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Since his much ballyhooed apology, Tiger Woods has faded (again) from sight, leaving those associated with him to command some of the headlines. Cliffs Communities developer Jim Anthony is still waiting for his property owners to respond to his request for up to $100 million in financing to help finish what Anthony and Woods started at High Carolina, site of the fallen star’s first American golf course design. Meanwhile, inevitable skittishness that follows a developer’s financial problems is starting to work its magic on The Cliffs’ property values; we have spotted a number of “short-sale” properties in the Cliffs at prices 40% off their original listings, and one as low as $79,000.
Then, a few days ago, Gatorade swallowed hard and severed its ties with their main spokesperson. Now today comes word via an online Business Week article that the resort that hosted Woods’ apologia has gone bankrupt. The owners of the Marriott Sawgrass Resort, which has access to more than 85% of tee times at the famed TPC Sawgrass golf course next door, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Such filings give a firm an opportunity to reorganize but, with vacation and convention traffic not expected to rebound until next year, major debt-holder Goldman Sachs could wind up as majority owner of the resort.
The Pete Dye designed TPC Sawgrass golf course and its famed island green 17th hole is not owned by the bankrupt firm, but some golf villas, as well other resort facilities, are included in the filing. There is no word if a value has been attached to those ugly dark blue drapes that served as such an appropriately somber backdrop to Woods’ recitation.
From the back of the editor's condo in Pawleys Plantation to the 18th hole beyond in mid-February.
Winter golf in Carolinas defies expectations
I arrived at our vacation home in Pawleys Island, SC, on Friday February 12 expecting to get in either my first round of golf since last fall, or at least some practice on the Pawleys Plantation range. I awoke the next day to find five inches of snow on the ground, the most in the area south of Myrtle Beach in about two decades.
Disappointing, yes. But to adapt what Mark Twain once said of New England’s climate, “If you don’t like the winter weather on
“If you don’t like the winter weather on the Carolinas coast, wait a minute: It’ll change.”
the Carolinas coast, wait a minute: It’ll change.” By mid-afternoon, the snow had begun to melt, and by late afternoon, the most dedicated golfers at Pawleys were on the course, mushy patches of un-melted snow adding an additional hazard to the ponds, marsh and sand that characterize the Jack Nicklaus course.
In virtually all of the Carolinas, even in the foothills of the mountains, golf courses remain open year round, and it is possible, for those of a particularly active nature, to ski in the morning and then hustle down the mountain to get in a leisurely nine or a biathlon-type 18 holes in the afternoon. Under a heavy sweater, the golf may not be the most comfortable round you ever play, but you can just about guarantee it will be one of the fastest. The faster you grip and rip, the warmer your hands remain. And there is no better incentive on a cool day of golf than that roaring fireplace and a bracing beverage in the clubhouse at the end of the round.
In letter to us, noted architect calls for restraint in golf course design
Sunday, 28 February 2010 07:32
We received the following letter from John LaFoy, a noted American golf designer, in response to our recent newsletter article “Golf Designer Chic is Dead."
I was just forwarded your recent article regarding the fate of some current high profile real estate developments where you were kind enough to mention my name. I greatly appreciate the kind words regarding some of my golf courses, as they mean so much
Golf is really a pretty simple concept -- it has already been "invented."
more coming from someone like you. I have always believed that many of the "second tier" designers ultimately deliver as good a product as the big name guys, but it certainly sounds self-serving when it comes from us -- so thank you! I think way too often the "name" architects actually try too hard to justify their lofty fees by designing golf courses with features that may be off the charts from a playability and aesthetic standpoint. Golf is really a pretty simple concept -- it has already been "invented." It is indeed important to be creative, but way too often many of us go wrong when we try to think of something that hasn't been done yet. It is often a disaster! I'll try and not get on my soapbox or this note will be way too long.
Being here in Greenville (SC), I keep up pretty closely what is going on with the Cliffs developments, as well as other projects close by in the mountains of North Carolina. I am close-friends with the folks at Landscapes Unlimited, so I have followed the Seven Falls project at a distance. I hate to see any of these projects fail, as I think it sets back new golf oriented developments, and even worse, the game of golf to a certain extent. I guess the term "irrational exuberance" would not be totally inappropriate for some of the golf related developments completed in the past few years where the golf course as a stand-alone amenity was just unsustainable. That coupled with poor real estate sales just doomed these projects -- hopefully just temporarily!
You mentioned specifically the financial package at the Cliffs where the property owners have been asked to consider lending the developer enough capital to complete the amenities that they already have in the works. Let's hope that enough of them will participate and be confident that their investment in their own golf course community is a winner for both them and the developer!
Thank you again!
John (LaFoy)
John LaFoy has an impressive list of golf course designs in his portfolio, including the Linville Ridge Country Club (NC), Country Club of Charleston (SC), and Glenmore Golf Club (VA), whose community, as well as its golf course, is a favorite of ours. Mr. LaFoy, who is a former president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, has also remodeled some of the classic golf courses of Ross, Tillinghast, McDonald, Mackenzie and Raynor. I played the LaFoy-renovated layout at the Surf Club in Myrtle Beach, a fine example of a straightforward golf course where the designer does not intrude on shotmaking.
Whether it is feedback from some of their 1.2 million realtor members or their own professional epiphanies, National Association of Realtors (NAR) officials seem to a have abandoned their pump-sunshine-into-any-market communication philosophy. Their comments about the latest housing market results are actually balanced. However, just as a trend in the market itself will depend on a few months of consistent behavior, we want to see a string of unbiased observations from the NAR before we pronounce them “objective.”
“…the latest monthly sales decline is not encouraging, and raises concern about the strength of a recovery,” wrote NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in response to yesterday’s NAR report of a 7.2% decrease in January home sales compared with December’s results. He added that completed sales resulting from the federal homebuyer tax credit, which was extended in November, will show up in data over the next few months.
“Activity should be picking up strongly in late spring as buyers take advantage of the tax credit, which is critical to absorb distressed properties reaching the market and to continually chip away at inventory,” Yun added. “With a downtrend in the number of homes on the market, especially in the lower price ranges, values are beginning to firm but with great variance around the country.”
NAR President Vicki Cox-Golder’s additional comment, although tilted toward first-time buyers, provides guidance to those of us who may be looking at a vacation or retirement home and have the ability to pay in all cash.
“First-time buyers and others who need a mortgage are increasingly losing out to all-cash investors for the best bargains in many areas,” said Cox-Golder, “particularly for foreclosed homes where cash is king.”
When trying to negotiate a great deal with a motivated seller, no matter if they are a bank or an individual desperate to sell, cash is indeed king.
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