Waiters, check please.  Scores of owners at The Cliffs Communities have taken a wait and see attitude before committing $100,000 or more to the Cliffs financial bailout program.  They pledged to contribute if The Cliffs raised the $60 million minimum that it needs to complete all its planned projects, including the first U.S. golf course design by

Tiger Woods.  As of a few days ago, the combination of pledges and the $47.5 million collected cash surpassed the $60 million mark; therefore, it appears developer Jim Anthony will be able to finish all the amenities at Mountain Park (including the Gary Player golf course) and High Carolina (the Tiger Woods golf course).  As we reported earlier, the loan by the owners will return 7% in interest over seven years, with the added benefit to club members of a dues waiver, the equivalent of another 7% interest.  With news of the impending successful loan deal and Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf, tours of The Cliffs Communities are reportedly up significantly.  A Dow Jones Industrial average above 11,000 doesn’t hurt either.

        Speaking of Tiger Woods. He played some impressive golf at Augusta National last weekend after his long layoff.  Those who have watched him over the years would not expect him to be happy with anything but winning, but his post-round interviews on Sunday showed him at his most self-absorbed and ungenerous, implying that his failure to execute lost the tournament rather than acknowledging that others had simply played better.  Under the duress of competitive golf, it may take time for Woods to live up to his promise of no tantrums or cursing and an overall friendlier demeanor; by those measures, he did not exactly distinguish himself this weekend (except for a few robotic smiles to the galleries).  It was after the tournament, though, where his true stripes still showed.

        Time for buyers to get off the sidelines? Like the song says, “The best things in life are free”…but only if you take advantage of them.   In our latest free Home On The Course newsletter, sent to subscribers yesterday, we tackle the issue of whether this is the right time to stop putting off a move to a new home in a warmer climate.  With such beacons of light as the Wall Street Journal declaring in a headline today that “Evidence Mounts of Strong Recovery” and the Dow Jones Industrials average settling above the magic threshold of 11,000, baby boomers are starting to reconsider their plans to move to a place where they can play year-round golf.  Golf community developers are reporting increased traffic across the southeast; owners at The Cliffs (see above) tell me that more than 100 tours are planned there in coming weeks.  Real estate prices operate exclusively on supply and demand; a large inventory remains but, with increasing demand, we may start to see prices increase by the end of the year.  So should you keep your powder dry or pull the trigger?  For some thoughts on that question, sign-up for our monthly newsletter (see box at top left of this page), and I will personally send you the April issue.  It’s free and, who knows, it could also save you money. (Note:  Not guaranteed; we have to say that.)

by Rick Vogel

 

        I am not a golfer, but I am a fan of this blog site. I live in a golf community, and it is fun to compare the benefits of being a non-golfer on a golf course to those of the golfing readers of Golf Community Reviews.  I feel somewhat qualified to answer the question, “What positive experiences might await the non-golfer who will own a home on the course?” Surprisingly, the answer is “quite a few” and, except indirectly, none are actually related to the game.

        The course that we live on with our dog, Goldie, 30 miles north of Asheville, NC, is the Wolf Laurel Country Club. It is a private club and, in a few ways, not exactly a typical golf course.  First, when it was built in the late ‘60s, it was, and may still be, at the highest altitude of any course east of the Rockies.  For example, the 4th tee, the highest point on the course, is 4,800 feet above sea level.

        Another reason the course is not typical is it is only open for play from May 1st until the end of October, a six-month season due mostly to weather at these elevations. This year, the course endured a total of 118 inches of snow, almost 10 feet, during the six months it was closed!

        The fairways at Wolf Laurel turn into a hikers paradise for those six months (assuming no blizzards).  For those of us who live on the course, but do not play golf, the 5,000 acres that make up Wolf Laurel provide access to some of the most interesting hiking experiences anywhere. This is no mean feat, considering that the local competition, the Appalachian Trail, makes up the northern boundary of our ski and golf resort.

        From a golfer's perspective, the things that make this course a joy to hike can make it a challenge to play.  For example, some of the best long-range views while hiking the course are from the tee of the 10th hole, a par five of 535 yards but with a drop of about 200 feet from tee to green.  The views are stunning, but the golf daunting.

        The course features tree-lined fairways that seem deceptively narrow along the mountain ridges that define the course. On some holes you can kiss your Bridgestone Tour 330 goodbye if you don't keep it straight down the fairway.  Sheer drop-offs formed by mountain streams on both sides leave no way for recovery.

        When not hosting golfers, the course attracts the area's abundant wildlife.  Small herds of white tail deer graze the fairways, sometimes to the considerable consternation of the greens keepers. The deer were here first, the damage is minimal, and so it's only fair that they get to "play" the course.  Red foxes, rabbits, raccoons, the occasional bobcat, black bear and Northern water snake, along with myriad other critters, drink and hunt at the frog- and fish-inhabited water hazards.

         Surely the age of the Wolf Laurel golf course, along with Mother Nature, has caused the softening of manmade features that now make it difficult to distinguish water hazards from natural ponds and some of the higher fairways from the natural balds of the southern Appalachian mountains. Certainly, there is an argument to be made concerning the pros and cons of golf courses and their effect on the environment, but in my opinion it is possible to integrate them into the natural landscape in a manner described by the legendary designer Pete Dye, when he said of his Bulle Rock course in Havre de Grace, MD, "I did not undo God's work."

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        Former innkeeper Rick Vogel lives in the golf community of Wolf Laurel north of Asheville, NC.  He doesn't play golf but he appreciates having a golf course at the core of his development.  His last article for us, about the glories of finding golf balls in the weeds, attracted the most comments of any article ever written in this space.  Photo courtesy of Wolf Laurel Country Club.