My brother forwarded to me an article from the BBC (British Broadcasting System) on a tired subject, the state of the golf industry.  Under the heading “Global Golf Industry Facing Challenges” (there’s news), reporter Bill Wilson cites the over-inventory of golf courses in the U.S. and elsewhere, including Japan.  It recalled for me a train ride from Tokyo to Osaka many years ago with a business colleague from our company’s Tokyo office.  I noticed him reading a golf magazine and asked if he played, knowing from reports that golf courses in the early 1990s were relatively few in Japan and that memberships ran as high as $1 million.

        “I play every Saturday at a course six hours [by train] from my home,” he told me.  I asked how long he spent on the golf course.  “About six hours,” he said matter of factly, “but that includes a stop for lunch.”

        The point of my story is that the Japanese love golf and

will go to extraordinary measures to play, even if it means just driving golf balls from their famous triple-decker practice facilities.  That is why I found the BBC reference to Japan as a “saturated market” surprising.  A chart that accompanies the article indicates that 27 million Japanese are “interested” in golf (23% of the country’s 127 million).  That amounts to about 12,350 Japanese for each of the nation’s 2,400 golf courses.  Even if just one-third of those interested in golf actually play, a ratio similar to the one in the U.S., that hardly constitutes over-saturation.

        The United States, by the way, owns more than half the world’s golf courses (more than 18,000) and half the players, around 26 million who tee it up at least once annually.  By the numbers, that amounts to 1,444 golfers per course.  There is still some shake out to come in the golf industry, but the data imply that the golf clubs that survive will have some numbers on their side.  The key for each course will be to market and advertise so well that golfers will be willing to travel a few extra hours for the experience.

Metropolitan New York City golfers can be on the first tee at one of the golf courses at Bay Creek in Cape Charles, VA, in about six hours, the time many Japanese routinely spend in traveling to a golf course.  Make a long weekend of it by staying in one of Bay Creek’s comfortable condo units, large enough for a foursome or family.  The Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus 18s (#4 green on the Nicklaus course shown above) are both sleek and challenging, thanks to the prevailing winds off the beautiful Chesapeake Bay.

        One of our readers reminds us in a note that current members of the Dominion Club in Richmond, VA, are not the only ones with a vested interest in a fair resolution to the club owners’ alleged “faux bankruptcy” to avoid repaying member deposits.  (See Morally Bankrupt? by clicking here.)  Club members are suing club owners HHHunt for $1.7 million to recover their deposits.  Our reader wrote us the following:

        “Just a note about the Dominion Club members owed their initiation deposits -- many FORMER club members are also owed their deposits.  We joined when the Club opened.  We resigned in 2007.  When checking on our position on the list to be repaid, we were advised that we were #184 and that three new members would have to join for every one former member to receive his refunded fee.  When I asked when we might expect to see our money, I was advised it would be a "very long time.”  I asked if we should write it in our will to go to our children, and the young lady said, "That would probably be a good idea."  I left that conversation thinking that the intention was never to repay those initiation fees.”

        Where golf clubs still offer the option of an equity payment or deposit as well as a lower, non-equity payment, we recommend you opt for the non-equity.

        Patience is a virtue when you play an unfamiliar golf course, but intuition is even more important to scoring well and enjoying the experience.  This is especially true of golf courses with blind tee shots.  It was with a bit of trepidation, therefore, that I approached John LaFoy’s design at The Neuse Golf Club in Clayton, NC, about 40 minutes southeast of Raleigh, the more so because The Neuse’s own web site describes the golf course as a “roller coaster ride.”  That is usually shorthand for a routing with many blind shots that lead to a frustrating first experience.

Rock On:  The only safe place on the par 3 14th at The Neuse is the green.

 

        That is not the case at The Neuse, which combines some of the adrenaline pump of a good roller coaster ride with the security of knowing you will eventually come back to earth, possibly with a good score to show for it.   LaFoy has done a nice job of splitting the difference between the needs of first-timers to know where to line up their shots against the needs of repeat players who might want to push the boundaries a little bit over time.  The Neuse demands some “local knowledge” only for those who want to cut corners, literally and figuratively.  For those content to drive the ball where the tee boxes are aimed and where common sense, not greed, dictates, a good day and a good score are certainly in the cards.

