When President Obama decided to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba, you can bet that he caught the attention of our nation’s golf-course developers, architects, and builders. For more than 50 years, Cuba has tantalized the entire U.S. golf industry, for it teems with first-rate opportunities for golf development. The question was never whether the sport might take hold in the island nation, but rather how many courses the world’s vacationers and itinerant golfers might comfortably support. Sometimes the possibilities seemed almost endless. And yet, as development groups from Canada, Great Britain, Spain, and other nations have discovered, Cuba has never delivered on its promise. Not a single course has been built there for close to 20 years, thanks largely to the island nation’s misbegotten distrust of anything that smacks of capitalism. The stumbling block to golf development in Cuba has never been an American president, a reluctant Congress, or memories of the missile crisis. All along, the problem has been Cuba’s dysfunctional government. Until it loosens the shackles of socialism, Cuba will remain what it is today: So close and yet so far away.
All of this week’s talk about Cuba reminded me of a recent conversation I had with Mike Keiser. More than a decade ago, while serving as a consultant to a Canadian group, the famed developer of naturalist golf resorts such as Bandon Dunes in Oregon, Cabot Links in Nova Scotia, and Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania sized up several potential sites in Cuba and returned home thinking that the island nation has the potential to be the equal of any golf destination in the Caribbean. “If it ever becomes a free-market spot,” he told me, “Cuba will be full of golf.” Keiser estimates that the island can support as many as 20 courses.
A year’s end is a time for taking stock, and the initial reports concerning the current state of U.S. golf are discouraging. As most everyone knows, 157.5 U.S. golf courses closed last year, and while the data for 2014 hasn’t yet been released, it’s safe to assume our nation will post a ninth consecutive year in which closings exceed openings. So although readers of this blog certainly don’t need it, here’s a lump of coal for your Christmas stocking: The Economist reports that Steve Skinner of Kemper Sports, a man who undoubtedly has his finger on the pulse of U.S. golf operations, thinks it’s going to take “another 10 years to level the imbalance between supply and demand.” While you contemplate the implications of Skinner’s statement, remember this: ’Tis the season to be jolly.
You think the news from the United States is bad? The Australian Financial Review thinks that Australia’s golf industry “may be facing an existential crisis” and “may be running out of time” to fix itself. Using data provided by Golf Australia, AFR has compiled a list of what it describes as “damning figures” to support its claims, a list too long to catalog in a single post. But here’s the worst of it: While golf participation rates among people who are 65 and older are holding steady, since 2000 the nation’s overall golf participation rate has dropped by 11 percent. The drain is flowing greatest among people aged between 15 and 24, a bracket whose participation rates since 2000 have fallen from 6 percent to 2 percent. Justifiably, AFR calls this problem “a looming demographic crunch” and predicts that “this missing junior generation will eventually become a missing middle-aged generation.”
Continuing in this vein may ruin some holidays, but I can’t resist: The people who oversee amateur golf in England fear that the nation’s golf clubs are, economically speaking, in “a precarious position,” in part because they’re doing a lousy job of attracting women. A recent survey of 709 English golf clubs, conducted by Sports Marketing Surveys for England Golf, has determined that the average club nowadays has 499 members, the overwhelming majority (77 percent) of them white men. Women, a group that’s often said to be a potentially prime market for golf, account for only about 15 percent of the clubs’ membership. What’s worse, the ratio of men to women at the nation’s clubs “has remained almost identical since England Golf first started researching it in 2002,” according to Golf Club Management. Translation: No progress for 12 years. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Citing “substantial operating losses and cash-flow deficits,” the entity that owns one of the biggest and best-known four-season resorts in the Midwest has filed for bankruptcy protection. Treetops Resort & Spa, a 4,000-acre spread in Gaylord, Michigan, features a ski area, a hotel with a conference center, four 18-hole golf courses (among them tracks by Robert Trent Jones and Tom Fazio), and a nine-hole, par-3 layout. Treetops Acquisition Company LLC, which bought the property in 2002, has boosted the revenues generated by the resort’s hotel and golf operations in recent years but sought financial relief because it’s being suffocated by $7 million in long-term debt. The resort’s general manager told the Gaylord Herald Times that the filing “sets us up for the future” and that “everything is going to be fine.” He believes Treetops can exit Chapter 11 early next year.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014
The Pipeline, december 19, 2014
Australia. The Tasmanian island that’s seemingly made to order for world-class golf has attracted another developer. His name is David Bowling, and he’s a real estate agent whose ancestors were among the original settlers of King Island, more than 100 years ago. Like virtually all of the golf architects and builders who’ve made their way to the small, remote outcropping off Australia’s southeastern coast, Bowling believes it’s only a matter of time before King Island’s sandy, wind-swept terrain gives rise to a collection of destination-worthy links, in large part because quality sites are still relatively cheap. Today, the island has just one course, a nine-hole track in the town of Currie. Next year, however, a pair of layouts hoping to crack the world’s top 100 are expected to open: the Mike DeVries/Darius Oliver co-design at Cape Wickham Golf Course, on the northern coast, and Ocean Dunes Golf Course, on the western coast. Bowling hasn’t been particularly forthcoming about his plans, but he told an Australian news service that his course would take shape on a coastal site where his ancestors once grazed cattle.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
United States. It appears that Greg Norman’s completed but never opened golf course in California, the one done in by the Great Recession, will get a new lease on life. The 18-hole track is the centerpiece of McAllister Ranch, a 2,070-acre community in Bakersfield that went belly up in 2008, when Lehman Brothers, the parent company of its lender, imploded. “The idea was a good one,” a real estate appraiser told a local television station. “It was just formulated at the wrong period of time, in the middle of a housing bubble.” SunCal, which has agreed to buy the property, plans to develop just 600 acres, with more affordable houses. And it reportedly intends to revive the golf course, which is said to be “nothing but weeds.”
United States. Speaking of golf courses that have been comatose since 2008, a partially completed 18-hole track outside Wilmington, North Carolina is once again under construction and scheduled to open in the fall of next year. The course, co-designed by Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier, is the featured attraction Compass Pointe, a community that was initiated in 2005. According to Golf Course Architecture, Compass Pointe has been resurrected as a result of “a recent boom in lot sales and new home construction.” Thank goodness for small favors.
