A truce has been declared in the war between ClubCorp and one of its minority shareholders. The embattled Dallas, Texas-based owner/operator – “the world leader in private clubs,” it calls itself – has come to terms with FrontFour Capital Group, which seeks a better return on its investment and last year demanded that ClubCorp pursue “any and all strategic alternatives” that would enable it to boost the price of its under-performing stock, including “an outright sale of the company.” Under the terms of the treaty, FrontFour has agreed to stop complaining publicly, at least for a while, and to withdraw its nominations to ClubCorp’s board, while ClubCorp has agreed to give two board seats to FrontFour-favored directors. Making the best of a bad situation, ClubCorp has called the settlement “a constructive outcome” and has promised to “consider additional opportunities to drive growth.”
A second Chinese group has won the right to build a golf community in Cuba. Details are a little fuzzy, but it appears that Yantai Golden Mountain Resort Development Company, Ltd. has signed a letter of intent to build Loma Linda Estates (Estancias de Golf Loma Linda), a 510-acre resort community in Holguin Province. Loma Linda, which has been kicking around since 2011 (and probably earlier), was initiated by a Canadian group, Standing Feather International, which had based its interest on the belief that Cuba’s tourism officials “want to move forward and bring golfers to their country.” The jury is still out on that idea. Yantai Golden Mountain, which is based in Shandong Province, hasn’t said what it plans to build at Loma Linda, but Standing Feather’s master plan included 1,200 villas, bungalows, and apartments, a 170-room waterfront hotel, a shopping area, and a pair of 18-hole, Graham Cooke-designed golf courses. U.S. politics being what they are, golf development in Cuba is currently in the hands of entities from Great Britain, Spain, Germany, and China. The first Chinese company to secure a development deal, Hong Kong-based Beijing Enterprises Holdings, Ltd., is at work on Bellomonte Golf & Country Club, which may someday emerge in a fishing village located a half-hour’s drive east of Havana.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Pipeline Overflow – When he isn’t thinking about missile technology, Kim Jong-un thinks about tourism development. North Korea’s short-fingered dictator has set in motion a plan to build “a sports and ecological resort” in the Mubong International Tourism Special Zone, a nearly 5,000-acre spread near Lake Mubong, in the northern part of the impoverished nation. The resort will reportedly feature a ski area, hotels, duty-free shops, a shooting range, and a golf course. . . . The Delhi Development Authority, the major planning agency in India’s capital city, has re-committed to building its third 18-hole golf course. The “international-standard” track, in Dwarka, has long been on the DDA’s radar, and Phil Ryan, an Australian architect, was awarded the commission several years ago. I don’t know if Ryan is still in the picture, but the DDA hopes to open the course in 2019. It’ll complement the agency’s Qutab and Bhalswa layouts. . . . Greg Norman’s third golf course in Vietnam is scheduled to open before the end of the year, according to a report by GolfAsian. The 18-hole, links-style track will be the centerpiece of Cam Ranh Links Golf Resort, a 2,000-acre oceanfront resort community outside Nha Trang, along the socialist republic’s South Central Coast. Norman has set a high bar for himself, as Golf Digest ranks his two previous courses – Bluffs Ho Tram Strip and Đà Nẵng Golf Club – as the #1 and #2 tracks in Vietnam.
An affiliate of a San Francisco-based development and management company has agreed to buy the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows, a well-known waterfront resort on Hawaii’s Big Island. For an undisclosed price, ProspectHill Group will acquire Mauna Lani’s hotel, restaurants, meeting space, undeveloped land, and recreational amenities, including two 18-hole golf courses. The seller is an affiliate of a Japanese company, Tokyu Corporation, which considers Mauna Lani to be “one of the world’s best resorts” and “a model of innovative planning and thoughtful land stewardship.” ProspectHill appears to have confidence in Hawaii’s future as a vacation destination, for not long ago it bought the Queen Kapiolani Hotel on Waikiki Beach. It expects to close on its purchase of Mauna Lani this summer.
