Debt-riddled Caesars Entertainment Corporation plans to sell its golf course on the Cotai strip in Macau. The company bought the course, originally known as Orient Golf Club, in 2007, with the intent of building a casino on it. Unfortunately, the company couldn’t secure a gaming license from Chinese authorities. “With limited prospects of gaining a casino license, it doesn’t make sense for them to hang on to that land,” a gaming analyst told the Macau Daily Times.
Chronic unemployment and an unremittingly rotten economy have taken a toll on Spain’s professional golf tour, which has lost virtually all of its highest-profile events, including the Andalucia Masters and the World Match Play Championship. “We are going through a big crisis in this country, and we have to work very hard in order to keep the game going,” the head of Spain’s golf federation told Reuters. “It’s going to be difficult to recover this situation in the future.”
Worrisome levels of arsenic have been found at the Links at Boynton Beach in Florida. An official with the state’s department of environmental protection declined to speculate about how the cancer-causing agent found its way into the course’s ground water, but a news report notes that “landscapers and golf courses often apply pesticides laced with arsenic to the grass.” The course, which is owned by Palm Beach County, has been operated by the city of Boynton Beach since 1984.
Golf courses in metropolitan San Diego, California are boosting their food-and-beverage income by selling premium beer from small-batch providers. “The golf business is changing,” explained an official from one of the area’s courses. “You have to look at it from a different perspective. We’re looking at golfers 25 to 40 years of age with disposable cash. Memberships don’t cut it any longer.”
For the time being, at least, the city of Lakeland, Tennessee has tabled its plan to buy Stonebridge Golf Club. Textron Financial, the course’s owner, has offered to sell the property for $1.525 million, provided that the city agrees to the deal by November 30. City officials didn’t react well to the pressure.
The village of Gurnee, in Illinois, has found a new operator for Bittersweet Golf Course. GolfVisions Management has secured a five-year contract that will bring it $33,000 annually in years one and two and $36,000 annually in the remaining years.
Don’t get overly excited about the fact that Green Mountain National Golf Course, in Killington, Vermont, made a profit this year. The town’s auditor doesn’t believe the track will ever repay its debt. “Municipalities should not be in the business of running golf courses,” he contends.
The Lester George-designed course at Ballyhack Golf Club is most certainly no goat track, but it’s got goats. Four of them, to be exact. And by next spring, the Scottish-inspired layout in Roanoke, Virginia will have 20 more.
Government officials on Canada’s Prince Edward Island are getting closer to ridding themselves of their golf headaches. Four companies have expressed an interest in buying or leasing the province’s quartet of golf courses, which reportedly lose $1 million a year.
What’s notable about the Nicklaus and Palmer courses at PGA West? They’re said to be among the 10 easiest courses on the PGA Tour.
Next year, golfers who live in River Vale, New Jersey will continue to enjoy discounted rates at the township’s golf course. “I’m not sure raising the rate is going to translate into more revenue,” the township’s mayor argued at last week’s council meeting. “I have some concerns that we will price our residents out of playing here.” The township’s business administrator believes that residents currently play for what amounts to a 50 percent discount.
No such luck for golfers in Needles, California. Next year, the price of an annual pass at the city’s River’s Edge Golf Course will increase by $50, to $850.
Golfers in suburban Asheville, North Carolina are complaining about the condition of Black Mountain Golf Course. The course’s operator, Billy Casper Golf, begs to differ.
Mitt Romney may have lost the election, but he overwhelmingly won the votes of white men. Does that make him, unofficially at least, the president of the golf business?
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Memento Mori, november 2012
pennsylvania A family owned, nine-hole course in Ebensburg closed in late October. Don and Charlotte Wolf built Appledale Golf Course on an apple orchard in the mid 1960s, reportedly to guarantee that their physically handicapped son, Lane, would have a job after he was graduated from college. Lane worked at the course until he died in 2005. Don Wolf died in 2010, and his wife died in 2011. The Wolfs’ daughters will continue to operate a banquet center on the property. “We try not to feel bad,” one of them told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. “It served the purpose our parents intended.”
