We wrote recently that Urbana Communities, a Texas-based developer, had helped South Carolina’s largest private landowner, Jim Anthony and his Cliffs Communities, pay off some short-term debt in exchange for a joint venture agreement for further development of the thousands of acres of Cliffs land. [Click here for the story.]  We speculated at the time that Urbana might have a medium-range plan to take over development of The Cliffs at High Carolina, site of Tiger Woods’ now-stalled first American golf course design.

        We were excited to learn recently that Urbana was negotiating to purchase hundreds of unsold and undeveloped lots at the sprawling yet remote Savannah Lakes golf community in rural McCormick, as well as the on-site resort hotel on the manmade 70,000 acre Lake Thurmond, which features 1,200 miles of shoreline.  A Texas-invasion of South Carolina would give us golf community junkies something to write about for weeks to come.  But, alas, these are two different Urbanas with what appear to be slightly different intentions.  Whereas Urbana Communities of Texas appear to be in it for the long haul at The Cliffs, the company known as Urbana Realty Advisors and headquartered in Atlanta has a shorter timeframe.

        “Urbana emphasizes the renovation and redevelopment of real estate properties that are not typically the focus of institutional or local entrepreneurial buyers,” says the company’s web site.  “Once Urbana has completed the development or redevelopment process, the projects are better suited for a more passive investor such as a pension fund, REIT or insurance company.”

 

Lipstick for a white elephant?

        Whether owners at Savannah Lakes will be comforted by the in-again-out-again approach remains to be seen, but it sure beats the current situation.  Ownership at Savannah Lakes is a bit of a mixed bag:  Although the Savannah Lakes property owners association owns the community’s amenities, the 80-room lodge next door is owned by a family of developers who shuttered it last year.  That white elephant doesn’t inspire confidence in potential purchasers of lots at Savannah Lakes; nor do the 1,500 lots the same family owns throughout the community, lots that have languished despite their reasonable list prices.  It is a safe bet that the roughly 2,000 Savannah Lakes residents are keeping their fingers crossed that the deal with Urbana goes through and helps resuscitate the golf community’s fortunes.  Last year, less than a dozen properties inside the 4,000-acre Savannah Lakes changed hands compared with an average 60 in previous years.  Reportedly, the property owner’s association has already agreed to provide one seat on its board to an Urbana executive when the deal closes.

The 4th green on the Monticello course at Savannah Lakes.   

All photos courtesy of Savannah Lakes.

 

        In 2005, the Trupp family of St. Simons, GA, purchased the 1,500 lots at the 22-year-old golf community for a reported few thousand dollars each.  The family also purchased the hotel and surrounding cottages, which they were forced to close last March.  Today, 600 of the Trupp lots are listed at $19,900 each but they are not moving, even though locals say Trupp has been willing to accept much lower offers.  In all, 4,000 of Savannah Lakes’ total of 5,000 lots do not have structures on them.

        Originally opened in 1989 by Cooper Land Development, the same company that developed the huge Tellico Lakes golf community in eastern Tennessee and Hot Springs Village in Arkansas, Savannah Lakes has struggled a bit to identify itself in the crowded golf community market in the upstate, lake-dominated region of South Carolina.  The development will never be confused with The Cliffs Communities, which is good news for those looking for a quality lake and golfing lifestyle without stratospheric costs.  Well-outfitted homes inside Savannah Lakes –- there are 110 on the market currently -- start under $150,000, sporting granite counters, hardwood floors and similar accoutrements.  At an estimated $130 per square foot to build, a retiring couple could create a very nice 2,000-square-foot home on a third of an acre for under $300,000, including the cost of one of those aforementioned $19,900 lots.  (Note:  Lots on the two golf courses run to about one acre and are priced from $40,000, and lakefront lots run between $100,000 and $300,000 on as much as an acre, including a dock permit (an extra $14,000 for a 24-foot covered dock)).  Duplex homes at the community’s marina may be the best buys of all for those looking to visit Savannah Lakes part-time; they are priced in the $150s and are ideal as rent-generating properties. (Since 95% of Savannah Lakes’ residents live there permanently, consider all those grandchildren and their parents visiting in the summers.)  For those with a Cliffs Communities type budget, a few large $1 million homes are available in the community’s two upscale sections with the best views of the lake.

The 9th green, lakeside, on the Tara course at Savannah Lakes.

 

Two golf courses, member-owned free and clear

        The community’s two golf courses are open year round, yet during my mid-January visit, the fairways were covered with snow during an unusual period of low temperatures.  Most winters, snow is rare and snow covered fairways for more than a day or two rarer still.  The community’s Monticello course features plenty of water and sand (on all holes but one par 3).  The Tara 18 is considered by members to be a little more genteel, its hazards found more in the woods that line the generous fairways than in the water or sand (although there are still enough of those to make things interesting).  Thomas Clark of the well-regarded golf architecture firm Ault-Clark designed both courses, which were previously members only but were made available for public play beginning five years ago.  The property owners association owns and manages the golf courses and their clubhouses which, according to club officials, carry no debt.  In these perilous times, member ownership seems a more secure proposition than ownership by someone else.  Membership is free with the purchase of a lot and the payment of the ridiculously reasonable POA fees of $84 per month, but green fees are required now for everyone (reduced fees for members).

