The Week That Was, november 25, 2012

You can add Bill Clinton’s name to the list of VIPs itching to play Donald Trump’s golf course in Scotland. The Scotsman reports that the former Democratic president and the Republican presidential

pretender have “forged an unlikely friendship in recent years” and that a tee time in Aberdeenshire has been penciled in for next summer. “I love playing golf with him,” Clinton told CNN earlier this year.

Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority is investigating one of the nation’s premier golf properties for the unlawful use of banned herbicides and pesticides. The EPA has targeted suburban Sydney’s Lakes Golf Club, the home of next month’s Australian Open, for actions it took two years ago to prevent nematodes from destroying its turf. The club is said to be cooperating with the inquiry.

What’s the significance of a Chinese teenager getting an invite to play in the Masters? “It’s the latest example of what might happen should China embrace golf other than superficially,” argues John Strege of Golf Digest. There’s a little too much conditional word usage in that statement for my tastes, but Strege helpfully notes that Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old in question, trains in Florida.

The members of Butler National Golf Club in suburban Chicago, Illinois have overwhelmingly voted down a motion that would have allowed women to become members. The vote was less a blow to the female gender than it is to the members’ immediate financial interest, for it will surely lead to resignations and dues increases to offset the resulting loss in revenue. As far as the club’s future is concerned, a member has concluded that“we’re in a death spiral.”

While women can’t get in the door at Butler National, the members of Redlands Country Club have elected a woman as their president. “This is a terrific honor,” said Carole Beswick, who becomes the first-ever female president of the Redlands, California-based club.

In an effort to preserve its open space and a consistent water supply, the town of Belleair, Florida has agreed to buy Belleview Biltmore Golf Club. The price: $3.5 million. As a bonus, the town gets an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course that dates from 1925.

A renovation by Ron Forse has helped to put Rolling Green Golf Club back into the limelight. The club, in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been selected to host the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in 2016. Forse restored the club’s course, co-designed by William S. Flynn and Howard Toomey, in a multiyear project during the mid to late 2000s.

Bandon Dunes’ 13-hole Preserve course has given Scott Michaux an idea for what the city of Augusta, Georgia can do to generate more play at its municipal golf course. His modest proposal: The city’s 18-hole track should shrink to fit the times. “Even without the panoramic views of the Pacific,” writes Michaux, a writer for the Augusta Chronicle, “a fun and challenging collection of par-3 holes would be inviting to newcomers to the game and give people a recreational option that doesn’t eat up four to five hours of the day.”

Bowing to the wishes of their customers, the three municipal golf courses in Vancouver, British Columbia may soon begin to sell beer on their fairways. “Those three golf courses are already seeing people consume alcohol illegally,” notes a councilmember. “If you’ve ever golfed there, you’ll see that people sneak their beer on anyways.”

Palms Mawson Lakes Golf Course, a nine-hole track in suburban Adelaide, South Australia, is about to get a makeover. The reconstruction, which has been in the works for three years, begins in February 2013.

If you’re willing to take vacation advice from Forbes, the magazine has five wintertime golf destinations for you to consider. Tops on the list: the Kapalua resort on Maui, because the editors are “bewitched by the Bay course.” Then come the soon-to-open Streamsong resort in Florida (the Tom Doak- and Coore & Crenshaw-designed tracks will provide “a golfing experience unlike anything in Florida”), the Villingili resort in the Maldives (its nine-hole course offers “sweeping views of the ocean that just can’t be matched elsewhere”), and the Apes Hill resort on Barbados (“a walk along the fairways is almost surreal”). Last but certainly not least is Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania, where the Doak- and Coore & Crenshaw-designed tracks are “part nod to Mother Nature and part challenge to the mind and body.”

The Pipeline, november 23, 2012

australia Greg Ramsay, the busiest developer in Tasmania, appears to be using a committee of architects to design his 18-hole course on the South Arm peninsula. The group consists of Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford, an Adelaide-based team; Line Mortensen of North Berwick, Scotland; and Mike Nuzzo of Houston, Texas. None of these architects have large bodies of work, but they share with Ramsay a commitment to “classic” design and sustainable construction. Crafter and Mogford have produced courses in Australia, Malaysia, and China and are working with Ramsay on a nine-hole addition for Bicheno Golf Club, on Tasmania’s eastern coast. Mortensen, one of the few women in the design business, is probably best known for two courses in Denmark. Nuzzo has designed just one course, a personal venue for a wealthy Texan, but Adam Lawrence of Golf Course Architecture has called it “probably the best first course by a modern architect that I have seen.” Ramsay hasn’t yet secured approvals for Arm End Golf Course, but he hopes to break ground on it by the end of next year.