Surplus Transactions – If you listen closely, you can probably hear a gaggle of lawyers tapping on their keyboards. That’s because Tim Martin has purchased Desert Island Golf & Country Club, a 46-year-old venue in Rancho Mirage, California, and he’s given it a new name: Sinatra Resort & Country Club. But before you start thinking that Martin is just trying to cash in on the singer’s good name, you need to hear Martin’s side of the story. He argues that the property, which includes a Desmond Muirhead-designed golf course, is actually named for the street it’s on, Frank Sinatra Drive, and not for the internationally known music giant. Of course, if you don’t buy what Martin is selling, well, hardly anyone will blame you. . . . Late last year, for an undisclosed price, Fang Cheng Morrow and Nianping Wang bought Prospect Hill Golf Course, which had operated in Auburn, Maine since 1950. The seller was Don Sheldon, who’d owned the 18-hole track since 2008. . . . After serving for nearly 30 years in various capacities in the golf business, Cathy Harbin has purchased Pine Ridge Golf Course, an 18-hole, 5,855-yard track in Paris, Texas. She aims to make the 31-year-old venue “a welcoming environment that has its doors open to families, newcomers, and people who have played for years on in.” Harbin, who began her career as a golf pro, has worked for the PGA Tour, the World Golf Foundation, and Golf 20/20, and she learned golf management during stints with ClubCorp, American Golf Corporation, and Honours Golf. These days, she’s the president of her own management company, Dallas, Texas-based OnCourse Operations.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Sunday, May 21, 2017
The Week That Was, may 21, 2017
You know the wool is about to be pulled over your eyes when the National Golf Foundation begins its latest report on the state of U.S. golf operations with a question that we all once knew the answer to: “What is golf participation?”
Yes, the Jupiter, Florida-based trade group is continuing its re-education crusade, desperately trying to convince us that the old ways of measuring golf’s popularity – notably, by counting the number of people who play the game we think of as golf – no longer tell the whole story. “Engagement with golf is evolving,” the NGF argues in its 2017 report on golf participation, “and so too must the method of measuring it.” To this counterfeit end, the NGF now touts “off-course participation,” an idea that offers optimism but is too silly and too reckless to take seriously.
Here’s the bottom line: Last year, the number of U.S. golfers fell to 23.8 million, a number that Golf Digest says is the lowest reported by the NGF in the Tiger Woods era.
Another worrisome fact: Our nation’s 8.8 million “avid” golfers – 37 percent of the total population – were, according to the NGF, responsible for almost two-thirds of the rounds played in 2016. The NGF’s report doesn’t provide a demographic profile of this group, but if they’re aging men, as other studies have indicated, the future of the golf business is imperiled.
Making lemonade out of lemons isn’t easy, and the NGF understands that it’s engaged in a deception. In the final paragraph of its more than 1,700-word report, it acknowledges that our industry’s survival depends on “converting more beginners into committed participants” and “getting more of those who express interest to actually give golf a try.”
Sadly, these are problems that have loomed for years, and no solutions are in sight.
Just weeks ago, in a post on the number of golf courses in Vietnam (now 58), I wondered what would happen when the socialist republic reached its national goal for golf: 96 courses by 2020. As it turns out, we may soon have an answer. A Vietnamese news service says that the Ministry of Planning & Investment has proposed to lift the legislation that regulates national golf course development through 2020, the one that has “helped restrain the rampant development of golf courses and increase their operational efficiency.” Golf development is going like gangbusters in Vietnam, the internet is full of stories about how the nation is emerging as a destination for international golf travelers, and now the MPI has reportedly invited other ministries to comment on Decision No. 1946/QD-TTg. Are government officials seeing the future clearly, or is their vision obscured by the dollar signs in their eyes? It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the ties that bind are removed completely, but it’s entirely possible that they’ll be loosened to allow for more golf development.
