal: The city’s 18-hole track should shrink to fit the times. “Even without the panoramic views of the Pacific,” writes Michaux, a writer for the Augusta Chronicle, “a fun and challenging collection of par-3 holes would be inviting to newcomers to the game and give people a recreational option that doesn’t eat up four to five hours of the day.”
Bowing to the wishes of their customers, the three municipal golf courses in Vancouver, British Columbia may soon begin to sell beer on their fairways. “Those three golf courses are already seeing people consume alcohol illegally,” notes a councilmember. “If you’ve ever golfed there, you’ll see that people sneak their beer on anyways.”
Palms Mawson Lakes Golf Course, a nine-hole track in suburban Adelaide, South Australia, is about to get a makeover. The reconstruction, which has been in the works for three years, begins in February 2013.
If you’re willing to take vacation advice from Forbes, the magazine has five wintertime golf destinations for you to consider. Tops on the list: the Kapalua resort on Maui, because the editors are “bewitched by the Bay course.” Then come the soon-to-open Streamsong resort in Florida (the Tom Doak- and Coore & Crenshaw-designed tracks will provide “a golfing experience unlike anything in Florida”), the Villingili resort in the Maldives (its nine-hole course offers “sweeping views of the ocean that just can’t be matched elsewhere”), and the Apes Hill resort on Barbados (“a walk along the fairways is almost surreal”). Last but certainly not least is Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania, where the Doak- and Coore & Crenshaw-designed tracks are “part nod to Mother Nature and part challenge to the mind and body.”
Friday, November 23, 2012
The Pipeline, november 23, 2012
australia Greg Ramsay, the busiest developer in Tasmania, appears to be using a committee of architects to design his 18-hole course on the South Arm peninsula. The group consists of Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford, an Adelaide-based team; Line Mortensen of North Berwick, Scotland; and Mike Nuzzo of Houston, Texas. None of these architects have large bodies of work, but they share with Ramsay a commitment to “classic” design and sustainable construction. Crafter and Mogford have produced courses in Australia, Malaysia, and China and are working with Ramsay on a nine-hole addition for Bicheno Golf Club, on Tasmania’s eastern coast. Mortensen, one of the few women in the design business, is probably best known for two courses in Denmark. Nuzzo has designed just one course, a personal venue for a wealthy Texan, but Adam Lawrence of Golf Course Architecture has called it “probably the best first course by a modern architect that I have seen.” Ramsay hasn’t yet secured approvals for Arm End Golf Course, but he hopes to break ground on it by the end of next year.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
scotland Martin Hawtree is about to further polish his reputation as one of the world’s foremost linksmen. Just a week after it was disclosed that he would design the second course at Trump International Golf Links Scotland, the British architect has been tapped to make what’s been described as “alterations” to the revered Old Course at St. Andrews. The intent, according to Peter Dawson of the Royal & Ancient, is “to stiffen [the course’s] defenses in some places to ensure it remains as challenging as ever to the professionals.” The work will be completed before the summer of 2015, when the course hosts the Open Championship for the 29th time.
canada Cabot Links, the acclaimed new beachfront course in Inverness, Nova Scotia, will soon get what may be an even better partner. Work on the forthcoming Cabot Cliffs track, to be co-designed by the superstar duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will begin this spring. The course will take shape on inland property a little more than a mile from the resort’s original layout, a site described by co-developer Ben Cowan-Dewar as “spectacular and really, truly a beautiful spot.” The course could have its soft opening in the fall of 2014.
canada A forest fire in September forced 1,500 people in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley to evacuate their houses, but it won’t delay the planned summer 2013 opening of Greg Norman’s golf course in Peachland. Norman is remaking a 32-year-old, Alfred Tate-designed course that’s been closed since 2006, when a fire destroyed its clubhouse. The new track, which is expected to stretch to about 7,200 yards, will be the centerpiece of a community that will eventually feature 2,300 houses. “Our vision,” the course’s general manager told the Edmonton Journal, “is to build a sustainable resort of great golf and great homes.”
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
china Moratorium? What moratorium? While in Asia to play in the Singapore Open, Phil Mickelson told reporters that the courses to which he’s affixed his “signature” -- one in Kunming, the other in Singapore -- are expected to open within the next 12 months. Mickelson made a vague reference to “some hold-ups from the government” regarding the track in Kunming, but it’s become abundantly clear that Chinese authorities have only been able to slow golf construction, not stop it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
china More from the land of phony moratoriums: Shanxi Yiliang Longxi Sports & Culture Company has hired IMG, the Cleveland, Ohio-based sports colossus, to manage the development of Luxuriance International Golf Club in Shanxi Province, China. The club’s 27-hole golf complex is expected to open sometime next year. As best I can determine, the complex has been designed by Yu Gang of Beijing-based New Nature Golf. Yu is said to be the first Chinese architect to produce a golf course in China: Hot Spring Golf Course outside Conghua City, in Guangdong Province.
