By the end of this year, in an effort to create a “golf heaven,” Siam Country Club plans to break ground on its third golf course.
The New course, as it’s being called, will draw even more attention to Siam, which is already something of a paradise on earth for Asia’s golf business. The club, one of the first private enclaves in Thailand, opened in 1971 and has hosted a Honda-sponsored LPGA event every year since 2007. It currently offers 45 holes of golf.
The New course will take shape on 200 acres dotted with lakes that will come into play on about half of its holes. Its designer, Brit Stenson of Cleveland, Ohio-based IMG, says the layout won’t be as challenging as Siam’s Old and Plantation tracks. “A lot of their clientele is Japanese,” Stenson explains, “and they want something more forgiving.”
To that end, Stenson has designed a course with large greens and shallow bunkers. The track will stretch to 7,489 yards, but he believes the club’s members and vacationers will more often play it at somewhere between 6,000 and 6,500 yards. And while Stenson often collaborates with one of the touring pros managed by IMG, he’s likely flying solo at Siam.
The club is located in a suburb of Pattaya, along the Gulf of Thailand. It was established by Thaworn Phornprapha, the founder of Siam Motors Company. Siam Motors began its existence as a seller of new and used cars, graduated to become the first overseas distributor for Nissan, and then opened an assembly plant in Thailand. Nowadays it’s diversified into manufacturing and trading operations for companies such as Hitachi (elevators), Yamaha (musical and audio products), and Komatsu (heavy equipment).
The club is now run by Phornprapha’s son, Phornthep, who’s taken his father’s dream of creating Thailand’s premier golf destination and run with it. In 2006, Phornprapha hired Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt Curley Golf Design to redesign Siam’s 7,162-yard Old course and to build a new 27-hole complex, the Plantation course. And after the New course opens, he’ll likely hire Stenson to design an “international-standard” golf academy.
“Our objective for the New course,” Phornprapha has said, “is to create something that is beautiful and very unique from our existing courses, providing golfers with an experience that is fun and memorable.”
The New course is expected to open in early 2014. As far as his future plans for Siam go, Phornprapha hasn’t spelled anything out. But he has close to 800 acres of undeveloped property to work with.
The original version of this post appeared in the March 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
The Week That Was, may 20, 2012
india K. D. Bagga, RIP
India’s most prolific and most important golf course architect died last week.
K. D. Bagga -- “Colonel” Bagga, as he liked to call himself -- was hardly known outside India’s golf circles, and his death doesn’t appear to have registered with the nation’s big newspapers. Maybe that’s because he’d dedicated the final 20 or so years of his life to a mostly thankless task: Making golf in India a people’s sport. His work, he told me last year, was the “mad passion” of designing and building “affordable, easily sustainable, and more accessible golf courses for the masses.”
Bagga was 80. An Indian news service reports that he died after “a prolonged illness.” I don’t know what ailed him at the end, but he’d previously undergone a pair of heart bypass surgeries.
I exchanged some e-mails with Bagga a year or so ago, in connection with a story I was writing for Golf, Inc. He intrigued me because he was a blue-collar architect, not unlike the late Geoffrey Cornish. He had no pretensions as a designer, no grand ambitions. He wasn’t in the business for the money or the fame. He was simply a fellow who loved golf and who wanted to share its delights with his countrymen. He truly was someone who “grew the game.”
“The concept of neighborhood golf courses, however small, is my thought,” he said.
Golf design was probably Bagga’s third career. He was first a civil engineer, then a military officer. I don’t know when the golf bug bit him, but he became serious about design in the mid 1990s, when he crossed paths with Ron Fream, a U.S. architect with comparable populist sympathies. Sensing a kindred spirit, Fream taught Bagga the fundamentals of good design and some basic construction techniques and then turned him loose.
The records show that Bagga completed about a dozen golf courses, most of them nine-hole tracks -- Gulmohar Greens Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi Golf Course in Sidhra among them. His best-known work is almost certainly Kensville Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad, an 18-hole, championship-length track that carries the “signature” of Jeev Milkha Singh, India’s most successful professional golfer. Kensville is generally regarded to be the best course in the city and one of the best in the country.
