The Week That Was, march 31, 2013

     If you look closely, you can see the steam escaping from Donald Trump’s ears. Despite his incessant threats, last week the Scottish government approved an off-shore wind farm that will take shape within view of Trump International Golf Links Scotland. Trump



has been bitterly fighting the proposal for months, insisting that the proposed turbines will destroy the beauty of Aberdeenshire’s coast and sink Scotland’s tourism business. Now it appears that he’s willing to spend pretty much whatever it takes to stop the wind farm dead in its tracks. “We will put our future plans in Aberdeen on hold, as will many others, until this ridiculous proposal is defeated,” he said in a comment published by the Scotsman. “Likewise, we will be bringing a lawsuit within the allocated period of time to stop what will definitely be the destruction of Aberdeen and Scotland itself.” It’s hard to predict how this conflict will end. Without question, Trump understands that he can’t create a viable vacation destination with just one golf course. But after drawing such a hard line in the coastal sand, what’s his fallback position? If he does indeed pull the plug on his development plans, who does he really hurt? Or, to ask the question another way, how many enemies will Trump henceforth make in Scotland before he finally admits to being defeated?

     March was chilly, and as a result it doesn’t appear that golf courses in the United States will get the weather-related bump in rounds played that they received in 2012. A case in point is Forest Hills Golf Course in La Crosse, Wisconsin, which WXOW says is “still covered with snow and ice.” Last year, the course opened on March 12. “I think last year we did over 1,600 rounds of golf in the month of March,” the club’s general manager told the television station. “This year is going to be zero.” Golf properties elsewhere in Wisconsin, as well as those in other cold-weather climes, will likewise open later this year. So a critical question moves to center stage: Can an improving economy alone help U.S. golf courses generate more play they did in 2012?

     Lahinch Golf Club is in financial hot water. The world-renowned, 121-year-old club in County Clare, Ireland has lost 500 fee-paying members since 2009, and, in an effort to replace them, it’s sliced its initiation fee from €25,000 (roughly $32,000) to €10,000 ($12,800). Cutting fees is always a dicey strategy, because Lahinch now needs to sign two and a half new members to generate the same income it formerly got from just one. This math problem is especially worrisome because margins at the club, which Herbert Warren Wind once described as “the St. Andrews of Ireland,” have thinned dramatically. Last year, according to the Irish Times, the club’s profits fell by almost half, to €291,947 ($374,300) from €540,231 ($693,000) in 2011.

     The forthcoming Coore & Crenshaw-designed golf course in Dallas, Texas appears to be rolling in membership dough. The promoters of Trinity Forest Golf Club told D magazine that they’ve collected 100 commitments from prospective members, “each with a ballpark $150,000 initiation fee.” If those numbers are accurate, then AT&T, which conceived Trinity Forest as an image enhancer for its golf marketing program, has so far been promised $15 million. Not a bad haul, especially when you consider that the company is only kicking $2.5 million into the venture.

     It’s safe to assume that AT&T hasn’t yet sold a Trinity Forest membership to Don Williams. Williams, a long-time developer -- he’s a former CEO of Trammell Crow Company -- isn’t convinced the club will create as many jobs as AT&T says it will, and he thinks the city of Dallas should invest its $12 million commitment to the club’s construction in more reliable economic-development efforts. “When I first saw it, I looked at it and thought it was the worst use of $12 million that the city could possibly spend,” Williams said in comments published by the Dallas Business Journal. “The last thing we need is another high-end golf course.” Obviously, the city doesn’t agree. It’s promised to kick in its share of the construction costs as soon as AT&T rings up $20 million in membership commitments, an amount that’s already within sight.

     Not often does a writer compare one golf architect’s work directly against another’s. But Jason Scott Deegan recently did so, and he singled out two heavyweights: Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak. During a golf vacation in New Zealand, Deegan played Nicklaus’ course at Kinloch Club and Doak’s at Cape Kidnappers, and he concluded that “the experience of walking off of both couldn’t have been more different.” Halfway through his round at Kinloch, Deegan said, he “was ready to quit the game.” After playing Cape Kidnappers, however, he was “ready to retire, move to New Zealand, and play golf every day the rest of [his] life.” His verdict: “Doak designs courses that are fun and playable,” while Nicklaus “penalizes even good shots.” Both types of courses have their place, Deegan suggests, but Doak’s fit the current zeitgeist better. Maybe that’s why Doak has his name on four of the top seven layouts listed on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses for 2013, while Nicklaus has his name on just one. Coincidentally, the one is Sebonack Golf Club in New York, which Nicklaus co-designed with Doak.

