Tag: Business of Golf

Report claims Callaway up for sale; company says it’s unaware of discussions

Topgolf Callaway Brands considers selling equipment-maker Callaway at a value of nearly $3 billion.

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Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a comment from Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. is considering selling its California-based Callaway Golf business, according to a report from South Korea’s Chosun Daily news outlet that was picked up by multiple sites including Bloomberg.

According to the reports, the golf equipment maker would be valued at nearly $3 billion. Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.’s major shareholders – BlackRock Advisors LLC, Providence Equity Partners LLC and Thomas Dundon – have selected a lead manager to explore possible deals.

Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., however, said later Wednesday that it was unaware of any such discussions.

“While it is our long-standing practice not to respond to market rumors and speculation, in light of today’s unusual market activity, coupled with a recent media report originating in Korea regarding discussions of a potential sale of the Company or its golf equipment business, we confirm that we are not aware of any such discussions,” the company wrote in an emailed comment. “We do not intend to comment further on this topic, and we assume no obligation to make any further announcement or disclosure should circumstances change.”

The New York Stock Exchange share price for Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. surged more than 12 percent to more than $16 in the wake of the reports, as of noon Wednesday. That put the company’s market cap at $2.98 billion. That price slid to beneath $16 a share in afternoon trading. Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.’s stock price had dropped from a 12-month high of $22.87 on April 21, 2023, to a low of $10.05 on November 10. In 2024, it has traded in the $13-$14 range

Reports indicate that the major shareholders want to spin off Topgolf, the entertainment brand with technology-boosted driving ranges and extensive food-and-beverage operations. Callaway Golf Co. closed a deal in March of 2021 to acquire the remainder of Topgolf Entertainment Group it didn’t already own, valuing the driving range chain at about $2 billion. The merger resulted in the name Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

Chip Brewer, Topgolf Callaway’s CEO, said during its Q4 2023 earnings conference call on February 13, “Topgolf’s track record for selecting and opening venues is extraordinary. They virtually all do well, and average opening results have exceeded our targets. …

“In addition, our venues are increasingly profitable over time with, what we believe, is a clear path to further upside. I’ll even add we have now shown we can do this in the face of same venue sales volatility. In short, the venues are achieving the return targets we communicated and are long, durable and appreciating assets.”

During the same call, Brewer predicted that Topgolf would have more than 30 million visitors to its facilities in 2024 before giving a strong report about Callaway’s club sales.

“Our U.S. dollar market share placed us as the number one club brand and the number two golf ball brand,” Brewer said. “In clubs alone, we were the number one in total clubs, drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and irons. ”

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Architect Brandon Johnson, formerly of Palmer Design, launches own golf course firm

Harvard-trained architect Brandon Johnson hangs out his own shingle with new design firm.

Golf course architect Brandon Johnson has made it official: After 17 years working for Arnold Palmer Design Company, he is hanging out his own shingle with today’s introduction of Brandon Johnson Golf Course Design.

The Harvard-educated Johnson joined Palmer Design in 2006 when that firm moved to Orlando. Johnson and Thad Layton were the design leads in recent years for Palmer, which wound down operations late in 2023. Layton announced the formation of his own firm in September.

Johnson has worked on several dozen courses around the world for Palmer involving everything from renovations to new courses.

“I’m excited, and as I’ve explained it to people, it feels like I’m graduating college again,” said Johnson, who interned for the PGA Tour as a course designer in the mid-1990s before taking a job out of college with The First Tee. “There are a lot of opportunities, and there’s a lot of excitement.”

Palmer Design built more than 300 courses in 37 states and 27 countries, including many listed on Golfweek’s Best ranking of top modern courses in the U.S. and the state-by-state rankings of public and private layouts. The company really took off in the 1980s and has been one of the most recognized brands in course architecture ever since. But business, especially in constructing new courses, slowed for the company following Palmer’s death in 2016. Layton and Johnson had mostly worked on renovations since.

