tourdeep
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What has the impact of cost, opportunity costs, had in your area? Have you noticed a decline in the amount of players...has the price of land compromised the owner's position to sell or not to sell...too many golf courses (or not enuf!)...have you seen an enormous amount of ownership change in recent years...?
I have talked to a few owners mentioned in this article and they have their price, and it is no secret of their course availability. Another owner swears he will never sell, at least that's what he says...!
The positive are deals that are popping up. Oki card is increasing in its poularity...how about golf.xxx.com (just put in your area code for the xxx)...
thank goodness for Mr. Softy!
It's boom and bust for Northwest golf
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002867790_boombust16.html
By Blaine Newnham
Special to The Seattle Times
Working for his third owner in six years, Ryan Whitney, the general manager of Washington National, found it timely to assess the roller-coaster ride that has been his industry.
"Golf courses are finally figuring out what works for them," he said, "and it always isn't just discounting green fees.
"We've been forced to take a true business approach to the tee sheets."
Unlike other years when a half-dozen courses would open in the Puget Sound area, we are now in an era of contraction — the closing of courses — and consolidation.
With as many golfers leaving the game as taking it up, the boom has been a relative bust, the industry trying to hang on while it waits for the first wave of baby boomers to retire.
Look at what is happening.
Tall Chief in Fall City is now a 12-hole golf course, six holes gone to the developer. There are two offers on the table from housing developers to systematically swallow up Lipoma Firs in Puyallup. Northshore, north of Tacoma, is for sale and a buyer is in the wings. At the same time, unfazed by trends and turmoil, Pierce County is building a $20 million golf course at Chambers Bay, a walking-only, links layout it hopes will rival Oregon's Bandon Dunes in drawing customers from afar.
Good luck.
White Horse in Kingston may open late this summer, but its success is tied to a real-estate development.
"There are more courses than there are golfers," said one owner, asking not to be identified, "and unfortunately some owners have dropped their prices below what is a workable situation. It's tough."
In Puget Sound, we're seeing the strong get stronger and the weak go away.
Scott Oki, the former Microsoft executive who has the staying power and wealth to weather a prolonged bear market, keeps buying courses, rather than selling them. Oki Golf now owns and operates nine courses — two of them private — with the recent purchases of Washington National and Trophy Lake.
Access golf, owned by Brian Patton, Paul Allen's brother-in-law, has added management of Kayak Point to its stable of Willows Run, Druid's Glen and Capitol City in Lacey.
Without Microsoft stock, we might be without golf.
The belief is there is an economy in size, and that might be right.
Oki's courses offer a $250 card that entitles the buyer to play six rounds on the public courses he owns at any time of the day or year the courses are available.
They include Washington National, Trophy Lake, the two courses at Newcastle, and the two courses at Hawks Prairie near Lacey, and Echo Falls.
Who, five years ago, would have thought you could play Washington National or Newcastle for less than $50?
The Access golf card for $99 offers discounts at Willows Run, Druid's Glen, Kayak Point and Capitol City plus annual USGA handicap services. The $199 platinum card provides a free round at the four courses as well.
"We're sharing equipment among the four courses," said Brian Wilt, the director of golf for Access. "Our main focus this year will be on Kayak and getting it back to where it was the place everyone wanted to go.
"We're cleaning out areas that have been let go. The emphasis is on improving the course, not offering all-you-can-eat to entice golfers. The course is worth more than that."
On the other end of the spectrum, Tall Chief seems happy to have just 12 holes to play and maintain.
"It's worked great," said Craig LaBelle, who owns and runs the place with his wife and mother-in-law. "People like playing 12 holes. You know, it takes less time, costs less ($12) and, besides, if they want, they can play 24 holes ($16)."
Surely Tall Chief, in a somewhat perverse fashion, solves golf's most pressing questions of costing too much, taking too long, and being too hard to play. Tall Chief is cheaper, quicker and easier.
"People just don't seem to have the time to play golf anymore," said John Benidetti, the general manager of High Cedars in Orting. "Maybe it is television's fault that the pace of play is so slow. They show the pros lining up puts from every angle and Sergio Garcia re-gripping his club 130 times. People think that's the way it is."
