REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

Truth, fiction, and somewhere in between: Myrtle Beach is a golf soap opera without rival

By Shane Sharp,
Contributing Writer

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Feb. 9, 2004) -- If golf were a soap opera, Myrtle Beach would be ground zero.

The Grand Strand is truly one of the rumor capitals of the golf world; complimentary grains of salt are distributed to all members of the local golf cognoscenti whenever a particularly juicy piece of gossip makes its way around.

Take, for example, a recent whisper that the Sands Resorts were on the cusp of bankruptcy. The Sands six oceanfront resorts are owned by entrepreneur Larry Young, who also owns Legends Resorts (a.k.a the Legends Group) and a large chunk of the four courses at Barefoot Resort.

Truth, fiction, or somewhere in between? In the self-proclaimed Golf Capital of the World, the answers come cloaked in gray.

At least this much is true: No application for bankruptcy has been filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court South Carolina District by the Sands or Legends Resorts as of this writing. A call to a court clerk confirmed as much.

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"It is just that (a rumor)," said Danny Young, President of Legends Resorts. "There are 50 other rumors we could list that aren't true. The fact is we are positioned to have one of the best springs we've ever had."

This would come as good to news to local courses that claim the Sands Resorts owe them large sums of money from prebooked golf packages. Two courses contacted by MyrtleBeachGolf.com reported "past due" amounts in excess of $40,000, while a handful of others reported similar delinquencies. Course officials contacted by MyrtleBeachGolf.com reported under condition of anonymity.

"If we owe money it is because we are owed money," Young said when asked about the delinquent payments. "We are in the same boat they are because we own and operate golf courses. It's really no different than it has always been around here."

The revolving debt merry-go-round

Since embracing the golf package model in the early 1980s, the Grand Strand has become something of a revolving debt merry-go-round. At any given time, somebody owes somebody else a lot of money. The two biggest somebodies, throughout the brief history of this melodramatic model, have been the golf courses and the accommodation properties.

"This place is definitely different," said Carson Courage of the Myrtle Beach Golf Directors, a relative newcomer to the Myrtle Beach area golf packaging scene. "They may have broke the mold after they built Myrtle Beach."

Actually, they didn't break it. They just toyed with the original.

In the early 1980s the Strand's room inventory exponentially outweighed the number of golf holes available for public consumption. The idea of the golf package (pairing rooms and golf rounds together) emerged as a way to, as they say in the hotel business, put heads in beds. In other words, build the golf courses and they will come.

For better or worse, the Strand took this mantra to heart.

The number of golf courses along the Strand surged from 43 to 120 from 1987-2001, including an unprecedented 20 course-explosion from 1999-2001. Industry observers agreed -- it was too much of a good thing. Due to the oversupply, courses came to rely heavily on hotels to fill their tee sheets. The new relationship worked at first, as hotels funneled large golf groups to courses.

Eventually, however, the Strand's larger hotels began to dictate rates and payment schedules. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for courses to give big volume hotel properties 20 to 30 percent discounts off rack rates or wait 60 to 90 days to receive payment. Exactly when a payment becomes delinquent or past due is typically up to the individual golf course.

"Thirty days you make a phone call, 60 days you get concerned and 90 days you have to do something," said Patrick Crean, general manager at Crow Creek Golf Club. "Really, if it gets to 60 days you know something is up. But it is the golf courses' fault, too, for not putting their foot down. They don't want to rock the boat because they've gotten a lot of business from these hotel properties over the years."

Courses have demonstrated an uncanny ability to absorb many thousands of dollars of delinquent payments over the past five years -- all in the name of "not rocking the boat." In 2002, MyrtleBeachGolf.com reported that courses were owed more than $1 million according to documentation obtained from the Myrtle Beach Golf Course Owners Association. While the MBGCOA data was not available for 2003 or 2004 year to date, sources close to MyrtleBeachGolf.com say the total figure has held steady over the past year and a half.

The obvious question is, "Why don't the courses ban together and go after the hotels for every last penny they are owed?" It's not as simple as it might appear on the surface.

The mega hotel/course conglomerates that have formed over the past five years have blurred the line between courses and accommodations. Sands/Legends/Barefoot operates a total of nine courses, more than 2000 oceanfront rooms, golf villas at Barefoot Resort and the Legends Resort, and 118 condos at the new Barefoot Tower. Myrtle Beach National owns nine courses as well as the Breakers Hotel and Litchfield Golf and Beach Resort. And land barons Burroughs and Chapin have teamed with Patricia Resorts to offer a robust package of six courses and over 1600 rooms.

As might be expected, the conglomerates have an undeniable business interest in sending play their own way. What often goes unnoticed by the average golf consumer, however, is that the "big three" work together, sending each other golf rounds and rooms nights. The result is a complex, unsolvable matrix of rooms, golf rounds and ostensibly, special interests, that often leaves the mom and pop operations on the outside looking in.

So what's an independently owned and operated course to do? Some, like Bay Tree, River Hills, Sandpiper Bay and Beachwood, have formed their own mini-alliances. Others fill tee sheets by doing whatever business they can with the big three and relying on independent golf packagers like Carolina Golf Travel, Coastal Golf and Travel, the Golf Desk, and the aforementioned Myrtle Beach Golf Directors.

A handful of courses are scaling back and even eliminating their dependence on outside play. The Surf Club, one of the Strand's oldest golf clubs, is going private. Multi-course, real estate driven developments like Ocean Ridge Plantation and St. James Plantation are beginning to rely more heavily on local and member play.

The future of golf in the Grand Strand is nothing if not a brave new world, even if the world turns from time to time.

Chip shots: Robbers Roost to reopen, Marsh Harbour update

Evidentially, tales of Robbers Roost's permanent closure were premature. North Myrtle Beach based JMJ Golf Management, LLC signed a short-term operating lease with the Tilghman family -- long-time owners of the venerable Russell Breeden designed course - to reopen the course this spring.

JMJ Golf Management is fronted by local businessman Frankie Vereen and consists of members of the Vereen family. The Vereens family owns and operates Vereen's Turf Products and Vereen's Fertilizers. The family's first foray into the golf course operations business came back in Oct. when JMJ assumed management of Cypress Bay from the bankrupted Shore Golf Group.

According to Mindy Vereen, Robbers will reopen as soon as the dormant Bermuda grass turns green in late April or early May. Veerns would not comment on the yet to be established 18-hole rate. But she did say that rumors of an $18 all-you-can play deal were unfounded.

Meanwhile, up at Marsh Harbour, MyrtleBeachGolf.com recently reported that Marsh Harbour owner Ladane Williamson had been in contact with Tom Fazio Golf Course Designers, Inc. about revamping the Dan Maples designed course for a 2005 reopening. Jan Beljan, a senior Fazio associate, would neither confirm or deny that the firm had been in contact with Williamson regarding the Marsh Harbour project.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.