Old Tabby Links
Brandon Johnson led the renovation to Old Tabby Links in Okatie, S.C., which was originally created by Arnold Palmer Design Company. It was one of many jobs Johnson undertook as one of the lead designers for Palmer Design.  (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

“I’m a very seasoned professional, but you know, I’m still young in the business,” said the 50-year-old Johnson, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina who did his undergrad in design at North Carolina State before attending Harvard for graduate school. “I had a professor in my junior year that said it’s going to take you 25 years to master this profession of landscape architecture. I think that we’re always learning and we’re always growing, so now I have this incredible kind of background in my career that I’m able to apply to my own firm.”

Johnson is busy lining up jobs and plans several announcements of renovations and possibly new courses in the coming months. He intends to spend as much time as possible in the field working with course shapers – generally speaking, shapers are the highly skilled heavy equipment operators who turn an architect’s plans into reality.

“It’s interesting, in my early days at the Tour, Pete Dye had a lot of influence,” Johnson said. “He was almost always on-site, and there was always that mentality that even though we might be in the office some, how we thought about projects was the work being done in the field. Even in my time at Palmer, we certainly transitioned when Thad and I were running the company to be much more involved in the field through every step of the process. I think, for me, that’s the way I will be starting out on my own, and it’s always kind of been my mentality.”

Golf has boomed in recent years as more players took up the game during COVID, and there has been a greater interest in course architecture as well. Johnson said it’s a great time to strike out on his own.

“People are seeking out fun, new and interesting architecture,” he said. “To me, what fun means is golf is going to have a lot of variety, and it’s going to allow you to think and maybe execute a shot in several different ways. It’s drawing you in, and it’s going to make you want to get back on the golf course. I think of the feelings that I had as a kid and I just couldn’t wait to get to the golf course. …

“You hope you have the opportunities to show the golfing world what you can do as an architect, and I’m really excited about that opportunity and look forward to working with some really good clients on some unbelievable pieces of property, working with people who are equally as passionate and in love with this game as I am.”

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Cabot steps up as world player with opening of new courses at Citrus Farms, Saint Lucia

Cabot opens new courses in Florida and Saint Lucia, with more on the way.

Cabot effectively was a niche golf operator for much of its existence since the Canadian company opened its first course in 2012 on the remote shores of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.

The original layout, Cabot Links, was exceptional, and it was followed a few years later by the even more highly ranked Cliffs course. More golf was added in 2020 in the form of a new short course, The Nest. The destination was a home run for company co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar, who wisely put the emphasis on best-in-class golf at the Cape Breton property that was aided by the interest and investment of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort founder Mike Keiser.

But like Bandon Dunes, Cabot Cape Breton is a long way from most anywhere, and the Canadian golf season that far north runs just six months. While the Cabot brand represented the peak of modern Canadian golf, a world-class destination not to be missed by any seasoned golf traveler, for most of its existence the company wasn’t quite a major world player.

That has changed.

Cabot has grown up, and much of the globe is now its playground. By purchasing existing properties when promising and building from scratch when necessary, Cowan-Dewar has expanded Cabot’s operations south into the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean to Scotland. He has developed a focus on high-end accommodations, frequently manifesting in the form of aspirational real estate. And without defining how far he hopes to take the Cabot brand, he doesn’t plan to slow down.

Cabot Citrus Farms
The split-fairway, par-5 14th at Cabot Citrus Farms’ Karoo Course (Courtesy of Cabot/Matt Majka)

The growth has come fast and furious in recent years, most notably with the concurrent introduction of two courses in two different countries.

The built-from-scratch Point Hardy Golf Club – on one of the world’s most jaw-dropping pieces of golf land – opened to its members in December at Cabot Saint Lucia in the southern Caribbean. It soon will be followed in late January by the public-access Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida opening its first course, named Karoo, for preview play on the site of the former World Woods Golf Club.

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All that is on the heels of Cabot having purchased Castle Stuart in Scotland in June of 2022, rebranding it to Cabot Highlands and announcing plans to add a second course designed by Tom Doak slated to open fully in 2025. And don’t forget Cabot Revelstoke, a mountainous destination planned to come online in 2025 with a layout by Rod Whitman, who designed the original Cabot course at Cape Breton. Revelstoke is in Canada, but this development is on the opposite side of the continent in British Columbia. Both these properties also will feature residential opportunities.