     As we wait for Mike Keiser and his partners to break ground on the second course at Cabot Links, consider what course number one has done for the town of Inverness, Nova Scotia. “Stellar coverage in Golf Digest and the New York Times brought the visitors,” writes the Chronicle Herald, “and the spillover effects are waking up the region.” The newspaper’s story is, unfortunately, built exclusively on anecdotal evidence, and it’ll be years before we can do a thorough economic analysis. But the message is clear: Since last summer, when Rod Whitman’s course opened, golf has made a difference on Cape Breton Island.

     Arnold Palmer may believe that the future of golf is in significant ways tied to the 2016 Olympics, but as I intimated recently, many of our contemporaries believe that golf’s appearance at the games in Brazil deserves nothing more than a hearty yawn. Just a couple of weeks ago, after hearing that Gil Hanse’s course was finally under construction, a writer for the National asked a question not often heard in golf circles: “Who cares?” His argument: For any professional golfer, winning a gold medal in the Olympics doesn’t mean nearly as much as winning, say, a green jacket or a Claret Jug. “The ceaseless political histrionics about the Olympic course project outside Rio has become annoying white noise to many,” Steve Elling contends, “just more blather to be ignored for a game whose inclusion as a medal sport was contentious to begin with.” His final request: “Wake me when it’s over.”

     Overwhelmed by work? Bracket busted? Still too cold to play the season’s first round? Maybe you should pour yourself a cold one. But first ask yourself: Did our most ancient ancestors grow grain for beer even before they cultivated it for bread?

The Cold, Hard Facts march 29, 2013

     Slowly but surely, the U.S. golf inventory continues to shrink. In 2012, for the seventh consecutive year, our nation lost more golf courses than it gained. According to the National Golf Foundation, 154.5 “18-hole equivalent” courses closed last year, while only 13.5 “18-hole equivalent” courses opened. As a result, today the United States has 15,619 golf properties. The number of closings has exceeded the number of openings each year since 2006. During that time, the trade group says, the total number of U.S. courses has fallen by 3.3 percent off highs reached in 2004.

     The number of golfers in China -- zero in 1983 -- currently stands at 300,000, according to MICE Now. This is a small number, to be sure, and it represents a mere 0.03 percent of the population in the People’s Republic. But if projections by the China Golf Association hold true, the nation’s golf population will reach 20 million by 2020, a number exceeded only by the United States. To be sure, a nation of 20 million golfers will need a lot more than the 600 courses it currently has, and golf construction in China has been prohibited (except on Hainan Island) since the government imposed a moratorium in 2011. So how effective has the moratorium been? “Many local authorities,” MICE Now notes, “have ignored edicts and continue to approve courses.”

     An Asian travel service believes that Thailand is on the verge of becoming the world’s most popular destination for golf tourism. Thailand attracted 750,000 golf vacationers last year, according to Golfasian, and if the current pace of tourist traffic can be maintained, it’ll overtake Spain, the current leader, in 2015 or 2016. Mark Siegel, the firm’s principal, believes that Thailand will lure more than 860,000 golf travelers this year and hit the 1 million mark in 2015. He credits “the great experience of playing golf in Thailand -- the courses, weather, caddies, tourism infrastructure, friendliness of the people, safety, and cost” -- for the increase. And as for the reign of Spain, in recent years the nation has been losing vacationers not just to Thailand but to Portugal, Turkey, and nations in North Africa and Asia.

     When they go on golf vacations, most U.S. golfers are mostly looking to have fun. In an online survey taken last fall by the Sports & Leisure Research Group, an overwhelming number of respondents -- roughly 1,200 of 1,504, all of them men -- said that “playing a beautiful and well-maintained golf course on my golf vacation is more important to me than playing a challenging one.” The survey also determined that a large majority of respondents (80 percent) choose a destination based on the “quality of golf courses” available, while 69 percent make a decision based on the “variety of golf courses” available. Only 64 percent said that they seek out “challenging golf courses.”