portugal David McLay Kidd’s oceanfront golf course in Portugal has been under construction since February and will likely open in 2014. The 18-hole, 7,600-yard track will be course number one for Herdade da Comporta, a giant-size resort community taking shape near the village of Comporta, about an hour’s drive south of Lisbon. “It’s a fantastic site for golf,” reports the Bend, Oregon-based designer. Espirito Santo Group, a conglomerate that controls Portugal’s second-largest bank, has commissioned Tom Fazio to design course number two, but a groundbreaking hasn’t yet been set.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
scotland Martin Hawtree is about to further polish his reputation as one of the world’s foremost linksmen. Just a week after it was disclosed that he would design the second course at Trump International Golf Links Scotland, the British architect has been tapped to make what’s been described as “alterations” to the revered Old Course at St. Andrews. The intent, according to Peter Dawson of the Royal & Ancient, is “to stiffen [the course’s] defenses in some places to ensure it remains as challenging as ever to the professionals.” The work will be completed before the summer of 2015, when the course hosts the Open Championship for the 29th time.
canada Cabot Links, the acclaimed new beachfront course in Inverness, Nova Scotia, will soon get what may be an even better partner. Work on the forthcoming Cabot Cliffs track, to be co-designed by the superstar duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will begin this spring. The course will take shape on inland property a little more than a mile from the resort’s original layout, a site described by co-developer Ben Cowan-Dewar as “spectacular and really, truly a beautiful spot.” The course could have its soft opening in the fall of 2014.
canada A forest fire in September forced 1,500 people in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley to evacuate their houses, but it won’t delay the planned summer 2013 opening of Greg Norman’s golf course in Peachland. Norman is remaking a 32-year-old, Alfred Tate-designed course that’s been closed since 2006, when a fire destroyed its clubhouse. The new track, which is expected to stretch to about 7,200 yards, will be the centerpiece of a community that will eventually feature 2,300 houses. “Our vision,” the course’s general manager told the Edmonton Journal, “is to build a sustainable resort of great golf and great homes.”
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
china Moratorium? What moratorium? While in Asia to play in the Singapore Open, Phil Mickelson told reporters that the courses to which he’s affixed his “signature” -- one in Kunming, the other in Singapore -- are expected to open within the next 12 months. Mickelson made a vague reference to “some hold-ups from the government” regarding the track in Kunming, but it’s become abundantly clear that Chinese authorities have only been able to slow golf construction, not stop it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
china More from the land of phony moratoriums: Shanxi Yiliang Longxi Sports & Culture Company has hired IMG, the Cleveland, Ohio-based sports colossus, to manage the development of Luxuriance International Golf Club in Shanxi Province, China. The club’s 27-hole golf complex is expected to open sometime next year. As best I can determine, the complex has been designed by Yu Gang of Beijing-based New Nature Golf. Yu is said to be the first Chinese architect to produce a golf course in China: Hot Spring Golf Course outside Conghua City, in Guangdong Province.
portugal David McLay Kidd’s oceanfront golf course in Portugal has been under construction since February and will likely open in 2014. The 18-hole, 7,600-yard track will be course number one for Herdade da Comporta, a giant-size resort community taking shape near the village of Comporta, about an hour’s drive south of Lisbon. “It’s a fantastic site for golf,” reports the Bend, Oregon-based designer. Espirito Santo Group, a conglomerate that controls Portugal’s second-largest bank, has commissioned Tom Fazio to design course number two, but a groundbreaking hasn’t yet been set.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
The Week That Was, november 18, 2012
It turns out that Donald Trump was just making empty threats when he vowed to stop development at Trump International Golf Links Scotland if the nation followed through on its plan to build an off-shore wind farm. The Sunday Express reports that the Birther in Chief, citing “phenomenal demand,” intends to move forward with the resort’s second course. Like course number one, the new track will be designed by Martin Hawtree. “He is the only man for the job,” Trump told the newspaper.
This week Trump also made news on this side of the Atlantic. He agreed to buy the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida, a 215-acre property that features a Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course. “Great land, great location, great future!” Trump typed in a tweet. So far this year, Trump has opened a course in Scotland, closed on acquisitions in Charlotte and Miami, and agreed to operate New York City’s forthcoming Nicklaus-designed course in the Bronx. What will he do for an encore?
Clive Palmer, one of Australia’s richest people (Forbes says he’s worth $795 million), has purchased Sea Temple Golf & Country Club in Port Douglas, Queensland. The price: $7.23 million. The property’s centerpiece is an 18-hole, links-style course that was designed by Peter Thomson’s firm. Through one of his corporations, Palmer owns three other Australian golf properties, including the Palmer Coolum Resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
South Korean investors are backing out of agreements to build golf courses in Vietnam. Do they know something other foreign investors don’t?
The Jack Nicklaus-designed layout at Summit Rock Golf Club in the Texas Hill Country has officially opened. The property’s website notes that the 7,258-yard layout is “the only Jack Nicklaus signature golf course to open in the U.S. this year.” Steve Habel, a reviewer, thinks that “any golf course built in America these days is a triumph.”
The development group in control of the Bear Mountain resort community on Vancouver Island plans to shave nine holes from its 36-hole, Nicklaus Design golf complex. The facility is said to be operating at less than 50 percent of capacity. “Bear Mountain is a microcosm of what is going on throughout the entire golf industry -- too much supply for too little demand,” said an executive from Troon Golf, which is helping to plan the community’s less ambitious future.
