‘Tis the season…to be confused by all those end of the year “best of” lists. They are confusing, misleading and put too much emphasis on state income taxes. This month I say “Bah Humbug” to them all.
The headline on the Fox Weather website on November 15 was a stark reminder of Mother Nature’s power – and of rising sea levels: “‘Unbelievable’: Hurricane Nicole sucked Wilbur-By-The-Sea homes away like tissue paper.” As a “mere” Category 1 storm, with winds of around 85 mph, Hurricane Nicole packed nothing like the power of the earlier Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm when it made landfall on the other side of the Sunshine State at Fort Myers Beach and leveled virtually everything in its path. Nevertheless, local building inspectors for Wilbur By The Sea declared 15 homes unsafe in the wake of Nicole. Some of their owners indicated they do not plan to rebuild. As an Orlando news station put it, “As many now clean up, or pack up, Wilbur By The Sea will never be the same…”
Florida is America’s foremost retirement destination. But climate and other compelling factors are conspiring to neutralize some of the Sunshine State’s charms. For example, Wilbur By The Sea is not alone in its coastal vulnerabilities. Water levels along the Florida coast have risen a foot over the last century; at an average of only an inch per decade, that might not seem like much. But consider an inch here and an inch there across the 41 million square miles of the Atlantic Ocean, and soon you are talking about serious water – and serious consequences to coastal areas. And with polar ice caps continuing to melt, the seas will only rise further and dangerous flooding will move miles deeper into the Southeastern states. Damages are likely to pile up in the coming decades.
Flooding is not the only climate threat driving some Florida residents north, at least part way north. Referred to as quarterbacks and halfbacks for the distance they relocate between Florida and their former homes in the north, some who can afford it purchase summer homes in places like Asheville, NC – high elevation and average summer temperatures of 80 – and return to the Sunshine State for the balmy winters. But others are going all the way back. As they age, it has become a burden for them to spend most of their time inside their air-conditioned homes June through September. And if the heat prevents you from playing golf in summer, how different is that from living up north and sheltering in place during the winter? Plus, many aging couples are heading back north to spend their last decade or two with their children and grandchildren.
Yet, Florida remains an incredibly popular place to live. In 2020, the state welcomed more than 700 new residents every day, almost 200 more than second-ranked Texas. However, 10-year net migration patterns for Florida show that perhaps the state is losing a bit of its luster. Up until 2016, net in-migration climbed steadily, but in 2017 it began a decline every bit as steep as the prior increase. The pandemic restored the upward curve in 2019 through 2021. But the number of new residents obscures the fact that Florida’s “natural” population decreases every year; in 2020, for example, 209,645 babies were born in the Sunshine State, but 239,381 residents died. Florida’s designation as “God’s Waiting Room” may be cruel, but it is not entirely undeserved.
Articles are starting to pop up in Florida media about residents fleeing the state, and the causes aren’t just about the threat of hurricanes and flooding. Reporters for the online newspaper Business Insider interviewed a 52-year-old woman who thought she had found her ideal home in Vero Beach. She had relocated there from Williamsburg, VA, with her two children. They lasted only five months. One mitigating factor was car insurance rates; she said she was paying $430 per month in Florida, compared with a U.S. average cost of $148. She also cited “stifling heat, reckless drivers” and menacing wildlife such as snakes and cane toads as reasons she moved back to Virginia.
“It was so different living there,” she told Business Insider. “It never felt like home to us.” Perhaps she took too seriously one of those “Best Places” rankings tht put Florida at the top of the list.
The more money you have, the more attractive Florida’s state income tax rate will appear. That is because the state charges no income tax. Fortune magazine said it all in a headline for a story last August: “Wealthy Americans are flocking to Florida at four times the rate of any other state.” But those of more modest means will find in Florida a cost of living that is surprisingly high, and for reasons beyond just car insurance rates. The World Population Review website ranks states by cost of living and assigns an “index” to each state that is relative to the national average of 100. Florida ranks 27th in terms of affordability, with an index of 100.3, and is nestled on the list between Montana and Minnesota. Florida is not among the cheapest places to live in the U.S.
