Tag: Business

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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Ranking: The highest-paid players in Dallas Mavericks history

HoopsHype breaks down the 12 highest-paid player in the history of the Dallas Mavericks, led by Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley.

The Dallas Mavericks have been one of the most competitive teams in the modern era. Since Mark Cuban purchased the team in 2000, they have reached the playoffs 18 times in 24 years, including 12 straight appearances since his first full season as owner. They’ve also been one of the more aggressive spenders willing to sign or acquire players on big contracts.

Here is a list of the 12 highest-paid Mavericks players in franchise history.

Trade rumor rankings: Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine and more

HoopsHype ranks the five players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week, including Jazz star Lauri Markkanen.

It’s time for another edition of our trade rumor rankings series in which we rank the five players who appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week, as judged by appearances on our Trade Rumors page.

Today, we discuss a Utah Jazz star, a former Utah Jazz star, two Chicago Bulls players – and their potential destination, the Los Angeles Lakers – and a Spanish National Team legend.

With so many interesting names to get to, let’s jump right into the action.

Trade rumor rankings: Zach LaVine, Donovan Mitchell and more

HoopsHype ranks the five players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week, including Zach LaVine.

As we get into the 2023-24 NBA season, trade scuttle remains quiet but that doesn’t mean there aren’t rumors to discuss.

Below, we break down the five NBA players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the past week, as ranked by appearances on our Trade Rumors page.

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.

Calmwater Capital takes control of troubled Banyan Cay project and its Jack Nicklaus course in West Palm Beach

New owner vows to complete Banyan Cay Resort & Club in West Palm Beach.

Calmwater Capital, the lender to the troubled Banyan Cay Resort & Club, took control of the West Palm Beach project late last month. The move followed a failed bid to sell the property to an outside buyer in Banyan Cay’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

In a brief statement issued Wednesday, Calmwater Capital pledged to complete the unfinished hotel.

The Los Angeles-based lender said it has hired crews to complete the 150-room hotel and resort, which will feature three restaurants, a spa and fitness complex, wedding venue, meeting space and banquet facilities for up to 200 people. Calmwater said the resort also will include a resort-style pool and pickleball courts.

In addition to finishing the hotel, Calmwater Capital said the 18-hole, 130-acre Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course will reopen Sept. 30. The course closed in August after a would-be suitor, Westside Capital of Denver, failed to follow through on a $102.1 million purchase of the hotel and golf course.

The Jack Nicklaus-designed Banyan Cay Golf Club, part of a larger development in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Courtesy of Banyan Cay Resort & Club)

Westside’s decision not to close on the purchase left Banyan Cay with no choice but to let the lender’s $96.5 million credit bid stand. The amount reflects the debt extended to the hotel and golf club.

On Aug. 31, U.S. Banktrupcty Court Judge Erik Kimball approved the property’s transfer to a Calmwater Capital affiliate, U.S. Real Estate Holdings III.

The hotel was supposed to open as a Destination by Hyatt property, the company’s only Destination brand in Florida. Now it’s not certain the Hyatt brand will remain. In its statement, Calmwater said the brand and timeline for completion will be announced at a later date.

The ownership change marks the latest twist for the troubled resort and golf club, which is located just east of Interstate 95 off Congress Avenue and north of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.

The property previously was the site of the President Country Club, but the club fell into financial trouble and was sold to an investor group for $11 million in 2011. That investor group then flipped the property to Banyan Cay Dev LLC, led by Domenic Gatto Jr., for $26 million in 2015.

Construction of a resort hotel was beset by delays, to the dismay of The Lands of the President community, which overlooks Banyan Cay. In addition, residents in an adjacent new single-family community, the Residences at Banyan Cay by SobelCo, were supposed to be able to use the hotel’s club as part of the purchase of their homes.

Banyan Cay Resort was slated to be completed last fall after years of construction stoppages, a switch in hotel brands and legal woes for its developer, Gatto. In 2022, as Banyan Cay was hoping to finish construction and open in the fall, the project’s lender filed a foreclosure lawsuit.

In a July 16 complaint in Palm Beach County circuit court, U.S. Real Estate Credit Holdings III-A L.P., the Calmwater Capital affiliate, claimed Banyan Cay missed deadlines to open the hotel by April 30.

Calmwater Capital also sought repayment of two loans. One was a $61 million construction loan to build the Banyan Cay hotel. The other was a $24 million loan for construction of nearly two dozen unbuilt villas on the property.