When I caught up with Bagga, he was deep into his 70s. I asked if he had any thoughts of retirement, but I knew he didn’t. “I have tried to hang my boots many times,” he told me, but he said he wouldn’t do it if it meant “handing over the baton to anyone not passionate for the game and county.”
It’s too bad that Bagga never found someone he deemed worthy of carrying his baton. If India ever expects to reach its golf-development potential, it could use more people like the Colonel.
And in Other News . . .
. . . mexico Better late than never: The long-delayed Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course at Quivira Los Cabos is under construction and scheduled to open roughly a year from now. The course is one of two “signature” layouts in the master plan for the 1,850-acre oceanfront community, which will eventually sprout luxury houses, a pair of beach clubs, the obligatory spa, a village center, and maybe one of those limited-edition Jack Nicklaus Golf Clubs whose development has been stymied by the Great Recession. It’s been a long haul for Quivira, which has been kicking around since the mid 2000s (if not before), when Ernesto Coppel, its developer, promised that it would soon be “redefining luxury in Los Cabos.” A construction start was set for 2008, then 2009, and then Quivira, like so many of the world’s high-priced golf spreads, made a slow fade to black. But now the tony community is officially back, and that’s encouraging news not just for Coppel, Nicklaus, and Mexico but for developers everywhere who’ve been able to maintain their faith and, perhaps more important, their financial wherewithal.
Some information in the above post originally appeared in the November 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
. . . brazil Regarding the land dispute that’s threatening the development of the 2016 Olympics’ golf course: The plot is thickening. A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that two local groups have laid claim to the property. This week we learned that the city of Rio doesn’t have any proof of ownership and that a Brazilian court is conducting a search for documents that can settle the quarrel once and for all. Unfortunately, a judicial resolution to this sorry escapade could, in the words of the Associated Press, “take months or even years.” It seems like only yesterday that Gil Hanse, the course’s architect, had a perch on top of the world. Today he must be wondering if his sure-thing $300,000 commission is going to turn into yet another project on indefinite hold. People described as “local Olympic organizers” continue to insist that contracts for course design and construction will soon be signed, but I’m quickly losing confidence. To me, all of the players involved seem like nothing more than spiders who don’t realize what a tangled web they’ve weaved.
. . . united states Is golf one of those “leading economic indicators” that can forecast the future? The National Golf Foundation thinks so, and the Jupiter, Florida-based trade group says that these days the industry’s needles and gauges are all pointing up. In particular, the group says, its surveys of “golfer confidence” have shown increases for three consecutive quarters. “It’s not just the weather,” a spokesman for the NGF told the Newport News Daily Press. “People are feeling a little bit better about their financial situation.” Maybe that’s why the number of rounds played in the United States was up by 22 percent in the first quarter of this year.
. . . wild card click Is this what it means to be in tune with the electorate?
India’s most prolific and most important golf course architect died last week.
K. D. Bagga -- “Colonel” Bagga, as he liked to call himself -- was hardly known outside India’s golf circles, and his death doesn’t appear to have registered with the nation’s big newspapers. Maybe that’s because he’d dedicated the final 20 or so years of his life to a mostly thankless task: Making golf in India a people’s sport. His work, he told me last year, was the “mad passion” of designing and building “affordable, easily sustainable, and more accessible golf courses for the masses.”
Bagga was 80. An Indian news service reports that he died after “a prolonged illness.” I don’t know what ailed him at the end, but he’d previously undergone a pair of heart bypass surgeries.
I exchanged some e-mails with Bagga a year or so ago, in connection with a story I was writing for Golf, Inc. He intrigued me because he was a blue-collar architect, not unlike the late Geoffrey Cornish. He had no pretensions as a designer, no grand ambitions. He wasn’t in the business for the money or the fame. He was simply a fellow who loved golf and who wanted to share its delights with his countrymen. He truly was someone who “grew the game.”