It’s no sure thing, but an Edinburgh-based investment group wants to turn the world’s oldest golf course into a true destination links. Blue Thistle, Ltd. has proposed to take over the operations of Musselburgh Links, a nine-hole layout where golf has been played since 1672, and perhaps a century before. If it can secure a management contract, Blue Thistle says it’ll revitalize the ancient track, restoring the design and features that existed in the mid 1890s. “Essentially, we wish to make Musselburgh great again,” one of the group’s principals said in a comment published by Golf Digest. The makeover will be overseen by architects Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert, who’ve been revitalizing classic British layouts for decades. So far, though, Blue Thistle’s pitch has met with resistance. The treasurer of Musselburgh Links Ladies Golf Club said, “I feel this plan could cause more problems than it’s worth,” and a councilmember has argued that Musselburgh is already “an international golf attraction” and “does not require millions of pounds of investment to make it great.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2017 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Pipeline Overflow – In an attempt to ensure its survival, a 125-year-old club in West Sussex, England is preparing to relocate. The members of Bognor Regis Golf Club, “a special retreat” in “an established scenic location,” have voted to sell their property to a home builder in exchange for a nearby new home. No timelines have been established, but the move won’t take place until the new club opens. Students of architectural history will feel the sting, as Bognor Regis features a James Braid-designed golf course that opened in 1923. . . . The city of North Adelaide, in South Australia, is looking to shrink the 36-hole complex at North Adelaide Golf Course. Graham Marsh, a “signature” architect with an office in suburban Brisbane, is reportedly negotiating for the contract, which would require him to eliminate nine holes while ensuring that the surviving holes maintain “a very high standard.” . . . It appears that the leader of the Tula people in Nigeria understands the value of golf development. Daily Trust Nigeria reports that Alhaji Abubakar Kokia Atare Buba, the Dubai-educated, 34-year-old Emir of Tula Chiefdom, has donated a parcel of land that will someday be a golf course. The newspaper didn’t identify a location, but the course will be built somewhere in Gombe State.
Brown Golf Management is marching its way west. So far this year, the Bluffton, South Carolina-based owner/operator has added two properties to its fast-growing portfolio, one in Georgia (Apple Mountain Resort & Golf Club in Clarkesville) and one in Missouri (Holiday Hills Resort & Golf Club in Branson). John Brown, the company’s chief operating officer, has described these venues as “beautiful, high-quality facilities that perfectly complement our offerings in other areas of the country.” Regarding those other offerings, Brown Golf now owns and/or manages 21 golf properties in six U.S. states, all of them tailored to serve middle-income golfers. “We love the game of golf,” Brown recently said, “and our ultimate goal is to make golf as accessible and enjoyable as possible.”
Yes, the Jupiter, Florida-based trade group is continuing its re-education crusade, desperately trying to convince us that the old ways of measuring golf’s popularity – notably, by counting the number of people who play the game we think of as golf – no longer tell the whole story. “Engagement with golf is evolving,” the NGF argues in its 2017 report on golf participation, “and so too must the method of measuring it.” To this counterfeit end, the NGF now touts “off-course participation,” an idea that offers optimism but is too silly and too reckless to take seriously.
Here’s the bottom line: Last year, the number of U.S. golfers fell to 23.8 million, a number that Golf Digest says is the lowest reported by the NGF in the Tiger Woods era.
Another worrisome fact: Our nation’s 8.8 million “avid” golfers – 37 percent of the total population – were, according to the NGF, responsible for almost two-thirds of the rounds played in 2016. The NGF’s report doesn’t provide a demographic profile of this group, but if they’re aging men, as other studies have indicated, the future of the golf business is imperiled.
Making lemonade out of lemons isn’t easy, and the NGF understands that it’s engaged in a deception. In the final paragraph of its more than 1,700-word report, it acknowledges that our industry’s survival depends on “converting more beginners into committed participants” and “getting more of those who express interest to actually give golf a try.”
Sadly, these are problems that have loomed for years, and no solutions are in sight.
Just weeks ago, in a post on the number of golf courses in Vietnam (now 58), I wondered what would happen when the socialist republic reached its national goal for golf: 96 courses by 2020. As it turns out, we may soon have an answer. A Vietnamese news service says that the Ministry of Planning & Investment has proposed to lift the legislation that regulates national golf course development through 2020, the one that has “helped restrain the rampant development of golf courses and increase their operational efficiency.” Golf development is going like gangbusters in Vietnam, the internet is full of stories about how the nation is emerging as a destination for international golf travelers, and now the MPI has reportedly invited other ministries to comment on Decision No. 1946/QD-TTg. Are government officials seeing the future clearly, or is their vision obscured by the dollar signs in their eyes? It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the ties that bind are removed completely, but it’s entirely possible that they’ll be loosened to allow for more golf development.
