[Mike Feeney]

Can Ran, Jay Mickle, or any of our Southern Pines folks shed light on a transaction pending?  Kelly Miller acquiring Whispering Pines & Foxfire is the rumor -- both 36 hole properties.   Asking prices are (were?) certainly attractive.               
https://www.thepilot.com/news/whispering-pines-foxfire-golf-clubs-up-for-sale/article_446984a0-2378-11ef-b217-3f0e17a17833.html

[hhuffines]

I haven’t t been to Foxfire but my son and I played 18 at Whispering Pines a couple of weeks ago as a warm up round and it’s beyond obvious that the club there is really struggling.  It was only $30 but it was sad to see.  Typical old school Ellis Maples Pinehurst layout with some good holes.  I hope there is an effort to save it… the greens had plenty of grass and the fairways were ok but it was so bad I won’t be returning without a clean up.

[Peter Sayegh]

The emails I've received from both Foxfire and CCWP have alluded to a potential sale for a few months. The latest, dated Aug. 14:
"I know there are a lot of questions about the potential sale. We are close to sharing more information as things progress" from GreatLIFE Golf CEO John Brown.

I prefer the Foxfire courses over those at CCWP.

Instead of asking Ran or Jay, see what Kyle Franz is doing the next eighteen months. 

[Chris Hughes]

I'm having a hard time thinking of any logical reason why Kelly would get involved with either place...

[A.G._Crockett]

I'm having a hard time thinking of any logical reason why Kelly would get involved with either place...

Wouldn’t the logical reason be a profit motive?


Kelly Miller hasn’t gotten much wrong so far, and the ability FOUR golf courses with good bones for $5.5m or less might be another opportunity for his organization.  I’ve played all four, and they are good golf courses; they’re just in lousy condition. And he wouldn’t have to do there what was done at SP; just realizing the cost savings from equipment and chemicals, pro shop buying power, etc, might make it profitable.


I don’t have an especially good imagination, but I don’t have much trouble imagining a successful 3 or 4 round package with a couple of rounds at WP and Foxfire with one round at MP, PN, or SP. A package like that could be offered at rates well below the going rates in the Pinehurst area, given that I payed $105 to play #5 yesterday.

[Ira Fishman]

What happened to the rumor of the Keiser family investing in MP/PN/SP?

[Peter Sayegh]

I'm having a hard time thinking of any logical reason why Kelly would get involved with either place...

I don’t have much trouble imagining a successful 3 or 4 round package with a couple of rounds at WP and Foxfire with one round at MP, PN, or SP. A package like that could be offered at rates well below the going rates in the Pinehurst area, given that I payed $105 to play #5 yesterday.

For the past five years, any 2/3/4 round combination at CCWP/Foxfire and a single round at either MP/PN/SP or PCC #1/#3/#5 was a great affordable trip-especially with the specials offered by GreatLIFE Golf each year.
If the rumor is true, I doubt any "bundling" would be as attractive-or such a "bargain."

[A.G._Crockett]

I'm having a hard time thinking of any logical reason why Kelly would get involved with either place...

I don’t have much trouble imagining a successful 3 or 4 round package with a couple of rounds at WP and Foxfire with one round at MP, PN, or SP. A package like that could be offered at rates well below the going rates in the Pinehurst area, given that I payed $105 to play #5 yesterday.

For the past five years, any 2/3/4 round combination at CCWP/Foxfire and a single round at either MP/PN/SP or PCC #1/#3/#5 was a great affordable trip-especially with the specials offered by GreatLIFE Golf each year.
If the rumor is true, I doubt any "bundling" would be as attractive-or such a "bargain."

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying here.


If the current packages make for a great affordable trip, wouldn’t the same packages be even more attractive if CCWP and Foxfire were in great shape, which hasn’t been the case for a long, long time? 


If Miller were to buy those 4 courses, my guess would be that he thinks he could get them in much better condition simply by taking advantage of an economy of scale with the courses he already owns.


None of us actually know any of this, of course.  But Miller doesn’t seem to get much wrong when it comes to owning golf courses, so I’ll assume he’s crunching the numbers to see if this purchase will work.

[Philip Hensley]

Wouldn’t the first requirement for this deal to make sense that those other 4 courses be on the same level, or close, to MP/PN/SP?


It’s been many years since I played either FF or WP but I’m not sure the only drawback to those courses was that they haven’t been in good conditioning for some time.


I don’t see the benefit of adding 4 mediocre courses to the stable, even at a supposedly good price (easy to say when it’s not our money), in an effort to appeal to bargain hunting golf trippers.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I don’t see the benefit of adding 4 mediocre courses to the stable, even at a supposedly good price (easy to say when it’s not our money), in an effort to appeal to bargain hunting golf trippers.

With the price of rounds at MP/PN/SP, I'm not sure even half that or 2/3 of that cost is a "bargain" exactly. I could see a situation where players want to make a trip to the NC sandhills and spend on one or two courses… while adding an afternoon 18 or a third, fourth, or fifth day playing a slightly less expensive course, perhaps even as a warmup before they play the great courses.

[Peter Sayegh]

Word on the cart path is this may not be the only deal happening in the area.

[Edward Glidewell]

I've heard McConnell has wanted to buy a club in Pinehurst for several years -- I think he talked to Forest Creek at one point but they wanted too much. I wonder if he has his eyes on something else now.

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