The contrast of fairway and rough made aiming a little easier at The Neuse.

 

        The contrast of the green, slightly over-seeded fairways with the tan dormant rough certainly helped get tee shots moving in the right direction.  The edges between fairway and rough showed not only a clear view of the gently bending doglegs but also brought into strong relief the side-to-side elevations of the fairways, making it clear that a ball hit, for example, high and left would bound down to the middle of the fairway.  On drives where the elevations were not so clear, intuition kicked in and it was easy to assess the golf architect’s intent and aim the ball properly (fairly generous fairways also helped).  The only time I felt slightly abused by a lack of local knowledge was on the par 4 13^th which, from the tee box, showed a bit of a stream at the lower left base of fairway but gave little warning that the rest of the stream was in play, hidden beyond the end of the downward sloping fairway.  A well-struck driver was too much here from the middle tees.

The Neuse is not just about elevation changes.  John LaFoy's imaginative bunkering can change a good score into something else, as on the approach to the 17th green.

 

        Consider that a small nit in an otherwise fine morning of golf.  Besides the contrasting colors of the turf, I found also eye appealing large numerous rock outcroppings that were mostly artwork, except at the signature par 3 14^th where they seemed more the devil’s handiwork.  From the tee box, the only “bailout” possibility on the 192 yard hole (from the tips) appears to be the green itself, which is protected by a boulder studded hill on the left and a steep falloff in front and on the right.  I pulled my iron shot (from the 143 yard tees) over the mound on the left and thought I would find a flat spot about pin high.  Instead, my ball hit some unseen hard object and bounded sideways past the cup, down the embankment on the right side and into the bunker.  It turned out not to be a bad bit of fortune because the up and down was fairly routine, as bunker shots go.

        The nicely maintained community of Glen Laurel lies adjacent to areas of the golf course, but the elevations are such that out of bounds stakes are almost unnecessary.  For a community on a golf course and within commuting distance of Raleigh, prices seemed a bargain.  For example, a 4 bedroom, 3 bath 15 year old home on the 7th hole at The Neuse is on the market currently for $276,000.

The homes along the 16th hole at The Neuse and elsewhere along the course are well back from the field of play and mostly out of view when the tree leaves return.

 

        The golf course was just starting to emerge from its winter hibernation on the late March day my friend Bob and I played it, but the turf was already in good condition, the greens medium fast and smooth.  All signs point to a great turf season ahead.  Despite the blind shots, indeed maybe because of them, you can approach The Neuse Golf Club with your eyes wide open this spring and summer.

*

Neuse Golf Club, Clayton, NC.  Designer:  John LaFoy.  The club is managed by ClubCorp.  Yardages:  7,011/6,626/6,027/5,478.  Rating/Slope:  74.0/133; 71.9/130; 69.1/125; 72.3/128 (ladies).  Website: http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/Neuse-Golf-Club.  Note:  Make sure to end your morning round with lunch at nearby McCalls Barbecue & Seafood Restaurant in Clayton.  The buffet selections are varied and the food fresh and excellent.

The end...

        In the southern U.S. there are two areas whose mere mention evokes the instant response “Golf!”  Myrtle Beach is one and Pinehurst is the other, but the two promise decidedly different experiences.  Myrtle Beach is first and foremost a place for golfing buddies to indulge their inner-teenager over long weekends of play, both on and off the course.  Neon is the dominant design motif at the heart of Myrtle Beach.  Pinehurst and the adjoining Southern Pines, NC, on the other hand, offer a classier experience.  Golfing buddies searching for a bar in the Sandhills region at the end of a 36-hole day are most likely to find it in a refined hotel or quiet restaurant, with no neon to guide the way.

        Where Myrtle Beach shouts, Pinehurst whispers.