It’s no sure thing, but an Edinburgh-based investment group wants to turn the world’s oldest golf course into a true destination links. Blue Thistle, Ltd. has proposed to take over the operations of Musselburgh Links, a nine-hole layout where golf has been played since 1672, and perhaps a century before. If it can secure a management contract, Blue Thistle says it’ll revitalize the ancient track, restoring the design and features that existed in the mid 1890s. “Essentially, we wish to make Musselburgh great again,” one of the group’s principals said in a comment published by Golf Digest. The makeover will be overseen by architects Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert, who’ve been revitalizing classic British layouts for decades. So far, though, Blue Thistle’s pitch has met with resistance. The treasurer of Musselburgh Links Ladies Golf Club said, “I feel this plan could cause more problems than it’s worth,” and a councilmember has argued that Musselburgh is already “an international golf attraction” and “does not require millions of pounds of investment to make it great.”
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2017 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Pipeline Overflow – In an attempt to ensure its survival, a 125-year-old club in West Sussex, England is preparing to relocate. The members of Bognor Regis Golf Club, “a special retreat” in “an established scenic location,” have voted to sell their property to a home builder in exchange for a nearby new home. No timelines have been established, but the move won’t take place until the new club opens. Students of architectural history will feel the sting, as Bognor Regis features a James Braid-designed golf course that opened in 1923. . . . The city of North Adelaide, in South Australia, is looking to shrink the 36-hole complex at North Adelaide Golf Course. Graham Marsh, a “signature” architect with an office in suburban Brisbane, is reportedly negotiating for the contract, which would require him to eliminate nine holes while ensuring that the surviving holes maintain “a very high standard.” . . . It appears that the leader of the Tula people in Nigeria understands the value of golf development. Daily Trust Nigeria reports that Alhaji Abubakar Kokia Atare Buba, the Dubai-educated, 34-year-old Emir of Tula Chiefdom, has donated a parcel of land that will someday be a golf course. The newspaper didn’t identify a location, but the course will be built somewhere in Gombe State.
Brown Golf Management is marching its way west. So far this year, the Bluffton, South Carolina-based owner/operator has added two properties to its fast-growing portfolio, one in Georgia (Apple Mountain Resort & Golf Club in Clarkesville) and one in Missouri (Holiday Hills Resort & Golf Club in Branson). John Brown, the company’s chief operating officer, has described these venues as “beautiful, high-quality facilities that perfectly complement our offerings in other areas of the country.” Regarding those other offerings, Brown Golf now owns and/or manages 21 golf properties in six U.S. states, all of them tailored to serve middle-income golfers. “We love the game of golf,” Brown recently said, “and our ultimate goal is to make golf as accessible and enjoyable as possible.”
Sunday, May 14, 2017
The Week That Was, may 14, 2017
In a bold attempt to disenfranchise the town of Wilson, Wisconsin, Kohler Company has petitioned to annex the site of its proposed fifth Pete Dye-designed golf course into the nearby city of Sheboygan. Clearly, Kohler is fed up with environmental regulations and planning processes that have prevented it from breaking ground on the 18-hole track, a venue it believes “could one day rank as one of the top 50 in the world” and create “an annual, multimillion-dollar positive economic impact.” Kohler’s gambit is evidence of exactly how desperately it wants to build the course, which is slated to emerge on part of a 247-acre parcel just a short drive from the Dye-designed golf complexes at Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run. Not so long ago, Kohler had Wisconsin pretty much all to itself. In a few weeks, however, Erin Hills will host a U.S Open, and by this time next year Sand Valley might be the state’s top golf destination. The stakes are high, and the battle for the money spent by traveling golfers has only just begun.
Nearly everyone has at one time or another dreamed of vacationing on Fiji, but only a tiny fraction of us actually do it. That sad fact helps to explain why the island’s Momi Bay Resort, once touted as “one of the brightest jewels in the Fijian tourism crown,” has of late been described as “a ghost town,” with a nine-hole golf course that’s overgrown and unplayable. The resort was initiated sometime after the turn of the century by Bridgecorp, a New Zealand-based investment group that went belly up in 2007. Today the 305-acre property is controlled by Fiji’s government, which has apparently given up on finding a private-sector buyer but still hopes to complete a master plan that features hotels, “over-water luxury villas,” a marina, and other attractions. Momi Bay reopened a month or so ago, with a Marriott-branded hotel and a promise to eventually open a 27-hole golf complex. The parties involved haven’t announced a construction schedule for the golf complex, but they understand that it needs to be “world class” if Momi Bay’s second life lasts longer than its first. As for the resort’s defunct layout, it appears to have been designed by Mark Miller, an architect based in Arvada, Colorado.