“The concept of neighborhood golf courses, however small, is my thought,” he said.
Golf design was probably Bagga’s third career. He was first a civil engineer, then a military officer. I don’t know when the golf bug bit him, but he became serious about design in the mid 1990s, when he crossed paths with Ron Fream, a U.S. architect with comparable populist sympathies. Sensing a kindred spirit, Fream taught Bagga the fundamentals of good design and some basic construction techniques and then turned him loose.
The records show that Bagga completed about a dozen golf courses, most of them nine-hole tracks -- Gulmohar Greens Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi Golf Course in Sidhra among them. His best-known work is almost certainly Kensville Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad, an 18-hole, championship-length track that carries the “signature” of Jeev Milkha Singh, India’s most successful professional golfer. Kensville is generally regarded to be the best course in the city and one of the best in the country.
When I caught up with Bagga, he was deep into his 70s. I asked if he had any thoughts of retirement, but I knew he didn’t. “I have tried to hang my boots many times,” he told me, but he said he wouldn’t do it if it meant “handing over the baton to anyone not passionate for the game and county.”
It’s too bad that Bagga never found someone he deemed worthy of carrying his baton. If India ever expects to reach its golf-development potential, it could use more people like the Colonel.
And in Other News . . .
. . . mexico Better late than never: The long-delayed Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course at Quivira Los Cabos is under construction and scheduled to open roughly a year from now. The course is one of two “signature” layouts in the master plan for the 1,850-acre oceanfront community, which will eventually sprout luxury houses, a pair of beach clubs, the obligatory spa, a village center, and maybe one of those limited-edition Jack Nicklaus Golf Clubs whose development has been stymied by the Great Recession. It’s been a long haul for Quivira, which has been kicking around since the mid 2000s (if not before), when Ernesto Coppel, its developer, promised that it would soon be “redefining luxury in Los Cabos.” A construction start was set for 2008, then 2009, and then Quivira, like so many of the world’s high-priced golf spreads, made a slow fade to black. But now the tony community is officially back, and that’s encouraging news not just for Coppel, Nicklaus, and Mexico but for developers everywhere who’ve been able to maintain their faith and, perhaps more important, their financial wherewithal.
Some information in the above post originally appeared in the November 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
. . . brazil Regarding the land dispute that’s threatening the development of the 2016 Olympics’ golf course: The plot is thickening. A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that two local groups have laid claim to the property. This week we learned that the city of Rio doesn’t have any proof of ownership and that a Brazilian court is conducting a search for documents that can settle the quarrel once and for all. Unfortunately, a judicial resolution to this sorry escapade could, in the words of the Associated Press, “take months or even years.” It seems like only yesterday that Gil Hanse, the course’s architect, had a perch on top of the world. Today he must be wondering if his sure-thing $300,000 commission is going to turn into yet another project on indefinite hold. People described as “local Olympic organizers” continue to insist that contracts for course design and construction will soon be signed, but I’m quickly losing confidence. To me, all of the players involved seem like nothing more than spiders who don’t realize what a tangled web they’ve weaved.
. . . united states Is golf one of those “leading economic indicators” that can forecast the future? The National Golf Foundation thinks so, and the Jupiter, Florida-based trade group says that these days the industry’s needles and gauges are all pointing up. In particular, the group says, its surveys of “golfer confidence” have shown increases for three consecutive quarters. “It’s not just the weather,” a spokesman for the NGF told the Newport News Daily Press. “People are feeling a little bit better about their financial situation.” Maybe that’s why the number of rounds played in the United States was up by 22 percent in the first quarter of this year.
. . . wild card click Is this what it means to be in tune with the electorate?
Friday, May 18, 2012
talking points Is Asia a Road to Nowhere?
When it comes to golf development, Japan has run out of gas, South Korea has stalled, and China is, at least for the time being, stuck in neutral.