     Among attractions that charge admission, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is the biggest draw in Alabama. The 26 courses on the 11-stop trail attracted 592,021 golfers last year, up from 512,044 in 2011. The state’s number-two attraction was the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, which lured 572,650 paying customers.

     The U.S. golf industry generates more money for charities than the four major team sports combined, according to Steve Mona of the World Golf Foundation. In an interview with Golf Digest, Mona reports that golf contributes a total of about $3.9 billion annually. Only a small fraction of the money -- just $150 million -- comes from professional golf tours. The rest comes from 150,000 fundraising events hosted by 12,000 “everyday golf facilities,” as Mona calls them. The average event collects $26,000.

     Citing figures from SRI International, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that “private and public clubs” in the United States spent $2 billion on their facilities in 2011, down from $7.8 billion in 2000.

     Golf clubs in Australia may be losing members, but the members they have appear to be playing more golf. Citing statistics provided by Golf Australia, the Australian Financial Review says that the total number of rounds played last year increased by 2.4 percent, to 12.38 million.

     Even though “anchored” and “belly” putters are still technically legal, fewer golfers are buying them. A sales director from Odyssey Golf told Golfweek that his company expected to sell 80,000 to 100,000 long putters last year but ended up selling only 25,000 or 30,000. In addition, the magazine reports, such putters “were scarce” at the most recent PGA Merchandise Show, an indication that manufacturers believe “an anchoring ban is forthcoming.” All this being said, I’m sure it won’t surprise you to hear that the putter manufacturers see a potential silver lining in this dark cloud. They’re already developing alternative products -- including “heavy” putters and “invisible” anchors -- to help golfers overcome the yips. A designer for Odyssey described the situation as “an opportunity to innovate within the new conforming standards being imposed.”

nicaragua Hope Springs Eternal

     Nicaragua’s long-awaited real estate boom has so far been a bust, but golf development slowly continues in the impoverished Central American nation.
     Guacalito de la Isla, outside Rivas, recently opened its David McLay Kidd-designed golf course, golf construction is wrapping up at Montecristo Beach on the Costa Azul. In addition, Seaside Mariana in San Rafael del Sur hopes to start building its 18-hole, Nicklaus Design layout this year, although it’s been saying that for years.
     Now comes word that Milagro del Mar Beach & Golf Resort, which had to reorganize during the Great Recession, aims to resume golf construction, perhaps in 2013. The resort has already begun to build a few dozen condos, and it hopes to announce a hotel partner sometime soon.
     “We have weathered the storm,” the community’s developer, Roger Keeling, told the Nicaragua Dispatch late last year.
     Milagro del Mar is part of Gran Pacifica, a 2,500-acre spread in the village of San Diego, roughly an hour’s drive southwest of Managua, the nation’s capital city. The community has a nine-hole golf course designed by Tommy Haugen, and Keeling aims to build two more nines.
     Phil Alexander, the community’s vice president of sales and marketing, says that a new architect may be hired to design the forthcoming holes and to possibly redesign the existing track. “I would love to have a course as exciting as Kidd’s,” he says.
     Alexander won’t predict when construction will begin, but he believes that “the improvement and expansion of the golf course is a major part of the plan for developing our portion of the project.”  

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

The Week That Was, march 24, 2013

     A new, feel-good study claims that the golf business in Europe is “on sound footing” and “well-placed to grow,” but its data suggests that the continent’s golf struggles are deep-rooted, stubborn, and tough to overcome. Last year, the golf industry contributed €15.1 billion ($20.2 billion) to Europe’s economy, according to Sports Marketing Surveys, Inc. This is a substantial amount, to be sure, but it’s less than the estimated €15.4 billion ($20.6 billion) that our industry was worth to the Old Country in 2006. SMS attributes the decline to “the more difficult economic times” and confidently predicts a revival “when European performance improves in the years ahead.” But golf in Europe, like golf everywhere else, is bedeviled by fundamental troubles that restrain its growth and won’t magically disappear in an economic recovery. As SMS notes, our industry is generally perceived as being expensive and exclusive, dominated by men, intimidating to women and beginners, and, perhaps worst of all, “getting older in many of the established markets.” Add it all up and you get an enterprise that attracts just 7.85 million of Europe’s 511 million people. Some observers may view a participation rate of 1.54 percent as an opportunity for growth. I think it should spark a cold, hard self-examination.