Pipeline Overflow – An affiliate of FLC Group, one of Vietnam’s premier golf developers, has secured permission to build a massive resort on an island in Quảng Ninh Province. FLC Faros Van Don has master-planned its 10,000-acre property to include, among other things, a casino, 1,400 vacation villas, 3,500 hotel rooms, a safari park, and four golf courses. Faithful readers will recall that FLC Group is responsible for FLC Sầm Sơn Golf Links in Thanh Hóa Province and FLC Quy Nhơn Golf Links in Bình Định Province, and its to-do list includes FLC Đong Hoi Golf Links, a Mission Hills-inspired spread along the Central Coast that will feature 10 courses. . . . Greg Norman’s first golf course in Colombia is taking shape on waterfront property roughly 20 miles north of Cartagena, a city that “the Living Brand” believes is “one of the most incredible destinations” in South America. The 18-hole layout will be the centerpiece of the nation’s “first ecological golf and beach community,” a 685-acre spread that’s expected to include as many as 2,000 single-family houses, villas, and condos as well as hotels, meeting space, and a town center. . . . As part of an effort to spark tourism, the state government in Mizoram, India expects to open an 18-hole, “international-standard” golf course sometime next year. The track has been designed by Graham Cooke, a prominent Canadian architect who’s worked in India previously (he created Tarudhan Valley Golf Course in Haryana) as well as in Finland, Italy, and the United States.
The fate of Palmetto Pines Golf Course has officially been sealed. Over the next few years, slowly but surely, the 27-hole, Arthur Hills-designed complex in suburban Bradenton, Florida – a venue described by the Bradenton Herald as “one of the area’s most inexpensive and relaxed golf links” – will be converted into a gated subdivision. The complex’s demise comes as no surprise, of course, because Pat Neal, a well-known residential developer, bought the 210-acre property (reportedly for $15.1 million) in 2006. Neal Communities recently announced that nine of Palmetto Pines’ holes will close this year, and the remaining holes will close as its houses sell. Palmetto Pines opened in the mid 1950s, and it once had 36 holes.
Desolation Row Extended -- Elected officials in Decatur, Illinois have voted to close Scovill Golf Course at the end of the 2017 golf season. Scovill has operated since the 1920s, with an 18-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed layout that was redesigned by Dick Nugent in the early 1990s. Last year, a local publication named it the number-one public course in Central Illinois, and on at least two occasions Golf for Women magazine has identified it one of our nation’s top 100 courses for women. . . . Also slated to close at the end of this year’s golf season is River Cliff Golf Course, a nine-hole track in Fremont, Ohio. Adam Crockett has agreed to sell River Cliff to a land conservancy, reportedly for $900,000, but the 75-acre property is expected to eventually be transferred to the Sandusky County Park District. Crockett owns two other courses in Ohio, Green Hills Golf Course in Clyde and Woussickett Golf Course in Sandusky. . . . Time has just about run out on Lakeview Golf Course, which has operated in suburban Boston, Massachusetts for 99 years. The nine-hole, executive-length layout, owned by the late Bill Flynn since 1973, will be replaced by two dozen condos for seniors. The construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
Based on an examination of data on the internet, Business Daily Africa has determined that more than 8,100 Kenyan golfers have posted handicaps, and it believes that others may soon do so. It probably won’t surprise anyone to learn that the vast majority of the people described as “handicapped golfers” – 83 percent – are men.