        The name of the famed local resort with the eight golf courses, including the newly renovated #2 designed by Donald Ross, is simply “Pinehurst,” which makes branding a little difficult for the dozens of other golf courses in the immediate area.  And because Pinehurst is also a sprawling golf community, it makes it doubly difficult for other area golf communities to distinguish themselves.

The 1st at National Golf Club exemplifies the wide fairways and aggressive bunkering throughout the Jack Nicklaus layout.

 

The National Golf Club's "Cottage" industry

        Despite a name that does not communicate “community,” the National Golf Club in Southern Pines tries hard to stand apart and, for the most part, succeeds, in large measure by offering a unique group of fractional share units called The Cottages, the only such units in a golf community in the Pinehurst area.  The rest of its appeal –- to retirees, second-home owners, resort golfers, and package golfers staying at nearby hotels –- puts it squarely up against the mighty Pinehurst golf resort, which goes after a similarly eclectic golfing crowd.  If Pinehurst the town is a destination, then Pinehurst the resort is the destination within the destination, and its competitors are hard pressed to differentiate themselves without over-spending on marketing.  Actually, National might benefit from sharpening its appeal to just one or two of the targets it currently tries to attract.  To go a bit Old Testament about it, if you are David going up against Goliath, just one or two stones are easier to sling than a boulder.  In the aforementioned Cottages, the National possesses an inherent lure for a second-home owner audience that it is pursuing aggressively.

        I stayed in one of The Cottages during a recent visit to the gated community, and I can testify that the units are spacious, comfortably appointed and reasonably priced.  They are targeted at those who might otherwise be looking at second homes to use just a few weeks a year.  Cottage owners purchase a 1/13^th share in a unit, which grants them a minimum of 21 days a year access.  Two-bedroom Cottages (1,650 square feet) are priced from $84,000, four-bedrooms (2,616 square feet) from $96,000.  Annual dues begin at $3,604, which covers all maintenance (inside and out) and golf and fitness club membership, which includes green fees, cart fees and all the range balls you can slam, as well as access to indoor pool, fitness equipment and other amenities.  The only other costs are related to your stays, modest fees for trash removal, maid service and, if you want the refrigerator filled on your arrival, a $25 shopping fee (in addition to the cost of groceries).

The fractional share Cottages line up attractively behind the 5th green and 6th tee.

 

A $500,000 villa, for a fraction of the cost

        The unit I stayed in had all the comforts of home, and then some (including a nice working nook for me and my laptop).  The kitchen opened up to a dining area adjacent to a spacious living room on one side (with big screen TV hung on the wall over the fireplace) and an enclosed patio on the other.  The bedroom I chose looked across the 6^th tee and down to the 5^th green beyond, and its en suite bath area included both a huge stone shower and separate tub.  The furnishings were well chosen and gave off a private-home vibe more than a resort one.  In the pantry I found a pound of my favorite brand of coffee (how did they guess Peets?) and, surprise, the coffee maker was clean and made an excellent brew, totally absent any of the rancid taste produced by every hotel coffee maker in America.

        Ownership in the fractional share is deeded, which means you can sell your share in the unit as you would a home, or pass it on to your heirs; and if space is available, as I was told it almost always is, you can add more days or even weeks during the year based on a slightly complicated formula we need not bother ourselves with here.

        In my experience, a four-bedroom condominium located on a Jack Nicklaus golf course in a community similar to The National would price out around $500,000.  Add another $50,000 for the type of furnishings The Cottages include, as well as wireless Internet, cable television and other extras, and a condo equivalent to those offered at The Cottages would run between $550,000 and $600,000.  An outlay of $96,000, therefore, for a family that goes on a golf vacation a few weeks each year seems quite reasonable, especially with the easy access to golf.  Of course, those who crave a beach during the summer will not be satisfied, but those who crave fun and challenging golf will be rewarded.

The approach to #10 at National Golf Club.