california The lone golf course in western Fresno County closed last month, after 46 years of operation. The Fresno Bee describes Javier’s Fresno West Golf Course as being “practically in the middle of nowhere,” although “nowhere” has an address in the town of Kerman. The location wasn’t good for business, as the newspaper reports that “ducks paddling around the water hazard frequently outnumbered golfers.” The 18-hole course, which drew its customers from the area’s farm towns, is now reportedly owned by a farmer.
tennessee Last summer, Dickson Country Club brought in a professional manager to avert what the Tennessean calls “financial disaster.” In July, the manager said, “We feel certain we'll get everything going in the right direction very soon.” The club, which opened in 1927, shut its doors in late October.
north carolina Sandy Creek Golf Club in Stanley closed on October 1. The club, which was founded (as Ferguson Farms Golf Club) in 1992, had been operated by a local bank since 2008. “In this economy, golf is a luxury,” the club’s general manager told the Asheboro Courier-Tribune. “Randolph Bank did everything they could to keep us going.” The bank continues to search for a buyer.
indiana There will be a bittersweet New Year’s Eve party at Jasper Country Club, which will close on December 31. The club, which was incorporated in 1904, has a nine-hole golf course that opened in the early to mid 1930s. The club’s members have been offered incentives to join Sultan’s Run Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, Tim Liddy-designed course that dates from the 1990s.
indiana The 45-year-old Yule Golf Course in Alexandria has been sold at auction, reportedly for just under $1 million. The new owner, a farmer, is expected to plant crops on the 18-hole layout. “Alexandria just can’t support a golf course,” the son of the course’s former owner told the Anderson Herald Bulletin. The track wraps around a small community, and a resident said he expects his home’s value to “drop quite a bit.” The town’s mayor called the course’s closing “a huge loss,” adding, “I feel so bad for the people who live around there and the businesses who’re down there.”
california The lone golf course in western Fresno County closed last month, after 46 years of operation. The Fresno Bee describes Javier’s Fresno West Golf Course as being “practically in the middle of nowhere,” although “nowhere” has an address in the town of Kerman. The location wasn’t good for business, as the newspaper reports that “ducks paddling around the water hazard frequently outnumbered golfers.” The 18-hole course, which drew its customers from the area’s farm towns, is now reportedly owned by a farmer.
tennessee Last summer, Dickson Country Club brought in a professional manager to avert what the Tennessean calls “financial disaster.” In July, the manager said, “We feel certain we'll get everything going in the right direction very soon.” The club, which opened in 1927, shut its doors in late October.
north carolina Sandy Creek Golf Club in Stanley closed on October 1. The club, which was founded (as Ferguson Farms Golf Club) in 1992, had been operated by a local bank since 2008. “In this economy, golf is a luxury,” the club’s general manager told the Asheboro Courier-Tribune. “Randolph Bank did everything they could to keep us going.” The bank continues to search for a buyer.
indiana There will be a bittersweet New Year’s Eve party at Jasper Country Club, which will close on December 31. The club, which was incorporated in 1904, has a nine-hole golf course that opened in the early to mid 1930s. The club’s members have been offered incentives to join Sultan’s Run Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, Tim Liddy-designed course that dates from the 1990s.
indiana The 45-year-old Yule Golf Course in Alexandria has been sold at auction, reportedly for just under $1 million. The new owner, a farmer, is expected to plant crops on the 18-hole layout. “Alexandria just can’t support a golf course,” the son of the course’s former owner told the Anderson Herald Bulletin. The track wraps around a small community, and a resident said he expects his home’s value to “drop quite a bit.” The town’s mayor called the course’s closing “a huge loss,” adding, “I feel so bad for the people who live around there and the businesses who’re down there.”
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The Week That Was, november 4, 2012
scotland The Angus, No Longer Out to Pasture
At long last, work on the Angus resort community and its Darren Clarke “signature” golf course is scheduled to begin next spring.
MAP Property & Leisure Development Group has assumed control of the Angus, which will also feature a five-star, 187-room hotel, villas in a gated community, 10 lodges for travelers, meeting space, a spa, restaurants, and other attractions.
The Angus will take shape on farmland outside the village of Broughton Ferry, just east of Dundee. The site is less than 10 miles southwest of Carnoustie and less than 20 miles north of St. Andrews, and MAP believes its Wyndham-branded hotel and Clarke’s golf course are ideally positioned to capitalize on the tourist traffic that the world-renowned courses in those towns generate.
