Editor's note: Links Living is a new The First Call feature that focuses on golf club and community development.
If the 20-year period from 1986-2006, when 4,500 new layouts were added to America’s landscapes mostly by real estate developers selling the golf life, is remembered as the golf course development boom years, then this decade is shaping up to be known as the golf club industry’s recapitalization era.
Indeed, after four strong years of pandemic-powered overall growth in golf participation, industry-wide revenue gains and private club membership sales, course operators and private club owners are pouring capital back into their properties like never before. And the investments extend far beyond the confines of courses that define so many of these destinations.
By one measure, course renovation projects alone totaled an estimated $3 billion at 986 facilities between 2006-2018, according to data from the National Golf Foundation. That number likely increased by at least another $1 billion over the last seven years alone, considering a minimum 300-plus facilities undertook major course renovations or infrastructure upgrades at an average cost of $3 million during that same timeframe.
What’s more remarkable during this golf and private club renaissance is the extraordinary amount of non-golf capital improvement projects unfolding from coast to coast. Many of these are significant seven- and eight-figure investments ranging from reimagined clubhouses to fully renovated health and wellness facilities to world-class resort-style pool complexes and greatly enhanced food-and-beverage venues.
Kuo Diedrich Chi Architects has been riding this recapitalization wave with dozens of projects since the coronavirus outbreak, fueling “successive record years of growth,” according to KDC principal architect Howard Kuo, whose team earned Golf Inc. magazine clubhouse of the year awards each of the last nine years.
Among the Atlanta-based firm’s recent award-winning clubhouse and/or amenity projects: St. Joe Company’s $52 million expansion project at Watersound Club’s Camp Creek golf campus included a two-story, 11,000-square-foot wellness center and 75-room Camp Creek Inn that just opened in Inlet Beach, Florida; a new multi-million two-story, 15,000-square-foot beach club amenity at historic Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and critically acclaimed Colleton River Club’s newly reimagined Dye Clubhouse, the culmination of an estimated $20 million Amenity Improvement Plan led by the KDC team in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Kuo notes that the upward trend of private club recapitalization projects remains strong and "projects have been larger with higher budgets" in recent years, with most of the capital being deployed across non-golf segments such as wellness, aquatics and "especially food and beverage."
Though Kuo sees this trend continuing, he’s noticing a more measured approach from club owners still in the planning stages. He also notes private club demands have outpaced real estate developer-led golf projects mostly due to higher interest rates or borrowing costs.
"The private club environment continues to have strong foundational demand driven by years of deferred work combined with a new generation of members," Kuo says. “However, with the current economic and geopolitical concerns, the pace of capital deployment appears to be slightly cautious and muted with emphasis on ensuring maximum value out of proposed projects. At KDC, we see this as a natural reaction and not a significant deterrent for strong growth continuing going forward."
GOLF-RICH SOUTH FLORIDA GROWS IN STATURE
Florida continues to reign supreme with more golf facilities (1,054) and private clubs (432) than any other state, according to data from the National Golf Foundation. And the sun isn’t about to set anytime soon on the Sunshine State’s golf life dominance.
At least that’s one way to describe the growing stature of Florida’s private golf clubs situated in affluent Palm Beach County, the self-proclaimed "Florida’s Golf Capital" with nearly 150 facilities alone.
During a series of "Trends in Private Clubs" events hosted by global accounting firm RSM in 2016, the PGA Tour title sponsor for the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia, reported one of the key takeaways and recurring themes playing out in private club-rich Florida is "continued extensive capital reinvestment."
For instance, RSM reported 46% of the 200-plus Florida clubs surveyed were "planning what they consider to be significant projects in the next 12 months." In RSM’s annual "2017-18 Trends in Private Clubs" report, it was the highest percentage since RSM began tracking the statistic, with an average capital expenditure being $3.38 million in 2016. It was only a hint of things to come nationwide as hundreds of private clubs have either completed or announced major golf and lifestyle amenity-driven transformations that could represent tens of billions in overall investments by the time this decade-long trend runs its course.
In RSM’s latest report, "2023-2024 Financial and Operating Trends in Private Clubs," the firm noted club sentiment appears to be "holding up" in Florida, considered a bellwether state for the overall private club industry. RSM added that Florida clubs, in the aggregate, "spent another $1 billion in the three-year period ending December 2021, so we are not surprised to see ongoing commitment to continue improving amenities … and we have no doubt that the rolling three-year spend will continue to exceed $1 billion in the state."
A trio of Platinum Clubs of America facilities that recently fulfilled those expectations are Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton, Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens and The Club at Quail Ridge in Boynton Beach. For instance, these private residential communities collectively unveiled more than $200 million in club upgrades in the last year, including Quail Ridge’s award-winning new two-story $5.5 million Racquet Sports Pavilion and Boca West’s new $70 million two-story Lifestyle Center that spans 110,000 square feet — nearly doubling the size of the club’s previous facility.
Highlighted by a popular 96,000-square-foot, family-friendly aquatic complex, Boca West club president/general manager/chief operating officer Matthew Linderman said the new center "rivals any five-star resort in the world and our members are thrilled."
Meanwhile, member-owned Mirasol recently announced an $82 million round of renovations as part of the second phase of the Mirasol Master Plan, including a new, larger casual dining restaurant with views of 18th holes of the club's Sunrise and Sunset layouts that played host to the PGA's Honda Classic from 2003-2006. Other impressive capital improvements were made to the club's other dining venues, indoor and outdoor pickleball courts, larger security guardhouses and renovations to both courses.
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU THE REALTY DEALMAKER
With more than two million YouTube channel subscribers, two-time major champion Bryson DeChambeau has become a presence on the internet. Now DeChambeau, 31, a member of LIV Golf, appears to want to master real estate development with the recent news that he is partnering with Cook Land Company on a master-planned, mixed-use project near his hometown of Clovis, California. Of course, the proposed Fresno-area development will feature lots of golf components.
DeChambeau initially revealed his interest in the project in January on a sports business podcast, "The Joe Pomp Show." At the time, DeChambeau said he envisioned a multi-sport complex with a driving range, golf course, golf academy and residential community center. The famed Clovis East High graduate also wanted to connect the sprawling 200-acre project to students throughout the Clovis Unified School District and broaden their opportunities.
This month, the real estate deal became closer to reality when family-owned Cook Land Company, a local commercial real estate developer with 70 years of realty roots in California’s Central Valley, confirmed that a business partnership was formed with DeChambeau several years ago. Cook Land Co. CEO Todd Cook told the local Business Journal that the relationship "centered around real estate assets. … and we are proud to consider him a dear friend."
DeChambeau is a longtime proponent of making golf more accessible and part of his strategic approach in growing the game at his debut development is introducing the sport through a three-prong process — starting on the driving range, moving on to lessons and eventually playing the 18-hole layout. On the podcast, DeChambeau envisioned his "mega-project" as a singular, easily accessible and affordable community hub.
The golf academy part of the project is currently in the Fresno County permitted process. Cook Land Co., controls property northeast of Clovis but no specific details on the exact location have been disclosed.
If the overall development comes to fruition, the eventual residential community around the multi-sport complex could represent about 30% of the current size of Clovis, which has an estimated population of nearly 128,000, according to the latest July 2024 U.S. Census Bureau Data.