 

        The fun part of the golf experience at National was in the generous fairways spread between the large stands of pine trees and leading to some impressively large and variable green complexes.  Nicklaus rewards accurate left to right ball flight at The National, as he does at so many of his other early courses (and as he did in his professional career).  This can become a little grating for happy hookers, but the fairways at the elbows are wide enough to accommodate a draw, if not a pull-hook (no course should let you “off the hook” for a bad swing).  The bright green, over-seeded fairways laid down between the tan color of the dormant rough provided perfect directional runways from the tee boxes (see photos).

        The greens are generally enormous, and some will require a two or even three-club adjustment between pin positions at front or back.  Many of the greens are pushed up a bit above the fairways, and 40-yard chips and runouts along the entire span of a putting surface are not unusual but certainly preferable to chips from the short side of the green to pins set just at the bases of swales. The greens were not cut down to mid-season speeds, but when they are, positioning will be especially key.

Waste of time: The 16th at National Golf Club features a wide expanse of waste bunkers.

 

        The Golden Bear, as he does on virtually every one of his “Signature” courses, used a few of those pine trees to interrupt direct drives between tee box and greens at The National.  Although big hitters might be tempted to play straight through or over the trees, the prudent will play around and turn the routing into a dogleg right or left (or either, when the tree is smack in the middle of the fairway).  Play Nicklaus golf courses enough, and your attitude about those trees changes over time from “what did he do that for?” to a better understanding of the principle of risk, reward and stimulating natural golf design.

 

Fine layout, from beginning to (especially) end

        In spite of the generally flat nature of the Sandhills area, the course features a few changes in elevation, nothing dramatic but just enough to keep you on your toes (especially if you have a side hill lie in one of the deep bunkers).  Some of the longer holes, like the 18^th (called Bear’s Valley) can also knock you back on your heels; from the Gold tees (6,632 yards total), the finishing hole plays a robust 434 yards downhill, a fitting finale to the series of doglegs right.  The tendency is to play it safe off the tee box toward the left side of the fairway, avoiding the deadly grove of trees on the right.  But a long approach from the left side of the fairway or rough must carry the lake that guards the entire green from short left to behind.  A bunker nestled between the water and the green provides one last bit of challenge for those who carry the lake (or pull their approach from the right half of the fairways).  Anyone who finishes a round at National with par on the 18^th should feel justifiably proud.

        The National Golf Club displays excellent bones in its centerpiece golf club, attractive upscale single-family homes and unique fractional share program in The Cottages.  Its core appeal would seem to be to second-home owners and retirees looking for a quiet lifestyle in a golf-centric area.  Some years ago, the members pushed to take the club private, and even purchased the club from developer Claude Smith.  It took less than a year before the harsh reality of golf club operations compelled the members to implore Smith to take it back, which he did.  Since then, the economic realities of recent years have forced the developer to accept an increasing amount of outside play which may, over time, erode some of the benefits of privilege and dues that members count on (e.g. the ability to walk up and play after a short wait).

        There is some sorting out to do at The National in terms of focusing its marketing efforts, but as resort golf communities go, this is an attractive, mature and, from all evidence, vibrant development.  The members I played my round of golf with, from Connecticut and Hong Kong, seemed quite pleased with the choices they and their wives made to live at The National, and they seemed non-plussed about the additional non-members playing their course.  Perhaps as the economy improves and membership grows, reliance on outside play will wane, and National’s members and their club’s owners can get back to where they once belonged.

*

National Golf Club, Southern Pines, NC.  Web:  NationalGolfClub.com. Designer:  Jack Nicklaus.  Yardage/Rating/Slope…Black Tees:  7,132/75.1/143.  Gold: 6,632/72.3/135.  Blue:  6,150/70.2/128.  White (women’s):  5,474/72.3/129.  Red:  5,006/70.3/119.  For more information or an introduction to the real estate associates at The National, please contact  Editor Larry Gavrich.

The finishing hole at National is beautifully constructed, and a challenge, from tee (top) to green.  Beward the left side of the fairway; the approach is filled with treachery.

