The city of Louisville, Colorado’s storm-ravaged golf course is closed until further notice, and it’ll reopen with a new operator. The city has decided to end its relationship with Western Golf Properties for failing to “take prompt, responsive action” and “carry out duties and responsibilities” after September’s floods inflicted $3.5 million worth of damage on Coal Creek Golf Course. WGP’s response, according to the Boulder Daily Camera, was to lay off most of the course’s staff and to hold what’s been described as “a dramatic sale of inventory in the golf club.” WGP had managed Coal Creek for more than a decade. For now, the city intends to turn over the course’s operations to its parks and recreation department, but things could change between now and 2015, when the 18-hole track will likely be ready for play again.
In an effort to add some pizzazz to their membership marketing efforts, a pair of private clubs in greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have tapped into the ClubCorp network. Members of Talamore Country Club in Ambler and Applecross Country Club in Downingtown, both owned by Bob Levy, now have access to some of ClubCorp’s more than 150 golf, business, and sports clubs, along with a concierge service that will help them secure tickets to sports events, Broadway shows, and concerts. “We think this new benefit is extraordinary,” the general manager of Talamore said in a press release. “When our members are traveling, they don't miss a beat.” Such “reciprocal” golf privileges have become very popular of late, as private clubs pull out the stops to add value to their memberships. But how much are they really worth? ClubCorp owns only two golf properties within an hour’s drive of Philadelphia, and dozens of the properties in its portfolio aren’t truly special. Membership may have its privileges, but some of them are offer less than meets the eye.
Two parties have submitted proposals to operate the city of Savannah, Georgia’s deteriorating Bacon Park golf complex. The most vocal bidder -- O. C. Welch, a local auto dealer and the owner of Black Creek Golf Club in nearby Ellabell -- believes the facility needs a dramatic overhaul, and he’s floated a plan to close nine of the facility’s holes and invest $9 million to restore its 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed layout. The other bidder -- Michael Collins, the complex’s manager -- told the Savannah Morning News that “spending millions of dollars is not necessary” because the complex “is so close to where it needs to be.” The city, which is offering a 12-year contract, believes the complex needs at least $4 million worth of improvements. It expects to decide between the suitors early next year.
By a slim vote (4-3), council members in St. Paul, Minnesota have decided to seek private-sector managers for their Como and Phalen golf courses. More than a dozen groups have already contacted the city about the opportunity, reports the St. Paul Pioneer Press, though not all are guaranteed to respond to the city’s request for proposals. Golf operations have become an intolerable financial burden in St. Paul, as the city’s three properties are said to be $8 million in the hole. The goal is to have new operators in place by sometime in February.
Premier Golf Centers has won a five-year contract to manage the municipal golf course in Lynnwood, Washington. The 18-hole track become the 11th property in Premier’s portfolio, joining 10 municipal properties in Seattle, Everett, Bellevue, Maple Valley, and other cities on the Puget Sound. The Everett Herald reports that Lynnwood has agreed to pay $96,000 a year for the firm’s services and might also pay bonuses if revenue goals are met.
The city of Duluth, Minnesota is evaluating its golf operations and plans to seek bids for the management of its 27-hole golf properties. The complexes, in Lester and Enger parks, have been run by a local firm, Professional Golf Management, since 2007. They operate at a loss, according to the Duluth News Tribune, and have accumulated a deficit of about $1 million. “We think we have an obligation to taxpayers and ourselves to put this out for bid every once in a while,” the city’s chief administrative officer told the newspaper. He noted that the courses “must pay for themselves, both operationally and in terms of debt service.” The city expects to issue a request for proposals next summer.
In recent months, nearly two dozen firms have expressed an interest in managing the municipal golf course in Lynn, Massachusetts. Much to the city’s surprise, however, only one actually submitted a bid. A firm led by Stephen Murphy, the superintendent of Gannon Municipal Golf Course, has made what amounts to a take-it-or-leave-it offer: He’s willing to pay the city $2.1 million for a five-year lease. If his offer isn’t accepted, according to the Daily Item, next year the 18-hole, Wayne Stiles-designed golf course will be operated by Lynn’ s public works department.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
The Week That Was, december 1, 2013
An elected official in Washington, DC has introduced legislation that could transform RFK Stadium into a world-class sports and entertainment venue, complete with a redesigned Langston Golf Course capable of hosting high-profile professional tournaments. With visions of Super Bowls, Final Fours, World Cups, and U.S. Opens dancing in his head, Councilmember Vincent Orange thinks the stadium and surrounding property can accommodate a 100,000-seat domed stadium, hotels, an indoor water park, a sound stage for movie producers, and other revenue-producing attractions. According to an online report, he’s “talking with Donald Trump” about the venture, and “they both hope to get Tiger Woods involved.” It’s important to note that Orange has merely floated an idea and that, given the condition of the capital city’s economy, nothing will likely come of it. But it’s nice to see people dreaming big again, isn’t it?
Phil Mickelson wants to buy a bankrupt golf property in suburban Tucson, Arizona. Inside Tucson Business reports that Mickelson and Steve Loy, his business partner/agent, have submitted an offer on Stone Canyon Club, the centerpiece of a private subdivision within the Rancho Vistoso planned community in Oro Valley. Stone Canyon features a 13-year-old golf course that its architect, Jay Morrish, has described as “the best desert course I’ve ever designed.” Entities affiliated with Mickelson and Loy already own four golf properties in Arizona, among them McDowell Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, and The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines in Payson. Earlier this year, they failed in an attempt to acquire FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills.