For the players who are devoted to the game, the bargains continue, especially if you are willing to play in the winter or during the week.
Other owners are making the ultimate choice.
Sam Lipoma, who in the late 80s helped his father start 27-hole Lipoma Firs in Puyallup, admitted he'll begin selling off the land to developers as long as the county blesses the deal.
"We'll have 18 holes for the next five or six years no matter what happens," he said. "The reality is we could operate the course for 50 years and not make the kind of money we are being offered. I don't want to think the train went by and I missed it."
John Bodenhammer, the executive director of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association, said he remains optimistic about the future of golf.
"The state's growing, Boeing is coming back, and I think golf will come back," said Bodenhammer. "But it is easy to see that people have figured out a better way to get a return on their investment than owning and running a golf course."
Bodenhammer wonders if in the Puget Sound area, for example, that it is possible with the cost of land to build a modest course for less than $5 million to $6 million.
An industry rule of thumb says you must charge $10 in green fees for every $1 million invested in the course. The reality is that $60 for a modest course is just too much.
"I think people were told we needed more $150 courses," said Bodenhammer, "when what we need are more Maplewoods. Paying $100 for a round of golf, renting a cart and then spending six hours to shoot 110 and lose a dozen golf balls is not a recipe for success."
Rumors swirled that High Cedars was also for sale.
"Not true at all," said Benidetti, the course general manager.
"The rumors have been like a soap opera. Selling is the last thing our owner [Bryan Stowe] would do. His dad helped design the course."
They've improved drainage and lengthened the layout to 6,600 yards at High Cedars, but the building of a new clubhouse has had more to do with the course's survival.
"We do a huge banquet and wedding reception business," said Benidetti. "And we've gone aggressively after corporate tournaments. They've saved us."
High Cedars has a good senior program. They like to cater to seniors because seniors encourage their grandkids, the juniors, to come out and play.
These were supposed to be the great days of golf, riding a wave set in motion by Tiger Woods opening up the game to everyone with his epic win at the Masters in 1997.
It simply hasn't worked out that way. Too many courses were built, many for millions more than they should have.
At the time more courses were built, the numbers of golfers actually began to decline.
And yet there was so much optimism as golf looked at the 21st century. Some of that was undoubtedly stoked by stock-market successes that created a lot of expense-account golf, an atmosphere that made $150 rounds, a new shirt before the round, a handful of cigars at the turn and single-malt scotch after the round make sense.
Now it doesn't add up for companies, golfers or golf-course operators.
The price tag to build Washington National and its sister course, Trophy Lake in Port Orchard, was put at nearly $30 million.
According to estimates, Oki, the former Microsoft sales chief, bought them both this fall for approximately half of that. He thinks coupled with his other properties he can offer a "country club experience" for the card-carrying public-access golfer.
"I'm proud of our portfolio of courses," said Oki, who remains free of the real-estate business, long a partner of golf and quite often its savior.
Oki has been in the golf business for 13 years. He knows its ups and downs. Ten years ago he was in the process of building his own temple to golf, Newcastle, high in the hills above Bellevue.
"I'm tickled pink with Newcastle," he said. "It is our trophy property, two courses, great views, and with the clubhouse a wonderful venue for corporate outings and weddings.
"We have no regrets having built it."
But Oki is one of the few owners who could have survived owning Newcastle the past few years. Expenses have been greater than expected while green fees (a one-round card now costs $75) are lower than projected.
"Today," he acknowledged, "we couldn't afford the significant overruns we had building Newcastle. Microsoft stock was appreciating when we built it. In today's market, if we had to do it all over again we wouldn't do it."
Whitney, who worked first for Washington National developer Orrin Vincent and most recently for Heritage Golf of San Diego, said Washington National makes money despite the competition.
"Since we opened, Trilogy, Snoqualmie Ridge, Aldarra, and Suncadia have come on line. Soon there will be Chambers Bay," he said.
"It's a tight market. There was a time when you just opened the doors and collected the money. Now a few thousand rounds are the difference between making it and not making it.
