Golf Community Reviews

    We happened upon a fun web site the other day that is loaded with all sorts of interesting data about cities. It is appropriately named City-Data.com, and the site includes numerous lists of Top 100 cities for one thing or another.  The topics are wide-ranging and diverse.
    One that caught our eye was "Most restaurants per zip code."  After scanning the top of the list which, not surprisingly, included really big cities like New York, whose zip codes held the top 11 positions, and Chicago, San Francisco and Las Vegas in the next three positions, #15 was held by zip code 29577 in Myrtle Beach, SC.  At 141 "full-service" restaurants, the Myrtle Beach zip offers just one fewer restaurant than the zip code in Las Vegas.  
    The 27 square mile 29577 zip code area includes the center of the town's beach area, including the former Myrtle Beach Pavilion, which was torn down last year to make way for a housing development overlooking the ocean.  With a population of just 30,000 in zip code 29577, no one is going to go hungry with 141 restaurants available.  However, these are not exactly gourmet food establishments.  Most of the restaurants are seafood buffets, chains (like Olive Garden) or pancake houses, attractive to many of the beach tourists in the summer who do not have cooking facilities in their rooms.  (Many of the 141 restaurants close down in winter because of lack of business.)  But if you look hard, you can find the occasional decent eatery in the group, including the Carolina Roadhouse Highway 17 and 48th Street North, one of our family's favorites for many years.
    The 29577 zip code comprises a few interesting golf courses, including the venerable Myrtlewood, with some holes that play along the Intracoastal Waterway; Whispering Pines, the underestimated municipal course favored by locals and a few visitors; and Pine Lakes International, currently closed for renovations but the "Grandaddy of Them All," the first course opened in Myrtle Beach and the site of the founding of Sports Illustrated magazine.

    Click here for a map of zip code 29577. 

Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, one of the best in the nation, charges at high season about what it costs me per round to play as a member at the two clubs to which I belong.

    I have been a member of a private golf club for 23 years and a semi-private one for the last nine.  Long before the latest threat of recession, I worried about the economics of carrying two golf course memberships - one in Connecticut near our primary home, and one in South Carolina where we maintain a second home.  In 1990, the year after my son was born, and when I belonged only to the one course in Connecticut, I played just a handful of rounds at a cost of about $400 per.  Pebble Beach green fees at the time were about half that.  Last year I played my course up north 12 times and my southern course just 10.  I'm an ideal member, at least from the club CFOs' points of view.
    Combined dues in my two clubs top $800 a month or almost $10,000 annually, and this year I calculate that my son and I, the only two golfers in the family, will play a total of 50 rounds at both courses at a net cost of

about $192 per round (I'm ignoring any cart fees because we'd pay for them elsewhere).  We are doing a lot of traveling this summer, and most of his fall and spring golf is played at college.
    Coincidentally, $192 is the highest fee charged during the year at the terrific Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, not three miles from our condo.  The rest of the year, especially in those summer months when we tend to be in South Carolina, Caledonia's green fees are about $80 per round.  Other outstanding courses within 15 minutes of the condo are available for $60 and less.  In Connecticut, within an hour of our home, we have access to outstanding daily fee layouts for less than $100.  Recently, a nice private course on the side of a mountain, and just seven minutes from our home, converted to a public facility.  Wintonbury Hills, a wonderful Pete Dye design in Bloomfield, CT, and no farther away (18 minutes) than our private course, charges non-members just $70 at the height of the season, cart included.
    Couples I talk with who are nearing retirement are seriously considering maintaining two homes - one to continue close links with family and friends up north, and another to realize their dream of living next to or near a course in warmer climes.  In most cases, only the husband is a golfer and he intends to play no more than three or four days a week, or less than 200 times a year.  That will work out to about $50 a round (assuming  dues of about $10,000 annually).  That $50 is something of a "break-even" point for private club membership, about what you would pay as a walk-on at most decent daily fee clubs in the southern U.S.  But, of course, the private club offers much more, including easier arrangements for tee times, a feeling of belonging to a group, planned activities, a clubhouse for dining and other social events, and an involved membership that is likely to push for high standards of maintenance on the course.

