So you win $50 mil in the Mega Millions...

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Besides the statement:  "Honey I'm off to build the greatest golf course ever, can I get you anything while I'm out?"

What are the first five things that you do???

JWK

[PThomas]

location
location
location
pick a great architect
make sure I can easily fly to the course

[Michael Dugger]

Hire an accountant
hire an attorney
buy a four wheeler
buy a new pair of Caterpiller steel toed work boots
maybe buy some equipment???

[Steve Curry]

James,

Assuming a take home of 50 mil,

1) Give 1 million to 40 friends and family,

2) Buy the right spot, may be an existing course or NLE

3) Cut down out of place trees

4) Buy an excavator and a dozer

5) Build or restore a great, fun course

Invite my forty best friends and family over to golf and have a good time.

Steve

[Joel_Stewart]

Steve has the right idea, buy an existing course with a great location and build something special.      A course in Northern California just sold for $9 million, 15 years after a Japanese investor paid $50 million.

[Steve_Roths]

1. Fund the Carthage Club

2. Join Stone Eagle, Sebonack, Ballyneal, Friars Head, Old Sandwhich, Boston Golf Club, and Riviera.

3. Set up a production company in LA and finance upstart movies.  Involve myself heavily in the casting process for said films.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

1. Go to a 3 day work week

2.Play in 25 /30 events a year, of which two would be the Australian and South African amteurs.

3. Place Randy Smith on permanent reatiner, so that I could see him every week..if only to shoot the bull.

4.Make a donation to my home course so that we could restore our greens to the original Langford/Moreau complexes

5. Make every effort to play the courses I really want to play, irrespective of any so called "official" rankings list.

If I can have another golf related extravagence...try to join Merion.

[Mike Benham]

I wouldn't build a course ...

Realistically, I only have 15 years of good golfing left.  There are plenty of courses I have left to see while I still have some ability to golf the ball.   Join the ones that I want to and can get to ...

I'd also start tuning up for my ill fated attempt at the Seniors Tour  (I mean, after KP, what other challenges are there?)

[George Pazin]

It's funny, I actually thought about this fleetingly earlier in the week, but I can't share my decision then or Kevin Edwards will come on and blast me for being a suck up.

I'll give my alternate response:

I'd definitely build my own, but I'd take a few years and:

- see if I could caddy at a few of the top ranked courses to learn;

and

- see if I could intern with a few archies to learn.

I figure in a few years I ought to be able to build something equivalent to a 2 on the Doak Scale....

[Gene Greco]

I figure in a few years I ought to be able to build something equivalent to a 2 on the Doak Scale....

For 90% of us who post on this board, including myself, this is the God-awful truth!

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I like the Hollywood idea Steve.

[redanman]

Get cloned so I can have a new back.

Then I'd probably just buy Blue Heron Pines East and change the 18th a little.

[Michael Dugger]

3. Set up a production company in LA and finance upstart movies.  Involve myself heavily in the casting process for said films.

I like the way this man thinks!

[cary lichtenstein]

pick out a couple of trophy wives

[Steve_Roths]

I wonder if Jaime Lynn Sigler plays golf?

[Brock Peyer]

My first response was similar to most, yeah, I would buy a ton of land with sandy soil and do my ode to Ross and the good Doctor.  

I thought about it a second, why not start a quality golf course archie program with emphasis on the classics at a quality school and do something hopefully good for the game down the road.

 In the meantime you could spend your time playing anywhere your cash can get you on and not be tied to your own place.  I guess you could play wherever you could pay your way on either way but it's a thought.

Oh heck, with $50mil, you can do about anything.

[Jim Thompson]

1.  Try to form a 501 c 3 to cash in ticket and avoid as much taxation as possible.
2.  pay taxes.
3.  Call R.J Daley and ask if he'd be interested in being the membership liaison for my new club.
4.  Go down the short list of land.
5.  Call Dave Herman and Jim Zabel

[Troy Alderson]

Move to Bandon, work part time mowing fairways, play golf the rest of the day, take an annual trip to Scotland and Ireland.

Troy

[JESII]

Troy,

Not bad, as long as that annual trip last 6 - 9 months.

[HamiltonBHearst]

Not sure it would change my life one bit.

[RJ_Daley]

3.  Call R.J Daley and ask if he'd be interested in being the membership liaison for my new club.

huh?  Jimbo, I'll do that for the price of a ham sandwich!    What will you do with the other 49.999,999?  When I finally get over there, I'll bring us a pocket full of tickets for that week's drawing and we'll split'em.  

Oh BTW, to answer the question, I'd probably give up my life of indolence, golf all the time, and hanging around in cyberspace writing on GCA.com nearly everyday, and get busy doing something... since $50mil is pretty much enough to actually allow you to do "something"... even if you pay the taxes.

PS:  Oh yeah, I'd also tell the health insurance industry to kiss my Irish Italian ass... and I'll pay my own friggin way.

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Steve Roth -

The answer is yes, she's a player.  We enjoyed having her at Woodway while still with Mr. DiScala.

Brock, I like the idea of a tribute to Ross & the Dr.  In that line of thought, didn't they live on the courses that they loved?  Ross - Essex County & Pinehurst/MacKenzie - Pasatiempo.  Why not buy enough land for the students to rough out holes and keep the great ones?

From my thinking:

#1 - Disconnect all phones.  Get new secret #'s.
#2 - Accountant/Attorney/Financial Services.
#3 - Scotland & Ireland until I got tired of the food/Australia & New Zealand until I got tired of drinking.  "Honey, I'm going out to play golf.  When will I be back?  When the U.S. Open returns to your childhood home of Bethpage/Farmingdale.
#4 - While doing #3, have a short list of architects who would be free to come to me with the land/project that they want built.
#5 - Hire Steve Roth as my full time agent - the man has brains!

[Tim Taylor]

I like the way Redanman thinks. I'd look to buy some property - maybe in the Blue Mountains around Lexington, VA. I saw a 208 acre plot along the Maury river for a little over $1M recently. No idea if it's zoned for golf or what the environmental issues would be but it sure looked pretty.

Then I'd hire Mr. Smyers. I have thoroughly enjoyed all his courses that I've played. Still trying to figure out a way to play Four Streams in Maryland!

Tim

Get cloned so I can have a new back.

Then I'd probably just buy Blue Heron Pines East and change the 18th a little.

[Jim Sweeney]

Assuming that's after tax:

1) get a good lawyer, accountant, and financial advisor
2) set up educational trusts for the entire next generation of my family
3) depending on tax laws at the time, set up generation skipping trusts for children
4) Set up the balance for lifetime income, drawing about 4% per year
5) establish charitable giving program, maxing out annual charitable gifting deductions, and consider additional charitable gifts or lead trusts
6) buy a big life inusrance policy using annual gift exclusion
7) start investment fund to buy/renovate/operate affordable public golf courses in the under $75.00 market.