By this time next month, OB Sports Golf Management will likely begin the task of digging the city of Tucson, Arizona’s golf operations out of an extremely deep financial hole. More than a dozen management firms came a-calling when the city began its search for a private-sector operator, and OB Sports has been given the first crack at negotiating a contract. In return for an annual fee of $240,000, it’s promised to immediately boost the number of rounds played at the city’s five properties from around 180,000, the number they currently generate, to almost 189,900. By 2018, the company believes the number will increase to 205,471 and the courses will show a profit of roughly $713,000. It’ll be a while before the city can cover its accumulated losses, however, because the Arizona Daily Star reports that the golf operation is currently $8 million in the red.
Brutal, cutthroat, risky, and sad -- those are among the words that characterize the current state of Australia’s golf design business, according to Darius Oliver. “It would be fair to say that making a living from course design in Australia has never been more difficult,” writes the architecture editor of Australian Golf Digest. Citing data provided by Jeff Blunden of Sandringham, Victoria-based JBAS, Oliver reports that roughly 80 new golf courses opened Down Under during the 1980s, 61 in the 1990s, and 49 between 2000 and 2009. He believes that “there may be fewer than 25 new courses built this decade.” And with the pipeline running ever drier, the nation’s increasingly pessimistic architects don’t expect a recovery anytime soon. “I can’t see a boom in golf construction like we saw 10 to 15 years ago happening again for a very long time,” said Ben Davey, who, like many of his Australian colleagues, has focused his marketing efforts on China. The grass is still a little greener there.
Turkey appears to have a Tiger by the tail. Tiger Woods has committed to playing in the Turkish Airlines Open for the next three years, reportedly for a guaranteed appearance fee of almost $3 million a pop. The world’s most famous golfer pocketed $3 million for participating in the event this year, and the nation’s golf promoters believe it was money well spent. “You get your money back with him and more,” the head of the Turkish Golf Federation note in a report published by SB Nation. As recently noted, Turkey will get a major return on its investment if it can nab either the Ryder Cup in 2022 or the European Tour’s championship event in 2016.
Kutscher’s, the last remaining Borscht Belt resort in the Catskills, has been purchased by an Indian group that intends to make it a destination for “yoga sciences,” “biodynamic restaurants,” “ayurvedic” medical treatments, and other “health-driven activities.” Oy vey. The heirs of Milton and Helen Kutscher have sold their 1,300-acre spread outside Monticello, New York -- Mel Brooks, Milton Berle, Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, and many others used to entertain there -- to a company controlled by Subhash Chandra, the media mogul who’s worth $2.35 billion, according to Forbes. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but Chandra’s Veria Lifestyle bought a run-down hotel, houses, a bingo hall, sports centers, and an 18-hole, William F. Mitchell-designed golf course that dates from 1958. The buildings will soon be demolished, and the new Nature Cure Lifestyle Management Center is scheduled to debut in the spring of 2014. The golf course will continue to operate and may be spiffed up.
Just weeks after he bought one of the two 18-hole golf courses The Communities at Branson Creek, Johnny Morris has bought the other. In late October, the billionaire owner of the Bass Pro Shops chain purchased Murder Rock Golf & Country Club in greater Branson, Missouri. Now he’s followed up by acquiring the community’s Tom Fazio-designed Branson Creek layout, which spent more than a decade (2000 to 2011) atop Golf Digest’s list of the top public courses in the state. Morris intends to operate the courses as amenities for his nearby Big Cedar Lodge, which features a nine-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” course. All three of Morris’ courses are currently closed for renovations. A press release from Big Cedar Lodge promises that Branson Creek will reopen in the late spring of next year, but the others appear to be closed indefinitely. The Top of the Rock course at the lodge has been shuttered since 2010, if not before.
Billy Casper Golf is negotiating an early exit from a municipal management contract in Black Mountain, North Carolina. “Everybody is in favor of severing the relationship,” the town’s mayor told the Asheville Citizen-Times after council members voted unanimously to end the relationship, which was supposed to last until September 2016. The town put BCG in charge of it 18-hole track in September 2011, hoping that professional management would generate profits. Instead, the course has lost $254,000, and BCG has worn out its welcome. The newspaper reports that the town is obliged to pay a severance fee of about $100,000, although the amount could conceivably be reduced.
So far this year, Jack Nicklaus has introduced a line of golf balls and announced an endorsement deal for over-priced sunglasses. Now he’s licensed his good name to Perry Ellis International, which aims to sell Nicklaus-branded clothing and accessories in North America. “They are a company with ideas that are fresh and innovative,” said Nicklaus, without specifying what those ideas might be. “This is an important step for my brand as we look to expand into a variety of lifestyle categories in a quality way.” PEI, which mistakenly believes the contract will “take Jack’s legacy to the next level,” already has similarly innovative licensing arrangements with Callaway Golf, Ben Hogan, the PGA Tour, and the Champions Tour.
Phil Mickelson wants to buy a bankrupt golf property in suburban Tucson, Arizona. Inside Tucson Business reports that Mickelson and Steve Loy, his business partner/agent, have submitted an offer on Stone Canyon Club, the centerpiece of a private subdivision within the Rancho Vistoso planned community in Oro Valley. Stone Canyon features a 13-year-old golf course that its architect, Jay Morrish, has described as “the best desert course I’ve ever designed.” Entities affiliated with Mickelson and Loy already own four golf properties in Arizona, among them McDowell Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, and The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines in Payson. Earlier this year, they failed in an attempt to acquire FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills.
By this time next month, OB Sports Golf Management will likely begin the task of digging the city of Tucson, Arizona’s golf operations out of an extremely deep financial hole. More than a dozen management firms came a-calling when the city began its search for a private-sector operator, and OB Sports has been given the first crack at negotiating a contract. In return for an annual fee of $240,000, it’s promised to immediately boost the number of rounds played at the city’s five properties from around 180,000, the number they currently generate, to almost 189,900. By 2018, the company believes the number will increase to 205,471 and the courses will show a profit of roughly $713,000. It’ll be a while before the city can cover its accumulated losses, however, because the Arizona Daily Star reports that the golf operation is currently $8 million in the red.