All the sudden, Cabot has become a year-round operator with developments that span nine time zones. It is now a company on which the sun will never set during the long days of a Canadian summer.

“We’ve always got a lot of irons in the fire,” Cowan-Dewar said in December while he overlooked a tropical marina not far from Point Hardy, trying to relax for a few minutes during a casual interview the day before his private Saint Lucia property hosted its members’ first rounds. “Did I ever conceive it would play out just like this? Of course not. But we did have plans to grow.”

Cabot Saint Lucia
From left, Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw, Mike Keiser and Ben Cowan-Dewar at Cabot Saint Lucia (Courtesy of Cabot/Jacob Sjöman)

The golf always came first for Cowan-Dewar, whose early ambitions drew the attention of a like-minded Keiser. The American developer serves as a sounding board for the Canadian, and from the beginning his advice has been to build great golf holes, then establish a business model around them.

That starts with the course architects. For Saint Lucia it would be the acclaimed team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who also designed the Cliffs at Cabot Cape Breton, rated by Golfweek’s Best as the top modern course in Canada. At Cabot Citrus Farms just north of Tampa, Cowan-Dewar selected the up-and-coming Kyle Franz for the Karoo course and is employing Franz alongside Mike Nuzzo and advisor Ran Morrissett for the second full-size 18 named The Roost, still in development and ambitiously slated to open for preview play in the spring of 2024.

Then it’s just a matter of giving the architects enough latitude to create something special on beautiful pieces of land ideally suited for golf.

“We’re hiring some of the greatest people to ever practice their craft,” Cowan-Dewar said. “How many times in your life do you get to work with some of the greatest artists at a moment in time when they are the best? And we’re lucky to do that. So we want to give them the biggest canvas possible with no limitations. Trust in the architects, and we can figure out the rest around that.”

That trust has led to two very different golf courses in Point Hardy and the Karoo at Cabot Citrus Farms.

Are players finally pushing back on rising green fees? This California golf mecca might be an indicator

“Last year we could have quoted a million dollars and they just said please send me the contract.”

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The pandemic-spurred surge in golf over the last three years is bound to end at some point, but Ben Rodny believes it won’t end this coming golf season in the Coachella Valley.

“We’ve built our budget for this year and we are planning our business plan for next year on the expectations that things are going to continue to grow,” said Rodny, the director of sales and marketing at the Indian Wells Golf Resort.

From rounds played across the country to the number of golfers to the group sales business that resorts like the Indian Wells Golf Resort is seeing, golf has been a major beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down numerous activities including other sports.

The pandemic sparked a turnaround in golf, which had seen rounds played and the number of golfers dwindle for more than a decade. But the pandemic seemed to drive people outside to an activity that was allowed in most areas of the country. Twenty percent increases of rounds played were reported in 2020 and 2021, with smaller gains in 2022.

So far in 2023, the National Golf Foundation reports a 3.8 percent increase in rounds played through the end of September. But in the Palm Springs area, year-to-date rounds for 2023 are down 2.9 percent, a result of lost rounds because of weather such as August’s Tropical Storm Hilary, which shut down some courses for weeks with flood damage. In September, though, the NGF reported a 6.4 percent increase in Palm Springs area golf over the same month in 2022.

For many in the golf industry in the Coachella Valley, there are some signs that the surge, while not reversing, might be at least slowing down.

“We are planning for it to level,” said Kurt Burmeister, general manager of La Quinta Country Club. “We are seeing growth, but it’s not as aggressive growth as we have seen the last three years. But the signs for the season are similar to what we have seen the last three years.”

Even at the 36-hole Indian Wells Golf Resort, where rounds played were well over 400 a day in the 2022-23 season, Rodny says he is starting to see a few signs of a throttling back of the game’s growth.

“What I am noticing, particularly on the group side of the business, golf tournaments, smaller outings, is that there is some pushback on rates that is starting to happen that we did not see last year,” Rodny said. “Last year we could have quoted a million dollars and they just said please send me the contract. Now there is a bit of pushback and we are hearing it from our clients who are trying to organize a high-level event, either with us or with one of the other top players in the Coachella Valley.”