    I haven't factored initiation fees into this discussion, but if you join a non-equity club (i.e. one in which your initial member fee is not returned when you leave the club), you should consider that cost as well.  A $25,000 initiation fee, for example, equates to a few years of $100 rounds at daily-fee courses.
    As many of us go from careers to life on fixed incomes, we need to consider how best to balance the dream of belonging to a private club (or two) with the reality of the economics of membership and the availability of so much excellent golf virtually everywhere.  I am considering the dilemma right now.

 

 

The Pete Dye designed Wintonbury Hills in Bloomfield, CT, is as good and well-maintained as most private courses in the area.  The par 4 5th hole is short but tricky.

    In every bad market, someone benefits.  In the Great Depression, the relatively few people not over-invested in the stock market had the cash to buy distressed properties and companies and make a fortune.  So it is today, as community developers and builders try to move existing inventory and keep their workers employed and their companies afloat in this horrendous housing market.  If you are sitting on cash, you have some nice options for vacation or retirement properties right now; and if you wait, many experts say, you will do even better.  Yesterday Merrill Lynch predicted the average selling prices for U.S. homes will drop a further 15% this

year and another 10% in 2009 before finally leveling off in 2010.   We might question the predictive abilities of a firm that lost billions of dollars in a few months, but most economists -- in other words, those who don't work for the National Association of Realtors -- agree we are in for another 18 months or more of pain.

    While you are waiting, though, the price of doing a little research to help decide where you might invest that cash is getting cheaper and cheaper.   A few days ago, we received one invitation to visit a community for a cost less than heating our home for a day.  The 1,750-acre Brunswick Plantation, a 17-year old North Carolina community just north of Myrtle Beach, will put you up for just $10 per night if you stay a couple of nights and even less if you hang around for a few more days.  Brunswick includes 27 holes of golf designed by Willard Byrd that are open to the public but are also available for membership (the $25,000 initiation fee is waived with purchase of  property).  I haven't played the courses in many years, and all 27 underwent massive renovations two years ago, but I found positive reviews online, including this rave from last July:  "We played all 3 of the courses and found them to be in really top shape. The greens were really smooth and rolled great!" Green fees are $80.

    The $10 deal is only good until March 7 and, of course, you will have to put up with a tour and sales pitch, but an overnight in a nice condo sure beats a cheap motel with thin walls.  The Brunswick web site also promises a $750 a month "lease-back" program with the purchase of a condo.  

     To check availability and make your reservation, you can call 800-835-4533, ext. 6928.  If you do go, please let us know if you have a good visit, or it the $10 price is too good to be true.

 

 

 

     

     

The Davis Love III course at The Preserve is the most challenging in the Chapel Hill area.  Trouble from tee to green on the 18th is just a taste of what comes before.

    What do you do if you love the mountains and your spouse wants to spend her sexagenarian days near the beach?  Is the answer, say, Chapel Hill, essentially halfway between, or is that a compromise that ultimately will satisfy neither?
    More and more baby boomer couples face this dilemma. I am working with a couple split between relocating to Asheville (him) and anywhere within 15 minutes of the beach (her).  In the name of family harmony, they

have asked me to suggest private golf communities within two hours of the beach and about the same distance from the mountains.
    We all tend to idealize, and sometimes rationalize, where we live.  When my wife and I made the decision to leave New York City for Connecticut almost 25 years ago, we knew we were giving up the excitement of the big city for a slower pace and arguably better place to raise children.  We swore that the two hours to New York and Boston was close enough and that we would visit both often.  As it turned out, we have not averaged even two trips a year.
    Let's face it:  When you are two hours from the beach or mountains, both destinations look less and less attractive after that first or second trip.  You had better hope that where you live offers both of you a stimulating lifestyle, beyond just golf.
    The following "sanctuary" cities between the mountains and the deep blue sea are worth considering.