"We've got to take care of the customers we have instead of being in love with who we don't have."
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
I have talked to a few owners mentioned in this article and they have their price, and it is no secret of their course availability. Another owner swears he will never sell, at least that's what he says...!
The positive are deals that are popping up. Oki card is increasing in its poularity...how about golf.xxx.com (just put in your area code for the xxx)...
thank goodness for Mr. Softy!
It's boom and bust for Northwest golf
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002867790_boombust16.html
By Blaine Newnham
Special to The Seattle Times
Working for his third owner in six years, Ryan Whitney, the general manager of Washington National, found it timely to assess the roller-coaster ride that has been his industry.
"Golf courses are finally figuring out what works for them," he said, "and it always isn't just discounting green fees.
"We've been forced to take a true business approach to the tee sheets."
Unlike other years when a half-dozen courses would open in the Puget Sound area, we are now in an era of contraction — the closing of courses — and consolidation.
With as many golfers leaving the game as taking it up, the boom has been a relative bust, the industry trying to hang on while it waits for the first wave of baby boomers to retire.
Look at what is happening.
Tall Chief in Fall City is now a 12-hole golf course, six holes gone to the developer. There are two offers on the table from housing developers to systematically swallow up Lipoma Firs in Puyallup. Northshore, north of Tacoma, is for sale and a buyer is in the wings. At the same time, unfazed by trends and turmoil, Pierce County is building a $20 million golf course at Chambers Bay, a walking-only, links layout it hopes will rival Oregon's Bandon Dunes in drawing customers from afar.
Good luck.
White Horse in Kingston may open late this summer, but its success is tied to a real-estate development.
"There are more courses than there are golfers," said one owner, asking not to be identified, "and unfortunately some owners have dropped their prices below what is a workable situation. It's tough."
In Puget Sound, we're seeing the strong get stronger and the weak go away.
Scott Oki, the former Microsoft executive who has the staying power and wealth to weather a prolonged bear market, keeps buying courses, rather than selling them. Oki Golf now owns and operates nine courses — two of them private — with the recent purchases of Washington National and Trophy Lake.
Access golf, owned by Brian Patton, Paul Allen's brother-in-law, has added management of Kayak Point to its stable of Willows Run, Druid's Glen and Capitol City in Lacey.
Without Microsoft stock, we might be without golf.
The belief is there is an economy in size, and that might be right.
Oki's courses offer a $250 card that entitles the buyer to play six rounds on the public courses he owns at any time of the day or year the courses are available.
They include Washington National, Trophy Lake, the two courses at Newcastle, and the two courses at Hawks Prairie near Lacey, and Echo Falls.
Who, five years ago, would have thought you could play Washington National or Newcastle for less than $50?
The Access golf card for $99 offers discounts at Willows Run, Druid's Glen, Kayak Point and Capitol City plus annual USGA handicap services. The $199 platinum card provides a free round at the four courses as well.
"We're sharing equipment among the four courses," said Brian Wilt, the director of golf for Access. "Our main focus this year will be on Kayak and getting it back to where it was the place everyone wanted to go.
"We're cleaning out areas that have been let go. The emphasis is on improving the course, not offering all-you-can-eat to entice golfers. The course is worth more than that."
On the other end of the spectrum, Tall Chief seems happy to have just 12 holes to play and maintain.
"It's worked great," said Craig LaBelle, who owns and runs the place with his wife and mother-in-law. "People like playing 12 holes. You know, it takes less time, costs less ($12) and, besides, if they want, they can play 24 holes ($16)."
Surely Tall Chief, in a somewhat perverse fashion, solves golf's most pressing questions of costing too much, taking too long, and being too hard to play. Tall Chief is cheaper, quicker and easier.
"People just don't seem to have the time to play golf anymore," said John Benidetti, the general manager of High Cedars in Orting. "Maybe it is television's fault that the pace of play is so slow. They show the pros lining up puts from every angle and Sergio Garcia re-gripping his club 130 times. People think that's the way it is."