A winding golf cart at Indian Wells Golf Resort (Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)

Prices still going up?

Like many courses around the desert, the Indian Wells Golf Resort uses dynamic pricing during the season, which means green fees drop during periods of lower demand but rise during peak demand like Fridays and Saturdays in January and February. In the 2022-23 season the top fee was $299 per round, and Rodny sees that going higher in the coming months.

“Our base price is set between $249 and $259. So I actually do anticipate us breaking the $300 price this season in January and February. By how much I can’t tell you,” Rodny said.

Golfers congregate on the putting green before heading out for a round at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
Some golfers say they are having to adjust their plans as prices continue to increase.

“I have friends who come down for a week or 10 days in February, and they are already changing their plans,” said Fred Barnett of Palm Desert. “They may come down for the same number of days but not play golf as much because the prices keep going up. And it’s not just the golf. It’s the hotels, too.”

Golfweek’s Best: Top public and private courses in California

Barnett said his friends are willing to pay $150 or so for a round, but that price is getting more difficult to find in the peak season in the desert.

“Four rounds at $150 each is $600, and you can pay for a couple of nights in a hotel by skipping one round of golf,” Barnett said.

“I just can’t afford to play as much these days,” said Barbara Garcia of Indio. “It’s not just that golf is more expensive. Everything is more expensive: gas, food, everything. Something has to get cut back, and for me that is golf.”

“The higher profile courses are at $300 a round, the lower profile courses are at $175 a round,” Rodny said. “But the thing that is really keeping the golf resort in play is the fact that the hotels are incredibly full with group business.”

At La Quinta Country Club, where the amount of membership play is more important than guest fees for the course, Burmeister said the club’s response to increased play and waiting lists for membership has been to eliminate activities that aren’t specifically for members.

“We have become much more member-focused. We’ve done a lot of outside business through the years, (The American Express PGA Tour event) being an example of that,” Burmeister said. “And we are fully committed to that. But we’re doing less wedding business. We have committed to that plan as well. So certainly from an operation standpoint, we have become more member-focused, which in essence may increase dues over time, but it is more about member services right now.”

Burmeister also said increased revenue from the increase in play in the last three years has allowed La Quinta Country Club to make some long-term plans.

“We have already set our project for next year, which is a new irrigation system,” Burmeister said. “That has already been funded. We already know that.”

While the surge may have slowed in the desert, Rodny knows that the cycle for the game might end. But he also doesn’t know when that will be.

“The wave has to crash eventually,” Rodny said. “And then rise again.”

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ANWA host club Champions Retreat being sold to Texas-based Arcis Golf

Arcis Golf expands on its portfolio of nearly 70 clubs around the country.

Champions Retreat in Evans, Georgia – the host club for the first two rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur each year – is being sold to Dallas-based Arcis Golf.

Terms of the deal, slated to close Friday, have not been released. News of the impending sale was emailed to Champions Retreat members, as first reported in the Augusta Press. The impending sale was confirmed independently by Golfweek, although an official statement has not been released to news organizations.

The private Champions Retreat near Augusta consists of three nine-hole courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. The ANWA is played each April on Palmer’s The Island nine and Nicklaus’ The Bluffs nine before moving to Augusta National Golf Club for the final round the Saturday before the Masters begins. The club also features oversized and luxurious cabins with a top-notch food and beverage program. The club has opened its gates to guests during Masters weeks in recent years.

Champions Retreat was founded in 2005. Its reputation began to take off in 2014 when it was purchased by Bill Forrest, founder of the Connecticut-based private equity firm Tower Three Partners.

Arcis Golf, founded in 2013, owns or operates nearly 70 private, resort and daily-fee clubs around the United States. Its properties include TPC River’s Bend in Ohio, Cowboys Golf Club in Dallas, Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona and Tijeras Creek Golf Club in California. Atairos, an independent private company focused on supporting growth-oriented businesses, acquired a substantial ownership position in Arcis in 2020. Fortress Investment Group LLC also maintains a significant ownership stake in Arcis.