For condominium owners, a new Florida law will soon push the state’s cost of living even higher. As the popular website TopRetirements.com put it in a recent article, “…a new Florida law, SB 4-D: Building Safety is about to provide a potential killer wave to the Florida condo market.” The bill is a reaction to the 2021 collapse of the Miami residential high rise known as Surfside; the law takes effect at the end of 2024 and its details will cause condo associations to spend more to hire consultants to inspect their buildings and to ensure their structures are safe and in compliance with the new, stricter requirements. Residents will be on the hook financially for any repairs that are necessary. The new law compels condo associations to top off their reserves; that will certainly mean imposing additional assessments on their member residents.
Florida remains a magnet for retirees lured by warm winters. But as they age, 70- and 80-somethings depend more and more on topnotch healthcare. The best-rated healthcare services in the nation tend to be above the Mason-Dixon Line, concentrated in the cities that many Baby Boomers left behind when they relocated to the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. US News & World Report publishes an annual list of the top hospitals in the nation, and for the years 2022 and 2023, you need to scroll down to the 15th spot to find a hospital located in the southern half of the nation (Houston Methodist). Among the top 10, three are in California and two in New York City. The best-rated hospital is the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis.
The highest-quality special medical services – such as cardiology, cancer, orthopedics – tend to be clustered in the major city hospitals. Indeed, you can find top-level hospitals in the Southeast at places like Duke University in Durham and Emory University in Atlanta, but retirees who have chosen more remote locations for their golf homes will have long drives to such top-level facilities. In Florida, the Mayo Clinic’s facilities in Jacksonville are the highest ranked in the state but the hospital does not make the top 25 national list.
In 2020 alone, during the height of the Pandemic, 3.2 million Baby Boomers retired. Many of them moved to Florida. Unsurprisingly, the top 10 destinations for Boomer retirees in 2020 were all Florida cities, led by Naples and then Sarasota, Venice, Fort Myers and Vero Beach. The state has been a magnet for retirees for decades, but the influx has outstripped Florida’s ability to keep up with many necessary infrastructure improvements.
If Florida retirees, whether they live in the Sunshine State part of the year or full time, have one consistent complaint, it is traffic. Three of the top 25 most congested roads in America are in Florida, according to the analytics company Inrix. Traffic per day on I-75 near Sarasota increased from 18,000 to 116,000 in the five years ending in 2019. Millions more new Floridians are expected by 2030. Even if the state builds enough additional roads and expands the ones they already have, construction will cause additional traffic issues for years. Many Floridians may not have the patience to endure.
The sage philosopher, Lawrence “Yogi” Berra, once said about a popular restaurant: “No one goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” One day, that might apply to Florida as well.
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
Long before the Internet was ready for public use, David Letterman introduced his famous Top 10 lists (September 18, 1985) and proclaimed, “Why, we can put such nonsense together ourselves!” “Nonsense” is the operative word for such lists, but at least Letterman’s were not damaging. Since 1985, magazines, newspapers and online web sites have bombarded us all with rankings that have misled thousands of couples beginning their research about where to retire. (Ironically, Where to Retire magazine is one of the most egregious culprits, publishing an annual “best communities” list that implies it chooses among the nation’s thousands of communities but, in reality, only includes a pool of its advertisers. Caveat emptor.)
The website PersonalCapital.com is properly self-conscious about its list, which almost entirely tilts toward affordability and taxation. “So, this list is really for fun, but it also can be a good place to start if you’re thinking of relocating to a lower-tax state,” the author writes. No, it isn’t, not if you are considering a lifestyle that takes into account healthcare, cultural activities, crime and traffic.
The site uses data from Wallethub.com that identifies each state’s “overall tax burden” by considering income, property and sales taxes. The “most-friendly” states on the Personal Capital list are #1 Alaska, followed in order by Tennessee, Delaware, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Florida. The least-friendliest is New York, followed by Hawaii, Maine, Vermont, Minnesota and New Jersey. Vermont or Alaska? I’ll take Vermont, income tax notwithstanding.
