Phil Mickelson has successfully lobbied to put his name on a high-profile golf club in Alberta, Canada. Mickelson National Golf Club of Canada will be the featured attraction of Harmony, a plus-size community in suburban Calgary. Barry Ehlert of Windmill Golf Group, the club’s developer, told the Calgary Sun that he expects the course “to stand alone as one of the premier, best golf courses in the country.” Formerly known as Legacy Club and Copithorne Club, Mickelson National has been in the works for seven years. The design contract originally belonged to Billy Casper and Stephen Ames, who were supplanted after Mickelson approached Windmill and expressed an interest in the venture. Windmill hasn’t revealed why it cut ties with its original design team.
A Chinese entity has purchased a pair of Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses in suburban San Jose, California. The LLC, linked to Beijing-based Sumavision Technologies Company, Ltd., reportedly paid $16 million for Coyote Creek Golf Club, which opened its Tournament course in 1999 and its Valley course three years later. Silicon Valley Business reports that Sumavision bought Coyote Creek from Shatto Corporation, which bought it from Castle & Cooke in 2008. Sumavision is led by Haitao Zheng, who recently complained of having “too much money in pocket.”
Because he closed and essentially abandoned his golf course in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, Wilson Gee may have to cough up $1.6 million. Gee closed his Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course last year, and shortly thereafter he agreed to sell it to Pulte Homes. Now, thanks to a little-known, never-before-used Maricopa County statute, he may need to repay 10 years’ worth of tax benefits (plus interest and a penalty) that his property received. The local tax assessor plans to send the bill to Gee in the fall of 2015. To be sure, there’s no guarantee that the county can make its case stick, and if you listen closely, you can already hear lawyers ringing up billable hours.
Troon Golf always brags about the premier venues in its portfolio, but the company also manages more pedestrian properties. Just recently, for example, it signed a contract to manage eight of the nine Ault Clark-designed golf courses at Hot Springs Village, a retirement community in Arkansas. In a press release, Hot Springs Village said it chose Troon Golf because it aims to become both “a leading tourism destination and a great place to live, work, and play.”
Traditionalists may scoff, but golf properties from coast to coast are beginning to test off-beat golf concepts. A case in point: Over the next two months, nine golf properties affiliated with Omni Hotels & Resorts will stage tournaments and other events using 15-inch cups. “We believe the program helps create engagement to the game by a resort guest or member that might not otherwise choose to play golf, while offering something a little different for the golf purists,” said an Omni spokesperson. The properties participating in the exercise include the Interlocken Hotel in Colorado, the La Costa Resort & Spa in California, and the Grove Park Inn in North Carolina.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
Transactions, september 26, 2014
One of California’s most popular four-season resorts has contracted to buy a pair of its smaller competitors, one of which has a golf course. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, a 3,500-acre spread outside Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, has reportedly offered $38 million for the family-focused Big Bear Mountain and Snow Summit resorts located near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. The Big Bear Mountain property includes a nine-hole golf course that’s been around since 1948. Mammoth Mountain, a vacation spot majority owned by Starwood Capital Corporation, has a course of its own -- the state’s highest layout, in fact -- to lure summertime visitors. The resort’s Sierra Star Golf Course, an 18-hole, Cal Olson-designed track, opened in 1999.
An investment group based in Denver, Colorado has acquired a Dick Nugent-designed golf course and other property on Hawaii’s Big Island. Resource Land Holdings reportedly purchased 900 acres, a tract that includes Makalei Golf Club, from Gramercy Capital Corporation, which had foreclosed on the property in 2008. The sales price wasn’t been announced, but Gramercy put Makalei on the market last year for $14 million. The club, which opened in 1992, describes itself as “breathtakingly beautiful,” with “one of the most unique golf courses in the world.” It was created by a Japanese firm owned by the brother of Tommy Nakajima, a well-known Japanese professional golfer, and over the years it’s had several owners. It’s been operated in recent years by Touchstone Golf, which RLH plans to retain.