Management company Troon takes the reins at Tobacco Road in North Carolina

The world’s largest golf management company takes the reins at one of the most interesting courses in the U.S.

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Troon, the Arizona-based golf management company that has seen rapid expansion in recent months, has been selected to manage one of the most interesting courses in the U.S.: Tobacco Road in Sanford, North Carolina.

Designed by the late Mike Strantz and established in 1998, Tobacco Road has built an almost cult-like following of players looking for something different. The layout’s sometimes-extreme greens and incredible terrain have kept the tee sheet full for years, and Tobacco Road ranks No. 6 in a stacked North Carolina on Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of top public-access courses. It also ties for No. 79 on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access courses in the U.S.

Those rankings don’t necessarily express the views of diehard fans, many of whom would rank what is in many ways a non-traditional layout among the top handful of modern courses in the U.S.

Such players tend to love that Tobacco Road plays almost like a video game, presenting shots and strategic challenges not seen at many other courses. Think semi-blind shots to frequently crazy greens featuring dramatic contours and run-offs – Strantz wasn’t interested in the status quo of golf design, and he wasn’t afraid to turn up the volume with his designs.

Tobacco Road
No. 18 at Tobacco Road, with the clubhouse in view (Courtesy of Tobacco Road Golf Club)

With the right frame of mind, it’s all incredibly fun – judged by many to be as much art as a golf course. And after decades of family management, the course 25 miles north of Pinehurst will now be under the management of Troon, the largest golf and golf-hospitality management company in the world.

“After thoroughly evaluating our options for management of Tobacco Road, we are excited to select Troon as the steward of Mike Strantz’s uncompromising design,” Tobacco Road Golf Club founder Mark Stewart said in a media release announcing the news.

Troon has been on a tear lately, acquiring several other management companies. The company now manages the equivalent of 840-plus 18-hole golf courses. Under its care are multiple top-tier daily-fee courses and private clubs.

“Troon is proud and honored to partner with Tobacco Road and founder Mark Stewart,” Troon director of operations Dana Schultz said in the media release. “This Top-100 golf course has been a successful family-run operation for decades. We look forward to carrying on the Stewart family vision and welcoming golfers to Tobacco Road Golf Club.”

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Course management company Troon keeps growing with second acquisition this week

Troon acquires Applied Golf Management’s and its portfolio of 13 courses in eastern U.S.

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Golf course management company Troon has been busy with acquisitions in recent years, and it shows no sign of slowing down after announcing Thursday it has acquired Applied Golf Management.

The Scottsdale-based Troon also announced this week it will acquire the management or consulting contracts of 18 clubs previously under the Invited (formerly ClubCorp) umbrella.

The New Jersey-based Applied Golf Management’s portfolio includes 13 public-access and private golf facilities in New York, New Jersey and Florida. Among those are St. Petersburg Country Club in Florida, Putnam County Golf Course in New York and Trenton Country Club in New Jersey.

Troon said in a media release that members of the 13 clubs will continue with the same service, and plans are for Applied Golf Management to maintain its office in Millstone Township with all associates remaining in their positions.

“We could not have chosen a better organization than Troon to help carry on what we have built over the past 17 years,” Applied Golf Management founder and president Dave Wasenda said in the media release. “This acquisition closes a great chapter in our company’s history, while beginning an amazing new one for our clients and associates. With Troon’s resources, expertise and growing portfolio of managed properties, it is an exciting time for all of us to become part of the Troon family. We look forward to continued success and contributing to the company’s strong growth.”

Troon – the world’s largest golf and golf-related hospitality management company – has completed 13 acquisitions since 2014, including 11 since 2018. It now manages the equivalent of more than 840 18-hole courses in 45-plus states and more than 30 countries, the company said in the media release.

“Dave Wasenda, for whom I have the utmost respect, and his team have cultivated a superb portfolio of club’s throughout New York, New Jersey and Florida by working hard and developing customized solutions for clients – tenets both companies share,” Troon president and CEO Tim Schantz said in the media release. “With the addition of Applied Golf, we significantly expand our footprint and management capabilities across the Northeast.”