Jay Peak golf course in Vermont is one of the best in New England.Keep those rankings in mind as we consider lists that include the non-financial as well. Note that in terms of taxation, Vermont is the fourth least friendly state on the Personal Capital rankings. And yet at TopAgency.com, which adds such categories to its considerations as crime and safety, healthcare and a state’s economy, Vermont ranks as the second-best state overall! And just to make matters between these lists more confusing, the TopAgency list indicates that Vermont is the 16th most-affordable state, compared with Personal Capital/Wallethub’s designation of Vermont as the 4th least-affordable state.
Much has been made in recent years in the Northeast Region media about migration from New England to the warmer weather states like the Carolinas and, especially, Florida. TopAgency’s rankings indicate that those who are leaving the New England states for the South may not find the lifestyles – weather aside – that they are looking for. For example, on their lists of best states in which to live, TopAgency ranks Vermont (#2), New Hampshire (#4), Massachusetts (#5), New Jersey (#7) and Maine (#8) ahead of Florida (#9). Even my much-maligned state of Connecticut, which ranks 45th in “affordability” on TopAgency’s list, ranks #12 overall on the strength largely of its healthcare and education scores. And what of Alaska, ranked #1 on the Personal Capital list? Alaska comes it at #32 on the TopAgency ranking. (And that doesn’t factor in the significant costs of sherpa-lined coats.)
I could go on, but you get the picture. None of these lists are to be trusted. When the Personal Capital article author says to treat their list as “fun,” my response is that searching for a place to live the rest of your life is serious business. Search for your fun elsewhere.
Okay, I admit I have become obsessive/compulsive about tee boxes the last few months. Watching pros hit pitching wedge approach shots on 450-yard par 4s has gotten to me, since my own approach shots on par 4s 100 yards shorter are typically a 5 hybrid or 7 wood. So, in the words of the theme song from The Jeffersons, I am “Movin’ On Up…” to tee boxes that give me a fighting chance…It would help the distance on my tee shots if my hands didn’t hurt (touch of arthritis). I have been trying out a potential remedy. I am your guinea pig in this month’s Home On The Course.
For those of you with aches and pains you believe could be relieved by the CBD products that have flooded the market, I am your guinea pig. After a few weeks of use, my results are mixed, but I am holding out hope that the cumulative effects of rubbing CBD cream on my arthritic hands twice daily will make it a little easier to grip a golf club and open a jar of anything.
Why CBD? The orthopedist who solved my “trigger finger” issue a few years ago (see Dupuytren's Contracture) wants to clear out some arthritis at the base of my right thumb and replace the bone there. He tried a cortisone injection but it didn’t work. Recuperation from surgery will take a good six weeks. I want to explore everything I can to avoid the surgery and six weeks of a useless hand. When I play golf, I take 600mg of Ibuprofen, with my cardiologist’s rather tepid permission, since those types of painkillers can increase blood pressure and affect the heart negatively. But the ibuprofen gets me through a full round with only modest pain.
I have no experience with CBD products which, my informal research indicates, are derived from the cannabis sativa plant. If cannabis sounds familiar, it is the dominant component in marijuana. I wandered into a CBD store in a small town in Connecticut in late October and thought I was back in a 1960s “head” shop. There were all sorts of cannabis related stuff, except for marijuana itself which, now legal in Connecticut, is only sold at certain licensed outlets. The young lady who assisted me was extremely knowledgeable about all things CBD, although I was a bit distracted because she was dressed pretty much like folks I met at Woodstock in 1968. She advised me to start using a CBD cream in a tiny jar that cost $40 but looks as if it will last about a month.