Nearly everyone has at one time or another dreamed of vacationing on Fiji, but only a tiny fraction of us actually do it. That sad fact helps to explain why the island’s Momi Bay Resort, once touted as “one of the brightest jewels in the Fijian tourism crown,” has of late been described as “a ghost town,” with a nine-hole golf course that’s overgrown and unplayable. The resort was initiated sometime after the turn of the century by Bridgecorp, a New Zealand-based investment group that went belly up in 2007. Today the 305-acre property is controlled by Fiji’s government, which has apparently given up on finding a private-sector buyer but still hopes to complete a master plan that features hotels, “over-water luxury villas,” a marina, and other attractions. Momi Bay reopened a month or so ago, with a Marriott-branded hotel and a promise to eventually open a 27-hole golf complex. The parties involved haven’t announced a construction schedule for the golf complex, but they understand that it needs to be “world class” if Momi Bay’s second life lasts longer than its first. As for the resort’s defunct layout, it appears to have been designed by Mark Miller, an architect based in Arvada, Colorado.
Pipeline Overflow – An affiliate of FLC Group, one of Vietnam’s premier golf developers, has secured permission to build a massive resort on an island in Quảng Ninh Province. FLC Faros Van Don has master-planned its 10,000-acre property to include, among other things, a casino, 1,400 vacation villas, 3,500 hotel rooms, a safari park, and four golf courses. Faithful readers will recall that FLC Group is responsible for FLC Sầm Sơn Golf Links in Thanh Hóa Province and FLC Quy Nhơn Golf Links in Bình Định Province, and its to-do list includes FLC Đong Hoi Golf Links, a Mission Hills-inspired spread along the Central Coast that will feature 10 courses. . . . Greg Norman’s first golf course in Colombia is taking shape on waterfront property roughly 20 miles north of Cartagena, a city that “the Living Brand” believes is “one of the most incredible destinations” in South America. The 18-hole layout will be the centerpiece of the nation’s “first ecological golf and beach community,” a 685-acre spread that’s expected to include as many as 2,000 single-family houses, villas, and condos as well as hotels, meeting space, and a town center. . . . As part of an effort to spark tourism, the state government in Mizoram, India expects to open an 18-hole, “international-standard” golf course sometime next year. The track has been designed by Graham Cooke, a prominent Canadian architect who’s worked in India previously (he created Tarudhan Valley Golf Course in Haryana) as well as in Finland, Italy, and the United States.
The fate of Palmetto Pines Golf Course has officially been sealed. Over the next few years, slowly but surely, the 27-hole, Arthur Hills-designed complex in suburban Bradenton, Florida – a venue described by the Bradenton Herald as “one of the area’s most inexpensive and relaxed golf links” – will be converted into a gated subdivision. The complex’s demise comes as no surprise, of course, because Pat Neal, a well-known residential developer, bought the 210-acre property (reportedly for $15.1 million) in 2006. Neal Communities recently announced that nine of Palmetto Pines’ holes will close this year, and the remaining holes will close as its houses sell. Palmetto Pines opened in the mid 1950s, and it once had 36 holes.
Desolation Row Extended -- Elected officials in Decatur, Illinois have voted to close Scovill Golf Course at the end of the 2017 golf season. Scovill has operated since the 1920s, with an 18-hole, Tom Bendelow-designed layout that was redesigned by Dick Nugent in the early 1990s. Last year, a local publication named it the number-one public course in Central Illinois, and on at least two occasions Golf for Women magazine has identified it one of our nation’s top 100 courses for women. . . . Also slated to close at the end of this year’s golf season is River Cliff Golf Course, a nine-hole track in Fremont, Ohio. Adam Crockett has agreed to sell River Cliff to a land conservancy, reportedly for $900,000, but the 75-acre property is expected to eventually be transferred to the Sandusky County Park District. Crockett owns two other courses in Ohio, Green Hills Golf Course in Clyde and Woussickett Golf Course in Sandusky. . . . Time has just about run out on Lakeview Golf Course, which has operated in suburban Boston, Massachusetts for 99 years. The nine-hole, executive-length layout, owned by the late Bill Flynn since 1973, will be replaced by two dozen condos for seniors. The construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
Based on an examination of data on the internet, Business Daily Africa has determined that more than 8,100 Kenyan golfers have posted handicaps, and it believes that others may soon do so. It probably won’t surprise anyone to learn that the vast majority of the people described as “handicapped golfers” – 83 percent – are men.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
The Week That Was, may 7, 2017
For Tom Doak, one good thing in Australia has led to many others. The Traverse City, Michigan-based architect has produced a pair of well-regarded courses Down Under (notably, Barnbougle Dunes Golf Links on Tasmania), and now he’s inked a sixth renovation contract. His latest commission comes from Yarra Yarra Golf Club in suburban Melbourne, which aims to “restore the luster and uniqueness” of its Alex Russell-designed golf course, reclaim the 18-hole track’s unique position on the Melbourne Sandbelt,” and ensure that it remains “of a standard that will attract and retain members.” In previous episodes of Doak’s career, he won similar commissions from three other Melbourne-area venues – Royal Melbourne Golf Club, National Golf Club, and Woodlands Golf Club – as well as Concord Golf Club in suburban Sydney and Royal Adelaide Golf Club in South Australia. An announcement from Yarra Yarra doesn’t say when construction will begin, and Doak hasn’t said where his next Australian job is coming from.
