Golf Community Reviews

        A week ago, a fifth supermarket opened in the Pawleys Island, SC, area. The sprawling Publix joins Food Lion, Lowes, Fresh Market and Bi-Lo within a five-mile stretch of Highway 17. From the gate at Pawleys Plantation, for example, it takes less than a minute to reach the one-year-old Lowes, 15 seconds more to enter the Food Lion parking lot, another minute or two to arrive at Publix and another three minutes to Fresh Market. Bi-Lo, where prices tend to be a smidgen lower than at the competitors, is way out there at an additional four minutes, if there isn't any traffic.  (See photos of all below)
        That densely packed collection of supermarkets befits a thriving metropolis, not seasonal, lightly populated towns like Pawleys Island and the adjacent Litchfield Beach. Although the summer finds thousands of Carolinians heading for the four-mile strip of ocean sand, and the spring and fall seasons attract thousands of northern golfers to some of the best golf courses on the east coast, it is hard to imagine that the incursion of supermarkets is anything but strategic...the same approach that drug chains and gas stations appear to take. (e.g. If a CVS pharmacy opens on one corner, look for a Walgreens and/or Rite Aid to open at the same intersection to thwart any monopoly on business.)
        The most modern of the supermarkets, opened just in the last two years, are Lowes, Publix and Fresh Market. Food Lion and Bi-Lo, more traditional supermarkets, have slightly less elaborate choices but generally lower prices. With a year-round population of 12,000 and a seasonal population that probably doesn't pass 20,000, something will eventually give in terms of the area's supermarkets. Until then, visitors to Pawleys Island and especially those who choose to live in one of the area's golf communities, (DeBordieu Colony, Pawleys Plantation, Heritage Plantation and the string of communities less than two minutes from the Bi-Lo, Tradition, Willbrook and River Club, and the private Reserve at Litchfield) will never run out of food sources and will enjoy the extra benefit of price competition and a vast selection of things to cook and eat. For those who like to cook and play golf, we know of no better place on the east coast.

        LINKS magazine's Spring edition includes a ranking of the best states for golf, according to article author Jim Moriarity. The author admits his list is "a subjective state-by-state ranking of American golfiness"; the subjective nature of the list will be the only thing all readers of the ranking list are likely to agree on. You might think that the ability to play golf year round is a major factor in the rankings, but other factors -– such as total rounds played, championships hosted, and number of golf facilities -- weigh more heavily in the LINKS rankings, since after #1 Florida, the golfiest states are Michigan (#2) and Ohio (#3).
        California, which presents all sorts of climates along its 840 miles of coastline, comes in at #4. The honor of the Southeast is held by South Carolina, which the magazine ranks #5, and where "passion" for the game of golf ranks first among all the states; golf in the U.S. actually came ashore 276 years ago in Charleston. Georgia golf weighs in at #9, North Carolina at #13, Maryland at #25, Virginia at #27 and Delaware at #46.  You can read the LINKS article and golf rankings here.
With a wonderful mix of modern and classic golf courses, such as the Donald Ross designed Camden Country Club, South Carolina golfers have much to be passionate about.

        For more than two years, we have listed golf homes for sale at our companion site, GolfHomesListed.com. Thousands of people visited the site to look at pictures and at brief details about homes in some of the finest golf communities in the Southeast. But when we asked for a name and email address in order to show more details about a particular listing, we scared off many of them. Okay, that's life on the Internet.
        With the launch of a new set of pages here at Golf Community Reviews, we have removed that impediment. As of today, if you want to see the complete group of listings in any of our three-dozen recommended golf communities, you can do so without any requirement of name and email address.
        All we ask in return for this free service is that, if you choose to work with any of our professional golf home specialists, you tell them we referred you. Our only compensation is via a referral fee if you decide to buy a property from one of these Realtors, and the only way we can collect is if you tell them we sent you. The referral fees help us maintain this site and continue to post helpful information. We also intend to add more golf communities in the coming weeks.
        To use this free service, click on the "Golf Homes for Sale" tab above (or click here). Choose the state you are

interested in, then the area of choice and then the community or communities in that area. We provide information about each community and an easy link to a full complement of listings for the community you choose. We encourage you to contact the professional golf home specialist for that community and, of course, to tell them Golf Community Reviews sent you.
        If you would like personalized assistance in your search for a golf home in the Southern U.S., I encourage you to fill out our free online Golf Home Questionnaire. It takes just a few minutes but will give us enough information to put together an initial list of recommendations of those golf communities that match your criteria. After that, we can refine the list together and, when you are ready, schedule visits. Most of the golf communities we work with offer specially priced "discovery" visits that treat you like a resident and club member for a few days. We can help you tailor those visits to your needs and schedule.
        Thank you for your continuing interest and support of Golf Community Reviews. If you have any suggestions for improving this site, please contact the editor, Larry Gavrich.