For the players who are devoted to the game, the bargains continue, especially if you are willing to play in the winter or during the week.
Other owners are making the ultimate choice.
Sam Lipoma, who in the late 80s helped his father start 27-hole Lipoma Firs in Puyallup, admitted he'll begin selling off the land to developers as long as the county blesses the deal.
"We'll have 18 holes for the next five or six years no matter what happens," he said. "The reality is we could operate the course for 50 years and not make the kind of money we are being offered. I don't want to think the train went by and I missed it."
John Bodenhammer, the executive director of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association, said he remains optimistic about the future of golf.
"The state's growing, Boeing is coming back, and I think golf will come back," said Bodenhammer. "But it is easy to see that people have figured out a better way to get a return on their investment than owning and running a golf course."
Bodenhammer wonders if in the Puget Sound area, for example, that it is possible with the cost of land to build a modest course for less than $5 million to $6 million.
An industry rule of thumb says you must charge $10 in green fees for every $1 million invested in the course. The reality is that $60 for a modest course is just too much.
"I think people were told we needed more $150 courses," said Bodenhammer, "when what we need are more Maplewoods. Paying $100 for a round of golf, renting a cart and then spending six hours to shoot 110 and lose a dozen golf balls is not a recipe for success."
Rumors swirled that High Cedars was also for sale.
"Not true at all," said Benidetti, the course general manager.
"The rumors have been like a soap opera. Selling is the last thing our owner [Bryan Stowe] would do. His dad helped design the course."
They've improved drainage and lengthened the layout to 6,600 yards at High Cedars, but the building of a new clubhouse has had more to do with the course's survival.
"We do a huge banquet and wedding reception business," said Benidetti. "And we've gone aggressively after corporate tournaments. They've saved us."
High Cedars has a good senior program. They like to cater to seniors because seniors encourage their grandkids, the juniors, to come out and play.
These were supposed to be the great days of golf, riding a wave set in motion by Tiger Woods opening up the game to everyone with his epic win at the Masters in 1997.
It simply hasn't worked out that way. Too many courses were built, many for millions more than they should have.
At the time more courses were built, the numbers of golfers actually began to decline.
And yet there was so much optimism as golf looked at the 21st century. Some of that was undoubtedly stoked by stock-market successes that created a lot of expense-account golf, an atmosphere that made $150 rounds, a new shirt before the round, a handful of cigars at the turn and single-malt scotch after the round make sense.
Now it doesn't add up for companies, golfers or golf-course operators.
The price tag to build Washington National and its sister course, Trophy Lake in Port Orchard, was put at nearly $30 million.
According to estimates, Oki, the former Microsoft sales chief, bought them both this fall for approximately half of that. He thinks coupled with his other properties he can offer a "country club experience" for the card-carrying public-access golfer.
"I'm proud of our portfolio of courses," said Oki, who remains free of the real-estate business, long a partner of golf and quite often its savior.
Oki has been in the golf business for 13 years. He knows its ups and downs. Ten years ago he was in the process of building his own temple to golf, Newcastle, high in the hills above Bellevue.
"I'm tickled pink with Newcastle," he said. "It is our trophy property, two courses, great views, and with the clubhouse a wonderful venue for corporate outings and weddings.
"We have no regrets having built it."
But Oki is one of the few owners who could have survived owning Newcastle the past few years. Expenses have been greater than expected while green fees (a one-round card now costs $75) are lower than projected.
"Today," he acknowledged, "we couldn't afford the significant overruns we had building Newcastle. Microsoft stock was appreciating when we built it. In today's market, if we had to do it all over again we wouldn't do it."
Whitney, who worked first for Washington National developer Orrin Vincent and most recently for Heritage Golf of San Diego, said Washington National makes money despite the competition.
"Since we opened, Trilogy, Snoqualmie Ridge, Aldarra, and Suncadia have come on line. Soon there will be Chambers Bay," he said.
"It's a tight market. There was a time when you just opened the doors and collected the money. Now a few thousand rounds are the difference between making it and not making it.
"We've got to take care of the customers we have instead of being in love with who we don't have."
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
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