By wide margins, some of the most committed U.S. golfers expect to play as often or even more often than they did last year, and they’d rather play a ho-hum course with a friend than a top-rated course with a stranger. Those are among the results of an encouraging survey of more than 1,000 U.S. golfers conducted late last year on behalf of Golf.com. The respondents were the cream of the golf crop: 70 percent were members of households that earned at least $100,000 in 2016, and more than 80 percent played at least 10 rounds over the past year. A few other opinions they expressed: By and large, they don’t think golf is too expensive or takes too long to play and don’t feel guilty about losing family time. They also disdain nine-hole rounds and slow play. One possible cause for concern: They don’t believe golf is more welcoming today than it was a generation ago.
A golf course will be among the attractions at “a self-sustaining smart community” that’s expected to emerge – someday, someway – along the waterfront in the Philippines’ capital city. The community, known alternately as New Manila Bay and City of Pearl, is being touted as “something that no one has done before” and “beyond any international standards today.” It’ll be run entirely by artificial intelligence, and its master plan calls for the creation of residential, business, education, and sports districts on more than 1,000 acres of property that will be created in what’s currently Manila Bay. City of Pearl’s developers, a Filipino-Chinese consortium operating as UAA Kinming, figure it’ll take 20 years to complete the community. The waterfront reclamation alone is expected to take four years.
The clock is ticking on one of the oldest golf properties on New York’s Long Island. Finalizing an agreement made months ago, Weiss Properties and some partners have paid an undisclosed price for Woodmere Club, which was founded in 1908 and moved to its current location, in the town of Woodmere, in 1910. In recent years, Woodmere has suffered from what a club official described as “a shrinking membership.” Its original course was designed by Jack Pirie and redesigned, in the late 1940s, by Robert Trent Jones. In succeeding years, the 18-hole track was tweaked by Brian Silva and Mike Nuzzo. Woodmere will eventually disappear and be replaced with houses, but not before 2022. For the time being, annual memberships are reportedly selling for $11,500.
Surplus Transactions – The clock is also ticking on Eagle Valley Golf Course, a 19-year-old track that occupies 135 acres in Evansville, Indiana. A local school board has agreed to pay $3.37 million for the 18-hole, Bob Lohmann-designed course, as it believes the property will someday be an ideal site for a high school. The end isn’t necessarily near, however, for Dean and Dirk Brinker, the sellers, will continue to operate Eagle Valley for at least three years. . . . Late last year, a company that hosts equestrian events acquired Balmoral Woods Golf Club, an 18-hole layout in Crete, Illinois. HITS, Inc. hasn’t disclosed what it paid for the club, but the seller, a family-owned group led by David Mortell, was hoping to get $1.35 million. Balmoral Woods opened in 1975, with a nine-hole track that was co-designed by Arthur Davis and Ron Kirby. A few years later, George Fazio redesigned the original course and added a second nine. The new owners will reportedly keep the Mortells involved in the business “in a small capacity.” . . . A dozen investors have come together to buy a long-established private club in Clarksville, Tennessee. Clarksville Country Club, which opened in 1965, has reportedly “fallen on some challenging times,” but it was saved because the new owners believe it’s “a key piece of the puzzle for economic development in the community.” George Cobb designed the club’s 18-hole course.