By February, Banyan Cay had lost the lawsuit, and a judge issued two final judgments in favor of Calmwater Capital. The judgments totaled more than $95 million, an amount that includes the loans plus interest.

Banyan Cay filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in March in hopes of finding a buyer willing to pay a premium above the loan amount for the large, rare site.

The Jack Nicklaus-designed Banyan Cay Golf Club, part of a larger development in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Courtesy of Banyan Cay Resort & Club)

Westside was the sole bidder at a bankruptcy auction and was scheduled to close on the West Palm Beach project before July 31. In June, an enthusiastic Westside official said the project needed about $5 million more to finish construction, including completion of exterior amenities such as the pool deck.

But Westside did not close the deal. At the last minute, it left Banyan Cay in the lurch and unable to pay its insurance, maintain the property or pay employees, according to a 130-page court filing submitted Aug. 9 by the lender.

Westside’s failure to complete its $102.1 million acquisition means Banyan Cay lost millions when the property went back to its lender for the loan amount, said Joseph Pack, a Miami attorney representing Banyan Cay. Court documents indicate Banyan Cay believes Westside engaged in fraud and intentional misrepresentations.

Arnold Palmer Design Company winding down as senior golf architect Thad Layton hangs own shingle

Arnold Palmer Design Company built a vast legacy with more than 300 courses around the world.

Golf architect Thad Layton couldn’t be much more excited to have started his own eponymous business after more than two decades working with Arnold Palmer Design Company, but his announcement on social media this week served in many ways as a closing bell for the company founded by Palmer in 1972.

Palmer Design has 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, and the company plans to wind down operations as non-architectural matters shift from Palmer Design specifically to the greater Arnold Palmer Group. Brandon Johnson, Palmer Design’s other senior architect, declined to comment to Golfweek about the news. Calls to Palmer Design seeking comment were unanswered.

Adam Lawrence, writing about Palmer Design’s winding down for golfcoursearchitecture.net, pointed out that there has been no significant example of a branded golf design business surviving after the death of its principal architect, and now the same appears to be true for Palmer Design.

Layton said he has dreamed of creating his own firm for several years. The industry has boomed since COVID started in 2020, with the ranks of players swelling as they searched for outdoor recreation. Since 2021 there has been significant interest industrywide in building new courses along with renovations and restorations to existing courses.

“The timing couldn’t be better for me to enter the golf business as a sole practitioner,” said Layton, a Mississippi State grad. “I’ve been in this business now for 25 years. It’s just been good times in the golf industry these past few years, and I couldn’t find a better time to hang out my shingle. I have a lot of experience putting together strategic master plans for clients, being able to deploy their capital in a meaningful, sustainable way.”

Layton said he took on increased roles as a course shaper in recent years for Palmer Design, frequently spending time on heavy equipment turning drawings into golf holes. His most recent project for Palmer Design was a greens and bunker renovation at Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica, where he did the detailed shaping.

He plans to continue with a hands-on approach, using the term “design-build model” on his new website – in general, that indicates an architect who is intimately involved in projects, working with a specific crew of contractors on a frequent basis.

Layton also mentioned his love of golden age architecture with classic courses built in the four decades running through the 1930s. He then expressed a love of courses built by modern architects in that style, citing Sand Hills in Nebraska by the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw as well as Pacific Dunes at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, built by Tom Doak.

Layton already has a project lined up, consulting on the Donald Ross-designed Lakewood Country Club in Colorado. He said he has been in talks with several other course operators about work on their layouts, too, and he hopes to soon get a crack at designing new courses.

“Where my heart is, I want to do new stuff, new courses,” said Layton, who moved to Denver four years ago after living for years in Florida, where Palmer Design was based. “I’m hopeful, once I get established, that I can show the golf world what I can do on a new site. …

“Golf has been a lifelong pursuit. I mean, I’m a golfer before I’m a golf course architect. That’s what got me interested in all this, all kinds of different golf courses. Seeing courses that have adopted Golden Age architecture, that’s where I want to get to. I’m super excited to get started.”

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Ranking: The highest-paid players in Philadelphia 76ers history

HoopsHype breaks down the 12 highest-paid players in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers, led by Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris.

The Philadelphia 76ers have been one of the more aggressive spenders in recent history. In their pursuit of a championship, they’ve paid top dollar to the best players they can get. Most of the highest-paid players in their history are all current players thanks to the rising salary cap.

Here is a list of the 12 highest-paid Sixers players in franchise history.

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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