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Golf Community Reviews
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Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC, has been in the news lately for its five-year, $500,000 renovation program to restore the community's Jack Nicklaus Signature Course to a top ranking among the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach's 115 courses.
Writing in Golf Business magazine, Peter Blais indicates that 250 trees have been removed and others pruned to increase sunlight to the turf on the 1989 layout. The greens on the course, which had become thin on top and thick with organic material below the surface, are now under an aggressive agronomic program to promote grass growth, and all the sand traps are being refaced and reshaped. We know it is working because we played the course in March, and it was in its best condition in five years. Initiation fees are $15,000; a 4 BR, 3BA home in Pawleys Plantation is currently listed at $549,900. If you want to read the entire article, it is posted at the Nicklaus Design web site.
Speaking of Nicklaus, the upscale Fairmont chain has announced that Jack will design its new course on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Not only will the course be designated a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course, but also it will bear (pardon the pun) the distinction of being one of only 25 Jack Nicklaus Clubs worldwide. The Clubs are part of a network of Nicklaus designed clubs that provide reciprocal privileges. You will find more information at www.fairmontanguilla.com ...
Never to be outdone by Jack without a fight, Arnold Palmer recently announced something called Arnold Palmer Premier. As far as we can tell from the firm's press release, those courses designated "Premier" will be of the highest quality design and, therefore, carry higher design fees than The King's current highest price of $1.5 million; and the clubs will have to maintain a high level of service, quality and course conditions to retain their Premier status. In a recent interview in Golf Business, Erik Larsen, an exec with the Palmer Design group, said "Arnold likes to measure a place by how his friends and family would enjoy it, and not just once, but year after year." As long as they don't have to pay that design fee...
Rarity Ridge, one of the group of handsome Rarity Communities in eastern Tennessee, sent us a brochure recently touting a new release of properties and indicating two previous events had sold out in four hours. The copy mentions "One Day Only Pricing and Incentives" and an invitation to visit during the community's "Priority Selection Event weekend." To qualify to attend, you must provide a fully refundable $1,000 deposit. Only one problem: No dates are indicated for the special event. Just our luck: We'll give them the $1,000 and find out the event is the same weekend we've been invited to Pine Valley.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 April 2007 23:35 |
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Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:32 |
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Golf Digest vs. Joe Golfer |
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Golf Digest has just published its annual list of "America's 100 Greatest" golf courses a week after we received this year's Zagat's survey of "America's Top Golf Courses." There are two fundamental differences between the ratings: Golf Digest includes private, as well as public, courses; and the magazine rates the courses based on the opinions of a panel of 800 low handicappers, whereas Zagat relies on anyone willing to submit courses, ratings and a few words of support for their assessments. A comparison indicates that, for the most part, Joe Golfer knows his golf courses.
The two courses that receive perfect ratings of 30 in the Zagat survey, Pacific Dunes in Coos Bay, OR, and Whistling Straits in Kohler, WI, rank # 2 and #4 respectively on the Golf Digest list. Pebble Beach (#1 in the magazine) ranks a near perfect 29 in Zagat. The two lists concur on a number of other top courses, with the Zagat list of 29s being matched by the magazine's top courses, including Bethpage Black (#5), Steve Wynn's for-high-rollers-only Shadow Creek in Las Vegas (#6), Bandon Dunes, OR (#7), the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, SC (#8), and Arcadia Bluffs in Arcadia, MI (#10).
A few surprises: Pinehurst #2, ranked third in Golf Digest, rates "only" a 28 on the Zagat list; and The Prince Course in Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii, rates a top 10 at #9 in the magazine and just a 27 in Zagat's. Those who rated it for Zagat called The Prince a "treacherous test" and advised bringing "aspirin," "a lot of golf balls," "your sense of humor," and money for the $175 greens fees.
There are just a handful of community golf courses on the Golf Digest list, including Cuscowilla, in Eatontown, GA, which we have reviewed here, rated 58th on the Digest public course list. On the overall list of the best 100, including public and private courses, Wade Hampton, in Cashiers, NC, at #15, is the highest-rated course within a neighborhood. The house-free Pine Valley in New Jersey is #1 once again.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 April 2007 09:46 |
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Tuesday, 10 April 2007 16:44 |
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The People Speak: Caledonia, Cuscowilla rate highly in new Zagat guide |
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Yesterday's trip to the mailbox was eventful. The new Zagat guide to America's Top Golf Courses arrived. We were pleased to see a few old friends rated near the top of the list of the nation's best public-accessible courses.
The Zagat guide gives all of us golfers the opportunity to be a rater, just like the guys at Golf Digest. Zagat publishes its rankings based on four criteria -- the quality of the course, the facilities, services and perceived value - and also lists the average cost of greens fee.