In a mean-spirited review of the restaurant at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles (the meals are “not worth the cost,” and the wines “taste like the kind of cheap stuff you drank in high school”), LA Weekly raises a potentially worrisome issue for Trump Golf. “Most tee times into the near future remain available for booking online,” writes Sarah Bennett, and “on several recent trips to the clubhouse restaurants for weekday happy hour and dinner, the dining experience was shared by only a few scattered customers.” The U.S. president is quick to accuse newspapers and television networks he dislikes as “failing.” Is it time for him to train his own mean-spiritedness on his Los Angeles property?
By wide margins, some of the most committed U.S. golfers expect to play as often or even more often than they did last year, and they’d rather play a ho-hum course with a friend than a top-rated course with a stranger. Those are among the results of an encouraging survey of more than 1,000 U.S. golfers conducted late last year on behalf of Golf.com. The respondents were the cream of the golf crop: 70 percent were members of households that earned at least $100,000 in 2016, and more than 80 percent played at least 10 rounds over the past year. A few other opinions they expressed: By and large, they don’t think golf is too expensive or takes too long to play and don’t feel guilty about losing family time. They also disdain nine-hole rounds and slow play. One possible cause for concern: They don’t believe golf is more welcoming today than it was a generation ago.
A golf course will be among the attractions at “a self-sustaining smart community” that’s expected to emerge – someday, someway – along the waterfront in the Philippines’ capital city. The community, known alternately as New Manila Bay and City of Pearl, is being touted as “something that no one has done before” and “beyond any international standards today.” It’ll be run entirely by artificial intelligence, and its master plan calls for the creation of residential, business, education, and sports districts on more than 1,000 acres of property that will be created in what’s currently Manila Bay. City of Pearl’s developers, a Filipino-Chinese consortium operating as UAA Kinming, figure it’ll take 20 years to complete the community. The waterfront reclamation alone is expected to take four years.
The clock is ticking on one of the oldest golf properties on New York’s Long Island. Finalizing an agreement made months ago, Weiss Properties and some partners have paid an undisclosed price for Woodmere Club, which was founded in 1908 and moved to its current location, in the town of Woodmere, in 1910. In recent years, Woodmere has suffered from what a club official described as “a shrinking membership.” Its original course was designed by Jack Pirie and redesigned, in the late 1940s, by Robert Trent Jones. In succeeding years, the 18-hole track was tweaked by Brian Silva and Mike Nuzzo. Woodmere will eventually disappear and be replaced with houses, but not before 2022. For the time being, annual memberships are reportedly selling for $11,500.
Surplus Transactions – The clock is also ticking on Eagle Valley Golf Course, a 19-year-old track that occupies 135 acres in Evansville, Indiana. A local school board has agreed to pay $3.37 million for the 18-hole, Bob Lohmann-designed course, as it believes the property will someday be an ideal site for a high school. The end isn’t necessarily near, however, for Dean and Dirk Brinker, the sellers, will continue to operate Eagle Valley for at least three years. . . . Late last year, a company that hosts equestrian events acquired Balmoral Woods Golf Club, an 18-hole layout in Crete, Illinois. HITS, Inc. hasn’t disclosed what it paid for the club, but the seller, a family-owned group led by David Mortell, was hoping to get $1.35 million. Balmoral Woods opened in 1975, with a nine-hole track that was co-designed by Arthur Davis and Ron Kirby. A few years later, George Fazio redesigned the original course and added a second nine. The new owners will reportedly keep the Mortells involved in the business “in a small capacity.” . . . A dozen investors have come together to buy a long-established private club in Clarksville, Tennessee. Clarksville Country Club, which opened in 1965, has reportedly “fallen on some challenging times,” but it was saved because the new owners believe it’s “a key piece of the puzzle for economic development in the community.” George Cobb designed the club’s 18-hole course.
In a mean-spirited review of the restaurant at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles (the meals are “not worth the cost,” and the wines “taste like the kind of cheap stuff you drank in high school”), LA Weekly raises a potentially worrisome issue for Trump Golf. “Most tee times into the near future remain available for booking online,” writes Sarah Bennett, and “on several recent trips to the clubhouse restaurants for weekday happy hour and dinner, the dining experience was shared by only a few scattered customers.” The U.S. president is quick to accuse newspapers and television networks he dislikes as “failing.” Is it time for him to train his own mean-spiritedness on his Los Angeles property?
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