“When you first glimpse the landscape where the Angus will take shape,” Clarke has said, “you can’t help but feel you’re somewhere Mother Nature intended for golf.”
The Angus property is adjacent to Forbes of Kingennie Country Resort, a low-key vacation getaway. Forbes of Kingennie is owned by Mike Forbes, a former farmer and fly-fishing champion who put the Angus in motion more than three years ago. Forbes has leukemia, and the Dundee Courier has reported that he views his illness as “a message that he had to hand over the reins of the project.”
Forbes assembled the team that will design the Angus’ 6,937-yard golf course, which can be stretched to 7,500 yards for competition play. The track has been co-designed by Graeme Webster of Niblick Golf Design, who operates out of an office in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Webster also designed the nine-hole track at Kingennie.
MAP hopes to open the course in late 2014 or early 2015.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the April 2009 and August 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
brazil Dazed & Confused
The land dispute that’s threatening the construction of the golf course for the 2016 Olympics has taken another distressing turn.
As most everyone knows, ground was supposed to have been broken on the Gil Hanse-designed course last month. Construction hasn’t begun, however, because a company called Elmway Participacoes has laid claim to the land and taken its case to court. A story by the Associated Press yet again says that the courts “could take months or years” to decide whether the property belongs to Elmway Participacoes or to Pasquale Mauro, the fellow who’s signed the contracts with the Olympic organizers.
So here’s what happened last week: Elmway Participacoes put the kibosh on the golf course. The company said that if the courts rule in its favor, it’ll build houses instead of the long-planned golf course. Its lawyer said that Elmway Participacoes “does not want to talk about building the golf course anymore.”
I don’t think this is anything more than a negotiating ploy. But what if it isn’t? What if Elmway Participacoes isn’t bluffing?
In that case, it would be imperative that the courts rule in Mauro’s favor. Whenever they feel like getting around to it, of course.
It’s important to note that the Olympic organizers have contracts that appear to be valid and that they are presumably free to begin construction at any time. But it’s hard to imagine them getting started before they have all their ducks in a row. We’re already in a delay. How long will it last?
As I’ve said before, this dispute causes my head to spin every time I think about it. This is no way to build an important golf course, and it reflects badly on our business.
talking points Another Idea for Growing the Game
A couple of weeks ago I had one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moments, courtesy of a post I read at Armen Suny’s blog.
Suny, as I’m sure most of you already know, is the co-designer (with Rod Whitman and Richard Zokol) of the acclaimed minimalist golf course at Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club in Quilchena, British Columbia. In 2009, Golf Digest named it Canada’s best new golf course. (The track has never made any money, but don’t hold that against it.) Suny is also a long-time golf course superintendent, but what I like about him is that he has the courage to call himself an “anarchist.”
As it turns out, Suny is also worried about golf’s future and has been thinking of ways to promote the game among young people. Here’s one of his ideas, one that I believe has real possibilities:
Let’s face it, kids just aren’t that interested in playing golf, and it appears as if we will lose an entire generation of golfers.
Most kids, in all probability, think that golf is a game for old men. We, as an industry, need to find ways to make golf appealing to kids. Golf organizations have been spending tens of millions of dollars a year trying to attract kids to golf but have failed. The economy and rehashing the same old ideas for growing the game of golf do not bode well for our sport. We need to find new and innovative ways to make kids want to know more about or even, dare I say, play golf. . . .
Let me propose a new idea -- product placement, or embedded marketing -- to promote golf. It has worked for everything from soft drinks to automobiles and more. It can and will work for golf.
Pay the networks, studios, executive producers, or whomever to place golf and golf characters into their youth-oriented sitcoms and movies. Expose tens of millions of children to golf through television shows and movies that they are already watching. This way we won’t need to change kids’ behavior to expose them to golf; they’ll get our message in their own family rooms. And then, of course, since we would be buying this product placement, we would dictate that the golf character be one of the more popular, hip, cool, dope characters on the show.
If we can create mainstream youth culture characters that are golfers, kids will begin to think of golf as part of the norm for their peer group.
There are undoubtedly many ways to attract young people to the game of golf. As an industry, we need to constantly reevaluate and better our efforts. If we don’t start thinking about growing the game of golf in new, youth-oriented ways, it won’t grow and it will truly become a game for old men.
wild card click I sit and watch, as tears go by.