    Charlottesville, VA, is less than three hours to Virginia Beach, 30 minutes to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Golf courses are open year round, but a heavy sweater will be in order a few months in winter.  No matter.  You can spend winter days hanging out in this university town (University of Virginia), especially at the convivial downtown mall, with a wide range of restaurants and shops and a large outdoor concert area at one end.  Charlottesville has plenty to offer in the way of culture and big time collegiate sports.  Communities worth considering in the area include Keswick, developed by the UK's Orient-Express Group, with $1 million+ homes and a dramatic Arnold Palmer designed course and baronial clubhouse that also accommodates a few well-heeled guests; Glenmore (homes begin in the mid-six figures), whose up and down John LaFoy layout has a few Scottish touches; and Old Trail, whose suburban ethos, as well as a Noah's Ark full of animals, was on display in last year's movie, Evan Almighty, and with homes that begin below $500,000, an owner-designed golf course and town center within walking range of most homes.  If three hours from the beach is too far, split the difference and consider Richmond, just 90 minutes from Virginia Beach.

    Chapel Hill, NC, is a little over two hours from Wilmington and the beach, and less than that to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Chapel Hill is everything we say about Charlottesville (above), and more.  The University of North Carolina, Duke and NC State provide a vibrancy, and economic stability, that few other areas in the nation offer, as well as a wide array of adult education courses and part-time job opportunities in the thriving Triangle area.  At the high end of the housing market, consider Governor's Club, with 27 holes of Nicklaus Signature golf and an involved membership (homes from around $700,000); Chapel Ridge, popular with families as well as retirees who enjoy the sporty Fred Couples designed course; and the Preserve at Jordan Lake, with a Davis Love layout that remains one of the toughest daily fee golf courses we've played.  Like Chapel Ridge, The Preserve features homes in the mid-six figures area, a nice mix of young and old residents, and a lake just outside the gates.  Durham, Raleigh, and Greensboro are also options that will put you between mountains and ocean.

    Aiken, SC, is about 2 ½ hours from Charleston and Hilton Head, and less than an hour from the mountains of upstate South Carolina.  Aiken's major university is a branch of the State U and cannot compare to Charlottesville or Chapel Hill in terms of entertainment and culture options.  But if you are looking for a laid-back lifestyle in the biggest horse-oriented area between Kentucky and Florida, Aiken's rolling terrain and reasonably priced homes are worth an exploratory visit, especially if you can score a ticket to the Master's golf tournament (Augusta is just 15 minutes away).  Mount Vintage Plantation, which we reviewed here the other day, is at the  high end in these parts, with homes set amid pastures and a neat Tom Jackson 27-hole layout, starting in the high mid-six figures.  Nearby Woodside Plantation (about the same prices as Mount Vintage) features 54 holes of designer golf; and Cedar Creek Plantation, an everyman's community with an Arthur Hills golf course that is peanuts to join.  A more recently opened community, Pine Ridge Plantation, offers lots that begin around $50,000. (Note:  the Pine Ridge web site has a "suspended" sign on it; we will try to figure out what that's about in the coming days.)

    Interested?  If you want more information on these or any other communities in the southern U.S., hit the contact button at the top of the page and we will be happy to offer our thoughts with no obligation or cost to you.

 

John LaFoy may not be a well-known golf course designer, but those in the field respect his work.  At Glenmore, just outside Charlottesville, LaFoy made the most of elevation changes and added a few flourishes of his own, including keeping the course at arm's length from the surrounding homes.