The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

scotland Martin Hawtree is about to further polish his reputation as one of the world’s foremost linksmen. Just a week after it was disclosed that he would design the second course at Trump International Golf Links Scotland, the British architect has been tapped to make what’s been described as “alterations” to the revered Old Course at St. Andrews. The intent, according to Peter Dawson of the Royal & Ancient, is “to stiffen [the course’s] defenses in some places to ensure it remains as challenging as ever to the professionals.” The work will be completed before the summer of 2015, when the course hosts the Open Championship for the 29th time.

canada Cabot Links, the acclaimed new beachfront course in Inverness, Nova Scotia, will soon get what may be an even better partner. Work on the forthcoming Cabot Cliffs track, to be co-designed by the superstar duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will begin this spring. The course will take shape on inland property a little more than a mile from the resort’s original layout, a site described by co-developer Ben Cowan-Dewar as “spectacular and really, truly a beautiful spot.” The course could have its soft opening in the fall of 2014.

canada A forest fire in September forced 1,500 people in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley to evacuate their houses, but it won’t delay the planned summer 2013 opening of Greg Norman’s golf course in Peachland. Norman is remaking a 32-year-old, Alfred Tate-designed course that’s been closed since 2006, when a fire destroyed its clubhouse. The new track, which is expected to stretch to about 7,200 yards, will be the centerpiece of a community that will eventually feature 2,300 houses. “Our vision,” the course’s general manager told the Edmonton Journal, “is to build a sustainable resort of great golf and great homes.”

Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

china Moratorium? What moratorium? While in Asia to play in the Singapore Open, Phil Mickelson told reporters that the courses to which he’s affixed his “signature” -- one in Kunming, the other in Singapore -- are expected to open within the next 12 months. Mickelson made a vague reference to “some hold-ups from the government” regarding the track in Kunming, but it’s become abundantly clear that Chinese authorities have only been able to slow golf construction, not stop it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

china More from the land of phony moratoriums: Shanxi Yiliang Longxi Sports & Culture Company has hired IMG, the Cleveland, Ohio-based sports colossus, to manage the development of Luxuriance International Golf Club in Shanxi Province, China. The club’s 27-hole golf complex is expected to open sometime next year. As best I can determine, the complex has been designed by Yu Gang of Beijing-based New Nature Golf. Yu is said to be the first Chinese architect to produce a golf course in China: Hot Spring Golf Course outside Conghua City, in Guangdong Province.

portugal David McLay Kidd’s oceanfront golf course in Portugal has been under construction since February and will likely open in 2014. The 18-hole, 7,600-yard track will be course number one for Herdade da Comporta, a giant-size resort community taking shape near the village of Comporta, about an hour’s drive south of Lisbon. “It’s a fantastic site for golf,” reports the Bend, Oregon-based designer. Espirito Santo Group, a conglomerate that controls Portugal’s second-largest bank, has commissioned Tom Fazio to design course number two, but a groundbreaking hasn’t yet been set.

Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

The Week That Was, november 18, 2012

It turns out that Donald Trump was just making empty threats when he vowed to stop development at Trump International Golf Links Scotland if the nation followed through on its plan to build an off-shore wind farm. The Sunday Express reports that the Birther in Chief, citing “phenomenal demand,” intends to move forward with the resort’s second course. Like course number one, the new track will be designed by Martin Hawtree. “He is the only man for the job,” Trump told the newspaper.

This week Trump also made news on this side of the Atlantic. He agreed to buy the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida, a 215-acre property that features a Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf course. “Great land, great location, great future!” Trump typed in a tweet. So far this year, Trump has opened a course in Scotland, closed on acquisitions in Charlotte and Miami, and agreed to operate New York City’s forthcoming Nicklaus-designed course in the Bronx. What will he do for an encore?

