Tiger burns bright for The Cliffs, denies (kinda) $10+ million fee

: Oct 04

Tiger Woods earned $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup last weekend. Yesterday, during a visit to High Carolina, as reported by the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, Woods was asked if he is earning $10 million for his designs.

"That would be nice," he answered. In the world of public relations, that is known as a non-denial denial, a clever way of saying "no comment." Tiger has the best handlers money can buy.

People I talk with, a few who previously worked for The Cliffs Communities in the Carolinas, insist that Cliffs owner Jim Anthony has committed at least $20 million for the golf course

Tiger's design ability is basically untested. The Cliffs is counting on more marketing power than Buick got.

design at High Carolina. At about 10 times what Jack Nicklaus customarily makes, that figure is indeed hard to believe, but Anthony and his fellow investors have never been shy about spending. During the giddy times in the early part of the decade, it was easy to pay for the lavish amenities and marketing with $1 million property sales, but since 2006, The Cliffs' revenues have not been immune from a nasty virus in the luxury housing market.

To be sure, Anthony would probably admit that whatever he is paying Woods is worth its weight in name recognition and marketing power. No one is going to pay Woods at this point purely for his design talent, which is fundamentally untested. The developer did not become one of the largest private landowners in the mountains of the Carolinas without connecting marketing expense to sales. Woods could just be saving the day for The Cliffs. Anthony told the newspaper yesterday that The Cliffs has sold 30 High Carolina properties at $1 million each, more than enough to pay Woods whatever his true fee is, and that interest is so intense that tours of High Carolina are booked many weeks in advance.

Yet this is no tap-in for Woods and Anthony. One could argue that there are no more Buicks on the road as a result of the golfer's nine years worth of pitching for the car company (Buick and Woods split last November). On page one of the Asheville paper today, coincident with the article on Woods' visit, is a story with the headline, "WNC [western North Carolina] is a buyer's market: Value of expensive homes hit hardest." On the course, the Tiger is magic, but promoting luxury market properties is a little trickier than a 75-yard pitch shot into the wind. One works better without the spin.

For the Asheville Citizen-Times article, click here. Photos and other articles on the visit are available at the newspaper's site.