    In the movie "As Good as it Gets," Melvin Udall, the obsessive-compulsive and acerbic author played by Jack Nicholson, is asked how he is able to write about women with such accuracy.  "I think of a man," says Udall, "and I take away reason and accountability."
    He could have been talking about the spin doctors at the National Association of Realtors.  Earlier this week, in issuing yet another blast of hot air across a frozen landscape, the NAR's public relations geniuses reported the disastrous December housing results with the half-heaven, half-heartache headline, "Existing-home Sales Down in December but 2007 was Fifth Highest on Record."
    Yesterday we learned that home sales last year dropped 13%, the largest decline in 25 years.  With the effects of baby boomer relocations and the simple momentum from a growing population, 2007 should have been the highest on record.  "Fifth Highest" is faint praise indeed.  The rest of the press release piles on the excuses for the performance.  I have never quite understood why the economists at the NAR force themselves to be so relentlessly positive, all logic and expert commentary by others to the contrary.  Do they think the realtors they represent as well as the rest of us don't read the newspapers?  Does the housing market operate in an alternate reality we mere mortals just cannot understand?  It's embarrassing, and dangerous, for those making potential buying decisions based on the junk the NAR puts out.
    Here's NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun's brilliant (not) analysis of the current situation.
    "Home sales remain weak despite improved affordability conditions in many parts of the country, but we could get a quick boost to the market if loan limits are raised in combination with the bold cut in the Fed funds rate."
    I am certainly no economist, nor do I play one on this blog site, but here is my own alternate reality.
    "Home sales remain weak because people can't afford to sell their primary homes, or are bumping up against foreclosure, or are just simply scared to make any move with the market in such turmoil.  The bold cut in interest rates which could artificially buoy home sales in the short term, but quite possibly won't, may have unintended negative consequences for the general economy down the road, thereby perpetuating the housing crisis."
    Yesterday's Wall Street Journal indicated that formerly strong markets like Charlotte and Portland are starting to see much higher inventories of unsold homes, a sign that we are likely in for more pain before relief.  Yet Yun is virtually alone on the planet in predicting a modest turnaround during the second half of 2008.  
    I defer on esoteric matters of economics to my brother Bob, who runs  the investment advisory firm Seasonal Strategy on the west coast.  Bob predicts a two-year bear market in housing.
    "Look at what Goldman Sachs said in the last few days [about the continuing housing woes].  Now who do you trust?" Bob asks.  "A bunch of yutzes with an ax to grind, or arguably the smartest investment bank in the history of the planet, one of the only financial institutions that actually profited from the sub-prime debacle, with a massively ballsy trade?"
    Those contemplating the purchase of a piece of property or home in the more stable areas of the southern U.S. might want to keep their powder dry for at least a few months more and keep an eye on relatively strong markets like Charlotte.  If inventories continue to rise, be careful.  And, we beg you, do not take seriously anything you read from the NAR (you can read their press release by clicking here if you dare).  They are masters of deceit and insult.  After emphasizing lower housing prices, lower mortgage rates and higher incomes (guess he didn't look at the latest unemployment figures), the NAR's Yun concludes, "but [my emphasis] many potential buyers are delaying a purchase."  In other words, those of you out there who aren't rushing to purchase a new home are stupid.  
    You have to wonder who these jerks at the NAR think their customers are?  They are certainly not doing their realtor members or the rest of us any favors.

The first hole at Mount Vintage gives a taste of the rest of the course and the Aiken area's terrain.

    The first golf community I ever visited for review purposes, more than three years ago, was the fledgling Mount Vintage Plantation in Aiken, SC.  As with love, I guess you never forget your first golf course community.  I have a bit of a soft spot for Mount Vintage.  Yesterday, I did a little follow-up research.
    I had forgotten that the course was semi-private.   When I played it in 2004, the course conditions, layout and clubhouse gave off a members-only vibe.  Director of Golf Jay Rush told me yesterday that the club plans to go private as soon as the membership rolls reach 600.  Currently, the roster is 450, but with the addition of nine holes that open on March 15 - no bewaring of the Ides of March at Mount Vintage - the club anticipates

