Of course, The Cliffs all-in approach to the luxury lifestyle worked well in attracting wealthy second-home owners and retirees until the economy went poof and property sales dried up and, along with it, cash to pay for The Cliffs’ unfinished amenities, including the first American golf design by Tiger Woods.  As any reader of these pages knows, Cliffs developer Jim Anthony was forced to borrow $64 million from his club members, with a reported $8 million payment on that note due this coming January.

Reserve takes road less traveled

        The Reserve chose a different, more measured approach, its founders opting to retain a majority interest in the community but bringing in an experienced developer, Greenwood Communities and Resorts, as a strong minority partner, whereas Cliffs founder Anthony chose to build his own development team.  (Some Cliffs owners grouse today that the spiritual, plain-speaking and, perhaps too-trusting Anthony was victimized by bad advice from some of his hand-picked executives.)  Greenwood had originally developed the successful Palmetto Dunes Resort on Hilton Head and, 30 years later, is still managing that golf community plus a few choice others.

Along most of the Jack Nicklaus layout at The Reserve, you will need to look up to see any homes as they are perched on hills and rarely encroach on sightlines.  The view here is from behind the 11th green.

        Since it opened in 2002 with an exquisitely conditioned and enjoyable Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, The Reserve’s founding members, a group of 55 local and Atlanta-based investors that included 19 physicians and two dentists, as well as Greenwood, have taken a steady approach to its evolution.  Whereas, for example, The Cliffs’ lush fitness centers could satisfy the needs of a professional football team, The Reserve’s own dreams of a world-class fitness facility are on hold pending a bit more cash flow; anyone who wants to work out today can, but the temporary center operates out of a modestly sized building near the clubhouse.  Reserve officials say building the new facility is their “top priority” as soon as the economy improves and, along with it, property sales.  The biggest difference between the two communities is that where The Cliffs offers its members six golf courses, with a seventh Gary Player track on the way next year, The Reserve presents just one, with another by Arnold Palmer’s design shop sitting in an architect’s drawer waiting for the right time to execute it, financially speaking.

        To ensure bank funding through at least 2015, The Reserve recently promoted a “capital raise” campaign that attracted 67 new members to purchase shares in the community; some of the original 21 investors and Greenwood itself added to their existing financial stakes in the community, demonstrating both commitment and confidence in their vision and fiscal discipline.  This year, the Reserve expects to balance its first budget in its 10-year history, and without having increased dues or initiated a food and beverage minimum.  Any potential golf community buyers worried about the financial stability question in a high-end development should find their questions answered and their anxieties assuaged at The Reserve, at minimum for the next three-plus years.

Flood of memories

        I toured The Reserve recently with A.J. “Buddy” Thompson, one of the two original founders of the community.  After purchasing five lots on nearby Lake Jocassee in 1990, Thompson, an ophthalmologist from Easley, SC, fell in love with the unusually lofty views around Lake Keowee, which like Jocassee was formed after Duke Power flooded the area in 1971 for hydroelectric power purposes.  Lake Keowee is somewhat unusual in that it features both a lake and mountains, a topographical idiosyncrasy more prevalent in the western U.S. than in the east.  Thompson assembled the group of 54 other investors who bought 3,200 acres in June 1999 that comprise most of today's Reserve  –- “just before the dot-com bust,” he says.  They each contributed $300,000 plus a capital investment of $100,000; one neighborhood in The Reserve, called Founders Cove, celebrates that initial investment.  At a time when banks were freely lending money, that initial total pool of $8 million from individuals and Greenwood attracted bank funding to buy the rest of the land and kick start the development.

Lake Keowee comes into view but not really into play on a few of the finishing holes at The Reserve.

        The Reserve’s founders were measured in their approach right from the earliest days.  In December 1999, the 55 original investors and 25 others met at the Hyatt Hotel in Greenville.  They split into eight teams, each challenged to envision their dream communities and then present to the other groups.