Brutal, cutthroat, risky, and sad -- those are among the words that characterize the current state of Australia’s golf design business, according to Darius Oliver. “It would be fair to say that making a living from course design in Australia has never been more difficult,” writes the architecture editor of Australian Golf Digest. Citing data provided by Jeff Blunden of Sandringham, Victoria-based JBAS, Oliver reports that roughly 80 new golf courses opened Down Under during the 1980s, 61 in the 1990s, and 49 between 2000 and 2009. He believes that “there may be fewer than 25 new courses built this decade.” And with the pipeline running ever drier, the nation’s increasingly pessimistic architects don’t expect a recovery anytime soon. “I can’t see a boom in golf construction like we saw 10 to 15 years ago happening again for a very long time,” said Ben Davey, who, like many of his Australian colleagues, has focused his marketing efforts on China. The grass is still a little greener there.
Turkey appears to have a Tiger by the tail. Tiger Woods has committed to playing in the Turkish Airlines Open for the next three years, reportedly for a guaranteed appearance fee of almost $3 million a pop. The world’s most famous golfer pocketed $3 million for participating in the event this year, and the nation’s golf promoters believe it was money well spent. “You get your money back with him and more,” the head of the Turkish Golf Federation note in a report published by SB Nation. As recently noted, Turkey will get a major return on its investment if it can nab either the Ryder Cup in 2022 or the European Tour’s championship event in 2016.
Kutscher’s, the last remaining Borscht Belt resort in the Catskills, has been purchased by an Indian group that intends to make it a destination for “yoga sciences,” “biodynamic restaurants,” “ayurvedic” medical treatments, and other “health-driven activities.” Oy vey. The heirs of Milton and Helen Kutscher have sold their 1,300-acre spread outside Monticello, New York -- Mel Brooks, Milton Berle, Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, and many others used to entertain there -- to a company controlled by Subhash Chandra, the media mogul who’s worth $2.35 billion, according to Forbes. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but Chandra’s Veria Lifestyle bought a run-down hotel, houses, a bingo hall, sports centers, and an 18-hole, William F. Mitchell-designed golf course that dates from 1958. The buildings will soon be demolished, and the new Nature Cure Lifestyle Management Center is scheduled to debut in the spring of 2014. The golf course will continue to operate and may be spiffed up.
Just weeks after he bought one of the two 18-hole golf courses The Communities at Branson Creek, Johnny Morris has bought the other. In late October, the billionaire owner of the Bass Pro Shops chain purchased Murder Rock Golf & Country Club in greater Branson, Missouri. Now he’s followed up by acquiring the community’s Tom Fazio-designed Branson Creek layout, which spent more than a decade (2000 to 2011) atop Golf Digest’s list of the top public courses in the state. Morris intends to operate the courses as amenities for his nearby Big Cedar Lodge, which features a nine-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” course. All three of Morris’ courses are currently closed for renovations. A press release from Big Cedar Lodge promises that Branson Creek will reopen in the late spring of next year, but the others appear to be closed indefinitely. The Top of the Rock course at the lodge has been shuttered since 2010, if not before.
Billy Casper Golf is negotiating an early exit from a municipal management contract in Black Mountain, North Carolina. “Everybody is in favor of severing the relationship,” the town’s mayor told the Asheville Citizen-Times after council members voted unanimously to end the relationship, which was supposed to last until September 2016. The town put BCG in charge of it 18-hole track in September 2011, hoping that professional management would generate profits. Instead, the course has lost $254,000, and BCG has worn out its welcome. The newspaper reports that the town is obliged to pay a severance fee of about $100,000, although the amount could conceivably be reduced.
So far this year, Jack Nicklaus has introduced a line of golf balls and announced an endorsement deal for over-priced sunglasses. Now he’s licensed his good name to Perry Ellis International, which aims to sell Nicklaus-branded clothing and accessories in North America. “They are a company with ideas that are fresh and innovative,” said Nicklaus, without specifying what those ideas might be. “This is an important step for my brand as we look to expand into a variety of lifestyle categories in a quality way.” PEI, which mistakenly believes the contract will “take Jack’s legacy to the next level,” already has similarly innovative licensing arrangements with Callaway Golf, Ben Hogan, the PGA Tour, and the Champions Tour.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
The Week That Was, november 24, 2013
The venue for the 2016 Olympics won’t be completed next year, as originally planned, but Tim Finchem appears to be nevertheless pleased with the construction strides made of late in Rio de Janeiro. “Actually, the progress is reasonably good,” the relieved commissioner of the PGA Tour told Reuters. “We think the time line is in order. We were really concerned there, as you know, for a good period of time.” The new schedule calls for the Gil Hanse-designed course to open in 2015, although perhaps not until the second half of the year. That doesn’t leave much of a margin for error, but at least Finchem can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Finally, Mike Keiser has secured approval for the next leg of his Oregon Trail. Last week, after getting a nudge from the governor, the state’s parks commission unanimously endorsed the land swap Keiser needs to build Bandon Links, a pseudo-municipal golf complex, on property south of his Bandon Dunes resort. Some significant changes are on the horizon, however, for Keiser now apparently plans to build 36 holes instead of 27. Matt Ginella, a correspondent for the Golf Channel, has tweeted that Gil Hanse will design the first 18 and that four architects with a minimalist bent -- Mike DeVries, David McLay Kidd, Kyle Phillips, and Jim Urbina -- are vying to win the commission for the second.