Troon to acquire Invited’s club-management division as part of strategic partnership

The management of 18 golf clubs will transfer to Troon as part of a strategic partnership.

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Troon and Invited, two of the world’s largest golf course operators, announced Saturday a strategic partnership in which Troon will acquire the management or consulting contracts of 18 clubs previously under Invited’s umbrella.

The Dallas-based Invited, which rebranded from the name ClubCorp last year, owns and operates more than 200 clubs and has more than 400,000 members. That doesn’t change.

It’s Invited’s Management Services business, which served as a third-party operator and consultant for the 18 clubs included in the deal, that switches hands to Troon. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based Troon specializes in third-party club management and hospitality, with more than 760 18-hole equivalent courses around the world under its banner.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Among these managed clubs is PGA National Resort in Florida – Invited managed the PGA National Members Club, the private country club element at PGA National Resort, longtime home to a PGA Tour event.

As part of the deal, Invited and Troon will introduce a program that allows Invited members to play participating Troon-managed resort and daily fee courses as well as Invited’s portfolio of more than 150 clubs and 200 courses. Members of the former Invited Club Management facilities will continue to enjoy Invited’s XLife benefits, playing a network of hundreds of private clubs and renowned resorts.

The management teams and all employees of the clubs to be managed by Troon will retain their roles in the new arrangement, the companies said in a media release announcing the news. Invited senior vice president Seth Churi and regional vice president Peter Faraone will move to similar positions within Troon, continuing to support operations at the 18 clubs with the backing of Troon’s resources.

“We are excited to welcome these outstanding clubs, their members, management teams and associates to the Troon family,” Troon president and CEO Tim Schantz said in the media release. “We have long respected Invited’s contributions to our industry. This relationship creates new opportunities for each organization and perfectly aligns with our respective missions and focus.”

Troon and Invited said in the media release they have planned additional collaboration to leverage their mutual expertise.

“We are thrilled to embark on this historic relationship with Troon. By working together and pooling together our strengths, we can become even more dynamic in providing resources and infrastructure to our members and clubs,” David Pillsbury, CEO of Invited and the former president of the PGA Tour’s TPC network of clubs, said in the media release.

In 2017, Invited was purchased and taken private by Apollo Global Management in a deal valued at $2.2 billion. TPG Capital is a major investor in Troon. Each company also has PGA Tour golfers involved, with Jordan Spieth as an investor and ambassador for Invited, while Rory McIlroy is an investor in Troon.

Troon has not shied away from large acquisitions in the past 16 years, having purchased 13 companies since 2007.

The full media release is posted below, including the names of the clubs involved:

John Deere re-ups as title sponsor of PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic thru 2026

John Deere is one of the Tour’s longest running title sponsors dating back to 1998.

Tournament ambassador Zach Johnson, three-time winner Steve Stricker and defending champion J.T. Poston have reason to cheer.

The PGA Tour, Deere & Company and the Quad Cities Golf Classic Charitable Foundation announced Monday that John Deere has signed a multi-year extension as title sponsor of the John Deere Classic.

The renewal announcement was made at the tournament’s annual media day at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois. According to a tweet from the official tournament handle, the extension runs through 2026.

John Deere is one of the Tour’s longest running title sponsors dating back to 1998.

“The John Deere Classic is a signature example of one of the PGA Tour’s most engaged communities coming together to achieve great things,” Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a release. “As title sponsor, John Deere has gone above and beyond to help create an outstanding experience for our players and golf fans, while making a lasting impact with local nonprofits.”

Since the tournament’s inception in 1971, the John Deere Classic has helped raise $159.57 million for charity, 98 percent of which has been raised since John Deere assumed title sponsorship in 1998. Last year, the John Deere Classic delivered a tournament record $13.9 million to 481 organizations through its Birdies for Charity program.

“For our company, and for the hundreds of John Deere employees and retirees who volunteer their time to make this such a great event for the fans and the players, the John Deere Classic is much more than just another stop on the PGA Tour. It helps us connect with our global customers and make a positive contribution to the quality of life in our local community,” said John C. May, John Deere chairman and CEO.