     The preceding post originally appeared in the March 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Cue the marching band and release the confetti: At long last, Gil Hanse and a crew of six have begun to hand-clear the site of the golf venue for the 2016 Olympics. According to Golfweek, “with good weather, a disciplined work crew, and no more delays from local officials, the course could be ready within 18 months.”

     Now that Gil Hanse’s construction team has begun to stir, the organizing committee in Brazil has begun to brag about the magnificence of its undertaking. Carlos Nuzman, the president of Rio 2016, believes that the long-delayed construction “represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the sport.” For sure, lots of people in our business are praying that he’s right. The course itself, Nuzman contends, will forever serve as “an example of sustainability and preservation of an environmentally protected area” and “inspire millions of youth across Brazil and the globe.” Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but it’s worth noting that Brazil has been, throughout its history, decidedly cool to golf. Don’t expect miracles.

     The ceremonial opening of Nick Faldo’s new course in Vietnam took place last week, and a press release calls it “arguably his boldest and best creation.” The track anchors Laguna Lang Co,



a 700-acre oceanfront resort in Thua Thien Hue Province, about 50 miles east of Hue. “The course is everything we thought it would be, and even better,” Faldo said during the festivities. “I believe it will hold up against the better courses in this region and maybe the world.” The course is Faldo’s second in Vietnam -- his 18-hole layout at Ocean Dunes Golf Resort in Phan Thiet opened in the mid 1990s -- and, according to the press release, his 26th overall.

     Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the December 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     On the face of it, the news is straightforward: Pacific Links International and the PGA Tour’s TPC division have agreed to provide reciprocal play to their respective members. Pacific Links’ members will get access to 23 Tournament Players Club courses (as well as to some properties operated by Heritage Golf Group), while the TPC Passport Program’s members will get access to Pacific Links’ eight properties, the majority of them on Oahu in Hawaii. But I’m wondering: Could there be more going on here? Pacific Links, which is owned by a Chinese entrepreneur named Du Sha, aims to market its courses on Oahu to Chinese vacationers. “Part of our strategy is to replace the Japanese golfer with the Chinese golfer,” the firm’s CEO recently told WorldGolf.com. On the other side, the PGA Tour is drooling over the marketing opportunities offered by the People’s Republic, and it’s already laid plans to build a TPC course in Beijing. It just may be that this collaboration between Pacific Links and the PGA Tour was mostly crafted to generate memberships in China.

     The always captivating Huang Nubo -- poet, propagandist, mountain climber, golf developer -- has earned a long-overdue feature in the New York Times. The newspaper reports that Huang’s plan to build a 100-square-mile, build-it-and-they-will-come golf resort in a remote, desolate part of Iceland has stirred not only controversy but “bafflement” in the nation. “I’m just aghast,” says a dumbfounded tourism official. “It is not the first place I would have chosen,” says a bewildered old friend. “Nobody knows what the devil they are up to,” says a suspicious former ambassador. Huang “is not just a simple poet wanting to find peace of mind in the mountains of Iceland,” says the nation’s wary interior minister. Naturally, Huang’s little-known, Beijing-based firm insists that the people of Iceland have nothing to fear. A spokesperson for Zhongkun Group told the paper that the middle of nowhere was chosen because solitude-seeking Chinese vacationers “don’t like to travel to dirty, noisy places.” It would have been great to hear Huang wax poetic about his intentions, but the Times unfortunately couldn’t reach him. He’s supposedly trekking up a mountain somewhere. He likes difficult journeys.

     Emirates Golf Club celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, and its publicists want you to know exactly how important it has been to the growth of the Middle East in general and Dubai in particular. The club’s original 18 -- the first all-green golf course in the region -- “provided the base around which a whole new city has grown,” writes Sport360, and “kick-started a chain of events that has led Dubai to be constantly named among the top sporting cities in the world these last few years.” As part of its promotional effort, Sport360 also caught up with Karl Litten, the Majlis course’s 80-year-old, Florida-based designer. I’ll bet it won’t surprise you to learn that Litten considers the track, which was personally commissioned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to be his best work. He thinks the sheikh liked it too. “I heard he was very happy,” Litten recalls, “but of course, he never told me that personally.”