        “The best bits were pulled from all the presentations,” Thompson told me.  “We agreed from the start that we did not want to be a resort community, and that this was a ‘one and done’ community that we all wanted to live in.  We would not be building a second Reserve later.”

        Aside from a decision to get the golf course built early, the only pre-requisite for the community was that it be built as a place where families and friends would be encouraged to congregate, says Thompson, a grandfather.

        “The inspiration for the idea was my fond memories of my family reunions around our lake home on Jocassee,” he says of Keowee’s sister lake, reputed to be the cleanest in the eastern half of the country.  “That’s the kind of atmosphere we saw for The Reserve.”

Building a Legacy one large family at a time

        The family thing is not mere brochure copy.  Earlier this year, The Reserve announced a new, innovative “Legacy” membership that provides full privileges to everyone in the direct family line of a Reserve member –- parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren.  Part branding, part reaction to the economy and the need to generate additional club revenues in the face of modest property sales, the Legacy membership is consistent with The Reserve’s family-centric ethos.  It also has proved wildly popular with owners:  The club has added more than 650 new legacy members from 163 families since the program was announced in January, building more traffic to the pool, marina, market and golf club, and adding a healthy dose of incremental revenues.  What may have struck some competitors as an ill-conceived and sappy giveaway to members appears to be a brilliant business decision that has stoked both member retention and growth -– a prime example of benefitting financially by walking the talk.

        The Reserve is somewhat iconoclastic in other ways.  Its 4,000 acres were scoped out initially for just 1,630 home lots, but the guiding forces in the community are discussing dropping that to 1,400 (as other developments increase density to appeal to a broader base of buyers).  As an aside, Buddy Thompson says he’d like to see that number at 1,100 home sites.

        “Our lots must have intrinsic value,” he emphasizes, explaining that The Reserve does not want to offer what other golf communities sometimes define as “interior” lots but are nothing more than leftover home sites with the cheapest price tags.  “We prefer to glorify and preserve the natural beauty and surroundings with a significantly lower-density approach.”

        At first view, some prospective buyers will consider The Reserve real estate on the expensive side.  Although some of the rustic guest cottages begin in the $400s and would be perfectly suitable as a second home or rental income unit, the sweet spot for single-family homes in the community is right around the $1 million mark (single-family homes currently

        For a family or retired couple more worried about ongoing charges than the one-time outlay for a home and club membership, The Reserve offers about the lowest ratio of club and homeowner dues to real estate prices that we’ve encountered.  And they seem serious about keeping it that way.

        The U.S. Congress cannot agree on much, but two Senators are reaching across the aisle to introduce a bill that might spur foreign investment in U.S. real estate.  If it passes, high-end golf communities struggling to sell homes might want to set up temporary marketing offices in London, Johannesburg and Beijing.

         New York’s Charles Schumer (a Democrat) and Utah’s Mike Lee (a Republican) are getting ready to introduce a bill that would provide residence visas to non-Americans willing to invest at least $500,000 to purchase a home in the U.S.  The bill is intended as part of a larger basket of immigration measures.

         The $500,000 investment could be split; for example, the offshore investor could purchase a townhome (or condo or single-family house)

          Given the partisan bickering about budgets, taxation, employment and virtually every other important issue of the day, it is hard for many Americans to reconcile that our nation is still looked upon as the safest haven for investment in the world.  Yet, in 2010, foreigners spent $82 billion on U.S. real estate, up $13 billion from 2009, and much of it in some of the hardest hit markets (e.g. south Florida, Arizona, California).  The softness of the dollar compared with overseas currencies has increased foreign buying power in the U.S. I recall running into a Englishman earlier this year while touring foreclosed properties in Orlando with a local real estate agent; the Englishman was checking out properties to purchase, rent out, and sell a few years down the road at a profit (he hoped).  The real estate agent told me she bumps into such foreign investors all the time.

         But the new law about to be put before Congress would encourage a different class of foreign investor to buy homes in the U.S.; that is, those for whom the economies and political issues in their home countries (think Greece, Italy and others) encourage them to consider a more comfortable life in a country that, to them at least, appears relatively stable.  Polls indicate we Americans are disgusted with our national politics and fearful about the economy, but to many foreigners, especially those who can afford to invest in a safer, more certain future, the U.S. still looks like a “shining city on a hill.”