That’s the verdict from Brian Costello, Mark Hollinger, and Bob Moore, the principals of JMP Golf Design. The JMP “brand” may not register with most U.S. golfers, but for more than a decade Costello, Hollinger, and Moore have been driving through towns and cities all over Asia and Southeast Asia. They’ve created a dozen courses in Japan, at least a dozen in China, and 10 others in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. They’re also responsible for four in South Korea, including the recently opened 360˚ Country Club in Yeoju, in Gyeonggi Province.
The partners recently shared some of their expertise with Asian Golf Business. Their comments about the state of golf development came in the form of an “interview” that, unfortunately, doesn’t at all sound authentic or spontaneous. My guess is that the answers were written, not spoken.
I can’t determine which architect is doing the talking, but I suppose it really doesn’t matter. Here’s what they had to say:
On Japan: A combination of market saturation and the state of the economy have certainly resulted in very limited demand for new golf in Japan. In fact, many see a further contraction of existing golf courses as a move in the right direction. . . . However, having said that, we also see a strong emerging market for renovation. Aging golf courses in key metropolitan areas and popular resort areas will be ideal candidates for renovation.
On South Korea: It would seem that opportunities for massive growth are definitely over for the short term. . . . There is certainly a correction in the Korean market, but we would not, at this time, characterize it as Japan-like. The fundamentals of the Korean economy are in place, and that economy should sustain a few smart projects that truly provide value and great golf experiences in the private and public sectors.
On China: The golf market will continue to grow, but not nearly at the breakneck pace of the past few years. The central government’s high-end lending controls are now impacting the market severely. Speculative property buyers who propelled the golf course community real estate industry are no longer available in most regions of China. It is now a new and very different environment for golf development, and this will continue at least for the next couple of years. In addition, many of the popular resort areas have been oversaturated with golf projects. It will require some time for all of this to shake out.
On the Philippines: Golf development in the Philippines has been practically non-existent for many years. The Philippines is too rich in resources, population, and in beautiful landscapes for that trend to continue.
On India: India is anybody’s guess, but it is hard not to envision India as a major golf market in the coming decade, as long as the complex issue of land acquisition is addressed.
On Indonesia: Indonesia is a sleeping giant in many respects. It is the world’s fourth most populous country. Its consumer demand is enormous. It is a rising economic power. Having stated that, we do not expect to see another explosion of golf like the one that occurred there in the 1980s.
That’s the verdict from Brian Costello, Mark Hollinger, and Bob Moore, the principals of JMP Golf Design. The JMP “brand” may not register with most U.S. golfers, but for more than a decade Costello, Hollinger, and Moore have been driving through towns and cities all over Asia and Southeast Asia. They’ve created a dozen courses in Japan, at least a dozen in China, and 10 others in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. They’re also responsible for four in South Korea, including the recently opened 360˚ Country Club in Yeoju, in Gyeonggi Province.
The partners recently shared some of their expertise with Asian Golf Business. Their comments about the state of golf development came in the form of an “interview” that, unfortunately, doesn’t at all sound authentic or spontaneous. My guess is that the answers were written, not spoken.
I can’t determine which architect is doing the talking, but I suppose it really doesn’t matter. Here’s what they had to say:
On Japan: A combination of market saturation and the state of the economy have certainly resulted in very limited demand for new golf in Japan. In fact, many see a further contraction of existing golf courses as a move in the right direction. . . . However, having said that, we also see a strong emerging market for renovation. Aging golf courses in key metropolitan areas and popular resort areas will be ideal candidates for renovation.
On South Korea: It would seem that opportunities for massive growth are definitely over for the short term. . . . There is certainly a correction in the Korean market, but we would not, at this time, characterize it as Japan-like. The fundamentals of the Korean economy are in place, and that economy should sustain a few smart projects that truly provide value and great golf experiences in the private and public sectors.
On China: The golf market will continue to grow, but not nearly at the breakneck pace of the past few years. The central government’s high-end lending controls are now impacting the market severely. Speculative property buyers who propelled the golf course community real estate industry are no longer available in most regions of China. It is now a new and very different environment for golf development, and this will continue at least for the next couple of years. In addition, many of the popular resort areas have been oversaturated with golf projects. It will require some time for all of this to shake out.
