So far, so good, say Cliffs residents

        The Cliffs, the high-end group of golf communities in the upstate region of South Carolina and the Asheville, NC, area, is running a membership special.  The next 50 members will pay “just” $100,000, down from the normal $150,000 for The Cliffs’ six golf clubs.  Over the next two years, the roster of golf courses is planned to grow to eight with the addition of a Gary Player course and Tiger Woods’ first American design at High Carolina.

        The Cliffs Communities made headlines for its hire of Woods to design the course.  When Woods crashed his SVU last Thanksgiving, plans

for the High Carolina course went into the proverbial cocked hat.  But Cliffs developer Jim Anthony stuck by the fallen star and even showed up in the tiny audience for the over-managed press conference Woods held.  However, sales of properties at High Carolina hit a virtual wall, and sales elsewhere in The Cliffs stalled as well.  Anthony faced a cash crunch, and it did not look as if he could complete the Gary Player golf course at Mountain Park, let alone the Woods design, without a huge infusion of money.

        Cliffs residents came to the rescue.  Earlier this year, after Anthony made it clear he would have to seek private financing at nearly usurious rates, and that in case of default some bank would wind up as owner, a hardcore group of Cliffs members provided a generous $64 million in loans in exchange for a 12% interest rate, the waiver of dues for the seven-year term of the loan, and the existing clubs as collateral in case of default.

        The loan money is already being spent, and spent well, according to a few of our readers.

        “Work is moving fast on Player’s Mountain Park course,” says an owner at The Cliffs Valley, “and it will be done next spring or summer.  I walked the course last month.  It will be a great addition, the most walkable of any Cliffs courses…”

        When The Cliffs and Tiger Woods first announced the High Carolina project, they indicated it would be a “walking only” course but later pulled back from that plan.

        Another of our readers who is building a home in one of the Cliffs Communities near Lake Keowee wrote that, “There is an upbeat feel as construction is proceeding on a number of amenities with the completion of the bond offering.”

        “I can tell you that contractor pricing is very good right now,” he added.  “I am building this home for less now than if I had done it two years ago.”

        If you are interested in more information about The Cliffs or would like the name of a sales agent there, please contact me.

The Cliffs at Glassy, designed by Tom Jackson, was the first course of the current six in the communities.  In the early '90s, a new member paid initiation fees of $25,000.  Today, the fee is $150,000, but The Cliffs is running a limited-time special for $100,000.