        My dirty little secret (until now) is that I prefer Greenville, SC, to the lavishly praised Asheville, NC. Asheville’s surrounding elevation may give it a slight edge topographically speaking, but the up country of South Carolina has plenty of natural charms (a river runs through downtown Greenville, for example, and some of the prime restaurants along Main St. use it to advantage).  Downtown Greenville, with its angle-in parking under a canopy of trees shielding the city’s main esplanade, gives the city an easy-chair feeling compared with the big-city ethos of Asheville (which is, after all, sometimes compared to San Francisco).  And traversing the Interstates that converge on Greenville even during rush hours seems like a Sunday drive compared with the mad-scientist jumble of highways that meet in an explosion of chaos in Asheville.

        Moreover, there is no private community and golf club combination in Asheville that matches the value of Thornblade Club and the surrounding neighborhood in Greer, SC, a suburb of both Greenville and Spartanburg, two towns that have weathered the economic mess quite well thanks to their manufacturing (e.g. BMW of North America and Fluor Corp.) and higher education bases (Furman, Wofford, Bob Jones University).  At just a $9,000 initiation fee for full-family golf membership, down from $18,000 a few years ago, and the replacement of all 18 of its golf course’s greens last year, Thornblade has stayed one giant step ahead of the problems similar private clubs are suffering across the land and maintained its robust membership levels (520 golf members and 785 members in all).

Condos back the first green at Thornblade, the only time during the round in which housing dominates the background.

        I made my first trip to Thornblade five years ago, before its 20-year old greens were dug up and replanted with a newer, hardier breed of A1A4 bent grass.  Bent grass, of course, is the putting surface of most championship golf courses, and Thornblade, which hosts the final round of the annual BMW Championship on the Nationwide Tour, may very well hold the distinction of having both groomed and housed the best collection of golfers in the world.  The Haas family home –- as in father and Champions Tour pro Jay, who is also Thornblade's director of golf, and son Bill, the recent winner of the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship –- sits above the 6th green. Former U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover honed his game as a youth at Thornblade; his grandparents’ house still sits beside the 17^th hole, a practice putting green in its backyard.  Former LPGA star Dottie Pepper has moved from the community but is still a member of the club, as are tour pros Matt Bettencourt and Charles Warren.  That is quite a formidable intra-club team Thornblade could field.

        The staff at Thornblade is professional as well.  My experience started when I parked at what I thought was a remote part of the parking lot so that I could finish a phone call.  One of the red-shirted bag attendants sped out in his cart to take my bag, even though I was two rows from where the last car had parked.   Director of Membership Morgan Page answered my questions about Thornblade’s recent history and its fees and dues with refreshing candor.  At the snack bar window, I asked for sauerkraut with my hot dog, but none was available.  One staff member scurried off to the main kitchen to retrieve some.  And after I left my credit card at the snack bar window, the young lady who caught up with me before I sped to the 10^th tee gave the impression she would have run as far as it took to catch me and return the card (or maybe it was to ensure I signed the slip, but either way, her seriousness of purpose reflected my overall experience at Thornblade).

The par 4 8th hole is indicative of the importance of tee shot placement at Thornblade.  A drive to the right side of the fairway presents a much better approach than short and left.

        Thornblade’s golfing members are also, for the most part, well trained, as demonstrated by the one threesome and two foursomes that graciously waived me through during my 3:45 hour round.  (Although golf professional Kevin Schreel might consider offering some sessions on ball-mark fixing, as I found myself fixing mine plus one on virtually every green on the otherwise well manicured course.)  I can also attest from my previous visit five years earlier that the food at Thornblade is quite good and the dining rooms near capacity most nights of the week.  I can’t imagine members complain about their $60 monthly food minimums at Thornblade Club.