India. What’s a capital city without a golf course? That’s one of the questions being asked in Vijayawada, the future capital city of Andhra Pradesh, India. Vijayawada is the state’s cleanest city, one of the nation’s most livable cities, and, according to McKinsey & Company, a “global city of the future.” It’s also Andhra Pradesh’s second-largest city (metropolitan population: 1.5 million), and, because it’s been pegged to officially become the capital sometime within the next 10 years, it’s already begun to attract white-collar professionals with a taste for the luxe life. But Vijayawada has no golf courses, and some prominent local businessmen fear that this unfortunate recreational void will hinder its potential. “With the city expected to attract foreigners and tourists in the days to come, the need to have a golf club is must,” an official of the Krishna District Olympic Association told the Hindu, and the vice president of the Andhra Cricket Association is hoping to identify a site where “a full-fledged 18-hole course with all facilities” might be established. One problem: The price of land in and around Vijayawada is said to be skyrocketing, and a quality site may be hard to find.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Tunisia. After five years’ worth of delays, Gulf Finance House figures to break ground on its “financial gateway” in Tunisia sometime next year. The Bahrain-based, publicly traded investment bank had hoped to get started on Tunis Financial Harbour in 2009, but its plans were stymied first by the world-wide economic crash and then by the civil insurrection that booted Tunisia’s president from office. The community, which is to take shape on 1,300 acres in a northern suburb of Tunis, is expected to become the “financial hub of North Africa.” It’ll feature office space for banking and insurance companies as well as houses for the corporate executives who’ll work in them, along with schools, shopping areas, a marina, a beach club, and an 18-hole, championship-length golf course. GFH has hired a French company, Alliance International Holding, to build the golf course.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the August 2009, February 2012, and April 2014 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Vietnam. As part of a renewed effort to jump-start its tourism business, one of Vietnam’s coastal provinces has reissued a license for an oceanfront golf resort. NewCity Vietnam will take shape on 1,070 acres near Bãi Xép, a beach town in the Tuy An district of Phú Yên Province. The resort, which has shrunk in size by about one-third since it was originally unveiled, will include holiday villas, hotels, meeting space, office space, a water park, and a 36-hole golf complex. The People’s Committee of Phú Yên Province has granted the development permission to the Vietnamese affiliate of Brunei-based New City Properties Development Company, Ltd. According to the Vietnam Investment Review, New City had originally claimed the license in 2008 but failed to make progress due to the “slow pace of site clearance.” Over the years, Phú Yên has mostly attracted tourists with what’s been described as “a wealth of wild, sandy beaches.” Today, the people’s committee is investing in transportation improvements and actively seeking developers willing to fund large-scale tourist attractions.
Saudi Arabia. The golf resurgence taking place in the Middle East has spread to an emerging mega-city in Saudi Arabia. The 18-hole golf course at King Abdullah Economic City, designed by Dave Sampson of European Golf Design, is finally under construction, after cooling on the back burner for several years. KAEC is taking shape on a 67-square-mile expanse of desert -- a tract roughly the size of Washington, DC -- just south of Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast. The Saudi government, which has a stake in the venture, intends for it to become “one of the most important cities” in the world. Sampson’s course will anchor Al-Murooj, the mega-city’s “most exclusive” and “most prestigious” community, and its developers say it’ll offer “new and unique opportunities for both amateur and accomplished golfers, all in an atmosphere of fun and relaxation.” The track, the first of two courses in KAEC, is expected to debut in late 2015 or early 2016.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
United States. It appears that Greg Norman’s completed but never opened golf course in California, the one done in by the Great Recession, will get a new lease on life. The 18-hole track is the centerpiece of McAllister Ranch, a 2,070-acre community in Bakersfield that went belly up in 2008, when Lehman Brothers, the parent company of its lender, imploded. “The idea was a good one,” a real estate appraiser told a local television station. “It was just formulated at the wrong period of time, in the middle of a housing bubble.” SunCal, which has agreed to buy the property, plans to develop just 600 acres, with more affordable houses. And it reportedly intends to revive the golf course, which is said to be “nothing but weeds.”
United States. Speaking of golf courses that have been comatose since 2008, a partially completed 18-hole track outside Wilmington, North Carolina is once again under construction and scheduled to open in the fall of next year. The course, co-designed by Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier, is the featured attraction Compass Pointe, a community that was initiated in 2005. According to Golf Course Architecture, Compass Pointe has been resurrected as a result of “a recent boom in lot sales and new home construction.” Thank goodness for small favors.
India. What’s a capital city without a golf course? That’s one of the questions being asked in Vijayawada, the future capital city of Andhra Pradesh, India. Vijayawada is the state’s cleanest city, one of the nation’s most livable cities, and, according to McKinsey & Company, a “global city of the future.” It’s also Andhra Pradesh’s second-largest city (metropolitan population: 1.5 million), and, because it’s been pegged to officially become the capital sometime within the next 10 years, it’s already begun to attract white-collar professionals with a taste for the luxe life. But Vijayawada has no golf courses, and some prominent local businessmen fear that this unfortunate recreational void will hinder its potential. “With the city expected to attract foreigners and tourists in the days to come, the need to have a golf club is must,” an official of the Krishna District Olympic Association told the Hindu, and the vice president of the Andhra Cricket Association is hoping to identify a site where “a full-fledged 18-hole course with all facilities” might be established. One problem: The price of land in and around Vijayawada is said to be skyrocketing, and a quality site may be hard to find.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the October 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Tunisia. After five years’ worth of delays, Gulf Finance House figures to break ground on its “financial gateway” in Tunisia sometime next year. The Bahrain-based, publicly traded investment bank had hoped to get started on Tunis Financial Harbour in 2009, but its plans were stymied first by the world-wide economic crash and then by the civil insurrection that booted Tunisia’s president from office. The community, which is to take shape on 1,300 acres in a northern suburb of Tunis, is expected to become the “financial hub of North Africa.” It’ll feature office space for banking and insurance companies as well as houses for the corporate executives who’ll work in them, along with schools, shopping areas, a marina, a beach club, and an 18-hole, championship-length golf course. GFH has hired a French company, Alliance International Holding, to build the golf course.
Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the August 2009, February 2012, and April 2014 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Vietnam. As part of a renewed effort to jump-start its tourism business, one of Vietnam’s coastal provinces has reissued a license for an oceanfront golf resort. NewCity Vietnam will take shape on 1,070 acres near Bãi Xép, a beach town in the Tuy An district of Phú Yên Province. The resort, which has shrunk in size by about one-third since it was originally unveiled, will include holiday villas, hotels, meeting space, office space, a water park, and a 36-hole golf complex. The People’s Committee of Phú Yên Province has granted the development permission to the Vietnamese affiliate of Brunei-based New City Properties Development Company, Ltd. According to the Vietnam Investment Review, New City had originally claimed the license in 2008 but failed to make progress due to the “slow pace of site clearance.” Over the years, Phú Yên has mostly attracted tourists with what’s been described as “a wealth of wild, sandy beaches.” Today, the people’s committee is investing in transportation improvements and actively seeking developers willing to fund large-scale tourist attractions.