Acknowledging that a recent exposé about water use in California’s Coachella Valley had “lit a little fire under us,” an official with the Southern California Golf Association has announced the formation of a task force committed to water conservation. Craig Kessler, the SCGA’s director of governmental affairs, told the Desert Sun that the valley’s 124 golf properties need to “step up to the plate as an industry and figure out how to do business in a way that uses less water, uses it more efficiently.” The task force will include representatives from the valley’s courses and officials from the Coachella Valley Water District. One of its primary goals will be to identify cost-effective ways to bring either recycled or Colorado River water to more of the valley’s courses. As we all know, however, it’s easy to establish a task force. It’s much harder to turn talk into action.
Donald Trump may soon add a second North Carolina golf property to his fast-growing golf empire. Eric Trump, a major voice in the family’s golf acquisitions, recently told the Charlotte Business Journal that he’s “looking at one other big project” in the Tar Heel state. He offered no details, but he noted that “water is something that we gravitate to” and, in a comment that might have been mouthed by his father, “we do whatever it takes to make the place the best.” Last year, the Trumps bought the Point Lake & Golf Club in Mooresville, a property they’ve branded as Trump National Golf Club Charlotte.
When it comes to offering free rounds of golf, the operators of Pico Rivera, California’s municipal course are putting theories into practice. GolfLinks, the manager of the city’s nine-hole, executive-length track, allows kids under 18 to play for free and charges them only a dollar for a bucket of range balls. “A course that doesn’t let kids play for free is missing the boat,” Larry Taylor of GolfLinks explained to Golf Digest. “You’ll get more green fees from their parents and relatives, and you’re building supply for the future.” Of course, Taylor’s firm has an ace in the hole: The Southern California Golf Association reimburses it for the green fees and buckets it gives away. This summer, the SCGA chipped in for 474 of the former and 909 of the latter.
More than 200 hopeful residents of suburban Charlotte, North Carolina have bought into a plan to reopen Cramer Mountain Country Club. The club, in Cramerton, has been closed since the summer of 2012, a victim of strangulating debt. Now, however, a group of home owners in the accompanying community has raised $3 million to buy the club, renovate its Dan Maples-designed golf course, and create what the group’s leader describes as “a much more progressive club -- more family-oriented, with tennis and swimming in addition to golf.” The revived, refreshed, and renamed facility -- it’ll henceforth be called Cramer Mountain Club -- will be unveiled next summer.
The general manager of a golf property in suburban Phoenix, Arizona believes that the area’s winter golf season has gotten off to a welcome fast start. “The winter visitors are coming back earlier, and the reservations are coming in earlier than they have in the past,” Greg Ellis of Trilogy Golf Club in Peoria told KTAR radio. “Everything is looking like a very good picture for the future for us in golf.” Sure, it’s just an anecdotal report. But hope springs eternal.
A family-owned golf property in Nebraska’s capital city has put its future -- its immediate future, at least -- into the hands of KemperSports. The Northbrook, Illinois-based management firm has assumed control of Wilderness Ridge Golf Club, the featured attraction of a 440-acre community developed by the late Jerry Schleich. Tom Schleich, a principal of the entity that owns Wilderness Ridge, was won over by what he called KemperSports’ “reputation, commitment to excellence, and focus in providing exceptional guest experience.” The club, which features a 27-hole golf complex, serves as the home of the University of Nebraska’s golf teams. “Wilderness Ridge has a reputation of being one of the best golf courses and dining experiences in the Lincoln market,” said Steve Skinner, KemperSports’ CEO. Those assets will be featured in KemperSports’ marketing pitch, as one of its primary tasks will be to pad the club’s membership rolls. KemperSports manages one other golf property in Nebraska, The Prairie Club in Valentine.
Two’s company, three’s a crowd: On average, an English golf club has 25 members under the age of 16, and only three of them are girls. The CEO of England Golf, the group that conducted the research, called the data “sobering.”
Finally, Mike Keiser has secured approval for the next leg of his Oregon Trail. Last week, after getting a nudge from the governor, the state’s parks commission unanimously endorsed the land swap Keiser needs to build Bandon Links, a pseudo-municipal golf complex, on property south of his Bandon Dunes resort. Some significant changes are on the horizon, however, for Keiser now apparently plans to build 36 holes instead of 27. Matt Ginella, a correspondent for the Golf Channel, has tweeted that Gil Hanse will design the first 18 and that four architects with a minimalist bent -- Mike DeVries, David McLay Kidd, Kyle Phillips, and Jim Urbina -- are vying to win the commission for the second.
Acknowledging that a recent exposé about water use in California’s Coachella Valley had “lit a little fire under us,” an official with the Southern California Golf Association has announced the formation of a task force committed to water conservation. Craig Kessler, the SCGA’s director of governmental affairs, told the Desert Sun that the valley’s 124 golf properties need to “step up to the plate as an industry and figure out how to do business in a way that uses less water, uses it more efficiently.” The task force will include representatives from the valley’s courses and officials from the Coachella Valley Water District. One of its primary goals will be to identify cost-effective ways to bring either recycled or Colorado River water to more of the valley’s courses. As we all know, however, it’s easy to establish a task force. It’s much harder to turn talk into action.
Donald Trump may soon add a second North Carolina golf property to his fast-growing golf empire. Eric Trump, a major voice in the family’s golf acquisitions, recently told the Charlotte Business Journal that he’s “looking at one other big project” in the Tar Heel state. He offered no details, but he noted that “water is something that we gravitate to” and, in a comment that might have been mouthed by his father, “we do whatever it takes to make the place the best.” Last year, the Trumps bought the Point Lake & Golf Club in Mooresville, a property they’ve branded as Trump National Golf Club Charlotte.