        Those who want a little extra golf course variety can drive literally across the road from the Savannah Lakes entrance and tee it up at Hickory Knob, located in the state park of the same name.  The Tom Jackson designed layout opened in 1982 and is crowded

during the peak summer season.  I caught a peek at a few of its holes, and it seemed the lake and the many pine trees come into play.  Since I did not get to play any of these courses, I will reserve judgment until later in the year when I hope to make a return visit.

 

30 miles to Walmart, 45 to Augusta National

        Those looking for an away-from-it-all lifestyle will not be disappointed in Savannah Lakes, which attracts most of its residents from the Midwestern states.  As one commenter to a news story about Savannah Lakes wrote online: “…if you go there, you have to really want to get away from society.”  My own calibration of a golf community’s remoteness is distance to a Walmart.  Anything over, say, 15 miles to the local discount retailer I consider remote since Walmart is executing a Chicken Man style expansion program.  (HE’S EVERYWHERE!  HE’S EVERYWHERE!)  Savannah Lakes is more than 30 miles from the nearest Walmart, located just outside Augusta, GA (and just 45 miles from Augusta National).  Atlanta is a good 2½ hours away, a little too far for regular jaunts to find fine dining.  As for dining options in the McCormick area, I didn’t get to eat in one of the Savannah Lakes clubhouses but I noted the dining rooms were crowded for Sunday brunch.  Was that, I thought, a consequence of good food or no competition in the area?  During my hunt for a meal in the town of McCormick, I noticed only a few options and, on Sunday, the only option was a small Chinese food place (it wasn’t bad, actually).  If I were building a home in Savannah Lakes, I’d add another $15 or so per square foot and build a mighty fine kitchen.

        For those self-sufficient retirees who are community centered, there is plenty to do on site, including a 23,000 square foot health and fitness center with outdoor and heated indoor pools; and even more to do if the Urbana deal goes through and additional entertainment options open in and around the hotel and marina.  For two well-regarded golf courses on site, a lake-oriented lifestyle and property owner costs about as low as you will find anywhere in the southeast, Savannah Lakes is worth a look.  If you would like to arrange a visit, please contact me and I will put you in touch with the community’s top-selling real estate agent who actually sold the first property in Savannah Lakes in 1988 and probably knows more about the community’s history and charms than anyone in the area.

The 5th hole at Savannah Lakes' Monticello course.

     Today’s Sun News carries a long article on the state of the relatively few private golf clubs in the Myrtle Beach area.  Arguably the eastern half of America’s favorite golf destination, the Grand Strand, as it is known in many tourist guides, boasts of more than 110 golf courses within 90 minutes of Myrtle Beach center, but only five or six private ones (depending on your definition of “private”).  All are located in golf communities, but with the severe downturn in sales of homes, the surrounding residential neighborhoods are contributing precious few new members. Sun News golf writer Alan Blondin’s conclusion, after talking with members and staff at the local clubs, is that, as a matter of survival, the privates will have to find creative new ways to accommodate more golfers bearing the gift of increased revenues.

        “Without an influx of funding,” writes Blondin, “some private clubs are in danger of failing.”

        For some of those clubs, the situation is dire, and only short-term fixes will help them survive.  They’ve looked at the balance

sheets and the reserves, if they have any, and decided the quick fix is to permit outside play on a limited basis.  That, of course, is a slippery slope and will work only as long as their long-time members don’t walk up to the first tee expecting to play on their lightly trafficked golf course, only to find that a couple of foursomes of green fees paying package golfers are in line ahead of them.  That is about the time that membership no longer seems to carry privileges much beyond those at the local muni.

        The other short-term financial mechanism of current favor is to cut out initiation fees altogether and, in some cases, chop dues.  First, that doesn’t exactly endear you to your existing members who paid five-figure initiation fees; justifiably, that may seem like a slap in the face to those who have kept the club afloat through hard times.  But even if a club can overcome the frayed relationships with its existing members, the reduction in income is unsustainable over the long haul.  Raise the fees in a few years and the newer members will feel caught in a bait and switch.  But if you don’t raise the additional revenues, how do you pay for the new landscaping equipment, the workers who maintain the course, and the new irrigation systems that need replacing?  You can only defer maintenance for so long; eventually, special assessments will be necessary, creating more membership issues.  And should another recession hit, consider how well many clubs have managed this last one.  Golf club operators, trained to be good communicators with their memberships and boards, weren't schooled in the kind of creative marketing approaches that are needed to address the new realities of the golf industry.

        The private golf clubs that make it past the current stresses are going to be those that combine a little bit of financial creativity with a lot of

marketing savvy.  The issues with private clubs are largely structural; the world around them has changed faster than they have.  The golf industry moans, for example, about young people ignoring golf as a pastime; and yet most private clubs still jettison from their parents’ plans the privileges of 23-year-old children of members and offer them their own separate plan with new initiation fees and dues.  Talk about short-sighted and uncreative.  How many 23 year olds, just starting their careers, have the financial ability to pay?  And how many of their parents, after paying for years of schooling, are going to want to foot that extra bill from their club?  The advice here is for private clubs to let parents keep their kids on their membership plans at least until age 30 or, better yet, do what The Reserve at Lake Keowee has done and let them retain their privileges, cost free, until their parents are no longer members.

        There are plenty of other ideas private clubs have not explored.  The creative clubs will start thinking outside the box.  The others won’t survive, at least not as private clubs as we have known them.

        You can read the Myrtle Beach Sun News article by clicking here.

To sustain their viability over the long term, the Myrtle Beach area's few private golf clubs, like the Tom Fazio designed Wachesaw Plantation (5th hole shown above), will need to do more than just cut initiation fees and dues.