Feature: The Golf Name Game
July 2, 2004
Such signature designs come with a price
tag, of course. While these master architects are often reluctant to discuss
fees, Nicklaus, whose design team has built 271 courses in 27 countries and 35
states, can easily demand $2 million for a “signature” course design. The
“signature” design comes with a guarantee that Nicklaus himself will be
extensively involved in the project. An “entry-level” Nicklaus team design might
cost around $800,000; one with Jack Nicklaus II leading the design, about $1.2
million.
Greg Norman is known to charge in the $1.2 million range for his name
to be attached to a golf course. Naturally, real estate developers pass on these
design fees via the cost of the homes, club membership fees and greens fees.
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore designed the classic course at
Cuscowilla
Golf Club on Lake Oconee, Ga. (Click image to enlarge)But if buyers can afford to invest in a community that boasts a signature-designed golf course, the home’s market value is likely to increase, and increase at a rate much higher than other developments, says Colin Hegarty of Golf Research Group. Hegarty has devised a complex “net present value model” that combines the lifetime income potentials of golf course communities from both the golf and the real estate sides. His figures reveal that for courses by the top architects—Fazio, Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Robert Trent Jones Jr., and Tom Weiskopf—the average net present value of the golf side of the equation is $45 million; the real estate is valued at $147 million. For communities that hinge their names on golf courses designed by architects who are not on the top 10 list, the average values are $20 million and $47 million, respectively. “The top five architects are therefore delivering a value of 225 percent above the average for golf, and 312 percent above the average for real estate,” Hegarty says.
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
A new Arnold Palmer course at Tesoro, Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Click image to enlarge)There are naysayers, however, who maintain that marquee names do not guarantee great golf. Serious golfers, they say, are not necessarily drawn to communities because the designers have been among the top money winners in the game.
advertisement