When it comes to offering free rounds of golf, the operators of Pico Rivera, California’s municipal course are putting theories into practice. GolfLinks, the manager of the city’s nine-hole, executive-length track, allows kids under 18 to play for free and charges them only a dollar for a bucket of range balls. “A course that doesn’t let kids play for free is missing the boat,” Larry Taylor of GolfLinks explained to Golf Digest. “You’ll get more green fees from their parents and relatives, and you’re building supply for the future.” Of course, Taylor’s firm has an ace in the hole: The Southern California Golf Association reimburses it for the green fees and buckets it gives away. This summer, the SCGA chipped in for 474 of the former and 909 of the latter.
More than 200 hopeful residents of suburban Charlotte, North Carolina have bought into a plan to reopen Cramer Mountain Country Club. The club, in Cramerton, has been closed since the summer of 2012, a victim of strangulating debt. Now, however, a group of home owners in the accompanying community has raised $3 million to buy the club, renovate its Dan Maples-designed golf course, and create what the group’s leader describes as “a much more progressive club -- more family-oriented, with tennis and swimming in addition to golf.” The revived, refreshed, and renamed facility -- it’ll henceforth be called Cramer Mountain Club -- will be unveiled next summer.
The general manager of a golf property in suburban Phoenix, Arizona believes that the area’s winter golf season has gotten off to a welcome fast start. “The winter visitors are coming back earlier, and the reservations are coming in earlier than they have in the past,” Greg Ellis of Trilogy Golf Club in Peoria told KTAR radio. “Everything is looking like a very good picture for the future for us in golf.” Sure, it’s just an anecdotal report. But hope springs eternal.
A family-owned golf property in Nebraska’s capital city has put its future -- its immediate future, at least -- into the hands of KemperSports. The Northbrook, Illinois-based management firm has assumed control of Wilderness Ridge Golf Club, the featured attraction of a 440-acre community developed by the late Jerry Schleich. Tom Schleich, a principal of the entity that owns Wilderness Ridge, was won over by what he called KemperSports’ “reputation, commitment to excellence, and focus in providing exceptional guest experience.” The club, which features a 27-hole golf complex, serves as the home of the University of Nebraska’s golf teams. “Wilderness Ridge has a reputation of being one of the best golf courses and dining experiences in the Lincoln market,” said Steve Skinner, KemperSports’ CEO. Those assets will be featured in KemperSports’ marketing pitch, as one of its primary tasks will be to pad the club’s membership rolls. KemperSports manages one other golf property in Nebraska, The Prairie Club in Valentine.
Two’s company, three’s a crowd: On average, an English golf club has 25 members under the age of 16, and only three of them are girls. The CEO of England Golf, the group that conducted the research, called the data “sobering.”
Friday, November 22, 2013
Transactions, november 22, 2013
The original home of the FedEx St. Jude Classic has avoided foreclosure by turning over its deteriorating assets to a familiar face. Colonial Country Club, a century-old facility in suburban Memphis, Tennessee, is now controlled by James W. Russell, a long-time member who paid $2 million for 372 acres appraised at $3.6 million. Russell aims to restore Colonial’s fading reputation and polish its featured attractions, which include a Joe Finger-designed, 36-hole golf complex and a 40,000-square-foot clubhouse. “Service and product -- we are going to make that second to none,” he told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “We want to offer a Mercedes,” he added, promising that the club would “not try to compete with everyone on price, but be very aggressive on the quality of our product.” Russell’s bid for the club was endorsed by a unanimous vote.
The wealthy owner of Conover, North Carolina’s Rock Barn Golf & Spa, a resort that hosts an annual event on the Champions Tour, is closing in on his second golf property. Next month, Don Beaver expects to buy and begin upgrading Statesville Country Club, a 70-year-old facility in Statesville with an 18-hole golf course and a clubhouse in need of improvement. The club defaulted on some loans earlier this year -- its president recently described it as having “run out of money” and “run out of options” – and it persuaded Beaver to save its skin. Beaver, who made his money in health care, owns two minor-league baseball teams in North Carolina and another in New Orleans, Louisiana. He made a national name for himself in the late 1990s, when he tried to buy the Minnesota Twins and move them to Greensboro. At Statesboro, Beaver said in a comment published by the Statesville Record & Landmark, “the emphasis will be to grow the membership so the club can have the revenues for a first-class facility.” To attract new members, Beaver has promised that “dues will remain reasonable.”
In an effort to seize control of its destiny and preserve property values, a homeowners’ group in Zachary, Louisiana has voted to purchase the centerpiece of its community. Changing hands will be Copper Mill Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, “links-style” golf course that’s said to be “reminiscent of those in Scotland.” Ross Bruce, the developer of Copper Mill, had recently complained about the time and money involved in running the community’s nine-year-old golf course and had vowed to close it at the end of the year. He parted with the annoyance for $1.2 million. The home owners, who expect to close on the transaction next month, plan to invest as much as $1.7 million in improvements to the club. “We’re committed to providing an excellent golf experience, value to our residents, and a premier recreation destination in the Baton Rouge metro area,” the HOA’s president told the Zachary Plainsman-News. To achieve their goals, the prospective new owners may solicit a private-sector management company.
After 20 years of operating Quail Hollow Golf Course, Dave Hendrickson is willing to give it away. And the city of Boise, Idaho seems poised to take it. “Quail Hollow is a well-managed business,” the city’s parks and recreation director told the Idaho Statesman. “The course is coming to the city in outstanding condition, both financially and structurally.” The 18-hole course, which opened in 1982, was co-designed by Robert Von Hagge and Bruce Devlin. Pending acceptance of the gift by elected officials, it’ll become the city’s second course.
By the end of the year, a financially squeezed private club in Fort Smith, Arkansas will likely have new owners. Lance Beaty and Stephen Nelson are reportedly completing the due diligence on their planned purchase of Fianna Hills Country Club, a 40-year-old property. The club features an 18-hole golf course that was renovated by Carter Morris in 2004 and a clubhouse that one of the sellers acknowledges “is due for a major renovation.” Assuming that the transaction is completed, the prospective owners will attempt to “reposition” Fianna Hills and make it appeal to what Beaty calls “a younger audience and demographic.” He told the City Wire that “there will not be another venue in this market that will provide the range of amenities, event, and social activities that we will have here.”