Saudi Arabia. The golf resurgence taking place in the Middle East has spread to an emerging mega-city in Saudi Arabia. The 18-hole golf course at King Abdullah Economic City, designed by Dave Sampson of European Golf Design, is finally under construction, after cooling on the back burner for several years. KAEC is taking shape on a 67-square-mile expanse of desert -- a tract roughly the size of Washington, DC -- just south of Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast. The Saudi government, which has a stake in the venture, intends for it to become “one of the most important cities” in the world. Sampson’s course will anchor Al-Murooj, the mega-city’s “most exclusive” and “most prestigious” community, and its developers say it’ll offer “new and unique opportunities for both amateur and accomplished golfers, all in an atmosphere of fun and relaxation.” The track, the first of two courses in KAEC, is expected to debut in late 2015 or early 2016.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
The Week That Was, december 14, 2014
Tiger Woods is taking his design talents to Dubai once again, and to the same spot in Dubailand where his failed first venture as a golf course architect is currently blowing in the wind.
The serial adulterer and self-styled media critic has agreed to design the 18-hole golf course for Trump World Golf Club Dubai, the forthcoming centerpiece of the lavish Akoya Oxygen community that’s being developed by Damac Properties. According to Arabian Business, the track will be located “on the same land where the previous Tiger Woods Dubai project was planned in 2008” but will be “a totally different design.”
In a press statement, Woods promised to create “a distinct and memorable golf course that players of all abilities find enjoyable,” and he praised Dubai for, among other things, its “amazing lifestyle.” Others have described the emirate as “a hotbed of forced labor and human trafficking,” and life there is only “amazing” to those who believe that freedom of speech should be restricted, that kissing in public should be a crime, that homosexuals and people who criticize the government should be put to death, and that foreign construction workers should be treated as “slave labor.”
The course at Trump World is scheduled to open in 2017. Woods hasn’t revealed his design fee, but he’ll certainly be compensated handsomely for doing and saying all the right things.
A development group led by David Southworth, a Boston-area investor with an enviable portfolio of golf properties, has acquired Abaco Club, a 10-year-old resort community in the Bahamas that’s been described as “one of the world’s great sporting clubs.” The club’s 18-hole golf course was co-designed by Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie and is said to be “the world's first Scottish-style links in a tropical location.”
Abaco’s new ownership entity, which includes some of the club’s members and residents, bought the 534-acre property from Marriott Vacation Worldwide Corporation, a former affiliate of Marriott International. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but in late 2013 Marriott Vacation offered to sell the community to some of its s homeowners for $28 million. (The offer was rejected, because Abaco was believed to be worth only “a fraction of the offer price.”)
The new ownership group presumably includes some of the more than 30 Abaco members who, in 2013, sued Marriott Vacation and the club’s manager at the time, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, for allegedly failing to make good on a litany of promises, among them a guarantee to deliver a golf course that ranks among the world’s top 100. (According to Golf Digest, Abaco’s golf course isn’t even the number-one track in the Bahamas.)
Southworth, a former president of Paul Fireman’s Willowbend Development, now controls entities that, in addition to Abaco, own a half-dozen golf properties in the United States (among them Creighton Farms Golf Club in Northern Virginia and Renaissance Golf Club in Massachusetts), Scotland (Macrihanish Dunes Golf Club), and Puerto Rico (Costa Caribe Golf & Country Club).
One last thing: The acquisition of Abaco could conceivably doom Southworth’s plans to develop a PGA Village in the Bahamas, a venture that’s been treading water since 2008.
Alistair Hanna’s death may not spell the end of plans to build a David McLay Kidd-designed golf course on coastal property in Northern Ireland’s County Antrim. Peter FitzGerald, who controls entities that recently bought the 356 acres that Hanna wanted to turn into Bushmill Dunes Golf Club, is reportedly taking a close look at Hanna’s plans, which have been approved by local officials and have survived a legal challenge brought by Irish environmental groups. Hanna, who died in July, believed that the site was worthy of a world-class links. “Every golf course designer who’s seen it was blown away by it,” he told me in 2011. He also recalled Kidd telling him, “If I can’t get your course into the top 50 of the world, you should shoot me.” If FitzGerald decides to develop the property, he can also build a 120-room hotel with meeting space and a spa.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the October 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
One of the most scenic golf resorts in New Zealand has secured permission to add a fourth nine to its golf complex. Millbrook Resort, in suburban Queenstown, has agreed to purchase a 165-acre parcel for the addition, which will be designed by Queenstown-based Greg Turner, a former professional golfer. Turner has already worked up a preliminary routing for the forthcoming holes, and construction will be funded by the sale of houses. Eiichi Ishii, who reportedly owns Japan’s largest art supplies company, bought the Millbrook property in the late 1980s and set out to create “the best golf and lifestyle resort in the world.” Whether he succeeded is open to debate, but the resort, laid out on a former wheat farm surrounded by glorious mountain ranges, undoubtedly has its fans. “It is difficult to imagine a more idyllic setting for a golfing resort,” says ISeekGolf.com. Millbrook’s original 18, consisting of the Remarkables and Arrow nines, was co-designed by Sir Bob Charles and John Darby and opened in 1993. In 2010, Turner redesigned the original layout and added the Coronet track.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
The serial adulterer and self-styled media critic has agreed to design the 18-hole golf course for Trump World Golf Club Dubai, the forthcoming centerpiece of the lavish Akoya Oxygen community that’s being developed by Damac Properties. According to Arabian Business, the track will be located “on the same land where the previous Tiger Woods Dubai project was planned in 2008” but will be “a totally different design.”
In a press statement, Woods promised to create “a distinct and memorable golf course that players of all abilities find enjoyable,” and he praised Dubai for, among other things, its “amazing lifestyle.” Others have described the emirate as “a hotbed of forced labor and human trafficking,” and life there is only “amazing” to those who believe that freedom of speech should be restricted, that kissing in public should be a crime, that homosexuals and people who criticize the government should be put to death, and that foreign construction workers should be treated as “slave labor.”
