Letter from the Editor: It’s a Golf, Golf, Golf, Golf World
July 2, 2004
I am not a golfer, so it would never occur to me to buy a house overlooking
a golf course. But, obviously, I don’t appreciate the nuances of golf course
life. There are currently 3,416 golf course communities in the United States,
and apparently 60 percent of their residents never venture anywhere near the
fairways. Colin Hegarty, president of Golf Research Group (www.golf-research.com), who analyzes the
facts and stats of golf real estate, offers the following take on the nesting
instincts of nongolfers: “People primarily buy into a gated golf community for
three reasons: safety and security; lower property insurance; and an upmarket
feel—driving up to a guard gate and being waved in is bound to make you feel
important.”
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Six Jack Nicklaus signature courses and six clubhouses set the pace at Desert
Mountain in Scottsdale, Ariz. (Click image to enlarge)The gated community offers more than just guards and golf, of course. Given the option of overlooking undeveloped greenery and trees or a neighbor’s wall, most people opt for the former. Not surprisingly, 95 percent of gated communities enclose homes worth more than $1 million.
But in today’s golf and real estate market, with stiff competition and billions of dollars at stake, developers have to up the ante to attract the discriminating buyer. The most important factor in today’s golf communities is who designed the course. No top developer will build it unless a top-name golf designer comes. Forget for a moment that only a minority of homeowners will venture onto the course, or that a championship course is too challenging for the average duffer. “Residents would much rather live in a prestigious community where the golf course has been designed by one of the leading names in the world of golf, and they are prepared to pay extra for that privilege,” says Hegarty. The more bells and whistles the better, both for the developer, who will sell lots quicker (the average new golf course community takes 15 years to sell out), and the homeowner, who can expect the resale value to soar and the house to sell rapidly. Resale values of homes within gated communities are at a premium: According to Hegarty, the average price of golf real estate appreciated by 62 percent over the past five years.
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