Northfield Mount Hermon School didn’t have to look far to find a buyer for its ancient golf course. The prep school, in northwestern Massachusetts, has agreed to sell Northfield Golf Club to Ed Snow, who’s operated the nine-hole track since 2011. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but the school, which has had the property on the market since March, had been asking for $1.25 million. The school says that the course was designed by Alex Findlay and that “the current layout opened for play in 1912.”
As its members gradually disappear, an equity club in Marathon, Florida is anticipating a change of ownership. A group led by the city’s finance director has agreed to buy the 53-year-old Florida Keys Country Club, pending approval of its redevelopment proposal. In a nutshell, the proposal consists of replacing the property’s clubhouse with a hotel and some “vacation cottages,” building a new clubhouse, and making unspecified but “significant” improvements to its 18-hole, Mark Mahannah-designed golf course. If all goes as planned, the sale would take place in early 2014 and the bulldozers would arrive a few months later. The Florida Keys Reporter says that the club, which opened as Sombrero Country Club, once had as many as 280 members. It currently has 49 members with an ownership stake and 26 “club members.”
A non-profit group created to preserve open space near Kenyon College has purchased an 18-hole golf course. In August, Philander Chase Corporation paid $450,000 for Tomahawk Golf Course, an executive-length track located a little more than a mile from the college’s campus, in Gambier, Ohio. The 3,605-yard layout, originally called Tomahawk Hollow Golf Course, has offered a “casual and welcoming atmosphere” since 1962, according to an online source. A spokesperson for PCC told the Kenyan Collegian that the property’s future would be determined sometime this winter.
The wealthy owner of Conover, North Carolina’s Rock Barn Golf & Spa, a resort that hosts an annual event on the Champions Tour, is closing in on his second golf property. Next month, Don Beaver expects to buy and begin upgrading Statesville Country Club, a 70-year-old facility in Statesville with an 18-hole golf course and a clubhouse in need of improvement. The club defaulted on some loans earlier this year -- its president recently described it as having “run out of money” and “run out of options” – and it persuaded Beaver to save its skin. Beaver, who made his money in health care, owns two minor-league baseball teams in North Carolina and another in New Orleans, Louisiana. He made a national name for himself in the late 1990s, when he tried to buy the Minnesota Twins and move them to Greensboro. At Statesboro, Beaver said in a comment published by the Statesville Record & Landmark, “the emphasis will be to grow the membership so the club can have the revenues for a first-class facility.” To attract new members, Beaver has promised that “dues will remain reasonable.”
In an effort to seize control of its destiny and preserve property values, a homeowners’ group in Zachary, Louisiana has voted to purchase the centerpiece of its community. Changing hands will be Copper Mill Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, “links-style” golf course that’s said to be “reminiscent of those in Scotland.” Ross Bruce, the developer of Copper Mill, had recently complained about the time and money involved in running the community’s nine-year-old golf course and had vowed to close it at the end of the year. He parted with the annoyance for $1.2 million. The home owners, who expect to close on the transaction next month, plan to invest as much as $1.7 million in improvements to the club. “We’re committed to providing an excellent golf experience, value to our residents, and a premier recreation destination in the Baton Rouge metro area,” the HOA’s president told the Zachary Plainsman-News. To achieve their goals, the prospective new owners may solicit a private-sector management company.
After 20 years of operating Quail Hollow Golf Course, Dave Hendrickson is willing to give it away. And the city of Boise, Idaho seems poised to take it. “Quail Hollow is a well-managed business,” the city’s parks and recreation director told the Idaho Statesman. “The course is coming to the city in outstanding condition, both financially and structurally.” The 18-hole course, which opened in 1982, was co-designed by Robert Von Hagge and Bruce Devlin. Pending acceptance of the gift by elected officials, it’ll become the city’s second course.
By the end of the year, a financially squeezed private club in Fort Smith, Arkansas will likely have new owners. Lance Beaty and Stephen Nelson are reportedly completing the due diligence on their planned purchase of Fianna Hills Country Club, a 40-year-old property. The club features an 18-hole golf course that was renovated by Carter Morris in 2004 and a clubhouse that one of the sellers acknowledges “is due for a major renovation.” Assuming that the transaction is completed, the prospective owners will attempt to “reposition” Fianna Hills and make it appeal to what Beaty calls “a younger audience and demographic.” He told the City Wire that “there will not be another venue in this market that will provide the range of amenities, event, and social activities that we will have here.”
Northfield Mount Hermon School didn’t have to look far to find a buyer for its ancient golf course. The prep school, in northwestern Massachusetts, has agreed to sell Northfield Golf Club to Ed Snow, who’s operated the nine-hole track since 2011. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but the school, which has had the property on the market since March, had been asking for $1.25 million. The school says that the course was designed by Alex Findlay and that “the current layout opened for play in 1912.”
As its members gradually disappear, an equity club in Marathon, Florida is anticipating a change of ownership. A group led by the city’s finance director has agreed to buy the 53-year-old Florida Keys Country Club, pending approval of its redevelopment proposal. In a nutshell, the proposal consists of replacing the property’s clubhouse with a hotel and some “vacation cottages,” building a new clubhouse, and making unspecified but “significant” improvements to its 18-hole, Mark Mahannah-designed golf course. If all goes as planned, the sale would take place in early 2014 and the bulldozers would arrive a few months later. The Florida Keys Reporter says that the club, which opened as Sombrero Country Club, once had as many as 280 members. It currently has 49 members with an ownership stake and 26 “club members.”
