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| Best Practices: Property |
Master Strokes
Ian Keown
10/01/2005
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After acquiring the land, a course
owner’s first outlay is for the design. Fees for a full-length,
professional-grade layout begin in the low six figures, but can soar into seven
figures for famed designers such as Nicklaus, Player and Tom Weiskopf.
Construction costs range from $100,000 to $300,000 per hole and increase in
relation to the amount of earth to TOP VIEW
Custom-designed golf courses offer their owners privacy and convenience. Crafted
by some of the greatest names in golf, including Jack Nicklaus, these exclusive
oases can be shaped to suit the idiosyncrasies of both an owner’s game and also
his property. But custom courses are not without their drawbacks: prolonged
construction times, expensive maintenance fees and a dubious resale market. |
be moved, the lavishness of the landscaping
and the whims of owners who demand ponds, waterfalls, ravines . . . and fast
results. Because many would-be owners have double-digit handicaps (the average
American male golfer owns a 16 handicap), designers will adapt the course to
suit the owner’s game. Huizenga, a 12 handicap, wanted roll-on greens, so he
instructed architect Player to eschew lateral bunkers in front of the holes.
Construction times are primarily determined by the landscape (a course bounded
by hills may take longer than one laid out on the flatlands, for example) and
the duration of the building season (a mere four months in cold climates such as
Montana). Pascucci has had to endure three years “and 350 meetings for permits
and approvals,” he says, then two additional years of construction.
Over and
above construction costs, many new owners are thrown by the expense required to
maintain a course in playable condition. “Even a course that gets only 10 or 12
rounds a day,” architect Bob Lohman points out, “still has to be mowed and
aerated daily.” For a well-groomed, 18-hole layout, owners should budget from
$500,000 to $1 million per year, every year, ad infinitum. Even a four- or
five-hole backyard layout requires regular grooming and may require a full-time
staff. “Maintenance probably sets me back about 50 grand a year,” Beightol
estimates.
Rather than finance this upkeep out of pocket, some owners have
elected to offer memberships to friends and business associates. They maintain
exclusive member rosters just large enough to cover overhead. Beightol does not
have this option (“I can’t charge dues, I’d lose my property rights,” he
explains). Keiser, however, had membership in mind when he first envisioned his
course, because the Dunes is a short drive from his summer home. He formed a Sub
S corporation to accommodate his 85 members. “They weren’t all friends when they
joined,” Keiser says, “but they are now.” Pascucci has 10 founding members,
including Richard Santulli, chair of NetJets, and Johann Rupert, CEO of
Richemont, and is aiming for a maximum of 200 members. “International, rather
than local, so that the course will never be crowded,” he says.
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