Only two tracks rated perfect scores of 30 in the new 2007/08 edition -- the Pacific Dunes course at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, and the Whistling Straits course in Kohler, Wisconsin. One of our favorites, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, finished at an overall rating of 29, joining such elite company as Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Spyglass Hill, The Ocean Course at Kiawah and Kapalua Plantation on Maui.
"Guide" is the operative word for the Zagat rankings. What accounts for a less-than-two-year old course in Connecticut, the well-regarded Lake of Isles North, rating the same as Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black and the others at 29? Perhaps those who have played it need to justify the $200 they paid. Also, Crumpin Fox, a much beloved course in Massachusetts that we have played, rates the same as Pinehurst #2 and the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass (a score of 28). Sorry. Crumpin Fox's loyal following has either lost its collective mind or never played Pinehurst #2 or Sawgrass (we're betting on the latter).
Also of note are the highly rated courses in golf course communities we intend to visit in the coming months, chief among them the Oconee and Great Waters courses at Reynolds Plantation, in rural Georgia which pulled in a rating of 28. Reynolds is just across Lake Oconee from Cuscowilla, the terrific Moore/Crenshaw layout we played last summer. It rates a 27 in the Zagat guide but, trust me, it is at least as good as Crumpin Fox.
The Zagat guide is $15.95 and can be ordered through the company's web site at www.zagat.com. If you participate in next year's survey, Zagat will send you a free copy. Details are at the web site.
Seeing red: Cuscowilla's traps are mentioned in the latest Zagat guide.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 April 2007 10:36 |
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 03:47 |
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Data points: Waiting for the next big thing |
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January clearly is not the best month for golf equipment sales. It is still a few months before the season starts up north and a few weeks before the big golf show season begins with the introduction of new technology. That said, this past January was pretty much a disappointing one for pro shop sales, on a comparative basis.
Compared with January 2006, sales of all golf equipment and accessories was down across the board in both dollars and units, and not insignificantly so (according to a chart in Golf Business magazine whose source was Golf Datatech). Equipment sales in units fell between 10% and 12%, with balls down 9.7%. Dollar volume losses were more moderate in view of price increases across all lines, except for woods, whose prices dropped an average 4.8%, leading to an overall retails sales drop of 15.5%. With the new square Nike driver, the Sumo 2, recalled in mid-March for not conforming to USGA specifications, and no other drivers achieving break-through status, I may wait for a price drop on that Titleist 905R driver, the one Zach Johnson used at the Masters.
Golf Business, again courtesy of Datatech, published an interesting chart in its April issue. It displayed rounds played in January state by state compared with January 2006. The red numbers are across the board, with an average loss of rounds of 16.3% nationwide. Only Oregon, up just 1.5% in rounds played, and Connecticut, up an astounding 50%, were in the plus column. Every golfer in Connecticut must have scooted out to the courses the first week in January when the temperatures were well into the 50s and courses that had closed reopened for a few days. We took advantage of the weather surprise, and although the hairy, uncut greens putted like burlap, it was an unexpected treat to be able to play the day after New Years.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 April 2007 04:46 |
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Tuesday, 10 April 2007 04:41 |
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Zillow fun, not very accurate |
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Zillow.com is a great idea, a site where homeowners and potential buyers, as well as nosy neighbors, can get an up-to-date appraisal of values for most homes in the U.S. In theory, Zillow does what your real estate agent is supposed to do, but without a contract or promise of commission. But how helpful are its estimates?
Our response is "not very," at least not yet.
To arrive at a "Zestimate," or an appraisal of a specific home's value, Zillow incorporates previous selling prices, comparable selling prices in the area and all the niggling little details about individual homes (such as number of rooms, square footage, taxes, etc.). Zillow falls short in that it can't get down to the level of granite kitchen counters vs. formica, or upgraded faucets vs. builders' basics.
We've taken Zillow for test drives before and have found its results inconsistent, sometimes spitting out numbers for our neighbors' (and our) homes that seem realistic, and at other times going off the reality charts. Not every home in America is in Zillow's database, and when we checked on a listing for our condo in Pawleys Island today, it was not there. But our next-door neighbor's home, with the same layout and square footage as our unit but with less of a view, was Zestimated - at a whopping $493,000. That is a good $175,000 more than what local real estate agents say would be a realistic fetching price for such a unit. Mind you, Zillow does cover itself by including a range of values for the unit, in this case from just under $300,000 to the what-are-you-smoking top price of $780,000.
Our advice is to use Zillow just for hoots for now, but if you are planning on selling your house - or buying one, for that matter - you will still get the best estimate from a qualified real estate agent.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 04 April 2007 05:47 |
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Wednesday, 04 April 2007 05:43 |
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