A nearly 90-year-old private club in Chicagoland has been spared from the threat of development. Itasca Country Club, a facility established in 1925, has been sold to a group of local investors who’ve pledged to maintain its history and traditions. “We see this acquisition as a new beginning for the club,” one of the new owners said. “We plan to innovate and make Itasca Country Club a destination for exceptional golf, dining, community gatherings, and events.” The club, formerly owned by its members, features a James Foulis-designed golf course.
After seeing play erode for more than a decade, a golf complex in Memphis, Tennessee is seeking to grow by acquisition. Windyke Country Club, a 54-hole facility within city limits, has acquired Plantation Golf Course, an 18-hole venue in nearby Olive Branch, Mississippi. “If we’re going to stay in this industry long term,” one of the new owners told the Memphis Business Journal, “we need to expand our operations.” According to the Journal, the number of rounds played at Windyke has fallen by roughly one-third since the turn of the century. By buying Plantation, the club believes it can generate new revenues without significantly adding to its expenses.
Harder Hall Golf Club, built in the early 1950s as an amenity for a grand, resort-style hotel in Sebring, Florida, has a new owner. It’s become part of a small golf portfolio that belongs to Jason Laman, who paid an undisclosed price for Harder Hall and its 18-hole, Dick Wilson-designed golf course. “I think it’s going to work out to where we can run it at a low cost,” he told Highlands Today. Laman owns another course in Sebring, Golf Hammock Golf & Country Club, as well as Bluffs Golf Course in nearby Zolfo Springs. The Harder Hall hotel, once a destination for snowbirds from northern climes, has been abandoned since the 1980s.
In Lumberton, North Carolina, the golf pro at Cliffwood Golf Course thinks it’s a good time to become a golf-course owner. Mike Hendren and his father, who’ve been managing golf properties for more than two decades, have purchased Cliffwood, which features an 18-hole, 23-year-old golf course. “It a great little course,” Hendren told the Fayetteville Observer. “It’s been overlooked for years.” The 18-hole track was designed by Clifford Bullard, whose heirs were the sellers. The Hendrens have given Cliffwood a new name: Carolina Plantation Golf Club.
Draper Valley Golf Club, a 22-year-old venue outside Roanoke, Virginia, has been purchased by a group that includes two of its former employees. One of the former employees told the Southwest Times that the club was available because some of its owners had passed away and the survivors “felt they needed to get out of the golf business and take it easy.” The club, which was established in 1992, says its golf course was “designed by Mother Nature.” Other sources say it was Harold Louden.
According to a press release lacking important details, an unnamed entity has acquired a private club in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. The property in question is Columbia Hills Country Club, which appears to share an address with Columbia Hills Golf & Swim Club. The golf and swim club opened in the late 1920s and features a course designed by Harold Paddock. The press release doesn’t disclose the price paid for the property, but the club was on the market for $1.85 million. The new owner apparently wishes to keep both the club and his identity private.
An investment group based in Denver, Colorado has acquired a Dick Nugent-designed golf course and other property on Hawaii’s Big Island. Resource Land Holdings reportedly purchased 900 acres, a tract that includes Makalei Golf Club, from Gramercy Capital Corporation, which had foreclosed on the property in 2008. The sales price wasn’t been announced, but Gramercy put Makalei on the market last year for $14 million. The club, which opened in 1992, describes itself as “breathtakingly beautiful,” with “one of the most unique golf courses in the world.” It was created by a Japanese firm owned by the brother of Tommy Nakajima, a well-known Japanese professional golfer, and over the years it’s had several owners. It’s been operated in recent years by Touchstone Golf, which RLH plans to retain.
A nearly 90-year-old private club in Chicagoland has been spared from the threat of development. Itasca Country Club, a facility established in 1925, has been sold to a group of local investors who’ve pledged to maintain its history and traditions. “We see this acquisition as a new beginning for the club,” one of the new owners said. “We plan to innovate and make Itasca Country Club a destination for exceptional golf, dining, community gatherings, and events.” The club, formerly owned by its members, features a James Foulis-designed golf course.