The course at Trump World is scheduled to open in 2017. Woods hasn’t revealed his design fee, but he’ll certainly be compensated handsomely for doing and saying all the right things.
A development group led by David Southworth, a Boston-area investor with an enviable portfolio of golf properties, has acquired Abaco Club, a 10-year-old resort community in the Bahamas that’s been described as “one of the world’s great sporting clubs.” The club’s 18-hole golf course was co-designed by Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie and is said to be “the world's first Scottish-style links in a tropical location.”
Abaco’s new ownership entity, which includes some of the club’s members and residents, bought the 534-acre property from Marriott Vacation Worldwide Corporation, a former affiliate of Marriott International. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but in late 2013 Marriott Vacation offered to sell the community to some of its s homeowners for $28 million. (The offer was rejected, because Abaco was believed to be worth only “a fraction of the offer price.”)
The new ownership group presumably includes some of the more than 30 Abaco members who, in 2013, sued Marriott Vacation and the club’s manager at the time, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, for allegedly failing to make good on a litany of promises, among them a guarantee to deliver a golf course that ranks among the world’s top 100. (According to Golf Digest, Abaco’s golf course isn’t even the number-one track in the Bahamas.)
Southworth, a former president of Paul Fireman’s Willowbend Development, now controls entities that, in addition to Abaco, own a half-dozen golf properties in the United States (among them Creighton Farms Golf Club in Northern Virginia and Renaissance Golf Club in Massachusetts), Scotland (Macrihanish Dunes Golf Club), and Puerto Rico (Costa Caribe Golf & Country Club).
One last thing: The acquisition of Abaco could conceivably doom Southworth’s plans to develop a PGA Village in the Bahamas, a venture that’s been treading water since 2008.
Alistair Hanna’s death may not spell the end of plans to build a David McLay Kidd-designed golf course on coastal property in Northern Ireland’s County Antrim. Peter FitzGerald, who controls entities that recently bought the 356 acres that Hanna wanted to turn into Bushmill Dunes Golf Club, is reportedly taking a close look at Hanna’s plans, which have been approved by local officials and have survived a legal challenge brought by Irish environmental groups. Hanna, who died in July, believed that the site was worthy of a world-class links. “Every golf course designer who’s seen it was blown away by it,” he told me in 2011. He also recalled Kidd telling him, “If I can’t get your course into the top 50 of the world, you should shoot me.” If FitzGerald decides to develop the property, he can also build a 120-room hotel with meeting space and a spa.
Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the October 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
One of the most scenic golf resorts in New Zealand has secured permission to add a fourth nine to its golf complex. Millbrook Resort, in suburban Queenstown, has agreed to purchase a 165-acre parcel for the addition, which will be designed by Queenstown-based Greg Turner, a former professional golfer. Turner has already worked up a preliminary routing for the forthcoming holes, and construction will be funded by the sale of houses. Eiichi Ishii, who reportedly owns Japan’s largest art supplies company, bought the Millbrook property in the late 1980s and set out to create “the best golf and lifestyle resort in the world.” Whether he succeeded is open to debate, but the resort, laid out on a former wheat farm surrounded by glorious mountain ranges, undoubtedly has its fans. “It is difficult to imagine a more idyllic setting for a golfing resort,” says ISeekGolf.com. Millbrook’s original 18, consisting of the Remarkables and Arrow nines, was co-designed by Sir Bob Charles and John Darby and opened in 1993. In 2010, Turner redesigned the original layout and added the Coronet track.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Desolation Row, december 12, 2014
Ahwahnee, California. The clock is ticking on Sierra Meadows Golf Course, which is scheduled to close next week. Robert H. Bard, Jr. had hoped to make the 24-year-old venue the centerpiece of a 315-home community, but the Great Recession and development costs bled him dry. He thought that he’d found a buyer willing to continue operations at Sierra Meadows, but when the sale fell through he knew he was done. “From the beginning, the golf course has not made any money in spite of all our continued efforts and substantial investments,” he wrote in a letter to his customers, adding: “Sometimes events occur that are beyond our control, and no amount of effort and money can change the outcome.” Sierra Meadows, which is located just a short drive from Yosemite National Park, appears to be the only 18-hole course in the immediate area.
Alpine, Alabama. An 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course in metropolitan Birmingham has ended its run. Alpine Bay Golf Club, the centerpiece of a resort community that opened in the early 1970s, used to boast that it “gives the golfer a feeling that is not found anywhere else in the country.” In recent years, however, the feeling has apparently mattered less, for the club has lost more than two-thirds of its members. “Younger people aren’t playing golf as much, and all of our older golf players are dying off or not able to play anymore physically,” said Shawn Rider, who lost the course to foreclosure two years ago. A Florida-based bank was hoping to get $410,000 for Alpine Bay. It now plans to auction the 148-acre property.
Panama City, Florida. Bay Dunes Golf Course, a relative newcomer to the golf scene in Florida’s Panhandle, has bitten the dust, at least for the time being. The Panama City News Herald called the 21-year-old track, located atop a Bay County-owned landfill, “a place for average golfers to socialize and enjoy a round without breaking the bank.” The county doesn’t want to manage the 18-hole, Jack Cunningham-designed layout, though it would listen if a private-sector operator came forward with a proposal. One caveat: The course “is run down to the point [where] it needs major work,” according to a county official.
Carmel, Indiana. The cloud that’s hung over Mohawk Hills Golf Club for a decade has finally been lifted: The nine-hole, Gary Kern-designed track closed on Halloween night and will soon make way for an apartment complex. The course’s fate was all but sealed a decade ago, when it was sold to a development group that was forced to wait out the Great Recession before it put the course to what it felt was a higher use.
Godfrey, Illinois. Two years after it was foreclosed upon and a year after it declared for bankruptcy protection, Lockhaven Golf Club has kicked the bucket. In an open letter to the local community, the club’s owner wrote that “the decision that was made came after much consideration and only after all available options were exhausted.” Lockhaven, which had opened to public play in an attempt to survive, blamed its demise on “a declining, aging membership” and an inability to recruit the area’s younger golfers. Its 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed golf course opened in 1956, but the Alton Telegraph reports that the club’s “roots go back 100 years.”