On the Philippines: Golf development in the Philippines has been practically non-existent for many years. The Philippines is too rich in resources, population, and in beautiful landscapes for that trend to continue.
On India: India is anybody’s guess, but it is hard not to envision India as a major golf market in the coming decade, as long as the complex issue of land acquisition is addressed.
On Indonesia: Indonesia is a sleeping giant in many respects. It is the world’s fourth most populous country. Its consumer demand is enormous. It is a rising economic power. Having stated that, we do not expect to see another explosion of golf like the one that occurred there in the 1980s.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
france Grape Expectations
China’s fast-growing thirst for prestige wine has made wineries in Bordeaux some of the hottest real estate on the planet. Over the past year or so, Chinese buyers have snapped up more than a dozen wineries, most of them in a region called Entre-deux-Mers, which is known for producing fruity, easy-to-drink wines that suit the Chinese palette.
The latest to turn over is Chateau Grand Moueys, a 425-acre estate along the Garonne River in the village of Capian. The estate, which has been producing wines since before the French Revolution, had previously been owned by a German company.
Chateau Grand Moueys’ new owner, Zhang Jinshan, is the principal of Ningxiahong Zhongning Wolfberry Products Company, which has been described as “the world’s largest producer of alcohol from goji berries.”
Zhang also owns a travel agency, which will come in handy in his effort to help turn his winery into a vacation spot for Chinese tourists. “From 2013, we hope to welcome around 10,000 Chinese visitors a year,” he told Decanter.com at the time of the sale.
Chateau Grand Moueys currently has only about half of its property under cultivation, which means that Zhang has plenty of opportunities for development. He plans to overhaul the property’s 18th-century estate, add an upscale Chinese restaurant, and build a nine-hole golf course. And if his projected tourism numbers pan out, he’ll turn the estate’s guest rooms into a hotel with a spa.
Various reports from France say that more sales are in process. “For some chateaux that struggle to sell their wine,” a winery owner told Decanter in late 2011, “China really is a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Some information in this post originally appeared in the March 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The latest to turn over is Chateau Grand Moueys, a 425-acre estate along the Garonne River in the village of Capian. The estate, which has been producing wines since before the French Revolution, had previously been owned by a German company.
Chateau Grand Moueys’ new owner, Zhang Jinshan, is the principal of Ningxiahong Zhongning Wolfberry Products Company, which has been described as “the world’s largest producer of alcohol from goji berries.”
Zhang also owns a travel agency, which will come in handy in his effort to help turn his winery into a vacation spot for Chinese tourists. “From 2013, we hope to welcome around 10,000 Chinese visitors a year,” he told Decanter.com at the time of the sale.
Chateau Grand Moueys currently has only about half of its property under cultivation, which means that Zhang has plenty of opportunities for development. He plans to overhaul the property’s 18th-century estate, add an upscale Chinese restaurant, and build a nine-hole golf course. And if his projected tourism numbers pan out, he’ll turn the estate’s guest rooms into a hotel with a spa.
Various reports from France say that more sales are in process. “For some chateaux that struggle to sell their wine,” a winery owner told Decanter in late 2011, “China really is a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Some information in this post originally appeared in the March 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The Week That Was, may 13, 2012
united states Back in the Swing of Things?
Slowly but surely, the bad-news stories about our business are disappearing. While the Great Recession isn’t yet completely dead and buried, it appears that happier days are here again for the owners and operators of U.S. golf properties.
The evidence is still mostly anecdotal, and better times haven’t arrived in every U.S. market, but there’s no disputing the essential fact: Courses from coast to coast are ringing up more rounds this year. You can chalk up the increase to an unusually warm winter, to an improving economy, to pent-up demand, or to all of the above. No matter how you slice it, however, things are definitely looking up.