At long last, work on the Angus resort community and its Darren Clarke “signature” golf course is scheduled to begin next spring.
MAP Property & Leisure Development Group has assumed control of the Angus, which will also feature a five-star, 187-room hotel, villas in a gated community, 10 lodges for travelers, meeting space, a spa, restaurants, and other attractions.
The Angus will take shape on farmland outside the village of Broughton Ferry, just east of Dundee. The site is less than 10 miles southwest of Carnoustie and less than 20 miles north of St. Andrews, and MAP believes its Wyndham-branded hotel and Clarke’s golf course are ideally positioned to capitalize on the tourist traffic that the world-renowned courses in those towns generate.
“When you first glimpse the landscape where the Angus will take shape,” Clarke has said, “you can’t help but feel you’re somewhere Mother Nature intended for golf.”
The Angus property is adjacent to Forbes of Kingennie Country Resort, a low-key vacation getaway. Forbes of Kingennie is owned by Mike Forbes, a former farmer and fly-fishing champion who put the Angus in motion more than three years ago. Forbes has leukemia, and the Dundee Courier has reported that he views his illness as “a message that he had to hand over the reins of the project.”
Forbes assembled the team that will design the Angus’ 6,937-yard golf course, which can be stretched to 7,500 yards for competition play. The track has been co-designed by Graeme Webster of Niblick Golf Design, who operates out of an office in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Webster also designed the nine-hole track at Kingennie.
MAP hopes to open the course in late 2014 or early 2015.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the April 2009 and August 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
brazil Dazed & Confused
The land dispute that’s threatening the construction of the golf course for the 2016 Olympics has taken another distressing turn.
As most everyone knows, ground was supposed to have been broken on the Gil Hanse-designed course last month. Construction hasn’t begun, however, because a company called Elmway Participacoes has laid claim to the land and taken its case to court. A story by the Associated Press yet again says that the courts “could take months or years” to decide whether the property belongs to Elmway Participacoes or to Pasquale Mauro, the fellow who’s signed the contracts with the Olympic organizers.
So here’s what happened last week: Elmway Participacoes put the kibosh on the golf course. The company said that if the courts rule in its favor, it’ll build houses instead of the long-planned golf course. Its lawyer said that Elmway Participacoes “does not want to talk about building the golf course anymore.”
I don’t think this is anything more than a negotiating ploy. But what if it isn’t? What if Elmway Participacoes isn’t bluffing?
In that case, it would be imperative that the courts rule in Mauro’s favor. Whenever they feel like getting around to it, of course.
It’s important to note that the Olympic organizers have contracts that appear to be valid and that they are presumably free to begin construction at any time. But it’s hard to imagine them getting started before they have all their ducks in a row. We’re already in a delay. How long will it last?
As I’ve said before, this dispute causes my head to spin every time I think about it. This is no way to build an important golf course, and it reflects badly on our business.
talking points Another Idea for Growing the Game
A couple of weeks ago I had one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moments, courtesy of a post I read at Armen Suny’s blog.
Suny, as I’m sure most of you already know, is the co-designer (with Rod Whitman and Richard Zokol) of the acclaimed minimalist golf course at Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club in Quilchena, British Columbia. In 2009, Golf Digest named it Canada’s best new golf course. (The track has never made any money, but don’t hold that against it.) Suny is also a long-time golf course superintendent, but what I like about him is that he has the courage to call himself an “anarchist.”
As it turns out, Suny is also worried about golf’s future and has been thinking of ways to promote the game among young people. Here’s one of his ideas, one that I believe has real possibilities:
Let’s face it, kids just aren’t that interested in playing golf, and it appears as if we will lose an entire generation of golfers.
Most kids, in all probability, think that golf is a game for old men. We, as an industry, need to find ways to make golf appealing to kids. Golf organizations have been spending tens of millions of dollars a year trying to attract kids to golf but have failed. The economy and rehashing the same old ideas for growing the game of golf do not bode well for our sport. We need to find new and innovative ways to make kids want to know more about or even, dare I say, play golf. . . .
Let me propose a new idea -- product placement, or embedded marketing -- to promote golf. It has worked for everything from soft drinks to automobiles and more. It can and will work for golf.