After seeing play erode for more than a decade, a golf complex in Memphis, Tennessee is seeking to grow by acquisition. Windyke Country Club, a 54-hole facility within city limits, has acquired Plantation Golf Course, an 18-hole venue in nearby Olive Branch, Mississippi. “If we’re going to stay in this industry long term,” one of the new owners told the Memphis Business Journal, “we need to expand our operations.” According to the Journal, the number of rounds played at Windyke has fallen by roughly one-third since the turn of the century. By buying Plantation, the club believes it can generate new revenues without significantly adding to its expenses.
Harder Hall Golf Club, built in the early 1950s as an amenity for a grand, resort-style hotel in Sebring, Florida, has a new owner. It’s become part of a small golf portfolio that belongs to Jason Laman, who paid an undisclosed price for Harder Hall and its 18-hole, Dick Wilson-designed golf course. “I think it’s going to work out to where we can run it at a low cost,” he told Highlands Today. Laman owns another course in Sebring, Golf Hammock Golf & Country Club, as well as Bluffs Golf Course in nearby Zolfo Springs. The Harder Hall hotel, once a destination for snowbirds from northern climes, has been abandoned since the 1980s.
In Lumberton, North Carolina, the golf pro at Cliffwood Golf Course thinks it’s a good time to become a golf-course owner. Mike Hendren and his father, who’ve been managing golf properties for more than two decades, have purchased Cliffwood, which features an 18-hole, 23-year-old golf course. “It a great little course,” Hendren told the Fayetteville Observer. “It’s been overlooked for years.” The 18-hole track was designed by Clifford Bullard, whose heirs were the sellers. The Hendrens have given Cliffwood a new name: Carolina Plantation Golf Club.
Draper Valley Golf Club, a 22-year-old venue outside Roanoke, Virginia, has been purchased by a group that includes two of its former employees. One of the former employees told the Southwest Times that the club was available because some of its owners had passed away and the survivors “felt they needed to get out of the golf business and take it easy.” The club, which was established in 1992, says its golf course was “designed by Mother Nature.” Other sources say it was Harold Louden.
According to a press release lacking important details, an unnamed entity has acquired a private club in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. The property in question is Columbia Hills Country Club, which appears to share an address with Columbia Hills Golf & Swim Club. The golf and swim club opened in the late 1920s and features a course designed by Harold Paddock. The press release doesn’t disclose the price paid for the property, but the club was on the market for $1.85 million. The new owner apparently wishes to keep both the club and his identity private.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
The Week That Was, september 21, 2014
Just months after announcing that his first course in the Middle East would be his last, Donald Trump has accepted an offer he apparently couldn’t refuse. Trump has been hired to oversee the construction of Damac Properties’ forthcoming golf club at the ultra-posh Akoya Oxygen community in Dubai. Trump World Golf Club Dubai, already under construction in Dubailand, will feature an 18-hole, tournament-worthy golf course that’s been designed by an as-yet unidentified “world-renowned golf professional.” The course is scheduled to debut sometime in 2017. Akoya Oxygen is said to be just a short drive from Damac’s Akoya community, where Trump is building a Gil Hanse-designed golf course that’s expected to open next summer. In June, Trump indicated that he had no Middle Eastern golf ambitions beyond Hanse’s course. “I only do something if I can top it,” he explained, “and I’m not going to be able to top this golf course in the Middle East.” Maybe he’s changed his mind.
On the same day that the people of Scotland voted to maintain a status quo, the members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club voted overwhelmingly to break with 260 years’ worth of discriminatory tradition. Bowing to pressure from one of the golf industry’s corporate benefactors, the all-male club has, as expected, chosen to end its gender bias and open its doors to women. “This is a very important and positive day in the history of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club,” said Peter Dawson, the club’s secretary, in a comment published by the New York Times. “I think it is a very positive message for the game of golf.” Nobody with a stake in our industry would disagree. The club’s vote is largely symbolic, of course, but symbols carry great weight in modern, fast-paced societies. These days they’re especially important to golf, which desperately needs to overcome the widespread perception that the sport is reserved pretty much exclusively for rich white men. As the National Football League will soon discover, embracing the wrong social message can have damaging economic consequences. The Royal & Ancient’s vote is a proud achievement for golf, a true watershed moment. Let’s hope there are more like it in the future.