additional interest.  Member initiation fees are pegged at $25,000 and include access to the tennis facility, fitness center and pool.  Dues for the most expensive member category do not top $300, a bargain for this kind of quality golf.  For those who own a lot in Mount Vintage but live outside the area, dues are just $95 a month for full golf access with no green fees.
    Green fees for walk-ons are at the higher end in these parts, $95 plus tax on weekdays and $125 on the weekend.  Augusta and its famed Master's golf tournament are a few miles away; don't attempt to play the course during the week of the Master's unless you are on a nice expense account.  Green fees are $1,200 per foursome.  Some residents pay for one or two months worth of their mortgage payments by renting out their homes to pro golfers and corporate visitors attending the annual tournament.
    Since our visit, Mount Vintage has added another nine holes by original designer Tom Jackson, one of the more consistent architects working in the southeastern U.S.  His track at the Cliffs at Glassy Mountain remains my favorite of the dozen or so of his layouts I've played, but Mount Vintage, without the drama of a 4,000-foot-high setting, is a close second.
    Aiken is a refined, small southern town with small retail stores, coffee shops and restaurants, as well as the largest urban forest in America.  For those who do not require the topographical drama of the mountains or coast, Aiken's rolling hills are loaded with colonial charm and many horse farms, a throwback to the mid-19th Century when the gentry of Charleston and their horses spent the summers in Aiken to escape the heat and malaria of the city.  Aiken has retained its equestrian bent for 150 years, and for those who either own horses or enjoy polo matches and the races, the area is ideal.
    A variety of homes and lots are available in Mount Vintage.  A nice looking three bedroom, three-bath home on a patio lot (1/4 to ½ acre) adjacent to the 10th tee box and 18th green recently sold for just under $650,000.  Many lots are still available as are homes that begin in the mid-six figures and range up to $1 million plus, horse pastures optional. 
    Please let me know if you are interested in a visit to Mount Vintage, the nearby Woodside Plantation (54 holes of golf by Nicklaus Design, Rees Jones and Bob Cupp) and Cedar Creek Plantation, with its Arthur Hills design and incredibly reasonable prices.  We will be happy to arrange for one of the best real estate agents in Aiken to show you all the communities in the area, with no cost or obligation whatsoever.

 

The 4th hole at Sewanee Golf Club in Tennessee featured the narrowest green I had ever played.

 

    Today marks the first anniversary of GolfCommunityReviews.  By my calculations, we have produced more than 350 separate articles here over the last 365 days, a mix of reviews, observations and the occasional rant.  For those contemplating a move to a golf community in the southern U.S., I hope we have provided some food for thought, some cautionary tales as well as some confidence about making the move.  Moreover, we hope we have armed you with some questions to ask when you visit a community or work with a real estate agent. Please note, we maintain a network of agents we have qualified as most knowledgeable about all the communities in their area.  We are currently working with three couples looking for their dream homes on the course.    

    As I look back on this first year, here are the highlights:
    The saddest few minutes of the year hit us on the drive up the 18th hole at Tom Fazio's Ocean Links course at Wild Dunes on Isle of Palms, SC.  During the first week in August when we played the entertaining course, giant white sand bags along the fairway and at greenside obscured some views of the ocean and appeard to be

fighting a losing battle. Many of the bags were shredding, and the sea had already taken a bite out of the left side of the green.  Our worst fears were realized a month later when we read that the sea had won and the green had collapsed onto the beach...
    The college application and matriculation process for my son was a boon to my discovery of some out of the way but excellent golf courses.  On a college visit to Sewanee, TN, last February, we stopped to play at the local nine hole Sewanee Golf Club, which was built by members and college faculty more than 50 years ago.  The highlight of the course was what could be the narrowest green in America, the par three 4th hole which was perched on the edge of the mountain.  At its front, where the pin was located on the day we played, it was not more than eight yards across.  Back to front, the green measured about 120 feet; a back pin position was no more than 10 yards from the edge of the mountain, unprotected by fence, wall or vegetation...
    Later, we would play both the Vista Links course in Buena Vista, VA, six miles from Washington & Lee University, my son's eventual college choice, and the Lexington Golf Club, just a mile from the school.  My son and his golf team use Vista Links for practice rounds and Lexington for one tournament a year.  Both were delightful surprises, Vista a wide open sweeping layout by Rick Jacobson with great views of the Shenandoah Mountains, and Lexington, a classic Ellis Maples layout that threads its way through the woods and whose finishing hole over water to a small green perched on a hill was one of the toughest I played all year...

 

The 15th hole at Sugarloaf in Pennsylvania is a monster, with little room for bailout.   