Pay the networks, studios, executive producers, or whomever to place golf and golf characters into their youth-oriented sitcoms and movies. Expose tens of millions of children to golf through television shows and movies that they are already watching. This way we won’t need to change kids’ behavior to expose them to golf; they’ll get our message in their own family rooms. And then, of course, since we would be buying this product placement, we would dictate that the golf character be one of the more popular, hip, cool, dope characters on the show.
If we can create mainstream youth culture characters that are golfers, kids will begin to think of golf as part of the norm for their peer group.
There are undoubtedly many ways to attract young people to the game of golf. As an industry, we need to constantly reevaluate and better our efforts. If we don’t start thinking about growing the game of golf in new, youth-oriented ways, it won’t grow and it will truly become a game for old men.
wild card click I sit and watch, as tears go by.
Friday, November 2, 2012
The Cold, Hard Facts november 2, 2012
Roughly 56 million Americans played golf on a video game in 2011. According to the National Golf Foundation, this is more than double the number of people who play actual golf. (That would be 25.7 million people.) By the NGF’s calculation, the vast majority of the video gamers -- 46 million people -- don’t currently play golf, although some 22 percent of them -- 10 million people -- are either “very” or “somewhat” interested in giving the real thing a try. Who are the golf gamers? The NGF says that 51 percent of them are under 30 and 44 percent of them are female. The group’s conclusion: “Golf gaming represents a promising gateway to growing participation among younger and female Americans.”
Citing figures provided by the European Golf Association, the Norwich Evening News reports that membership rolls across England fell to 761,335 this year, down from 872,665 in 2007. This is a decline of 111,330, or 12 percent. Despite the decline, the number of golfers in England has actually grown slightly in recent years. A report from Sports Marketing Surveys, Inc. says that the number of adults (defined as people 15 and older) who played at least one round of golf has increased from 3.89 million in 2007 to 3.94 million in 2011. “Golf clubs generally are facing a tough environment, with member numbers decreasing as individuals experience increased pressure on their income and more calls on their time,” said the general manager of an English club. “There is also an increasing trend among some clubs to offer cheap deals for greens fees, tempting many occasional golfers to give up membership altogether.”
It’s going to cost more to play golf in Brandon, South Dakota next year, as the city will increase rates at its municipal course by 5 percent. The new rates will boost the price of an adult’s season pass to $727.80. This is the second consecutive year that the city has raised rates. In 2012, they went up by 15 percent.
Miss Indonesia carded scores of 79, 76, and 81 at this year’s Enjoy Jakarta Ladies Indonesia Open. Ines Putri, a 23-year-old from Bali, admitted to being a little rusty due to commitments stemming from her success on the beauty-pageant circuit. “I haven't played much golf in five months, so I am happy with my score,” she told reporters after her first round. Putri finished 31 shots behind the tournament’s winner, Kongkrapan Patcharachuta.
Citing figures provided by the European Golf Association, the Norwich Evening News reports that membership rolls across England fell to 761,335 this year, down from 872,665 in 2007. This is a decline of 111,330, or 12 percent. Despite the decline, the number of golfers in England has actually grown slightly in recent years. A report from Sports Marketing Surveys, Inc. says that the number of adults (defined as people 15 and older) who played at least one round of golf has increased from 3.89 million in 2007 to 3.94 million in 2011. “Golf clubs generally are facing a tough environment, with member numbers decreasing as individuals experience increased pressure on their income and more calls on their time,” said the general manager of an English club. “There is also an increasing trend among some clubs to offer cheap deals for greens fees, tempting many occasional golfers to give up membership altogether.”
It’s going to cost more to play golf in Brandon, South Dakota next year, as the city will increase rates at its municipal course by 5 percent. The new rates will boost the price of an adult’s season pass to $727.80. This is the second consecutive year that the city has raised rates. In 2012, they went up by 15 percent.
Miss Indonesia carded scores of 79, 76, and 81 at this year’s Enjoy Jakarta Ladies Indonesia Open. Ines Putri, a 23-year-old from Bali, admitted to being a little rusty due to commitments stemming from her success on the beauty-pageant circuit. “I haven't played much golf in five months, so I am happy with my score,” she told reporters after her first round. Putri finished 31 shots behind the tournament’s winner, Kongkrapan Patcharachuta.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
montenegro Gary Player Could Be #1
An affiliate of Orascom Development Holding has taken the lead in the race to build Montenegro’s first golf course.