Clive Palmer, one of Australia’s richest people (Forbes says he’s worth $795 million), has purchased Sea Temple Golf & Country Club in Port Douglas, Queensland. The price: $7.23 million. The property’s centerpiece is an 18-hole, links-style course that was designed by Peter Thomson’s firm. Through one of his corporations, Palmer owns three other Australian golf properties, including the Palmer Coolum Resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

South Korean investors are backing out of agreements to build golf courses in Vietnam. Do they know something other foreign investors don’t?

The Jack Nicklaus-designed layout at Summit Rock Golf Club in the Texas Hill Country has officially opened. The property’s website notes that the 7,258-yard layout is “the only Jack Nicklaus signature golf course to open in the U.S. this year.” Steve Habel, a reviewer, thinks that “any golf course built in America these days is a triumph.”

The development group in control of the Bear Mountain resort community on Vancouver Island plans to shave nine holes from its 36-hole, Nicklaus Design golf complex. The facility is said to be operating at less than 50 percent of capacity. “Bear Mountain is a microcosm of what is going on throughout the entire golf industry -- too much supply for too little demand,” said an executive from Troon Golf, which is helping to plan the community’s less ambitious future.

Bill Esping’s EFO Financial Group has acquired Brightwater Club, a tony but financially troubled resort community outside Vail, Colorado. The centerpiece of the 963-acre property is an 18-hole, 8,005-yard golf course -- the fifth-longest course in the United States -- that was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. In April 2011, Brightwater’s parent company defaulted on $100 million worth of loans. At the time, the Wall Street Journal reported that Jones was owed $81,000.

What hath Augusta National wrought? Colin Moynihan, the outgoing chairman of the British Olympic Association, is pressuring the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews to admit female members. “Let’s get real and let’s get on with the job of providing equality of opportunity across sports,” he counseled during a radio interview. In August, a former prime minister made essentially the same pitch. How long until some of Great Britain’s other single-sex clubs -- among them Muirfield, Troon, and Royal St. George’s -- begin to feel the heat?

Nashville, Tennessee’s Belle Meade Country Club has reportedly admitted its first resident African-American member.

Golfers who score a hole-in-one on the 11th at Tierra Rejada Golf Club in Moorpark, California will take home a memento: an “award of excellence” from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award includes a facsimile of a plaque bearing words once spoken by the former president: “Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.” Perhaps more importantly, Tierra Rejada’s customers will receive a discounted admission to the Ronald Reagan Library & Museum, which is right next door to the golf course. And vice versa.

On November 15, Larry Packard celebrated a true milestone: his 100th birthday. Earlier this year, when asked how he planned to honor the occasion, he replied: “Have a bourbon.” Several news outlets have published sketchy, unsatisfying retrospectives of Packard’s architectural career, but the Innisbrook resort has posted a video of the party.

I can’t tell you how President Obama celebrated on re-election night, but I know where he was on the following Saturday morning.

kenya For a Few Dollars More

Once upon a time, when a buoyant economy inflated our housing market, home buyers in the United States beat a path to gated golf communities. Wherever they were built, from sea to shining sea, these communities symbolized the promise of America. They seemed worth the journey.

Today, home buyers in Kenya are following in our footsteps. Kenya is emerging as a nation of high achievers, with young, upwardly executives who wish to live like their counterparts in the United States, Europe, and Asia: behind security gates, with a view of a fairway. They want their own version of the good life, a symbol of their own dreams so happily realized. And I’m sure it won’t surprise you to hear that the nation’s residential developers are bending over backwards to accommodate them.

A dozen or more golf communities are taking shape in Kenya today. By all accounts, the houses in them are selling like hotcakes. Unfortunately, the home buyers have this in common with the residents of U.S. golf communities: Only a precious few of them -- an estimated 15 to 20 percent -- actually play golf.

This doesn’t bode well for the future of Kenya’s golf business. Sooner or later, Kenya’s golf developers are going to learn the difference between building golf courses and building a sustainable golf industry.

Until then, we can only marvel at what’s happening in a land so far away. One of Kenya’s news agencies recently took a close look at the growth of the nation’s golf communities. Here’s a little of what it had to say:

As I walk towards the gate, a structure resembling a watch tower and painted in green looms large. I’m approaching Thika Greens, a golf estate, one of close to a dozen to come up in Kenya in the last three years.