     The younger brother of Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz has written a memoir of his days as a caddie at St. Andrews. Oliver Horovitz, who spent seven seasons working at the cradle of golf -- “the only Jewish caddie in the history of the shack,” he believes -- recently talked about An American Caddie in St. Andrews with Sports Illustrated. Here’s how he sizes up the club’s courses: I love the New Course. The New Course is only “new” in relation to the Old Course. It was built in 1895 -- that’s new for St. Andrews. It was laid out by Old Tom Morris, and it’s the only course of any of his designs that still has the greens in their original spots. It’s really fun, and in my opinion tougher than the Old Course. Of the four main courses at St. Andrews -- the Old, the New, the Jubilee, and the Castle, which is the newest -- the Old Course is actually the easiest from the normal tees. The New is much tighter, and the greens are much smaller. The Jubilee has so much gorse on it that it’s really tough, and the Castle is just a monster of a golf course. One other thing: Horovitz helpfully points out that St. Andrews has more pubs per capita than any other place in the United Kingdom.

     Earlier this month, while North Korea was huffing and puffing and making threats that could lead to armed conflict, where was South Korea’s top military brass? On their favorite golf course in Seoul, naturally. Make golf, not war.

The Pipeline, march 22, 2013

     For Tower Holdings, the third time really was the charm. Just weeks ago, planning officials approved a substantially downsized version of the company’s “eco-friendly” vacation spot on Great Keppel Island, including its 18-hole golf course. Terry Agnew, Tower Holdings’ owner, once called Grand Keppel, off the coast of Queensland, “probably the most outstanding island paradise in Australia,” and in the mid 2000s he set out to make it “one of Australia’s premier tourist attractions.” But his grander development proposals were rejected twice, and now his North Sydney-based firm will be limited to building 750 villas, 600 apartments, a 250-room hotel, a marina, and other attractions. A condition in the federal approval will require the proposed golf course, a Greg Norman layout, to be located somewhat farther inland, to preserve a habitat for migratory birds. It’s been a long haul, but these days Tower can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel.
     Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the February 2010 and March 2013 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Government authorities on Luzon Island in the Philippines have endorsed plans for an eco-tourism resort and industrial park that will include a controversial 18-hole golf course. The construction will take shape on 660 coastal acres immediately west of Lingayen, the capital city of Pangasinan Province. In an effort to woo both tourists and foreign investment, the province aims to build a hotel, a shopping mall, an electric-car manufacturing plant, an electronics factory, and a golf course that some local officials believe will “put the province in the world sporting map,” according to Positive News Media. The proposal has generated considerable debate, however, as some residents of the villages where the construction will take place -- the “barangays” of Sabangan, Estanza, Malimpuec, and Capandanan -- fear that earth movement along the waterfront will trigger erosion. Those fears have largely been allayed, however, and now the province is seeking private-sector groups to undertake the various projects. It’s possible that the golf course will be developed by a South Korean entity called All Weather Aqua City Philippines, which has been linked to both the resort and the industrial park.
     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Taylor Morrison is trying to breathe new life into what is widely believed to be a vanishing species: A gated golf community in Naples, Florida. The 1,800-acre spread, called Esplanade Golf & Country Club, will eventually include more than 1,100 single-family homes and other housing types, a wellness center with a spa, hiking and biking trails, lakes and nature preserves, and an 18-hole, “eco-friendly” golf course. The latter has been designed by Chris Wilczynski, a protégé of Arthur Hills, who aims to “encourage beginners while challenging the most seasoned players,” according to a press release masquerading as a newspaper story. The 6,900-yard track is expected to open sometime next year.