The golf course, a Gary Player “signature” design, will be the centerpiece of Luštica Bay, a 1,400-acre resort community in Tivat, along the nation’s rocky, dramatic Adriatic coast. Orascom will undertake the project via Podgorica-based Luštica Development AD, a joint venture with the property’s owner, the government of Montenegro.
Orascom, a Swiss firm that’s developed some of the world’s premier resorts, has described Luštica Bay as “a magical place to live life as it should be.” At build-out, the magic will include not just Player’s championship-quality golf course but 750 villas, 1,600 condos, several hotels (2,200 total rooms), three shopping areas, a marina, schools, a spa, a medical center, and other attractions.
Luštica Development will reportedly break ground on this massive undertaking in late 2012 or early 2013. If previously announced schedules are still viable, the first phase of construction will include a hotel, a marina, and the golf course.
Orascom is controlled by Samih Sawiris, an Egyptian developer who ranks among the world’s 400 richest people. He made his multibillion-dollar fortune running the resort division of Orascom Group, a conglomerate founded by his father, Onsi Sawiris. Under Samih Sawiris’ direction, Orascom built two extremely popular resorts in Egypt, the famed El Gouna resort on the Red Sea coast, and Taba Heights, which is along the Gulf of Aqaba on the Sinai Peninsula.
These days it’s building a Kurt Rossknecht-designed course in Andermatt, Switzerland, and it’s planning to build resort communities with golf courses in Oman (Jebel Sifah and Salalah Beach) and Morocco (Chbika), along with a second course at El Gouna.
Orascom won the right to build Luštica Bay in 2008 and has presumably been waiting for market conditions to improve before making a final commitment.
Player has described the property he’s been given as “absolutely stunning,” and a press release from his Travelers Rest, South Carolina-based design firm says that each of the layout’s holes will offer views of Boka Bay or the Adriatic Sea.
A couple of years ago, a developer who’s walked the site told me that “it doesn’t have an ounce of dirt on it.” If that’s true, Player will need to truck in a substantial amount of fill.
The original version of this post first appeared in the August 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The golf course, a Gary Player “signature” design, will be the centerpiece of Luštica Bay, a 1,400-acre resort community in Tivat, along the nation’s rocky, dramatic Adriatic coast. Orascom will undertake the project via Podgorica-based Luštica Development AD, a joint venture with the property’s owner, the government of Montenegro.
Orascom, a Swiss firm that’s developed some of the world’s premier resorts, has described Luštica Bay as “a magical place to live life as it should be.” At build-out, the magic will include not just Player’s championship-quality golf course but 750 villas, 1,600 condos, several hotels (2,200 total rooms), three shopping areas, a marina, schools, a spa, a medical center, and other attractions.
Luštica Development will reportedly break ground on this massive undertaking in late 2012 or early 2013. If previously announced schedules are still viable, the first phase of construction will include a hotel, a marina, and the golf course.
Orascom is controlled by Samih Sawiris, an Egyptian developer who ranks among the world’s 400 richest people. He made his multibillion-dollar fortune running the resort division of Orascom Group, a conglomerate founded by his father, Onsi Sawiris. Under Samih Sawiris’ direction, Orascom built two extremely popular resorts in Egypt, the famed El Gouna resort on the Red Sea coast, and Taba Heights, which is along the Gulf of Aqaba on the Sinai Peninsula.
These days it’s building a Kurt Rossknecht-designed course in Andermatt, Switzerland, and it’s planning to build resort communities with golf courses in Oman (Jebel Sifah and Salalah Beach) and Morocco (Chbika), along with a second course at El Gouna.
Orascom won the right to build Luštica Bay in 2008 and has presumably been waiting for market conditions to improve before making a final commitment.
Player has described the property he’s been given as “absolutely stunning,” and a press release from his Travelers Rest, South Carolina-based design firm says that each of the layout’s holes will offer views of Boka Bay or the Adriatic Sea.
A couple of years ago, a developer who’s walked the site told me that “it doesn’t have an ounce of dirt on it.” If that’s true, Player will need to truck in a substantial amount of fill.
The original version of this post first appeared in the August 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
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