A non-profit group created to preserve open space near Kenyon College has purchased an 18-hole golf course. In August, Philander Chase Corporation paid $450,000 for Tomahawk Golf Course, an executive-length track located a little more than a mile from the college’s campus, in Gambier, Ohio. The 3,605-yard layout, originally called Tomahawk Hollow Golf Course, has offered a “casual and welcoming atmosphere” since 1962, according to an online source. A spokesperson for PCC told the Kenyan Collegian that the property’s future would be determined sometime this winter.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
The Week That Was, november 17, 2013
Turkey wants to be a major player in international golf circles, and it believes that hosting high-prestige professional tournaments is the way to do it. Although the nation isn’t yet an established golf market -- it had only 19 golf properties in 2011, according to a study by KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice, and a mere 5,649 players -- it plans to bid on the European Tour’s season-concluding event in 2016 and the Ryder Cup in 2022. “Turkey would have as good a chance as anywhere,” the tour’s CEO said in a comment published by the Telegraph. “This is a country where anything is possible.” To sweeten its proposal, Turkey is willing to build a new course specifically designed for the event it wins.
Peter Nanula wants to buy a prominent, financially strapped golf club in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but he may have to fend off a committed group of club members to do so. In August, the Newport Beach, California-based investor acquired the first mortgage on Gaillardia Golf & Country Club, a property currently in receivership. Control of the loan would seem to give Nanula’s deep-pocketed Concert Golf Partners the inside track on a purchase, but a bid from Jeff McDougall, an oil man who owns a 17,500-square-foot mansion in the Gaillardia community, might be favored by a second lender involved in the proceedings. “We’re just a group in the club that would like to see it locally owned,” McDougall told the Oklahoman. “We think it’s the best thing for the community.” Neither suitor intends to spell out his plans for the club until the foreclosure process concludes, and nobody seems to know when that will happen.
In an effort to drum up business, some of the best-known golf courses in Gujarat, India have become marketing partners. The 12 founding members of the Gujarat Golf Association include Kensville Golf & Country Club in metropolitan Ahmedabad, Gaekwad Baroda Golf Club in Baroda, and Aalloa Hills Resort & Golf Course in suburban Gandhinagar. “Many of us are struggling hard to stay afloat, as golf is picking up very slowly here and the golf properties are expensive to maintain,” the managing director of Gulmohar Greens Golf & Country Club told the Indian Express. “So we decided to come together under one umbrella and promote it in an organized manner.” The golf business has become very competitive in Gujarat, thanks in part to construction related to residential development, and the newspaper reports that “very few golf enthusiasts” are “taking up the game.”
Eric Trump, who now effectively runs his family’s golf empire, has faith in the future of ultra high-end golf operations, as long as the properties are located in metropolitan areas. “During the boom, everybody was building golf courses and doing them in crazy locations,” he explained to Cybergolf.com. “Some amazing golf courses got built, but they happen to be in the middle of ‘you name the place’ and weren’t near any metropolitan city, not near any highway. You had to take a prop plane and then a helicopter to get there. The notion that those would be successful was a little fictitious.” To review, the Trumps own a close to a dozen U.S., golf properties, all of them near the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Miami, Charlotte, and Washington, DC.
Troon Privé has added the oldest golf club in central Ohio to its collection of “private clubs of distinction.” Troon Golf’s private-club division has taken the reins at Columbus Country Club, an old-line property that was established in 1903 and was once a favored retreat for many of the capital city’s most prominent citizens. Today, the club’s initiation fee tops out at $2,500. “Columbus Country Club is an exceptional private facility with an outstanding reputation,” said Jim McLaughlin, one of Troon’s senior vice presidents. One of Troon’s primary tasks will be to restore the club’s membership. In 2011, in an effort to add value, CCC began offering joint memberships with the Athletic Club of Columbus. “We all need to attract a new generation of members and retain our present ones,” the club’s general manager at the time told Columbus Business First. An attraction that prospects will surely notice is a Donald Ross-designed golf course that hosted the 1964 PGA Championship in 1964.
John Fought, an architect based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has won the commission to oversee a renovation of a golf course owned by the city of Wilmington, North Carolina. Fought will receive $105,000 (plus up to $16,000 in travel expenses) to prepare a master plan for greens-related improvements at Wilmington Municipal Golf Course, an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed track that dates from the late 1920s. The city expects to rebuild the layout’s greens, greens approaches, and greenside bunkers, and other upgrades may be done as well. “There is little doubt that these improvements will elevate your reputation and enhance the playability of the course,” Fought said in a comment published by the Port City Daily. The work will likely cost about $700,000. It’ll begin next year, but the city hasn’t yet decided to complete it in one phase or two.
After what’s been described as a “disastrous” and “devastating” golf season, the city of Edina, Minnesota may consider closing or privatizing one or both of its golf courses. The city’s Braemar Golf Course consists of a 27-hole regulation complex and two nine-hole executive-length tracks, one of them operated as Fred Richards Golf Course. Through the end of September, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, net earnings at the courses were down by roughly $325,000 from the same time in 2012. As a result, according to the city’s director of parks and recreation, golf operations will be examined “to make sure we’re doing the best we can to operate as efficiently as possible.” The Fred Richards course, which caters mostly to seniors and beginners, will be scrutinized most closely and may be on the chopping block. The city hopes to make some decisions about its golf operation early next year.
Municipal golf operations in Minnesota may be experiencing declines, but at least one city in Wisconsin is seeing a slight uptick in rounds and revenues. Despite losing 40 playing days to poor weather, the four golf properties in Madison rang up 81,000 rounds through late October, a 1 percent increase over the full-year performance in 2012. What’s more, the courses have so far generated $287,000 in profits, a better than 40 percent boost over 2012. “It has been a great year for the golf courses,” a spokesperson for the capital city’s parks department told the Wisconsin State Journal. A major operational change accounts for a significant part of the profits: This year, the city ended its relationship with the pros who formerly managed the courses.