Bill Esping’s EFO Financial Group has acquired Brightwater Club, a tony but financially troubled resort community outside Vail, Colorado. The centerpiece of the 963-acre property is an 18-hole, 8,005-yard golf course -- the fifth-longest course in the United States -- that was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. In April 2011, Brightwater’s parent company defaulted on $100 million worth of loans. At the time, the Wall Street Journal reported that Jones was owed $81,000.
What hath Augusta National wrought? Colin Moynihan, the outgoing chairman of the British Olympic Association, is pressuring the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews to admit female members. “Let’s get real and let’s get on with the job of providing equality of opportunity across sports,” he counseled during a radio interview. In August, a former prime minister made essentially the same pitch. How long until some of Great Britain’s other single-sex clubs -- among them Muirfield, Troon, and Royal St. George’s -- begin to feel the heat?
Nashville, Tennessee’s Belle Meade Country Club has reportedly admitted its first resident African-American member.
Golfers who score a hole-in-one on the 11th at Tierra Rejada Golf Club in Moorpark, California will take home a memento: an “award of excellence” from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award includes a facsimile of a plaque bearing words once spoken by the former president: “Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.” Perhaps more importantly, Tierra Rejada’s customers will receive a discounted admission to the Ronald Reagan Library & Museum, which is right next door to the golf course. And vice versa.
On November 15, Larry Packard celebrated a true milestone: his 100th birthday. Earlier this year, when asked how he planned to honor the occasion, he replied: “Have a bourbon.” Several news outlets have published sketchy, unsatisfying retrospectives of Packard’s architectural career, but the Innisbrook resort has posted a video of the party.
I can’t tell you how President Obama celebrated on re-election night, but I know where he was on the following Saturday morning.
This week Trump also made news on this side of the Atlantic. He agreed to buy the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida, a 215-acre property that features a Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course. “Great land, great location, great future!” Trump typed in a tweet. So far this year, Trump has opened a course in Scotland, closed on acquisitions in Charlotte and Miami, and agreed to operate New York City’s forthcoming Nicklaus-designed course in the Bronx. What will he do for an encore?
Clive Palmer, one of Australia’s richest people (Forbes says he’s worth $795 million), has purchased Sea Temple Golf & Country Club in Port Douglas, Queensland. The price: $7.23 million. The property’s centerpiece is an 18-hole, links-style course that was designed by Peter Thomson’s firm. Through one of his corporations, Palmer owns three other Australian golf properties, including the Palmer Coolum Resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
South Korean investors are backing out of agreements to build golf courses in Vietnam. Do they know something other foreign investors don’t?
The Jack Nicklaus-designed layout at Summit Rock Golf Club in the Texas Hill Country has officially opened. The property’s website notes that the 7,258-yard layout is “the only Jack Nicklaus signature golf course to open in the U.S. this year.” Steve Habel, a reviewer, thinks that “any golf course built in America these days is a triumph.”
The development group in control of the Bear Mountain resort community on Vancouver Island plans to shave nine holes from its 36-hole, Nicklaus Design golf complex. The facility is said to be operating at less than 50 percent of capacity. “Bear Mountain is a microcosm of what is going on throughout the entire golf industry -- too much supply for too little demand,” said an executive from Troon Golf, which is helping to plan the community’s less ambitious future.
Bill Esping’s EFO Financial Group has acquired Brightwater Club, a tony but financially troubled resort community outside Vail, Colorado. The centerpiece of the 963-acre property is an 18-hole, 8,005-yard golf course -- the fifth-longest course in the United States -- that was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. In April 2011, Brightwater’s parent company defaulted on $100 million worth of loans. At the time, the Wall Street Journal reported that Jones was owed $81,000.
What hath Augusta National wrought? Colin Moynihan, the outgoing chairman of the British Olympic Association, is pressuring the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews to admit female members. “Let’s get real and let’s get on with the job of providing equality of opportunity across sports,” he counseled during a radio interview. In August, a former prime minister made essentially the same pitch. How long until some of Great Britain’s other single-sex clubs -- among them Muirfield, Troon, and Royal St. George’s -- begin to feel the heat?
Nashville, Tennessee’s Belle Meade Country Club has reportedly admitted its first resident African-American member.
Golfers who score a hole-in-one on the 11th at Tierra Rejada Golf Club in Moorpark, California will take home a memento: an “award of excellence” from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award includes a facsimile of a plaque bearing words once spoken by the former president: “Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.” Perhaps more importantly, Tierra Rejada’s customers will receive a discounted admission to the Ronald Reagan Library & Museum, which is right next door to the golf course. And vice versa.
On November 15, Larry Packard celebrated a true milestone: his 100th birthday. Earlier this year, when asked how he planned to honor the occasion, he replied: “Have a bourbon.” Several news outlets have published sketchy, unsatisfying retrospectives of Packard’s architectural career, but the Innisbrook resort has posted a video of the party.
I can’t tell you how President Obama celebrated on re-election night, but I know where he was on the following Saturday morning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