        These may be uncertain days at Reynolds Plantation, where residents are considering a purchase of the golf courses and other amenities from the financially strapped Reynolds family.  Bank of America could become the next owner of record of the six golf courses (Dye, Nicklaus, others) if the residents turn down the proposal and the lender exercises its prerogative.

        One thing at Reynolds remains consistent:  Ask the real estate office a question, and you get back an honest, unadorned answer.  They demonstrated this recently

when I asked for information about schools in the area and the number of children living inside the gates in behalf of clients whose child is six years old.  Within a day, the Reynolds staff had forwarded me detailed information that included a rundown of population by age category and complete information about the schools nearby.  Associate Broker Jere Mills could have assumed the numbers would not impress my clients -– only six six-year olds live full-time at Reynolds -– but he sent the numbers untainted by any spin.  Other sales agents might have been tempted to write, “We have more than 100 children under the age of 18…” or “The children at Reynolds number almost 1,000…” which would be misleading since, at Reynolds, that includes about 800 second-home owners.)

        I was impressed, and such straightforward responses imply that anyone considering property in Reynolds can be confident of an honest response to their tough questions.  These days, it is not just important to ask tough questions but to expect straight answers in return.

     Facing an obligation of $1.7 million to repay 100 members their deposits by the end of 2010, Dominion Club owners HHHunt decided to do the expedient thing -– they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is designed to give an organization time to reorganize its operations.  Of course, the law can also provide an otherwise solvent larger organization a way to protect its broader assets.  Dominion’s members know this, and they have now brought a lawsuit against the Virginia developer for $11.6 million, according to an article in Richmond BizSense.  The amount of the lawsuit accommodates another $10 million in deposits that members say will come due in the next few years.  Individual deposits owed run to as much as $22,000.

        From all appearances, Dominion’s owner should have a steady stream of cash flow from its ownership of the club.  Few 18-hole clubs can boast 800 dues-paying members, as can Dominion.  That should be enough of a base to provide a steady stream of income from the golf course (cart fees, lessons, pro shop merchandise) and the clubhouse’s dining rooms (not to mention dues 800 members).  Bankruptcy laws, which were designed to protect the assets of truly troubled operations while they reorganized themselves back to health, are often used by large, multi-division organizations to skirt their obligations.  This is what Dominion's members are claiming.  But in at least one other case we know, members themselves actually used the bankruptcy court to engineer the sale of their club.

Former members at The Reserve at Litchfield Beach, SC, tried to hold up a sale of the club in an attempt to recoup their original membership deposits.  A bankruptcy court judge put the sale and survival of the club ahead of the former members' claims.

 

        It happened at The Reserve Club of Litchfield Beach, SC, where a membership concerned about the financial viability of their private club agreed to sell it to multi-course operator McConnell Group for just $1 (and the promise of improvements to the golf course and clubhouse).  But when former members who were owed a return of their equity deposits balked and brought a class-action lawsuit to block the sale, The Reserve Club stopped paying its taxes and went into receivership.  A bankruptcy judge in Charleston decided that the survival of the golf club was the top priority, and he permitted the sale to McConnell to go through in exchange for the new owner’s payment of the back taxes, about $400,000.  Shortly thereafter, McConnell closed the course temporarily and replanted the greens and reshaped the bunkers, and everyone -– except the former members who are out as much as $33,000 each -– seems content.  I played the course recently and it was in splendid shape.

        The Dominion case is different, although the overriding tactic may appear to be the same.  Besides the club’s apparent financial health, those owed the deposits are current members, not former ones.  And the Hunt group wants to retain ownership of the club once the court waives the owners' obligations to the members.  That seems a classic cake-and-eat-it-too scenario; in effect, the members would be funding Hunt's ongoing operation of the club by forfeiting their deposits. 

        Whereas survival of a golf club was at stake at The Reserve, in Richmond the claimants are charging that the club’s owner organization is simply trying to avoid its obligations, even though it can afford to pay.  On the face of it, it seems the members have a compelling case.  We will stay tuned to see if the local courts agree.

 

Footnote:  Many thanks to my three dedicated readers who all sent me the news article on Dominion Golf Club within an hour of each other.  I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Southern golf courses like Richmond's Federal Club benefited from a generally mild February.