Williamsville, New York. A year ahead of schedule, a 70-year-old golf venue in suburban Buffalo has gone six feet under. Mensch Capital Partners bought Westwood Country Club in 2012 and announced that it would begin converting the 170-acre property into “a lifestyle center” (translation: houses, stores, and office space) in 2015. However, the firm has decided to close the club early and get a head start on an environmental clean-up. “The golf course has not been economically viable for many years, and the only reason it has remained open for the past three seasons is because Mensch has heavily subsidized its operations,” Mensch’s managing partner told Buffalo Business First. Most sources credit the design of Westwood’s golf course to William Harries, but some people believe the layout’s original nine was done by Willie Park, Jr.
Corvallis, Oregon. Assuming that various legal and development-related obstacles can be cleared, an unidentified group aims to build houses on the 77 acres currently occupied Marysville Golf Course. The nine-hole track was built by Mode and Babe Hoselton in 1958, and it’s been in their family ever since. Although the Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that Marysville has “built a loyal following with its relaxed atmosphere and low greens fees,” its current owner, Doug Hoselton, no longer wishes to fight the prevailing economic winds. “I’m getting out,” he told the newspaper. “I’m 65. It’s time for me to retire.” The prospective buyer has reportedly offered $4.25 million for the golf course and an adjacent 16-acre parcel.
Vallejo, California. Next week, the final rounds will be played at Joe Mortara Golf Course, a nine-hole, executive-length track located at the Solano County Fairgrounds. Like so many other modest U.S. courses, Joe Mortara slowly suffocated as the economy crumbled, its capital needs increased, and its customers aged out. “Our budget can no longer continue subsidizing a golf course that has been operating at a net loss each year,” the fairgrounds’ general manager told the Vallejo Times Herald. “Decreasing play, coupled with extensive maintenance and repair requirements over the last two years, make it unrealistic for us to keep the course open.” This year, the course celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Lombard, Illinois. After taking tee times for a half-century, time appears to have run out on Ken-Loch Golf Links. The nine-hole, David Arthur Gill-designed golf course has been bleeding red ink in recent years, and a prospective new owner believes its 31 acres are an ideal site for an apartment complex. “We look forward to moving forward there and doing really high-quality development,” he told the Daily Herald. Last year, DuPage County officials laid a foundation for the property’s future by approving a rezoning.
Sumner, Washington. After negotiating and deliberating for years, the city of Sumner has agreed to sell its financially troubled 18-hole golf course to a development group. The price: $53 million, or more than $344,000 an acre. Be honest: For such a price you’d sell too, as long as you could stand looking at warehouses and industrial space for the rest of your life.
Alpine, Alabama. An 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course in metropolitan Birmingham has ended its run. Alpine Bay Golf Club, the centerpiece of a resort community that opened in the early 1970s, used to boast that it “gives the golfer a feeling that is not found anywhere else in the country.” In recent years, however, the feeling has apparently mattered less, for the club has lost more than two-thirds of its members. “Younger people aren’t playing golf as much, and all of our older golf players are dying off or not able to play anymore physically,” said Shawn Rider, who lost the course to foreclosure two years ago. A Florida-based bank was hoping to get $410,000 for Alpine Bay. It now plans to auction the 148-acre property.
Panama City, Florida. Bay Dunes Golf Course, a relative newcomer to the golf scene in Florida’s Panhandle, has bitten the dust, at least for the time being. The Panama City News Herald called the 21-year-old track, located atop a Bay County-owned landfill, “a place for average golfers to socialize and enjoy a round without breaking the bank.” The county doesn’t want to manage the 18-hole, Jack Cunningham-designed layout, though it would listen if a private-sector operator came forward with a proposal. One caveat: The course “is run down to the point [where] it needs major work,” according to a county official.
Carmel, Indiana. The cloud that’s hung over Mohawk Hills Golf Club for a decade has finally been lifted: The nine-hole, Gary Kern-designed track closed on Halloween night and will soon make way for an apartment complex. The course’s fate was all but sealed a decade ago, when it was sold to a development group that was forced to wait out the Great Recession before it put the course to what it felt was a higher use.
Godfrey, Illinois. Two years after it was foreclosed upon and a year after it declared for bankruptcy protection, Lockhaven Golf Club has kicked the bucket. In an open letter to the local community, the club’s owner wrote that “the decision that was made came after much consideration and only after all available options were exhausted.” Lockhaven, which had opened to public play in an attempt to survive, blamed its demise on “a declining, aging membership” and an inability to recruit the area’s younger golfers. Its 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed golf course opened in 1956, but the Alton Telegraph reports that the club’s “roots go back 100 years.”
Williamsville, New York. A year ahead of schedule, a 70-year-old golf venue in suburban Buffalo has gone six feet under. Mensch Capital Partners bought Westwood Country Club in 2012 and announced that it would begin converting the 170-acre property into “a lifestyle center” (translation: houses, stores, and office space) in 2015. However, the firm has decided to close the club early and get a head start on an environmental clean-up. “The golf course has not been economically viable for many years, and the only reason it has remained open for the past three seasons is because Mensch has heavily subsidized its operations,” Mensch’s managing partner told Buffalo Business First. Most sources credit the design of Westwood’s golf course to William Harries, but some people believe the layout’s original nine was done by Willie Park, Jr.
Corvallis, Oregon. Assuming that various legal and development-related obstacles can be cleared, an unidentified group aims to build houses on the 77 acres currently occupied Marysville Golf Course. The nine-hole track was built by Mode and Babe Hoselton in 1958, and it’s been in their family ever since. Although the Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that Marysville has “built a loyal following with its relaxed atmosphere and low greens fees,” its current owner, Doug Hoselton, no longer wishes to fight the prevailing economic winds. “I’m getting out,” he told the newspaper. “I’m 65. It’s time for me to retire.” The prospective buyer has reportedly offered $4.25 million for the golf course and an adjacent 16-acre parcel.
Vallejo, California. Next week, the final rounds will be played at Joe Mortara Golf Course, a nine-hole, executive-length track located at the Solano County Fairgrounds. Like so many other modest U.S. courses, Joe Mortara slowly suffocated as the economy crumbled, its capital needs increased, and its customers aged out. “Our budget can no longer continue subsidizing a golf course that has been operating at a net loss each year,” the fairgrounds’ general manager told the Vallejo Times Herald. “Decreasing play, coupled with extensive maintenance and repair requirements over the last two years, make it unrealistic for us to keep the course open.” This year, the course celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Lombard, Illinois. After taking tee times for a half-century, time appears to have run out on Ken-Loch Golf Links. The nine-hole, David Arthur Gill-designed golf course has been bleeding red ink in recent years, and a prospective new owner believes its 31 acres are an ideal site for an apartment complex. “We look forward to moving forward there and doing really high-quality development,” he told the Daily Herald. Last year, DuPage County officials laid a foundation for the property’s future by approving a rezoning.