You can add Rees Jones’ name to the list of golf-industry professionals who believe that brown is the new green. “I think we’re going to have to learn to deal with lesser conditions,” the Open Doctor said during a conversation with a reporter in Williamsburg, Virginia. “We’ve gotten spoiled.” Spoiled or not, in many parts of the nation brown still seems to be an acquired taste. How long, realistically, will it take the Powers That Be to change hearts and minds?
Peter Nanula wants to buy a prominent, financially strapped golf club in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but he may have to fend off a committed group of club members to do so. In August, the Newport Beach, California-based investor acquired the first mortgage on Gaillardia Golf & Country Club, a property currently in receivership. Control of the loan would seem to give Nanula’s deep-pocketed Concert Golf Partners the inside track on a purchase, but a bid from Jeff McDougall, an oil man who owns a 17,500-square-foot mansion in the Gaillardia community, might be favored by a second lender involved in the proceedings. “We’re just a group in the club that would like to see it locally owned,” McDougall told the Oklahoman. “We think it’s the best thing for the community.” Neither suitor intends to spell out his plans for the club until the foreclosure process concludes, and nobody seems to know when that will happen.
In an effort to drum up business, some of the best-known golf courses in Gujarat, India have become marketing partners. The 12 founding members of the Gujarat Golf Association include Kensville Golf & Country Club in metropolitan Ahmedabad, Gaekwad Baroda Golf Club in Baroda, and Aalloa Hills Resort & Golf Course in suburban Gandhinagar. “Many of us are struggling hard to stay afloat, as golf is picking up very slowly here and the golf properties are expensive to maintain,” the managing director of Gulmohar Greens Golf & Country Club told the Indian Express. “So we decided to come together under one umbrella and promote it in an organized manner.” The golf business has become very competitive in Gujarat, thanks in part to construction related to residential development, and the newspaper reports that “very few golf enthusiasts” are “taking up the game.”
Eric Trump, who now effectively runs his family’s golf empire, has faith in the future of ultra high-end golf operations, as long as the properties are located in metropolitan areas. “During the boom, everybody was building golf courses and doing them in crazy locations,” he explained to Cybergolf.com. “Some amazing golf courses got built, but they happen to be in the middle of ‘you name the place’ and weren’t near any metropolitan city, not near any highway. You had to take a prop plane and then a helicopter to get there. The notion that those would be successful was a little fictitious.” To review, the Trumps own a close to a dozen U.S., golf properties, all of them near the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Miami, Charlotte, and Washington, DC.
Troon Privé has added the oldest golf club in central Ohio to its collection of “private clubs of distinction.” Troon Golf’s private-club division has taken the reins at Columbus Country Club, an old-line property that was established in 1903 and was once a favored retreat for many of the capital city’s most prominent citizens. Today, the club’s initiation fee tops out at $2,500. “Columbus Country Club is an exceptional private facility with an outstanding reputation,” said Jim McLaughlin, one of Troon’s senior vice presidents. One of Troon’s primary tasks will be to restore the club’s membership. In 2011, in an effort to add value, CCC began offering joint memberships with the Athletic Club of Columbus. “We all need to attract a new generation of members and retain our present ones,” the club’s general manager at the time told Columbus Business First. An attraction that prospects will surely notice is a Donald Ross-designed golf course that hosted the 1964 PGA Championship in 1964.
John Fought, an architect based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has won the commission to oversee a renovation of a golf course owned by the city of Wilmington, North Carolina. Fought will receive $105,000 (plus up to $16,000 in travel expenses) to prepare a master plan for greens-related improvements at Wilmington Municipal Golf Course, an 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed track that dates from the late 1920s. The city expects to rebuild the layout’s greens, greens approaches, and greenside bunkers, and other upgrades may be done as well. “There is little doubt that these improvements will elevate your reputation and enhance the playability of the course,” Fought said in a comment published by the Port City Daily. The work will likely cost about $700,000. It’ll begin next year, but the city hasn’t yet decided to complete it in one phase or two.
After what’s been described as a “disastrous” and “devastating” golf season, the city of Edina, Minnesota may consider closing or privatizing one or both of its golf courses. The city’s Braemar Golf Course consists of a 27-hole regulation complex and two nine-hole executive-length tracks, one of them operated as Fred Richards Golf Course. Through the end of September, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, net earnings at the courses were down by roughly $325,000 from the same time in 2012. As a result, according to the city’s director of parks and recreation, golf operations will be examined “to make sure we’re doing the best we can to operate as efficiently as possible.” The Fred Richards course, which caters mostly to seniors and beginners, will be scrutinized most closely and may be on the chopping block. The city hopes to make some decisions about its golf operation early next year.
Municipal golf operations in Minnesota may be experiencing declines, but at least one city in Wisconsin is seeing a slight uptick in rounds and revenues. Despite losing 40 playing days to poor weather, the four golf properties in Madison rang up 81,000 rounds through late October, a 1 percent increase over the full-year performance in 2012. What’s more, the courses have so far generated $287,000 in profits, a better than 40 percent boost over 2012. “It has been a great year for the golf courses,” a spokesperson for the capital city’s parks department told the Wisconsin State Journal. A major operational change accounts for a significant part of the profits: This year, the city ended its relationship with the pros who formerly managed the courses.
You can add Rees Jones’ name to the list of golf-industry professionals who believe that brown is the new green. “I think we’re going to have to learn to deal with lesser conditions,” the Open Doctor said during a conversation with a reporter in Williamsburg, Virginia. “We’ve gotten spoiled.” Spoiled or not, in many parts of the nation brown still seems to be an acquired taste. How long, realistically, will it take the Powers That Be to change hearts and minds?
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