Every time I see his picture taken with some developer or other, Jack Nicklaus looks tired. Not to sound too motherly, but he needs a little more sleep, maybe a few more carbs to round out the flesh a little.
The Golden Bear could be the busiest man on the planet right now, certainly the most in-demand of all the golf architects. His 60 projects in process worldwide under the Nicklaus Design name will bring his total to nearly 400. His reputation as a designer is what it was as a player -- a fussy perfectionist. Those courses that bear the Nicklaus "Signature" designation get a lot of his attention, as opposed to those under the Nicklaus Design umbrella which are largely administered by the Bear's excellent group of senior designers (but you can bet his hand is on those projects as well).
Perhaps it is ironic that Nicklaus has now taken on a "sponsor" of sorts, something a wannabe tour player will do early in a career to pay expenses from week to week with the thought, to the investor, of a nice return if the player becomes a consistent winner. New York billionaire Howard Millstein is paying $145 million for a stake in a new Nicklaus company that encompasses the Bear's design, licensing and golf club activities. In short, it looks as if Nicklaus has rung the register. After racking up thousands of miles in his Gulfstream and establishing the most successful golf design company in the world, maybe he has looked in the mirror and counted his days away from his grandchildren and will now slow down a little at age 67.
And maybe not.
One 80 something who never seems to slow down is the icon of corporate takeovers, Carl Icahn. He has been after the huge Florida developer, WCI Communities, and has put together nearly 15 percent of WCI's shares, the largest holding of any of the company's shareowners. WCI earlier this week postponed its annual meeting so it could regroup and take other offers, but with the Florida condo market deep in the dumper, and WCI a big player in that arena, company shareowners are restive. Icahn usually gets what he wants, and it will be interesting to see what a financial acquisition of a major developer will do to community real estate in Florida and across the south. We will stay tuned.