        Thornblade’s ranking in the golf rich state of South Carolina may suffer a bit because the sleek circa 1988 Tom Fazio design weaves its way through a neighborhood and, horrors, some homes are close enough to require the protection of out of bounds stakes on their back forty.  (The South Carolina Golf Rating Panel, of which I am a member, placed Thornblade in the 37^th spot in its 2010 rankings, but those impressions came before the five-month redo of all the greens on the course, as well as some other visual improvements.)  In truth, though, most of the closest houses are not more than 100 yards down the fairways, and any homes at mid fairway or around the greens were well outside the field of play, or way above it.  Perhaps the condominiums that hang over the back of the first green fix a notion of encroaching real estate in the minds of some, but this is Tom Fazio, he of the funneled fairways, and someone who can bury virtually every cart path can certainly build a course that keeps homes at bay.  He does a good job of it at Thornblade.

The combination of water and elevated green on the par 3 11th at Thornblade makes you think twice about club selection.

        When my colleagues on the SC Golf Rating Panel revisit Thornblade, my guess is the club will move up at least a few spots from its position in 37^th place.  I certainly would rank it as highly as Cliffs at Glassy (north of Greenville), Belfair Plantation (Bluffton), the Daniel Island Ralston Creek course (near Charleston) and Wachesaw Plantation, south of Myrtle Beach, all of which placed ahead of Thornblade in the 2010 rankings.  The reshaping and re-contouring of the greens as part of a $2 million renovation last year has certainly expanded the short-game challenges on the course, but five years after my first visit, the fairway and greenside bunkers appeared more sharply carved and a bit more menacing.  The 71.3 rating and especially the 131 slope rating from the “short tees” (6,248 yards) certainly reflected the new premium on placement both off the tee and especially around the greens.  (Note:  To weather the long, hot summer, Thornblade has positioned a huge fan beside each green to ensure good air circulation and green greens.)

        Except for the 190+-yard 17th, the par 3s at Thornblade are on the short side -– one was just 119 yards -- although they are either well bunkered or elevated hit-or-miss affairs (or both).  The par 5s offered the best opportunities, as they typically do, to pick up a stroke or two. The major impediments to a good score at Thornblade from the “Enclave” tees I played were the par 4s.  On a golf course under 6,300 yards, you don’t expect to play two-shotters of 415 yards (the 13^th) and 442 yards (the 18^th), easily one of the toughest finishing holes in the state.  These were beastly challenges, although the 13^th, as befits a long hole, did not offer much in the way of hazards, its fairway bunkers well beyond tee-shot distance yet well inside the approach shot distances.  The only in-play bunker was the one that protected the back right of a green that sloped front right to rear left.

Fazio's longest par 4 at Thornblade, the finishing hole, is also its most narrow, with a fairway bunker in driving range below the hill on the right in the photo, and a creek that runs the entire length of the hole on the other side.  The creek encroaches on the right side of the green where a short approach into a bunker that guards the green and stops some shots from rolling into the creek might actually save a stroke or two.

        The 18^th, however, was an entirely different story, with a menacing view from the elevated tee box to a fairway that tilts from a bunker guarding the left side to a wide creek that guards the entire length of the right side, in play all the way.  To say the fairway appears narrow in the landing area is to understate the intimidation factor.  The reward for stopping your tee shot on what appears to be the width of a tilted jet wing is an uphill, 200+ yard shot to a green protected by the Sahara at front right and the Gobi along the left side.  The two-tiered green offers pin-placement opportunities from soothing to diabolical.

        Although the 23-year old Thornblade Club and its surrounding community, where homes range in price from the $400s to well over $1 million, grew up together, it is not a traditional golf community.  Although many of its members live within a few blocks of the club, Thornblade’s reputation draws families, empty nesters and retirees from near and farther (average age is 53).  For northern retirees not wedded to the idea of a gated golf community with a residents-only membership, Thornblade Club might just expand your horizons…and your short game.

        If you would like more information about Thornblade Club and local Greenville area real estate, please contact us.

Thornblade scorecard.