Sumner, Washington. After negotiating and deliberating for years, the city of Sumner has agreed to sell its financially troubled 18-hole golf course to a development group. The price: $53 million, or more than $344,000 an acre. Be honest: For such a price you’d sell too, as long as you could stand looking at warehouses and industrial space for the rest of your life.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
The Week That Was, december 7, 2014
Like a growing number of observers and commentators, the CEO of Asia Pacific Golf Group believes that the golf business in his part of the world is going nowhere fast. “The industry is not healthy and is not really showing strong signs of any sustainable recovery.” Mike Sebastian declares in the December issue of Asian Golf, adding that “there’s still a lot of blood-letting that has to take place before we can start seeing the silver lining.” Mixed metaphors aside, Sebastian has been banging this drum for months. He’s gone almost completely sour on the prospects for golf development in China, which he and others once viewed as the engine that would power golf’s growth throughout Asia and Southeast Asia. Today, with the People’s Republic in “a full-stop mode,” he’s doing his best to lower expectations. “If you are a betting man,” he advises, “you would do well to place your wager on things getting worse before there is a turnaround.” Of course, those who were all in on China may not have much left to wager.
“Show me a hero,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “and I’ll write you a tragedy.” I can’t say exactly how it relates, but Fitzgerald’s comment is the first thing that popped into my head when I heard that Tiger Woods had agreed to become a pitch man for India's Hero MotoCorp.
Speaking of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who says there are no second acts in American life? David McLay Kidd, who set the bar for golf architecture at Bandon Dunes, has been tabbed to design the second course at Mike Keiser’s Sand Valley golf complex in Rome, Wisconsin. Kidd expects to break ground on the 18-hole layout, a complement to the Coore & Crenshaw track that’s currently under construction, in the spring of next year. The commission at Bandon Dunes -- earned way back in the mid 1990s, when both Kidd and Keiser were still veritable unknowns -- established Kidd’s reputation as a premier designer of “pure” golf experiences but unfortunately convinced subsequent clients to indulge his weakness for difficult courses. Keiser didn’t much like Kidd’s work in the 2000s, but he recently played Kidd’s player-friendly course at Gamble Sands, in Brewster, Washington, and came away thinking it was “a grand-slam home run.” For course number-two at Sand Valley, Keiser also evaluated routings submitted by Tom Doak and Rod Whitman, who now appear to be in line to create courses three and four.
The rapid consolidation of the golf industry continues, as the parent company of Troon Golf has taken control of a competitor, Birmingham, Alabama-based Honours Golf. With the acquisition, Troon gets a greater presence in the Southeast, as Honours operates 10 properties in Alabama and four in Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina. A press release claims that Honours’ portfolio includes “many exceptional golf courses designed by some of the most well-known golf course architects in the industry.” That comment is something of a stretch, however, seeing as how there are only three true “signature” tracks in the mix, along with at least three municipal layouts, and only one of Honours’ courses -- Reunion Golf & Country Club in Madison, Mississippi -- is listed on Golf Digest’s state-by-state ranking of the nation’s best courses. Counting Honours’ venues, Troon has now reportedly collected 250 golf courses in 34 states and 29 foreign nations.
An investment fund controlled by Los Angeles, California-based Oaktree Capital Management has paid a premium for a golf club in Dublin, Ireland. According to the Irish Times, Tio PLC coughed up roughly €4.5 million (more than $5.5 million) for Castleknock Golf Club, a nine-year-old property with an 18-hole, Jonathan Gaunt-designed golf course. For nearly a year, Castleknock has been in the hands of receivers who reportedly felt that the 125-acre spread was worth about €2.5 million ($3.07 million). Obviously, they were selling themselves short. In 2009, Golf Digest ranked Castleknock’s course as one of Ireland’s top 100.
ClubCorp has laid claim to its fourth golf property in Arizona. The Dallas, Texas-based golf colossus has paid an undisclosed amount for Oro Valley Country Club, a facility in suburban Tucson that had been owned by its members. The 55-year-old club features an 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed course that was subsequently redesigned by Arthur Hills. ClubCorp’s other properties in the state are located in metropolitan Phoenix: Anthem Golf & Country Club outside Carefree, Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, and Seville Golf & Country Club in Gilbert. Just as an aside, here’s something that bothers me about ClubCorp: The company never issues any press releases regarding what it describes as its “central purpose,” which is “building relationships and enriching lives.” I wonder why not.
“Show me a hero,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “and I’ll write you a tragedy.” I can’t say exactly how it relates, but Fitzgerald’s comment is the first thing that popped into my head when I heard that Tiger Woods had agreed to become a pitch man for India's Hero MotoCorp.
Speaking of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who says there are no second acts in American life? David McLay Kidd, who set the bar for golf architecture at Bandon Dunes, has been tabbed to design the second course at Mike Keiser’s Sand Valley golf complex in Rome, Wisconsin. Kidd expects to break ground on the 18-hole layout, a complement to the Coore & Crenshaw track that’s currently under construction, in the spring of next year. The commission at Bandon Dunes -- earned way back in the mid 1990s, when both Kidd and Keiser were still veritable unknowns -- established Kidd’s reputation as a premier designer of “pure” golf experiences but unfortunately convinced subsequent clients to indulge his weakness for difficult courses. Keiser didn’t much like Kidd’s work in the 2000s, but he recently played Kidd’s player-friendly course at Gamble Sands, in Brewster, Washington, and came away thinking it was “a grand-slam home run.” For course number-two at Sand Valley, Keiser also evaluated routings submitted by Tom Doak and Rod Whitman, who now appear to be in line to create courses three and four.
The rapid consolidation of the golf industry continues, as the parent company of Troon Golf has taken control of a competitor, Birmingham, Alabama-based Honours Golf. With the acquisition, Troon gets a greater presence in the Southeast, as Honours operates 10 properties in Alabama and four in Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina. A press release claims that Honours’ portfolio includes “many exceptional golf courses designed by some of the most well-known golf course architects in the industry.” That comment is something of a stretch, however, seeing as how there are only three true “signature” tracks in the mix, along with at least three municipal layouts, and only one of Honours’ courses -- Reunion Golf & Country Club in Madison, Mississippi -- is listed on Golf Digest’s state-by-state ranking of the nation’s best courses. Counting Honours’ venues, Troon has now reportedly collected 250 golf courses in 34 states and 29 foreign nations.
