I am a member of a NGP owned/AGC operated private club. It is a good course, but poorly maintained and under-managed. During the years of the NGP/AGC regime most of the long-time members have been run-off, and the general attitude is "if you don't like what we offer, be carefull when you leave that the door doesn't smack your ass". Regretfully, I still have a couple hundred of shares of NGP. Now that the dividend has been suspended I no longer have the yield to point to as an excuse for staying in the stock.
AGC is David Price, an L.A. lawyer, and his family. I believe that Mr. Price and his son also own some 50% of NGP's stock, (the REIT). NGP owns the properties/courses which are leased to AGC on a long-term basis. AGC operates the courses and is supposed to pay NGP fixed lease/rent payments. AGC keeps anything left over from dues and green fees after paying all expenses. AGC did own some courses which were transfered/sold to NGP (at what inflated valuations, god only knows).
NGP represents that its management agreement with AGC is arms-length, and that security laws prevent it from managing its own properties. Personally, I believe that there is a huge inherent conflict of interest here. I know that we are still paying dues at my club, so I am unsure what AGC is doing with the cash that it is not passing through to NGP. I doubt that NGP has gone to court to somehow impound or garnish the revenues- I just can't see a Price controlled board suing a closely-held Price corporation. Perhaps my views have been jaded by the Enron mess.
I am a firm believer in markets and the concept of enlightened self-interest. But I think that what is hurting the game of golf today is greed without restraint. I think that the Wall Street mentality in equipment manufacturing, development, and management is really screwing things up. Nobody knows how things will shake-out, but I am hoping for a return to the days of mom and pop owner/operator public golf and private equity clubs.