$170 Million For Doral...But Who Is The Buyer?
/David McLaughlin reports that the bid is for $170 million, subject to higher offers at auction. Thanks to Pete Finch for tweeting this.
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When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
OK, So Maybe Not Every Move Chubby Makes Is So Hot
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Simon Goodley of The Observer reveals that the agent for the last three major winners--the Animal Killer, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke--may have been shedding more than tears of joy after their wins. Thanks to reader Stuart and others for sending this story on Chubby Chandler's costly move in July, 2010.
Companies House documents reveal that on 14 July 2010 Chandler sold most of ISM Group – the holding company of ISM. Just one day later, Louis Oosthuizen strode out for the Open at St Andrews and teed off an incredible run for Chubby's boys: within 72 holes the South African had become the first player in ISM's stable to win a major in 20 years of trying, just as Chandler had relinquished control of 75% of a business that was about to see its prospects transformed.
Chandler admitted: "I don't live my life [regretting things]. I'm not a person that looks backwards. Maybe this run started because of that [deal]. If I lived my life wondering what would have happened and about 'what ifs' then I wouldn't get very far. The life I lead is very much a precarious one. There's nothing to say that five of these guys won't lose form. You tend to look forward not back. I'm not very grown up about a lot of things, but I'm very grown up about that."
According to Oliver Hunt, a partner at sports law firm Onside Law, ISM's run of winners could have been worth at least an extra £1.4m to ISM.
Acushnet Sale Officially Complete
/I know this will help everyone rest easier this weekend...but on a serious note, I'm not sure what this means for the golf industry or future discussions about equipment regulation.
Read More"It’s a cross between the ambience of a 1950s bowling alley and an episode of 'The Jetsons.'"
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Bill Pennington tells us about a new driving range concept called Top Golf where, in addition to your normal practice options, the emphasis is on a bowling alley concept complete with microchips in balls and computer-aided simulation.Callaway Changes CEO; Company To Reduce "Headcount"
/For you Wall Streeters who read this stuff everyday, I know the euphemisms don't entertain you as they do for neophytes like yours truly. Anyway, George Fellows is out, Tony Thornley is in and the, gulp, headcount is going to be reduced.
Shock: 21 Of Top 40 Executive Golf Salaries Based In Ponte Vedra
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Alan Pittman's annual Golf Digest look at executive salaries in golf really is a thing to behold. Those 21 PGA Tour execs account for a staggering $19,727,308 in pay, and that's not including the $1.3 million from three World Golf Foundation incomes."Inside a high-end real estate deal gone bad"
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E. Scott Reckard offers a glimpse into the inner workings of a high-end real estate deal gone terribly awry (and to court): Rancho Santa Fe's The Bridges."The entire sport of golf likely will be faced with a fork-in-the-road decision in charting its future."
/Jim Achenbach assesses the U.S. Open at Congressional and concludes that the "gulf" between regular golfers and the professionals has "grown dramatically" in recent years with the need for a resolution appearing more evident than ever.
Read MoreTwo Reports: Steiney Was "Too Expensive To Keep"
/Michael Smith in Sports Business Daily follows a Mark DeCambre New York Post report in which both cite sources saying IMG had decided agent Mark Steinberg was "too expensive to keep." His $3 million package for 2011 was not justified by the reduction in fees produced by Tiger, each reports.
Read MoreFormer USGA Exec Bevacqua To CAA; Steiney Next?
/For Immediate Release...and only of interest to golf industry insiders. (Though I do wonder how this will impact any possible announcement tomorrow from Mark Steinberg, who has been shackled by an agreement with IMG to not reveal his future until June 1.)
Anyway...
Today In Bad Golf Course Business News...
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J. Scott Trubey and Bill Torpy do a full autopsy on the Reynold's Plantation situation and its uncertain future.
“They were the Cadillac of development; they under-promised and over-delivered,” said state Rep. Mickey Channell, R-Greensboro, a 25-year Reynolds Plantation homeowner. “Based on their history, it was assumed they’d get through this.”
But the 3,600 Reynolds property owners soundly rejected Reynolds’ plan. After the vote, his business was placed into receivership, a move short of foreclosure. Now, a guardian is managing the Plantation and three other communities owned by Reynolds while the banks try to find a buyer or work out another deal with him. In all, 9,000 acres of his corporations’ property, about half its holdings, is held as collateral, is at stake.
And thanks to reader Del for Toby Tobin's analysis of Palm Coast golf courses dropping 71% in assessed value since 2008.
"There was nothing mutual about it."
/SBJ's Liz Mullen followed up the news of Mark Steinberg's departure from IMG with this item suggesting we won't hear a peep until June 1 when he is free to talk. As for the departure, it seems there are different opinions about how mutual the agreement was.
Read More"All in all, it is only the latest twist in an unusual ride"
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In Doug Ferguson's story on Mark Steinberg leaving IMG, he writes:
Woods has a close relationship with Steinberg, a reserve on the Illinois basketball team that went to the Final Four in 1989. If he were to leave IMG and stay with Steinberg, it likely would not make much of a difference in his golf schedule or even his endorsements, as Steinberg did most of that work.