An investment fund controlled by Los Angeles, California-based Oaktree Capital Management has paid a premium for a golf club in Dublin, Ireland. According to the Irish Times, Tio PLC coughed up roughly €4.5 million (more than $5.5 million) for Castleknock Golf Club, a nine-year-old property with an 18-hole, Jonathan Gaunt-designed golf course. For nearly a year, Castleknock has been in the hands of receivers who reportedly felt that the 125-acre spread was worth about €2.5 million ($3.07 million). Obviously, they were selling themselves short. In 2009, Golf Digest ranked Castleknock’s course as one of Ireland’s top 100.
ClubCorp has laid claim to its fourth golf property in Arizona. The Dallas, Texas-based golf colossus has paid an undisclosed amount for Oro Valley Country Club, a facility in suburban Tucson that had been owned by its members. The 55-year-old club features an 18-hole, Robert Bruce Harris-designed course that was subsequently redesigned by Arthur Hills. ClubCorp’s other properties in the state are located in metropolitan Phoenix: Anthem Golf & Country Club outside Carefree, Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, and Seville Golf & Country Club in Gilbert. Just as an aside, here’s something that bothers me about ClubCorp: The company never issues any press releases regarding what it describes as its “central purpose,” which is “building relationships and enriching lives.” I wonder why not.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Transactions, december 5, 2014
Nichols, South Carolina. A Chinese group is said to be “close to acquiring” its second golf property in the Myrtle Beach area. Kang Zou, the leader of the entity that bought Black Bear Golf Club in Longs earlier this year, has made an offer on Pineland Country Club, a venue that features an 18-hole, Gene Hamm-designed golf course. Zou’s price hasn’t been disclosed, but Pineland, a 260-acre spread that opened in 1971, is reportedly on the market for $699,000. “That’s why the Chinese are buying all these properties, because land is cheap right now,” said Danny Baxley, the managing partner of the group that owns Pineland. According to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, Chinese investors currently own six golf properties in and around Myrtle Beach, among them the 54-hole complex at Sea Trail Golf Resort in Sunset Beach.
Evans, Georgia. Tower Three Partners has acquired its first property in Georgia, Champions Retreat Golf Club. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm reportedly paid $6.64 million for the nine-year-old venue, which claims to be the world’s only golf property with courses -- all nine-holers, unfortunately -- designed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player. The club, a drawing card for a community of McMansions in suburban Augusta, will be managed by Tower Three’s operating affiliate, Heritage Golf Group. Davis Sezna, Heritage’s managing partner and chief purveyor of inane marketing drivel, calls Champions Retreat “an incredibly rare property that will enable us to create a truly unique experience in a world of unique experiences.” The club is now one of eight similarly rare and unique properties in the Tower Three/Heritage portfolio. The partners tout their holdings as being “best in class,” but not even one of the eight ranks among the top 10 in Golf Digest’s state-by-state rankings.
Independence, Missouri. Landscapes Unlimited has gotten rid of an unwanted asset. The big golf construction company has sold Drumm Farm Golf Club, a 280-acre spread, to GreatLife Golf & Fitness, one of the major golf ownership groups in the Midwest. Topeka, Kansas-based GreatLife, which was established in the mid 1980s, appears to own close to 20 golf properties in Kansas and Missouri, most of them in and around Kansas City. The company initially made its mark by selling affordable golf at affordable prices (some of its monthly memberships run as low as $30), although nowadays it charges more for access to its “select” and “elite” venues. Drumm Farm, part of the “elite” group, features an 18-hole, Mike Hurdzan-designed course and a nine-hole, executive-length track. Landscapes Unlimited had owned the property since 2002.
Naples, Florida. Four years after making his initial investment in Southwest Florida’s golf business, Dick Klass has purchased a second golf property from Stock Development. Klass and his sons, who operate as Klass Capital Group, reportedly paid $8.2 million for Club at the Strand, a 17-year-old venue that features a 27-hole, Gordon Lewis-designed golf complex. “We think the timing is right to be buying clubs,” Klass told the Naples Daily News. The Strand is the centerpiece of a gated, 500-acre community whose more than 1,000 home owners are obligated to become club members. The property is said to be profitable, and Klass views himself as being in “a very long-term ownership position.” The Strand hosted an event on the LPGA Tour for three years in the late 1990s. It’ll complement the family’s Club at Grandezza in nearby Estero.
Muskegon, Michigan. One of Michigan’s oldest golf properties has changed hands. Last month a dozen investors operating as MCC Partners LLC reportedly paid a local bank “just north of $3 million” to clear the debt that’s been strangling Muskegon Country Club. “We are doing this for the long haul, solely to keep what is a historically significant and important community asset in Muskegon,” one of the investors told the Muskegon Chronicle. The new owners hope to attract dearly needed new members by reviving the 106-year-old venue and its 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course.
Lincolnton, North Carolina. A local developer has come to the rescue of Lincoln Country Club, whose existence had been threatened by money troubles. “I want to bring the Lincoln Country Club back to life,” Willie Heafner declared to the Lincoln Times-News. To do so, Heafner believes that he needs to sign roughly 200 new members, as the club currently has only about 150. Lincoln, which was founded in 1946, features an 18-hole, Peter Tufts-designed golf course.
Horicon, Wisconsin. The city of Horicon has agreed to sell its 18-hole golf course to a local course owner who claims to have “a history of taking distressed courses and turning them into facilities that we and our communities are proud of.” Lee Merkel has offered $420,000 for the Homer Fieldhouse-designed Rock River Hills Golf Course, which opened in 1969 and evidently needs the expertise he can offer. Merkel presumably made his reputation by conducting turnarounds at his two nearby golf properties, Golf Club at Camelot in Lomira and West Bend Lakes Golf Club in West Bend. He’s given Rock River Hills a new name -- Horicon Hills Golf Club -- and he’s pledged to operate the facility for at least five years. If he ever decides to sell it, the city has first dibs on the purchase.
Campton, New Hampshire. At a public auction last month, an unidentified group agreed to buy an 18-hole, Mark Mungeam-designed golf course in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The 16-year-old track is among the attractions at Owl’s Nest Resort, a nearly 600-acre spread that had recently been forced into foreclosure. Owl’s Next has been master-planned for 490 single-family houses and condos, but the Manchester Union Leader reports that only 112 lots have been sold. Tom Mullen, the community’s developer, believes that his real estate sales stagnated because prospective buyers didn’t want to live beneath the electrical transmission lines that a utility wants to build through the property. He sued to block the construction, but a court agreed with the utility’s argument, which was that Owl’s Nest “has suffered the effects of a deep recession.” The new owners, who bid just over $2 million for Mullen’s property, intend to complete the community’s build-out. Roughly speaking, they have until the end of the year to close on the transaction.
