Promontory

[Jon Nolan]

Credit Suisse is unable to raise the money needed to bring a gated community near Park City out of bankruptcy.

The Swiss investment bank filed the disclosure in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Salt Lake City.

The bank's exit means Promontory — a 10-square-mile community of multimillion-dollar homes, opulent clubhouses, golf courses and horse stables — will be auctioned to the highest bidder on April 15.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705293497,00.html

[TEPaul]

So what? Let it be auctioned off to the highest bidder on April 15th? That's what a bankruptcy court, bankruptcy proceedings and auctions are all about. None of them are new and novel concepts or new and novel economic problems.

[Jon Nolan]

Sorry TE.  I see now the story isn't newsworthy.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Sorry TE.  I see now the story isn't newsworthy.

Jon,
  It's newworthy. Promontory boasts 36 holes of Dye/Nicklaus golf that has won awards in recent years. Dont be ashamed of reporting what you did. i didn't know, so thanks!

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX

[Kalen Braley]

Sorry TE.  I see now the story isn't newsworthy.

Jon,
  It's newworthy. Promontory boasts 36 holes of Dye/nicklause golf that has won awards in recent years. Dont be ashamed of reporting what you did. i didn't know, so thanks!

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX

I will 2nd this one Jon,

I've been fortunate to play both of these courses and it is indeed a nice setup they have out there.  Its just such a high end spot, I can't imagine someone won't buy it up. I'm also curious how the new Nicklaus course down in Heber is fairing with all of this as well.  Its set to open this year.

Jon,

Now that the weather has gotten better, well sort of, we need to get out and play a round.

Kalen

[Andy Troeger]

I was very pleasantly surprised by the Dye Course especially--its a little different from most of his other work that I've seen. Granted, the setting is very different from most of the others as well with much more undulation. The Nicklaus Course is nice as well, but like many of his other recent efforts is brutally difficult. They were in the process of moving up many of the shorter sets of tees when we played it which likely would have helped.

[Bill Satterfield]

The article mentions Promontory, Tamarack (Idaho), Yellowstone Club (Montana), and then Lake Las Vegas.  The developers of Snake River Sporting Club (Jackson, WY) have filed bankruptcy and I've heard that everything in the Victor/Driggs, ID area (about 1/2 hour from Jackson Hole) is struggling as well.  A local told me that Hunstman Springs (course designed by David McLay Kidd) in Driggs laid off the entire sales staff and has just a couple of guys employed to grow in the golf course.

Other than Lake Las Vegas, the rest of these courses are all found in areas where your golf season is basically June 1 - October 15.  The private Headwaters course at Teton Springs in Victor, ID and the new private Teton Reserve in Driggs, ID (Hale Irwin reversible routing) were both offering $50 green fees last fall to the public.  I was speaking with a member of Teton Springs and he was pretty upset about it because he pays $400/month in dues and gets a very short golf season.  At $4800/year he was complaining to the head pro that the membership is paying more to golf there than the public is.  At $4800 a year, you would have to golf nearly 100 times during the summer before you were golfing for less than the public offering, and that is assuming you aren't renting a cart.  The $50 fee the public pays includes a cart while membership pays an additional $20 for carts each time they play.  The pro simply responded with the fact that they needed to do whatever they could to generate some revenue.  Granted, I don't know if they offer the $50 rate year round or if it is just in the fall, but the point should be considered nonetheless.

With all of that being said, all of these courses are counting on real estate sales to keep them afloat financially.  Obviously real estate across the country has struggled, but do you think that these courses in particular are struggling due to the short golf season.  Personally, I would have a very difficult time dropping $400 - $500/month in membership dues at a course I could only golf 4 1/2 months a year.  Are there many courses in Florida, SoCal, and Arizona facing similar issues or does their weather give them a greater immunity buffer?  I heard that Tom Doak's northern Michigan course is struggling as well; I'm sure that is a short golf season in that locale. 

[Carl Nichols]

I'm pretty sure Jon was being facetious. 

[Jon Spaulding]

Bummer. A guy that regularly takes money from me is a member there and spends a good chunk of the year up there playing golf or skiing. With him back full time I may require a bailout.

[Matt_Ward]

Bill S:

Interesting points you mentioned.

On the branding side -- if you start to lowball what a course can charge you inevitably set in motion plenty of anger between those who came into the picture at a much higher rate and those botton cage feeders who want bargain basement prices. Facilities that start down the path of reducing fees to make revenue projections will face many long term issues that only make matters worse than they might imagine. Bargain basement types will NEVER pay full value once they get offers at $50 per round. For the facilities such a situation only serves to hurt them in the long run with both groups.

The Park City area is an interesting one because the golf dimension is a relatively new addition. I've played a fair share of courses in and around the area and it's likely going to take a bit of time for things to settle down. However, the area does have some quality layouts and there are still a few to come, if memory serves, from Nicklaus and Rees Jones.

Once things do calm down economically I do see the area being one of the foremost mountain area to play golf in the USA. Of course, that assumes the economic shakeout isn't a crippling one.

[Forrest Richardson]

As the designer of the third course, The Richardson Course, I would (of course) like to see some positive movement at Promontory. I expect this will be the case when the bidding is finalized. My prediction is that the project will revert to many, if not all, of the same original players. This makes sense as there was no shortage of funding before things were acquired by hedge funds.

http://www.golfgroupltd.com/promontory.html