Here are three illustrations:
-- The Fort Myers News-Press reports that Southwest Florida’s golf operators “are hopeful that the local market has stabilized and might even be on the rebound.” The newspaper singles out San Carlos Golf Club in Fort Myers, which recorded “at least a dozen” 300-round days in the first quarter of 2012. “It’s been unbelievable this winter. The traffic has been exceptional,” says the track’s pro. “They’re playing some golf this winter.”
-- The Pittsburgh Tribune reports that “with few exceptions,” public and semi-private golf courses in Western Pennsylvania are seeing increases of “between 20 percent to 50 percent” in rounds and revenues. The newspaper singles out Hickory Heights Golf Course in Bridgeville, which is said to be “busier than it’s been in more than a decade.” One of the course’s owners says, “We are up substantially from last year. . . . It’s like night and day.”
-- The Gainesville Times reports that while “the economy may be depressed” in northeastern Georgia, the golf business “is swinging.” The newspaper singles out Royal Lakes Country Club in Flowery Branch, where rounds are up by 25 percent over 2011. “Is [our business] back to where it was in 2007?” asks the course’s director of golf. “No, it’s not quite there, but it’s certainly improved since it started derailing in 2008 or 2009.”
To be sure, the U.S. golf business isn’t out of the woods yet, and plenty of dark clouds remain on the horizon. Lots of cities still have way more courses than they need. Many courses that were built primarily to sell houses continue to struggle. Courses that have been selling rounds at deep discounts won’t be able to generate significant profits even if they can increase play. The industry isn’t creating new players. And scores of private clubs haven’t been able to replace the members they’ve lost since the economy crashed.
Still, it’s okay to look on the bright side every once in a while. We deserve it. We’ve been through a lot.
And in Other News . . .
. . . mexico The race to build the planet’s first Tiger Woods-designed golf course is apparently being contested in Mexico. Just weeks after Golf Vacation Insider claimed that Woods has “signed a contract” to design a course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas in Los Cabos, a press release from Punta Brava says that its Woods-designed course could open “as early as September of 2013.” Clearly, reports of Woods’ demise as a designer were premature. The question now is, Which tony community will be first to cross the finish line?
Some information in the previous post originally appeared in the November 2008 and the April 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
. . . united states How much would you pay for a 10,000-acre resort community that features six golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Bob Cupp, Rees Jones, and Jim Engh? The courses, assuming you haven’t already guessed, are the featured attractions of Reynolds Landing, the financially troubled spread on Lake Oconee in Georgia. Sometime this summer, the whole place -- including a Ritz-Carlton hotel, four marinas, plans for a Pete Dye-designed golf course, and, perhaps most important, 5,000 acres of undeveloped land -- will belong to MetLife, the largest insurance company in the United States. MetLife, which reportedly has a real estate portfolio worth $50 million, hasn’t yet revealed the sales price. But if you’re wondering, 3,600 home owners passed on an opportunity to buy Reynolds Plantation for $45 million.
. . . sweden Johan Edfors, a Swedish golf pro, has purchased Hills Golf Club in suburban Gothenburg. The club’s eight-year-old course, co-designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest, has its admirers (among them Bill Clinton and Alice Cooper), but it’s frustrated too many potential customers and, as a result, fell into bankruptcy late last year. A reviewer from CNBC has called it “a basket case of a course -- by turns beautiful, infuriating, impossibly difficult, and enormous fun.” The “impossibly difficult” reputation hangs like a dead weight on the 7,500-yard layout, and Edfors and his partners must change it for the course to become profitable. To that end, two holes will be redesigned, and the course will be made “more compact,” according to Golf Course Architecture. “Hills has been too hard for the average golfer,” says Edfors. “We will change that without making it too easy for Tour players.”
. . . wild card click Where there’s a Will, there’s a way.
Slowly but surely, the bad-news stories about our business are disappearing. While the Great Recession isn’t yet completely dead and buried, it appears that happier days are here again for the owners and operators of U.S. golf properties.