As the weather goes, so goes golf…mostly

        Golf courses struggling for survival would certainly benefit by putting a particular crusty, unpredictable, temperamental independent contractor in charge of their operations.  Of course, Mother Nature is not for hire, so praying for sun and warm temperatures will have to do for now.

        The National Golf Foundation just released its monthly report for rounds played across the United States, and where it was warm, albeit wet,

in February, rounds were up, in some cases significantly, compared with February 2010.  Indeed in those areas of the country where you would not expect golf to be played at all in February, rounds played increased (as a percentage) more than anywhere else.  In all regions of the country except the Mountain area and California, rounds were up by healthy percentages.  In New England, where a February thermometer reading of 25 degrees is considered a heat wave in Maine, for example, rounds were up a whopping 290% despite temperatures that averaged almost 6 degrees lower and where rain and snowfall increased more than 8% from last year.  They’re a hardy bunch, those New England golfers.

        Nationally, rounds played in February were up a total of 19%; year to date, the increase was almost 14%. 

        In the southeast, the focus of most of our attention here at Golf Community Reviews, rounds were up nearly 29% as Mother Nature was at her most cooperative.  (Temperatures averaged 9 degrees higher than in February 2010 and precipitation was off 17%).  In the area from Texas east to the Mississippi River, rounds were up 55%.  These were the only two regions with a positively perfect storm of weather in February -– higher temperatures and lower rainfall readings. 

        If you are contemplating the purchase of a primary or second home in the southern U.S., not only will you find accommodating weather next winter, but right now you will find prices in many fine golf communities at their lowest points in years.  Contact me and I will be happy to discuss which golf communities will suit you best.

        You can sign up for the National Golf Foundation's free newsletter by clicking here.

     New York Times columnist Paul Sullivan has written a comprehensive article in the “paper of record” about Tiger Woods’ design business.  There isn’t much new in the article; the golf star’s three international projects are stalled, to put it mildly, and one Dubai golf official goes so far as to say the Woods project there is “as good as dead and buried.  (Desert sand is beginning to blow across and bury the six completed holes.)  Closer to home, Cliffs Communities developer Jim

Anthony, who rolled multiple dice that Woods’ name would be enough to sell scores of $1 million lots at High Carolina, remains consistent in his support of the fallen star.  “I think it is very minimally Tiger,” Anthony said in the article about the dearth of property sales at High Carolina.  The group of residents who loaned Anthony $64 million to complete the amenities across the Cliffs’ string of communities insisted that the Gary Player course at Mountain Park be finished first.  The residents loaned Anthony enough to complete the course but, under the lending agreement, they have the right to put the breaks on construction if land sales do not hit certain benchmarks.  They have, for the moment, exercised that prerogative. 

        The Times article indicates that Anthony is scrambling for additional financing for the High Carolina golf course, which may be a mistaken impression on the part of the writer since High Carolina was figured into the $64 million loan.

        You can read the NY Times article by clicking here.  If you cannot get access to it, contact me and I will forward a copy. 

 

Where the job growth is

        According to Local Market Monitor, which publishes economic data pegged to, you guessed it, local markets, the southern U.S. markets with the strongest job growth include Raleigh, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Dallas and Houston.  Of course, job growth logically helps prop up home values and, the Monitor’s latest summary says, “Not surprisingly, home prices have bottomed out in the markets with strong job growth, with the

large exception of Orlando, and we expect modest price increases in the next year.”  I was in Orlando recently and played golf at the nearby Sugarloaf Mountain, the only Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design in the state of Florida.  It is a wonderful layout with striking views down to Lake Apopka, and the course is surprisingly elevated for the Sunshine State.  Sadly, the surrounding real estate has not evolved and the golf course, currently managed by Hampton Golf, has suffered from a conditioning standpoint.  Reportedly, new buyers intend to inject some capital into the project.  Good luck.  Orlando, whose economy depends largely on the entertainment industry (Disney, Universal, Sea World) and convention business, is a bit like Las Vegas when it comes to home values.  (See my comments about Sugarloaf Mountain Golf Club by clicking here.)