 

        In the last week, I have played two golf courses in the Low Country between Myrtle Beach and Charleston that will appeal to those spry retirees and younger golfers looking for a club that encourages walking.
        "Most of our members walk the course," said Director of Golf Pete Dunham about Snee Farm Country Club's golf course. That was my impression on a wet day at Snee where golf carts were confined to cart paths only; if I hadn't been toting a camera bag, I would have been tempted to walk myself, like most of the other players I saw.
        Snee Farm was designed by George Cobb, and because the club has not engaged anyone to update it in 40 years, you see it pretty much the way the well-respected Mr. Cobb intended it, but with one caveat: Over time, the greens have shrunk, as happens at many courses that don't pay close attention to mowing practices, and the greenside bunkers have pulled away, making them less a hazard but also making the now smaller greens more difficult to hit in regulation. I liked the Snee Farm layout but it is likely a much more leisurely challenge than it was intended to be by Cobb. (Snee Farm has hosted the Rice Planters amateur tournament for four decades, and the winning score over four days is typically 18 under par, according to Pete Dunham.)
        The other golf course, The Reserve at Litchfield Beach, is a more modern layout by Greg Norman that was recently refreshed by Richard Mandell, a Pinehurst-based architect who specializes in making good golf courses significantly better.  At The Reserve, he certainly accomplished that -– I have played both the before and after versions –- especially by reshaping fairway and greenside bunkers.  One interesting aspect of the refurbishment is the contrast in sands Mandell used -– brown, almost beach sand for the fairway bunkers and white for the greenside bunkers. It provides an interesting visual effect.  I was impressed that The Reserve doesn't hide its pull carts; they are front and center at the bag drop, a welcome sign for golfers who would rather pull than carry.  Perhaps the most impressive aspect about The Reserve is that it is part of the McConnell Golf Group; Reserve members have access to McConnell's other nine private golf courses in the Carolinas, and they are among the best (including three by Donald Ross).  I'll be featuring McConnell Golf in an upcoming blog posting.
        The greens on both these courses were excellent, but The Reserve's had been cut prior to my round and Snee's, because of rain for two days before, were a little fluffy.  But the turf was clearly in good shape and will only get better as the growing season kicks into high gear.
        Below is a visual taste of each course.  Look for more extended comments in the coming weeks.

Sand and water meet at greenside on The Reserve's par 4 10th hole (top). At Snee Farm's par 3 11th hole, all manner of hazards, including a stiff wind on the day we played, can put a damper on the scorecard.

        I've been in the Myrtle Beach area for the last week, and everywhere I go, both on the Strand's golf courses and off, I hear essentially the same thing: "What do the Chinese plan to do with the golf courses they've bought?" And "How many more will they buy?"
        In just the last two years, according to a recent article in the Myrtle Beach Sun News, China-based companies have purchased 13 of the area's golf courses as well as the sprawling former site of Waccamaw Pottery and an undeveloped section of the Grande Dunes Resort area. In addition, they have bought 100 single-family homes, signaling what very well could be the key to their interest in Grand Strand commercial and golf properties (more on that below).

$11 million for 3 golf courses
        The spate of sales started with one Chinese family purchasing Black Bear Golf Club in Longs, SC, a year ago for $1.5 million, certainly not an outrageous outlay for more than 150 acres of property but probably an above market price for one of the Myrtle Beach area's lesser tracks. Shortly after, a local Realtor originally from China contacted The Classic Group, owners of Founders Club in Pawleys Island, Indian Wells Golf Club in Garden City, SC, and Burning Ridge Golf Club in Conway. In September, a sale for the three was consummated for $11 million, what local observers considered much higher than market price for the golf course package.
The Founders Club in Pawleys Island, originally named Sea Gull Golf Club, was purchased recently by a Chinese company, one of 13 courses in the Myrtle Beach area sold to Chinese in the last year.
        Chinese interests followed with purchases of nine additional courses for $35 million over succeeding months, including a whopping $10 million for International World Tour Links in Myrtle Beach, the three courses at Sea Trail Plantation for $8.5 million and TPC Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet for $7.3 million. At those prices, we can't imagine there was too much negotiation.