The evidence is still mostly anecdotal, and better times haven’t arrived in every U.S. market, but there’s no disputing the essential fact: Courses from coast to coast are ringing up more rounds this year. You can chalk up the increase to an unusually warm winter, to an improving economy, to pent-up demand, or to all of the above. No matter how you slice it, however, things are definitely looking up.
Here are three illustrations:
-- The Fort Myers News-Press reports that Southwest Florida’s golf operators “are hopeful that the local market has stabilized and might even be on the rebound.” The newspaper singles out San Carlos Golf Club in Fort Myers, which recorded “at least a dozen” 300-round days in the first quarter of 2012. “It’s been unbelievable this winter. The traffic has been exceptional,” says the track’s pro. “They’re playing some golf this winter.”
-- The Pittsburgh Tribune reports that “with few exceptions,” public and semi-private golf courses in Western Pennsylvania are seeing increases of “between 20 percent to 50 percent” in rounds and revenues. The newspaper singles out Hickory Heights Golf Course in Bridgeville, which is said to be “busier than it’s been in more than a decade.” One of the course’s owners says, “We are up substantially from last year. . . . It’s like night and day.”
-- The Gainesville Times reports that while “the economy may be depressed” in northeastern Georgia, the golf business “is swinging.” The newspaper singles out Royal Lakes Country Club in Flowery Branch, where rounds are up by 25 percent over 2011. “Is [our business] back to where it was in 2007?” asks the course’s director of golf. “No, it’s not quite there, but it’s certainly improved since it started derailing in 2008 or 2009.”
To be sure, the U.S. golf business isn’t out of the woods yet, and plenty of dark clouds remain on the horizon. Lots of cities still have way more courses than they need. Many courses that were built primarily to sell houses continue to struggle. Courses that have been selling rounds at deep discounts won’t be able to generate significant profits even if they can increase play. The industry isn’t creating new players. And scores of private clubs haven’t been able to replace the members they’ve lost since the economy crashed.
Still, it’s okay to look on the bright side every once in a while. We deserve it. We’ve been through a lot.
And in Other News . . .
. . . mexico The race to build the planet’s first Tiger Woods-designed golf course is apparently being contested in Mexico. Just weeks after Golf Vacation Insider claimed that Woods has “signed a contract” to design a course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas in Los Cabos, a press release from Punta Brava says that its Woods-designed course could open “as early as September of 2013.” Clearly, reports of Woods’ demise as a designer were premature. The question now is, Which tony community will be first to cross the finish line?
Some information in the previous post originally appeared in the November 2008 and the April 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
. . . united states How much would you pay for a 10,000-acre resort community that features six golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Bob Cupp, Rees Jones, and Jim Engh? The courses, assuming you haven’t already guessed, are the featured attractions of Reynolds Landing, the financially troubled spread on Lake Oconee in Georgia. Sometime this summer, the whole place -- including a Ritz-Carlton hotel, four marinas, plans for a Pete Dye-designed golf course, and, perhaps most important, 5,000 acres of undeveloped land -- will belong to MetLife, the largest insurance company in the United States. MetLife, which reportedly has a real estate portfolio worth $50 million, hasn’t yet revealed the sales price. But if you’re wondering, 3,600 home owners passed on an opportunity to buy Reynolds Plantation for $45 million.
. . . sweden Johan Edfors, a Swedish golf pro, has purchased Hills Golf Club in suburban Gothenburg. The club’s eight-year-old course, co-designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest, has its admirers (among them Bill Clinton and Alice Cooper), but it’s frustrated too many potential customers and, as a result, fell into bankruptcy late last year. A reviewer from CNBC has called it “a basket case of a course -- by turns beautiful, infuriating, impossibly difficult, and enormous fun.” The “impossibly difficult” reputation hangs like a dead weight on the 7,500-yard layout, and Edfors and his partners must change it for the course to become profitable. To that end, two holes will be redesigned, and the course will be made “more compact,” according to Golf Course Architecture. “Hills has been too hard for the average golfer,” says Edfors. “We will change that without making it too easy for Tour players.”
. . . wild card click Where there’s a Will, there’s a way.
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