The John Deere Classic moved to its current home at TPC Deere Run in 2000 and features winners that include Stricker (2009-11), Johnson (2012) and Jordan Spieth (2013, 2015). Last year, Poston earned the second Tour title of his career, leading wire-to-wire in a three-stroke win over Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo.

The agreement includes sponsorship of the John Deere Classic and a continuance of John Deere’s Official Marketing Partner program. As such, Deere retains its designation as Official Golf Course Equipment Supplier of the PGA Tour, Official Golf Course Equipment Supplier of the TPC Network, Official Utility Vehicle of the PGA Tour, Official Mower of the PGA Tour, Official Tractor of the PGA Tour and Official Golf Course Equipment Leasing Company.

The 2023 tournament will be held July 6-9 at TPC Deere Run.

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A Minnesota town bought an 18-hole course for $3.4M and is selling the remaining 9 holes for $426K

“To be operating a golf course and to be wasting the resources … it seems like a real struggle.”

SARTELL, Minnesota — Since tabling the proposal to sell the 9-hole, 81-acre Pine Ridge Golf Course, the city of Sartell is taking another look at its appraisal numbers and has put out a fact sheet before the expected vote May 22.

The City Council was prepared to approve the sale to Three Tees LLC for $426,000 during its May 8 meeting, but after questions were raised about the value of the property and the amount of information available to the public, the board voted to table the sale until its next meeting.

The city of Sartell is about 75 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis.

“This is massive — quite literally might be the largest decision I’ve been asked to make in seven years of sitting on the City Council,” Mayor Ryan Fitzthum said at the May 8 meeting.

Three Tees is owned by restauranteur Brandon Testa, who is the owner of House of Pizza and son of its founder, Bob Testa. House of Pizza first opened in 1964 in downtown St. Cloud and currently has two locations in Sartell and west St. Cloud.

Brandon Testa plans to build a new restaurant at the course, though he declined to give many details about its concept. He has no experience in operating a golf course, but said buying it seemed like an opportunity, “not to replace, but add to Sartell’s current restaurant portfolio.” He said the unnamed restaurant would be unique to the area and appealing to people who golf or don’t. He said he would continue to operate House of Pizza separately in Sartell.

Testa, a prominent business owner in the town, is acquaintances with several members of the council. Councilmember Jill Smith said her motivations for supporting the sale stem from her desire to keep Pine Cone Ridge an amenity for the city.

“I do not want this burden to fall on taxpayers and see an opportunity for a private buyer to make a real impact from an economic development standpoint,” she said.

Sartell would place a deed on the property, heavily regulating the buyer for 30 years — which is the maximum allowed by state law. The deed significantly devalues the land, requiring that the 9-hole course is maintained to U.S. Golf Association standards and requires that the buyer add improvements to the clubhouse, parking lot and irrigation system by 2025.

That’s why Sartell began exploring the sale last year, according to the city’s engagement director, Nikki Sweeter. Though equipment at the course is functional and doesn’t require immediate work, the parking lot could be replaced and the 40-year-old sprinkler system could be upgraded to one that is automatic and less labor intensive. The clubhouse is also aging.

Sweeter said Sartell expects to have to spend money on different projects at the course “in the next three to five years” and city Finance Director Rob Voshell voiced the potential for needing a greater tax levy in the future. The city deducted several hundred thousand dollars from the appraisal price to compensate for the ballparked price of the expenditures. The golf course was appraised in the summer of 2022 for $775,000.

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In the May 8 meeting, City Councilmember Alex Lewandowski said the sale had his support.

“What it comes down to for me personally is that this golf course right now — and it’s going to continue to go up in the coming years — is a liability to the city and we have the opportunity for a party to take control who is going to fix the problems and make it better along one of the main drags in our city,” Lewandowski said.