“A plot will cost you anything between [$52,600] and [$210,000],” Peter Muriuki, surveyor at the project, tells me. 

“The closer you are to the golf course,” Peter continues, his finger skimming over what looks like blue foil to point at a house no larger than the tip of his index, “the higher the price.” . . . 

“Eighty percent of people buying the plots don’t play golf and say they wouldn’t make a purchase with the same amenities but without a golf course,” Lee Karuri tells me. . . . 

Karuri is the developer of Longonot Gate and chairman of Home Afrika, a real estate company that is the majority share holder of Migaa, another golf estate located in Kiambu. “The reason we’re having golf -- and not only in Longonot Gate but in most of the projects that are coming up in Kenya -- is because of a change in lifestyle.” 

“Kenyan lifestyles are changing,” [says] Stephen Wamae Mureithi, the project manager of Buffalo Hills Leisure & Golf Village in Thika. “Majority of young executives are earning good money, and they would also like to live well. In the past, the game of golf was the reserve of the rich, but now you find even in golf clubs we’ve got a lot of young executives. 

“Those people who have actually bought from Buffalo Hills, their age ranges between 25 and 42. We still have people above 50 who have bought, but that number is quite small.” 

The numbers, the developers tell me, show the popularity of the golf estate concept. 

“We’ve already sold 20 percent of the units in a span of three months. I know people who’ve been selling for three years, and they’ve done only 15 percent. I’m actually pleading with people to buy soon, because very soon the prices will go up due to demand,” Wamae says of Buffalo Hills Leisure & Golf Village. . . . 

Location and prestige, those involved in the golf estates seem to agree, drive the popularity of golf estates. 

“When somebody tells you he’s selling you a house where there’s a golf estate, a clubhouse, maybe there’s a retirement village -- the concept which is Migaa -- you feel like you really have to buy it. It belongs to people of that class, of golf,” Pius Mochere, a mortgage advisor with Kenya Commercial Bank, says. . . . 

Sentiments Karuri shares: “A lot of families who are keen to live in golf estates do not necessarily play golf, but they consider it a prestigious sport. They believe that it brings along family prestige. It enhances your social status. So what happens is that only about 15 to 20 percent of those people who are buying in golf estates actually play golf.” . . . 

Even with the cost implications taken into account, Wamae is of the opinion the only way for golf estates to go is up. 

“A majority of Kenyans within the last five years have moved to a very high-end bracket in terms of their salaries and remuneration. As a result, the market is actually demand driven. And it is likely to exist for some time.”

india Player Gets Commission Number Two

It didn’t take long for Gary Player’s design firm to turn its first Indian commission into a second.

While construction continues at DLF Golf & Country Club in suburban New Delhi, Player’s design crew has begun to draw plans for an eco-friendly nine-hole course in suburban Ahmedabad, one of India’s fastest-growing cities. The Player Design track -- this designation means it won’t carry Gary Player’s “signature” -- will serve as a drawing card for Glade One, a community that will consist of 350 villas, a boutique hotel, and a spa.

Glade One is the first golf development venture for bSafal, an Ahmedabad-based company that’s also known as Safal Constructions Pvt. Ltd. bSafal, which is led by Rajesh and Rupesh Brahmbhatt (they’re brothers), says that its mission is “to establish a new standard of resort living in India.”

bSafal expects to break ground on the golf course in the spring of next year.

Scott Farrell, the president of Player’s Travelers Rest, South Carolina-based design firm, tells me that the layout will take shape on “a pretty flat site” and “will require creativity.” The track will almost certainly include multiple tees (and possibly multiple greens) for a varied 18-hole experience.

Naturally, Farrell would have preferred to produce an 18-hole course, but bSafal didn’t have enough property.

“Getting land in India is a big obstacle to growth,” he explains. “That’s why you see so many nine-hole courses and golf academies being developed.”

Jeff Lawrence, Player’s senior designer, is overseeing the design process for the course at Glade One and the construction of the nine-hole course at DLF. When the construction at the latter is completed, probably sometime next year, the firm will redesign DLF’s existing course to create a “signature” layout.

The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.