     A mined-out quarry in suburban Christchurch is being eyed as the new home of Templeton Golf Club. The quarry is just a hop, a skip, and a jump north of Templeton’s 6,619-yard course on New Zealand’s South Island, and its owner has agreed to build a new course and a clubhouse in exchange for the club’s 130-acre property. Greg Turner and Scot Macpherson, a design duo based in Queenstown, have sketched out a routing for the 18-hole track, which Templeton’s president believes will provide “a unique golfing experience” that would help to attract new members. But don’t hold your breath waiting for Templeton to move. The club expects the entitlement process to take two years or more, and course construction will add another year or two to the time line.  
     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the February 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Slowly but surely, the members of Minot Country Club are getting closer to building their new home. Planning officials in Minot, North Dakota, a city desperately in need of new housing, have given partial approval to the community that the club will eventually be part of. If the community’s developer can secure the density it wants, it’ll allocate 300 acres of its property for the club’s new, Jim Engh-designed course. The club’s original course has been closed since the spring of 2011, when it was covered by waters spilling out of the Souris River. The flooding devastated the entire city of Minot, although the area’s oil boom is helping it recover quickly.  
     Some information in this post originally appeared in the July 2012 issue of the U.S. Golf Course Report.

     A proposal to build a nine-hole course on a small farm just north of Toronto has stirred some controversy. Carlo Baldassarra, a well-known developer in the area (his Vaughan-based Greenpark Homes is said to be Canada’s largest home builder), wants to build the course at his 128-acre Westlin Farms, in an unincorporated area just west of King City. He intends to build the course for his personal use, but his proposal has nonetheless triggered worries among some of the area’s residents about excessive water use and the loss of agricultural land. If Baldassarra and his representatives can placate those concerns and persuade local planning officials to rezone the property, construction will likely begin in 2015. The course will be designed by Doug Carrick, an architect based in suburban Toronto.
     The original version of the preceding post appeared in the January 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     The new owners of Essendon Country Club in Hertfordshire, England are laying plans to take their New course to the next level. Kieran and Liam Griffin bought the 400-acre club (the former Hatfield London Country Club) in 2012, with the aim of making it what they describe as “an inclusive and integrated club that appeals to all the family.” The club, in a northern suburb of London, features a pair of 18-hole courses -- the Fred Hawtree-designed, 6,808-yard Old course, which opened in 1976, and the 6,938-yard New course, which was designed by Landscape Design Company and opened in 1992 -- along with a nine-hole pitch-’n’-putt track and a practice center. The Griffins, who own a local taxicab company, plan to upgrade the entire facility, starting with the New course. “We are in the process of commissioning an architect to recommend changes and genuinely believe it has the potential to stand comparison to anything else in the area,” Liam Griffin said in a press release.  
     The original version of the preceding post appeared in the January 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     The members of a historic club in northeastern Scotland have approved a master plan for future renovations. The plan, created by Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert, will provide a road map for improvements at Edzell Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, Bob Simpson-designed course that dates from 1895 and a nine-hole, Graeme Webster-designed course that opened in 2001. Top 100 Golf Courses of the World calls Simpson’s 6,455-yard layout, which was redesigned by James Braid in the early 1930s, “an enchanting experience” that’s been laid out in “one of the best settings for an inland course anywhere in the British Isles.” Mackenzie and Ebert don’t figure to mess with the course’s essence, as they’ve sympathetically modernized many British golf antiques, among them three that have recently hosted Open Championships: the Ailsa Course at Turnberry (2009), Royal St. George’s Golf Club (2011), and Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club (2012). Edzell, which is located in the town of Edzell, hasn’t yet announced when construction will begin.  
     The original version of the preceding post appeared in the January 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report. 

     A recession-delayed resort community in Los Cabos, Mexico is about halfway finished with construction of its Jack Nicklaus golf course. The 7,200-yard track, which will likely open sometime next year, is one of two “signature” layouts in the master plan for Quivira Los Cabos, an oceanfront community that’s finally taking shape along the picturesque cliffs at the bottom of Baja Peninsula. The 1,850-acre spread, originally known as Cabo Pacifica, has been kicking around since the mid 2000s (if not before), when Ernesto Coppel, its developer, claimed to be “ready to build the best golf courses in North America.” Nicklaus has called the site “a great piece of property,” as have most others who’ve seen it, including the Hollywood producers who filmed parts of Troy there. The rest of Quivira Los Cabos will include a parade of single-family houses, some hotels, time-share and fractional condos, a village center, a “holistic retreat and spa,” two beach clubhouses, several sports parks, a protected wildlife area, and more than 20 miles of hiking trails. The community is even supposed to provide a helicopter for the use of its residents.  
     Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the November 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.