Golf, cart, breakfast, lunch, two beers...$40
        Myrtle Beach tourism suffered greatly during the recession, and no sector more so than the local golf industry. With nearly 120 golf courses operating in the mid 2000s, the 90-mile stretch of coastline from Georgetown in the south to mid Brunswick County, NC, in the north had more than a sustainable number of layouts. When the recession drove away most tourist play, some local operators panicked and dropped prices and added freebies to their offerings in an effort to keep names on their tee sheets; even today, The Legends Resort in Myrtle Beach, home to three good golf courses, offers players breakfast, lunch, two draft beers, green fees and a cart for less than $40. That has driven other local golf courses to compete on price (and throw-ins) with the inevitable loss of operating revenue, which almost always results in fewer services and poorer maintenance.

        Dick Huber probably thought the biggest challenge of his round at Englewood, FL's Myakka Pines Golf Club recently would be to keep his ball out of the golf course's ponds.  But when he and his group reached the green on the course's 7th hole, "you're away" took on any entirely new meaning.  As you can see in the photo, a huge alligator decided that the 7th green at Myakka was a great place to catch a few rays.  Huber caught a few shots, his best of the day.  

photo by Dick Huber

        We wrote a few days ago about Jack Nicklaus' new ice cream venture; the current global businessman and golf architect formerly known as the best professional golfer in the world is lending his name and visage to pint containers of ice cream. He proudly proclaimed during airing of the Honda Open this past weekend that each pint will cost only $1.98. Ben and Jerry be warned.
        But in life, one hand giveth and the other taketh away; courtesy of Golf Dispute Resolution, a web site that shares interesting tidbits about legal cases related to golf, and Rob Harris, its publisher, we have learned that Nicklaus is being sued by a couple who claim that deceptive marketing caused them to waste $1.5 million on a membership in a golf course development whose course Nicklaus was to design. The development, located in the mountains of Utah, went bankrupt, Nicklaus never designed the layout and the couple was left a lot lighter in their bank account.

When we toured Aldie, VA's Creighton Farms in 2010 and played its outstanding Jack Nicklaus golf course, one of our real estate contacts indicated that another was being planned for Nicklaus and his family.

        Jeffrey and Judee Donner claim that Nicklaus represented himself as also having purchased a charter membership in the Mt. Holly club. "I have been so impressed with the development and its management team that I became a founding charter member," Nicklaus was quoted in the marketing literature for the community, adding "I look forward to seeing you there." Unsurprisingly, Nicklaus did not actually pay for the membership at Mt. Holly and, really, what were the chances anyone might see him there in the future; at my Nicklaus-designed home course of Pawleys Plantation in South Carolina, the architect stayed in a sprawling house made available to him by the developer during construction of the course. When it opened, he played the 18 holes, uttered some flattering observations about the course, his scorecard for the round was encased in glass in the clubhouse, and he never returned again (well, maybe once) after the opening in 1989. Why should he? His name is on more than 300 courses worldwide.
        But the Donners are out $1.5 million, not us, and they think Nicklaus is fit to be sued.
        If Jack Nicklaus were an active member in every golf community that has gifted him membership, he'd never have time for a scoop of his favorite ice cream, let alone his many business ventures. We've read enough quotes in press releases and marketing brochures to know that pablum comments from golf designers are par for the course. ("A glorious piece of land I was given...Smart management team...A wonderful place to live.") Whoever wrote and edited the Nicklaus-attributed quote about "becoming" a member at Mt. Holly might have saved him a couple of million dollars. That comment doesn't indicate he had his own skin in the game, not even close.  Once the court rules, the unhappy couple will almost surely be $1.5 million poorer...and wiser.

        It has been a slow few years in the golf design business, and former golf-playing architects have to do what they can to keep busy, especially after their competitive golf days are over. We recently learned that Jack Nicklaus, as competitive a golfer as ever there was, and equally successful as a golf course designer, has decided to go head to head with Dolly Madison, Ben & Jerry, and Haagen & Dazs. The now svelte Nicklaus, once lampooned by the sports press as "Fat Jack" in his early tour days, will be pitching a brand of high-calorie desserts with flavors like Coffee & Donuts, Strawberry

Lemonade and Warm Spiced Butter Pecan. Each pint container includes the smiling Nicklaus profile gazing upon three beautifully airbrushed mounds of butterfat. The product will be initially available at supermarket chains operating substantially in the southern U.S., such as Kroger, Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo.
        If you are tempted to criticize Nicklaus for contributing to the nation's obesity problems, understand that, according to the joint press release by The Nicklaus Companies and food maker Schwann Global Supply Chain, sales of the ice cream will benefit a Nicklaus child-healthcare foundation, although the press release does not specify what percentage of income will go to the non-profit.
        "It's no secret that I love ice cream," said Nicklaus, who could be a bit prickly in his playing days. He should be in especially good humor these days.