Sartell bought the then-18-hole course in 2008 for $3.425 million using funds from bond proceeds, the city’s cash reserve, and the regional half-cent sales tax that was originally passed by voters in 2003 to be used on roads, parks and trails and community buildings with regional significance. Pine Ridge Golf Course was split up since then, the city transforming the back nine holes into Pinecone Central Park and Central Park Boulevard. Sartell would keep those if a sale were to be approved.

Since the purchase, the city has leased the operations of Pine Ridge to Boulder Ridge, which also manages the 9-hole Boulder Ridge Golf Course in St. Cloud. The proceeds from the lease have been dedicated to helping the Sartell Youth Hockey Association pay off the Scheels Athletic Complex since 2020 and prior to that were transferred to Pinecone Central Park Association. The cost of that agreement was estimated to be about $482,384 at the time, according to SC Times archives.

Pine Ridge has been profitable for several years and manager Pat Schreifels expects it to be again this summer, he said. He said membership is on par with previous years, despite the late spring.

Boulder Ridge holds the lease for another 10 years, and Sartell would have to buy its operator out, costing $60,000. Boulder Ridge would then cease operations in November and the sale would close in January 2024. Testa said he has had some preliminary conversations with Boulder Ridge about continuing operations under his ownership, but didn’t rule out other options.

City Administrator Anna Gruber said city staff brought the idea to sell Pine Ridge to the city in August 2022 in an effort to limit debt and build and develop a plan for capital improvement funds.

“It just kind of an option that staff thought that the council might be interested in, to just sell now and let the next phase of this golf course come to light sooner,” Sweeter said.

In City Council meetings last September 19 the council heard a presentation from Testa on a concept and vision for the course and instructed city staff to design a public sale process. On October 10 the council approved the process, requesting qualifications within a month. The council reviewed four letters of intent and three proposals, including one from Boulder Ridge, and selected the highest bid from Three Tees LLC on January 9. Since then, city staff have been finalizing a purchase agreement.

In the May 8 meeting, City Councilmember Jed Meyer argued that the property could be worth a much higher appraised value if developed as residential or commercial, saying that the city shouldn’t devalue its land while trying to sell it. Meyer, who has previously been president of the Sartell Baseball Association and vice president of the Pinecone Park Association and said his opposition to the sale has nothing to do with Testa or his restaurant proposal, “just not at this price.”

“What is the sense of urgency?” he asked, suggesting the city explore other options such as selling just enough land for a restaurant and continuing operations of the course.

“We are a city that should be running city business,” Councilmember Tim Elness said. “To be operating a golf course and to be wasting the resources we need to be using for other public amenities and our public works, it seems like a real struggle to keep that moving forward in a positive light. If we were to have some sort of major mechanical issue at the course, where would we get the funding for that right now?”

Smith expressed her displeasure with the lack of planning for the cost of maintenance and operations and said she felt the sale value is “appropriate.”

There has been some outcry from members of the community, including from former city leaders like mayors Sarah Jane Nicoll (2015-2018) and Joe Perske (2011-2014) who penned a letter to the city opposing the sale, along with former council members Steve Hennes and Pat Lynch. Lynch, who was on the board for one term from 2015-2018, is an administrator of a Facebook group with currently has over 300 members called “Sartell—Stop the Fire Sale.”

There has also been frustration about the sale process, specifically that decisions have been made in workshops rather than in meetings. Workshops are open to the public, but their agendas are less detailed than regular meetings and during regular meetings, members of the public aren’t allowed to speak on agenda items.

City officials have pushed back, saying people have had seven workshops or meetings since December when the sale wasn’t on the agenda and anyone could have spoken on any topic. The city has followed the regular process over several months and has issued multiple press releases.

Lewandowski and Smith voted to approve of the sale, with the three other voters dissenting. Elness said he was prepared to vote in favor, but after accusations that the process hasn’t been transparent, agreed to table to sale while city staff re-evaluate the value of the business and other aspects of the sale. It is expected to be voted on again in the May 22 meeting.

“No matter how this goes, we’ve got a lot of pride and passion in our community,” Meyer said. “Once the decision is made, my intention is to support whatever that decision is 100%. I think that’s important though this process, that we come back together as a community and support whatever that decions is and make it the best option that it can be.”

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