As a result of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club’s decision, the clock has begun to tick on the other all-male clubs in the rotation for the Open Championship: Muirfield, Royal St. George’s, and Royal Troon. In the coming months, the members of these clubs will be forced to measure the glory of the past against the promise of the future. The members will decide what matters most to them, for they’ll choose between maintaining their traditions and hosting golf’s most historic, most prestigious professional tournament. It’s important to note that these three clubs have a right to exist and to set their own membership policies, exclusionary or not. But a club’s values are an expression of its character, and hosting the Open is a privilege that can no longer go to venues whose retrograde policies ultimately marginalize our industry. There’s way too much money at stake.
The world’s financially besieged course owners and operators can sleep better tonight, because Jon McCarthy of the Toronto Sun has declared that “the game of golf will be fine.” So stop worrying, eh? McCarthy didn’t predict exactly when our industry would get closer to fine, but he’s absolutely sure it’ll eventually happen because it has a “secret weapon,” namely “the people it attracts.” And when McCarthy says “people,” he isn’t talking about the regular Joes who line up for tee times at your local muni. He’s talking about the “captains of industry and world leaders” who join private clubs, where they mingle with other “doers, not watchers.” It pains me to say it, but he’s talking about “people who prefer to look for answers, not handouts.” Rarely do so few words offend so many. If anyone is looking for evidence of why golf seems exclusionary and unwelcoming to so many people, McCarthy’s essay is it.
“Not enough members” was the hashtag John Daly used to announce some sad news: “Have to shut doors and sell my golf course.” He was referring to Lion’s Den Golf Club, the venue where he learned to play golf. Daly bought the 18-hole course, in suburban Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2005. He expects to turn off the lights on Wednesday.
On the same day that the people of Scotland voted to maintain a status quo, the members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club voted overwhelmingly to break with 260 years’ worth of discriminatory tradition. Bowing to pressure from one of the golf industry’s corporate benefactors, the all-male club has, as expected, chosen to end its gender bias and open its doors to women. “This is a very important and positive day in the history of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club,” said Peter Dawson, the club’s secretary, in a comment published by the New York Times. “I think it is a very positive message for the game of golf.” Nobody with a stake in our industry would disagree. The club’s vote is largely symbolic, of course, but symbols carry great weight in modern, fast-paced societies. These days they’re especially important to golf, which desperately needs to overcome the widespread perception that the sport is reserved pretty much exclusively for rich white men. As the National Football League will soon discover, embracing the wrong social message can have damaging economic consequences. The Royal & Ancient’s vote is a proud achievement for golf, a true watershed moment. Let’s hope there are more like it in the future.
As a result of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club’s decision, the clock has begun to tick on the other all-male clubs in the rotation for the Open Championship: Muirfield, Royal St. George’s, and Royal Troon. In the coming months, the members of these clubs will be forced to measure the glory of the past against the promise of the future. The members will decide what matters most to them, for they’ll choose between maintaining their traditions and hosting golf’s most historic, most prestigious professional tournament. It’s important to note that these three clubs have a right to exist and to set their own membership policies, exclusionary or not. But a club’s values are an expression of its character, and hosting the Open is a privilege that can no longer go to venues whose retrograde policies ultimately marginalize our industry. There’s way too much money at stake.
The world’s financially besieged course owners and operators can sleep better tonight, because Jon McCarthy of the Toronto Sun has declared that “the game of golf will be fine.” So stop worrying, eh? McCarthy didn’t predict exactly when our industry would get closer to fine, but he’s absolutely sure it’ll eventually happen because it has a “secret weapon,” namely “the people it attracts.” And when McCarthy says “people,” he isn’t talking about the regular Joes who line up for tee times at your local muni. He’s talking about the “captains of industry and world leaders” who join private clubs, where they mingle with other “doers, not watchers.” It pains me to say it, but he’s talking about “people who prefer to look for answers, not handouts.” Rarely do so few words offend so many. If anyone is looking for evidence of why golf seems exclusionary and unwelcoming to so many people, McCarthy’s essay is it.