Brownsburg, Indiana. At an auction last month, a financially troubled golf property in suburban Indianapolis reportedly fetched more than $900,000. The winning bid on West Chase Golf Club was submitted by “a Hendricks County businessman” who has yet to be identified, although the Indianapolis Star has learned that he plans to continue operating the club and its 18-hole, Ron Kern-designed golf course. West Chase’s former owner, a group called Hole In One, Inc., had filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Estero, Florida. This news is getting cold, so it’s high time for me to note that West Bay Club now belongs to its members and residents of its accompanying, nearly completely built-out private community. The new owners paid an undisclosed price for the 15-year-old club, which features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Pete and P. B. Dye. The transaction took place in March 2014.
Evans, Georgia. Tower Three Partners has acquired its first property in Georgia, Champions Retreat Golf Club. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm reportedly paid $6.64 million for the nine-year-old venue, which claims to be the world’s only golf property with courses -- all nine-holers, unfortunately -- designed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player. The club, a drawing card for a community of McMansions in suburban Augusta, will be managed by Tower Three’s operating affiliate, Heritage Golf Group. Davis Sezna, Heritage’s managing partner and chief purveyor of inane marketing drivel, calls Champions Retreat “an incredibly rare property that will enable us to create a truly unique experience in a world of unique experiences.” The club is now one of eight similarly rare and unique properties in the Tower Three/Heritage portfolio. The partners tout their holdings as being “best in class,” but not even one of the eight ranks among the top 10 in Golf Digest’s state-by-state rankings.
Independence, Missouri. Landscapes Unlimited has gotten rid of an unwanted asset. The big golf construction company has sold Drumm Farm Golf Club, a 280-acre spread, to GreatLife Golf & Fitness, one of the major golf ownership groups in the Midwest. Topeka, Kansas-based GreatLife, which was established in the mid 1980s, appears to own close to 20 golf properties in Kansas and Missouri, most of them in and around Kansas City. The company initially made its mark by selling affordable golf at affordable prices (some of its monthly memberships run as low as $30), although nowadays it charges more for access to its “select” and “elite” venues. Drumm Farm, part of the “elite” group, features an 18-hole, Mike Hurdzan-designed course and a nine-hole, executive-length track. Landscapes Unlimited had owned the property since 2002.
Naples, Florida. Four years after making his initial investment in Southwest Florida’s golf business, Dick Klass has purchased a second golf property from Stock Development. Klass and his sons, who operate as Klass Capital Group, reportedly paid $8.2 million for Club at the Strand, a 17-year-old venue that features a 27-hole, Gordon Lewis-designed golf complex. “We think the timing is right to be buying clubs,” Klass told the Naples Daily News. The Strand is the centerpiece of a gated, 500-acre community whose more than 1,000 home owners are obligated to become club members. The property is said to be profitable, and Klass views himself as being in “a very long-term ownership position.” The Strand hosted an event on the LPGA Tour for three years in the late 1990s. It’ll complement the family’s Club at Grandezza in nearby Estero.
Muskegon, Michigan. One of Michigan’s oldest golf properties has changed hands. Last month a dozen investors operating as MCC Partners LLC reportedly paid a local bank “just north of $3 million” to clear the debt that’s been strangling Muskegon Country Club. “We are doing this for the long haul, solely to keep what is a historically significant and important community asset in Muskegon,” one of the investors told the Muskegon Chronicle. The new owners hope to attract dearly needed new members by reviving the 106-year-old venue and its 18-hole, Donald Ross-designed golf course.
Lincolnton, North Carolina. A local developer has come to the rescue of Lincoln Country Club, whose existence had been threatened by money troubles. “I want to bring the Lincoln Country Club back to life,” Willie Heafner declared to the Lincoln Times-News. To do so, Heafner believes that he needs to sign roughly 200 new members, as the club currently has only about 150. Lincoln, which was founded in 1946, features an 18-hole, Peter Tufts-designed golf course.
Horicon, Wisconsin. The city of Horicon has agreed to sell its 18-hole golf course to a local course owner who claims to have “a history of taking distressed courses and turning them into facilities that we and our communities are proud of.” Lee Merkel has offered $420,000 for the Homer Fieldhouse-designed Rock River Hills Golf Course, which opened in 1969 and evidently needs the expertise he can offer. Merkel presumably made his reputation by conducting turnarounds at his two nearby golf properties, Golf Club at Camelot in Lomira and West Bend Lakes Golf Club in West Bend. He’s given Rock River Hills a new name -- Horicon Hills Golf Club -- and he’s pledged to operate the facility for at least five years. If he ever decides to sell it, the city has first dibs on the purchase.
Campton, New Hampshire. At a public auction last month, an unidentified group agreed to buy an 18-hole, Mark Mungeam-designed golf course in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The 16-year-old track is among the attractions at Owl’s Nest Resort, a nearly 600-acre spread that had recently been forced into foreclosure. Owl’s Next has been master-planned for 490 single-family houses and condos, but the Manchester Union Leader reports that only 112 lots have been sold. Tom Mullen, the community’s developer, believes that his real estate sales stagnated because prospective buyers didn’t want to live beneath the electrical transmission lines that a utility wants to build through the property. He sued to block the construction, but a court agreed with the utility’s argument, which was that Owl’s Nest “has suffered the effects of a deep recession.” The new owners, who bid just over $2 million for Mullen’s property, intend to complete the community’s build-out. Roughly speaking, they have until the end of the year to close on the transaction.
Brownsburg, Indiana. At an auction last month, a financially troubled golf property in suburban Indianapolis reportedly fetched more than $900,000. The winning bid on West Chase Golf Club was submitted by “a Hendricks County businessman” who has yet to be identified, although the Indianapolis Star has learned that he plans to continue operating the club and its 18-hole, Ron Kern-designed golf course. West Chase’s former owner, a group called Hole In One, Inc., had filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Estero, Florida. This news is getting cold, so it’s high time for me to note that West Bay Club now belongs to its members and residents of its accompanying, nearly completely built-out private community. The new owners paid an undisclosed price for the 15-year-old club, which features an 18-hole course that was co-designed by Pete and P. B. Dye. The transaction took place in March 2014.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