        Cities like San Jose, Honolulu, Bethesda and Pittsburgh should see home prices in the 2 to 4 percent range in the coming year, according to the Monitor.  Retirees in Pittsburgh who have been waiting for their homes to increase in value before moving south should stand at the ready.

        The Local Market Monitor web site is at www.localmarketmonitor.com.  You can purchase individual market reports from the site or subscribe for full access to the 315 markets they cover.

 

Reynolds Rap:  Upscale community's owners may have to dig deep to keep amenities out of bank's hands

        Our friend Toby Tobin, the hardworking Florida blogger, reports that Reynolds Plantation residents have been offered the community’s amenities for $44 million.  Paper ballots were sent to all 3,600 owners in the last week.  Toby’s comprehensive article goes on to quote at length local bloggers who have been following the Reynolds story.  One conclusion is

that Bank of America, which holds the paper on Reynolds Plantation, could own the community’s amenities by May if the residents do not vote to buy them, including Reynolds’ six highly regarded golf courses (plus an in-development course designed by Pete Dye).  The situation at Reynolds has deteriorated quickly in the wake of a letter from the owners to residents just last month indicating their financial woes.

        Couples who have been considering a purchase at Reynolds should keep an eye on the residents’ vote and further news about the community.  Of course, all markets abhor uncertainty; the acquisition of the amenities by Bank of America through foreclosure could very well cause a drop in property prices at Reynolds.  But if BofA sells the amenities to a respected operator, the long-term consequences could be minimal and panic by some Reynolds property owners could turn into a buying opportunity.  Stay tuned.

        You can read Toby’s coverage at www.gotoby.com.

 

Myrtle Beach shows signs of rebound

        Golf play is picking up in the Myrtle Beach area, and that is good news for the recession-affected “supermarket” of golf.  A representative of the Waccamaw Golf Trail, a string of a dozen golf courses at the southern end of the Grand Strand, reported recently to the Georgetown County Tourism Management Commission that, “bookings are through the roof.”  The trail and commission have partnered to promote the Trail through a series of ads on the Golf Channel and its web site.  The campaign, according to the local Coastal Observer newspaper, has generated 130,000 online requests for green fee quotes and has helped build the Trail’s database to more than 90,000 contacts.

Caledonia Golf & Fish Club is one of a dozen fine golf courses that are part of the Waccamaw Golf Trail at the south end of Myrtle Beach.

 

        I can report personally that rounds are up significantly at Pawleys Plantation, one of the Waccamaw Trail golf courses; the famed Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, True Blue and Founders Club are also members of the Trail.  Two weeks ago, I couldn’t book a normal tee time at Pawleys Plantation two days before I wanted to play; March in the Myrtle Beach area is popular with Canadian golfers, and the only tee time available was 4 p.m., eh?   Last year, Myrtle Beach National purchased the Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course from the original owner and is promoting it as the anchor of its own portfolio of 14 courses on the Grand Strand.

        Home prices in the Myrtle Beach area have dropped so far that golfers

looking for a vacation home within minutes of the beach and close by dozens of good-to-excellent golf courses can buy-in for well under $150,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bath condo.  For just $39 annually, second homeowners who purchase the Myrtle Beach Golf Passport can play discounted golf year round and invite up to three friends or family members to play at the same discounted rate.  The Passport pays for itself on the first use.

        In another bit of good news for the South Strand, Southwest Airlines has begun flights to Charleston International Airport, about an hour from Pawleys Island.  Hopefully, this will put pressure on U.S. Airways, Delta and other carriers who serve Myrtle Beach International Airport to massage their prices for trips to and from the northeast and midwest.  Prices to fly into Myrtle Beach from northern cities are generally higher than to Charleston.

        Myrtle Beach is utterly reliant on golf for its economic wellbeing.  It is good to see things are starting to break in the Grand Strand’s direction.  Potential homebuyers should take note.