“Not enough members” was the hashtag John Daly used to announce some sad news: “Have to shut doors and sell my golf course.” He was referring to Lion’s Den Golf Club, the venue where he learned to play golf. Daly bought the 18-hole course, in suburban Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2005. He expects to turn off the lights on Wednesday.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Vital Signs, september 19, 2014
For many of the Powers That Be in golf, residential development is the lover they simply can’t live without. A case in point: Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, who likes to see golf courses -- in particular, the tour’s Tournament Players Club courses -- snuggle up with McMansions. In his recent “state of the tour” address, Finchem suggested that the golf business would be better off if it could once again cozy up with the likes of Toll Brothers and Lennar. “It would be great to have the housing industry back and vibrant, creating new neighborhoods and new communities that choose golf, as they did for decades,” Finchem declared, apparently forgetting that the marriage of convenience between golf and housing is ultimately a fatal attraction. What residential developers produce, typically, are courses that are too long, too expensive, ridiculously routed, and no fun to play. Is that the bed Finchem wants golf to sleep in? Jeez, with an attitude like that, you’d think he sits on the board of KB Homes or something.
Jack Nicklaus’ design firm may not employ as many associates as it once did, but the price of a Nicklaus “signature” layout remains the industry’s gold standard. Nicklaus’ design fee “can be upward of $2 million,” says Sports Illustrated, an amount that proves good times have indeed returned to the top of the golf market. The magazine also reports that Nicklaus’ apparel business, a joint venture with Perry Ellis, generates more than $250 million in annual sales, and that Nicklaus’ wines, which are produced with Terlato Wines International, have sold roughly 10,000 cases annually since 2010. When one considers the revenues that the Nicklaus empire generates from licensing fees, it’s easy to understand why Forbes estimates Nicklaus’ personal net worth to be more than $250 million.
If you’re like most people in the golf business, you’ve grown weary of watching the parade of mostly ineffective grow-the-game strategies that have marched down your street in recent years. Another one is headed your way, however, and it comes with a twist: It doesn’t intend to associate itself with or rely on assistance from any of golf’s institutional powers. “We can leave our dependency on growing the game to the governing bodies, or we can get involved and personally make a difference,” says Mike Orloff, the Australian who created Grow the Game Central. Orloff’s idea is to effect change from the bottom up by encouraging golfers, golf facilities, and golf-related businesses to participate actively in promoting the sport and supporting its growth. Grow the Game Central is most likely doomed to failure, of course, but it’s about time that the grass roots took matters into its own hands. After all, it’s become abundantly clear that the handsomely paid people at places like the United States Golf Association, the World Golf Foundation, and the National Golf Foundation don’t know how to fix what ails us.
Jack Nicklaus’ design firm may not employ as many associates as it once did, but the price of a Nicklaus “signature” layout remains the industry’s gold standard. Nicklaus’ design fee “can be upward of $2 million,” says Sports Illustrated, an amount that proves good times have indeed returned to the top of the golf market. The magazine also reports that Nicklaus’ apparel business, a joint venture with Perry Ellis, generates more than $250 million in annual sales, and that Nicklaus’ wines, which are produced with Terlato Wines International, have sold roughly 10,000 cases annually since 2010. When one considers the revenues that the Nicklaus empire generates from licensing fees, it’s easy to understand why Forbes estimates Nicklaus’ personal net worth to be more than $250 million.