    On a trip from Connecticut back to Lexington after Thanksgiving recess, we stopped a few miles from I-81 in Pennsylvania at the Sugarloaf Golf Club, a Geoffrey Cornish design near the town of Sugarloaf.  Cornish designed our home course of Hop Meadow in Connecticut, and we were curious about playing another course with similar provenance.  We were not disappointed in the classic mountain layout, but we were taken aback by the par 3 15th, the toughest three-stroke hole either of us had ever played, a 260-yard monster from the tips over a ravine and water to a sloping green with a false front...
    The year brought some other pleasant surprises as well, as at the North Hampton Golf Club in Fernandina Beach, FL, the first Arnold Palmer design I had ever played that wasn't ham-fisted in its use of bunkering and slopes.  Part links-type course, part parkland, North Hampton combined the best of both.  I almost didn't notice the homes surrounding the course...

 

The par 4 14th hole at River Place is but one of many whose sloping fairways make placement difficult on the Austin course.   

    I made my first "research" trip west of the Mississippi River, to Austin, TX, where an online survey I had taken a few years ago had told me I wanted to live (i.e. The Texas Hill Country).  My wife took the same survey and found she truly wanted to live in New York, Boston or San Francisco.  She says she'll miss me.  Seriously, though, Austin has terrific golf courses, wonderful hill views (like San Francisco), a carefree attitude and a budding traffic problem (an issue with virtually all towns whose populations have grown faster than their abilities to plan).  One morning I passed a traffic jam a half hour from the city.  All courses in the Austin area offered great views and differing golfing experiences.  Most memorable, from a visual standpoint, was River Place, whose dramatic ups and downs were too extreme when it first opened in the early 1980s; the course was redone after just two years of operation.  Although I had been forewarned that the course was "tricked up" and I was annoyed at losing a few balls on "blind" shots to fairways, I found River Place enough of a challenge to want to give it another go someday...

 

The view from behind the 2nd green at the University of Texas Golf Club is typical of others on the course. 

    But the best layout and country club experience for me in the Austin area was the University of Texas Golf Club, a Bechtol-Russell design that wove its way through the huge Steiner Ranch community.  I just wish I had thought to wear something orange so I could have blended in a little better.  This is "horns (as in Texas Longhorns) territory, and the university's symbols and burnt orange colors are everywhere, even around the mirrors in the rest rooms out on the course.  Typically, I'll downgrade a course with homes so close to its perimeter - especially homes that are literally 10 to 15 yards from each other - but at the UT Club, the homes were either well above or well below the fairways, making it appear they weren't as close as they actually were, really a masterwork of golf community course design.  Sadly, UT suffered a disaster of its own last month when its almost-completed $16 million clubhouse burned to the ground.  If the positive attitude I encountered with every employee I met is a predictor, a second clubhouse will open by the end of the year, as club officials have promised...

 

Chapel Hill has many positive attractions, not least The Finley Golf Club.   

    Speaking of universities, the University of North Carolina has a pretty fair track itself, The Finley Golf Club, located in a town that has everything except a beach.  Chapel Hill is the ultimate college town, with not only UNC but also Duke and NC State an easy drive away.  Sports, adult education, a hip vibe and great restaurants, as well as real estate that hadn't quite skyrocketed before the housing bust - and hasn't plummeted since -- make it my favorite pick for anyone willing to wear a sweater on the golf course a few days during the winter.

    If you are interested in Chapel Hill or any place else, please contact us.  We maintain contacts with well-qualified real estate agents throughout the southern U.S.  At no cost or obligation to you whatsoever, we can put you in touch with someone who knows all the golfing communities and private courses in their local area.  This will save you time and research during the sometimes arduous process of finding your dream home on the course.
    Thank you for visiting GolfCommunityReviews.com, and please do not hesitate to make suggestions on how we can improve the site.

    We have added a new feature to the site, a calendar that serves two functions.  First, if you have been away from your computer and want to catch up on what you missed, just simply click on a date and that day's posting will appear.  Second, a handful of photos have been loaded into the calendar and they will appear at random when you come to the site.  Click on the photo and you will see a larger version and an identifying line.  We will be refreshing the photos in the calendar from time to time.  If you can't wait for random luck to give you a peek at all of them, just refresh your screen and a new one will pop up.  For those of us suffering through a cold winter in the north, that might just provide a little relief.