If you’re like most people in the golf business, you’ve grown weary of watching the parade of mostly ineffective grow-the-game strategies that have marched down your street in recent years. Another one is headed your way, however, and it comes with a twist: It doesn’t intend to associate itself with or rely on assistance from any of golf’s institutional powers. “We can leave our dependency on growing the game to the governing bodies, or we can get involved and personally make a difference,” says Mike Orloff, the Australian who created Grow the Game Central. Orloff’s idea is to effect change from the bottom up by encouraging golfers, golf facilities, and golf-related businesses to participate actively in promoting the sport and supporting its growth. Grow the Game Central is most likely doomed to failure, of course, but it’s about time that the grass roots took matters into its own hands. After all, it’s become abundantly clear that the handsomely paid people at places like the United States Golf Association, the World Golf Foundation, and the National Golf Foundation don’t know how to fix what ails us.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
The Week That Was, september 14, 2014
The Trump-branded golf resort in Puerto Rico continues to have what it describes as “financial difficulties,” and a bankruptcy proceeding may be on the horizon. Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico failed to make a payment of nearly $120,000 to its bond holders last month, technically putting it in default, but it’s been having trouble paying its construction loan since 2012, if not before. The golf venue, originally known as Coco Beach Golf & Country Club, features a 36-hole, Tom Kite-designed golf complex, and it’s an important marketing cog for Puerto Rico’s tourism industry. The Trump Organization lists the resort community on its website, as if it were the property owner, when in fact it only licenses the Trump name to the property. Trump isn’t liable for any of the resort’s debt, but it won’t look good if one of the best names in the golf business winds up in bankruptcy court.
It appears that Joe Ogilvie underestimated his chances of winning support for a tournament-worthy golf course in Austin, Texas. The proposed layout, Decker Lake Golf Course, has passed its first hurdle, and the city council could vote on it as early as next month. Ogilvie, a former professional golfer who lives in Austin, is leading a partnership that wants to build an 18-hole, Coore & Crenshaw-designed golf course -- along with a second 18 in the future -- on 735 acres of city-owned property in Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park. Ogilvie recently gave Decker Lake just “a 10 to 15 percent chance of happening,” but if the council gives him the green light in October, construction would probably begin in 2016.
As reported months ago by Golf Business News, Chanchai Ruayrungruang, one of the world’s richest people, has become the new owner of Wentworth Club, one of England’s premier golf venues. The Thai-Chinese entrepreneur’s Reignwood International reportedly paid Richard Caring £135 million (about $219.6 million) for Wentworth, which features two Harry Colt-designed courses (plus a third 18-hole track and a nine-hole layout) and serves as the headquarters of the PGA European Tour. The 90-year-old club has hosted a pair of Ryder Cup championships and a slew of the tour’s European PGA championships. Caring, who reportedly paid £130 million ($211.4 million) for the club in 2004, told the Guardian that he’s received many offers for the property over the years but was looking for “an owner with integrity,” “an understanding of the special place [Wentworth] holds in so many people’s hearts,” and the willingness to improve “what is already a masterpiece.” Ruayrungruang made part of his vast fortune -- he’s worth $2 billion, according to Forbes -- by selling Red Bull, and he recently bought a stake in Vita Coco, the coconut-water company. GBN identified Ruayrungruang as the prospective buyer of Wentworth in March, before Great Britain’s far larger news organizations did.
The purchase of Wentworth Club was only one of two golf transactions that occupied Chanchai Ruayrungruang’s time this week. A Ruayrungruang-controlled investment group has acquired Morgan Stanley’s interest in 1,103 acres at the Princeville Resort in Hawaii, reportedly for $343 million. The property features a Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course that’s considered to be among the state’s best. Princeville, a 9,000-acre spread on the North Shore of Kauai, was purchased by Jeff Stone and Morgan Stanley in 2005. Ruayrungruang now owns golf properties on three continents. His tony Pine Valley Golf Club, in metropolitan Beijing, China, features a trio of 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” courses, and it offers its privileged members a polo club, private jet service, and what it calls “the perfect luxury lifestyle.”
National Golf Management, a company that operates in just two states, has added a 24th property to its slow-growing portfolio: TPC Myrtle Beach, a 15-year-old facility in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. The property, which features an 18-hole, Tom Fazio-designed course, is owned by a pair of local businessmen. NGM is the largest owner/manager of golf properties on the Grand Strand, but its national ambitions haven’t yet gotten off the drawing board. According to the Myrtle Beach Sun-News, TPC Myrtle Beach is the first property that NGM has added to its collection since it was established in 2012.
The only Arnold Palmer-designed golf course in Oregon has a new owner. CLV Properties, a firm based in Rancho Santa Fe, California, has reportedly paid just over $3 million for Running Y Ranch, a 3,600-acre spread in Klamath Falls. CLV is controlled by William Lynch, an Iowa native who says that Oregon is “beautiful country” that “kind of reminds me of Iowa.” Palmer’s 18-hole course opened in 1997. It was developed by Jeld-Wen, a window-manufacturing company that took a flyer into golf development. In 2010, Jeld-Wen sold Running Y and two other golf resorts to a partnership led by Northview Hotel Group. At the time, a partner in Northview said that he was looking forward to operating the properties “for generations to come.”
It appears that Joe Ogilvie underestimated his chances of winning support for a tournament-worthy golf course in Austin, Texas. The proposed layout, Decker Lake Golf Course, has passed its first hurdle, and the city council could vote on it as early as next month. Ogilvie, a former professional golfer who lives in Austin, is leading a partnership that wants to build an 18-hole, Coore & Crenshaw-designed golf course -- along with a second 18 in the future -- on 735 acres of city-owned property in Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park. Ogilvie recently gave Decker Lake just “a 10 to 15 percent chance of happening,” but if the council gives him the green light in October, construction would probably begin in 2016.
As reported months ago by Golf Business News, Chanchai Ruayrungruang, one of the world’s richest people, has become the new owner of Wentworth Club, one of England’s premier golf venues. The Thai-Chinese entrepreneur’s Reignwood International reportedly paid Richard Caring £135 million (about $219.6 million) for Wentworth, which features two Harry Colt-designed courses (plus a third 18-hole track and a nine-hole layout) and serves as the headquarters of the PGA European Tour. The 90-year-old club has hosted a pair of Ryder Cup championships and a slew of the tour’s European PGA championships. Caring, who reportedly paid £130 million ($211.4 million) for the club in 2004, told the Guardian that he’s received many offers for the property over the years but was looking for “an owner with integrity,” “an understanding of the special place [Wentworth] holds in so many people’s hearts,” and the willingness to improve “what is already a masterpiece.” Ruayrungruang made part of his vast fortune -- he’s worth $2 billion, according to Forbes -- by selling Red Bull, and he recently bought a stake in Vita Coco, the coconut-water company. GBN identified Ruayrungruang as the prospective buyer of Wentworth in March, before Great Britain’s far larger news organizations did.
The purchase of Wentworth Club was only one of two golf transactions that occupied Chanchai Ruayrungruang’s time this week. A Ruayrungruang-controlled investment group has acquired Morgan Stanley’s interest in 1,103 acres at the Princeville Resort in Hawaii, reportedly for $343 million. The property features a Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course that’s considered to be among the state’s best. Princeville, a 9,000-acre spread on the North Shore of Kauai, was purchased by Jeff Stone and Morgan Stanley in 2005. Ruayrungruang now owns golf properties on three continents. His tony Pine Valley Golf Club, in metropolitan Beijing, China, features a trio of 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus “signature” courses, and it offers its privileged members a polo club, private jet service, and what it calls “the perfect luxury lifestyle.”
National Golf Management, a company that operates in just two states, has added a 24th property to its slow-growing portfolio: TPC Myrtle Beach, a 15-year-old facility in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. The property, which features an 18-hole, Tom Fazio-designed course, is owned by a pair of local businessmen. NGM is the largest owner/manager of golf properties on the Grand Strand, but its national ambitions haven’t yet gotten off the drawing board. According to the Myrtle Beach Sun-News, TPC Myrtle Beach is the first property that NGM has added to its collection since it was established in 2012.
The only Arnold Palmer-designed golf course in Oregon has a new owner. CLV Properties, a firm based in Rancho Santa Fe, California, has reportedly paid just over $3 million for Running Y Ranch, a 3,600-acre spread in Klamath Falls. CLV is controlled by William Lynch, an Iowa native who says that Oregon is “beautiful country” that “kind of reminds me of Iowa.” Palmer’s 18-hole course opened in 1997. It was developed by Jeld-Wen, a window-manufacturing company that took a flyer into golf development. In 2010, Jeld-Wen sold Running Y and two other golf resorts to a partnership led by Northview Hotel Group. At the time, a partner in Northview said that he was looking forward to operating the properties “for generations to come.”
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