I started rubbing my hands with the CBD cream, twice a day per suggestion of the lady in the CBD shop — once at bedtime and once after my shower in the morning. She was quite emphatic that results would take effect quickly. As I write this, I can’t testify that they have, but I find I can flex my hand with only slight pain, a modest improvement. But during the day, if I am not paying attention, I still feel pain in the small joints if I make a sudden move or forget I am barely capable of opening a tight jar. I played nine holes of golf during the first week of CBD use and had no pain, although that was probably as much the salubrious effects of the 600 mg of ibuprofen..
To say the cream has an odd consistency and smell is an understatement. It is of course plant-based, but the smell is strongly reminiscent of an odor I recall from my college dormitory, wafting out from under the doors of some of my mates’ rooms. It was the ‘60s and, though illegal, college kids had their sources for marijuana, weed, Mary Jane, reefer or any of its other handles. This smell is especially intense, reflecting what I have read about the powerful effects of modern-day marijuana. The smell is not quite unpleasant, although my wife, whose college days were, shall we say, considerably less experimental than mine, recoiled when I gave her a whiff.
I am holding out hope of blessed relief because the cream has worked well on another joint-laden part of my body, my feet. I am diabetic and virtually every night I endure some neuropathic pain along the top of my feet. Rubbing on a small quantity before bedtime has helped me stay asleep. That’s worth $40 a month to me.
Last month, I made the case for us amateur golfers to move up to the tee boxes that will give us the best chance of approximating professional golfer approach shots on par 4s. Although playing a golf course from, say, 5,000 yards may be an affront to the male ego, it shouldn’t be if you understand just how punishing you are making an already challenging game by insisting on ignoring the reality of distance. (A few words about ladies tees below.)
I have done a bit more research on professional golfer statistics, courtesy of the PGA Tour website and ShotLink data, and I have found that the pros, who typically play a routing of 7,000 yards or longer, have an even greater relative advantage over those of us who play from, say, the 6,000-yard tees. (Note: I address this issue mainly to the septuagenarian crowd, of which I am a member; I suspect many in their 70s, like me, no longer hit their drives beyond 200 yards. The average pro’s drive is 297 yards, and the average par 4 distance on tour is around 450 yards. Yes, there are a few 500-yard par 4s on tour as well.)
On a 450-yard par 4, I would have zero chance to reach the green in regulation since I hit my tee balls – the good ones – an average of 185 yards. The pro’s drive of 297 yards would leave him with 153 yards to the green on that same 450-yard hole. At 153 yards, I hit my #5 hybrid. And the professional player? He hits a 9 iron. For me to hit a 9 iron to a 450-yard hole – I can hit it about 120 yards if I strike it squarely -- I would need to play from a tee box 330 yards from the green.
The average pro’s drive is 297 yards, but what about the longest drivers on tour? Patrick Cantlay ranks second on the tour in driving distance, at 331 yards, and second in finding the fairway off the tee (79% of the time). At 331 yards, Cantlay would leave himself a mere 119 yards from the green on a 450-yard hole and squarely in range with a sand wedge. A sand wedge! Why, we should ask ourselves, should we play that hole from, say, 375 to 400 yards and leave ourselves a fairway wood for a second shot?
Unless you play golf for some reason other than enjoyment or a score that, on a good day, might be achievable, stop punishing yourself and move up to the tee box that gives you a chance to compete with the average tour golfer, if not Patrick Cantlay.
*
Now a few words about women golfers and their choice of tee boxes. The Play It Forward initiative of the PGA and USGA suggests layouts based on driving distance for both men and women. For example, if the amateur drives a ball 200 yards, the suggestion is a layout of between 5,200 and 5,400 yards. If the average drive is 175 yards, the recommendation is 4,400 to 4,600 yards. That recommendation is inappropriate, as you will see below.
According to an article in USA Today, the average amateur woman drives the ball up to 180 yards. That is compatible with my own average drive of 185 yards. That would imply that the amateur female golfer should play from the front tees I play from, or about 5,000 yards total (the Play It Forward recommendation as well).
But wait a minute. According to that same USA Today study, women’s distances on other clubs are considerably less than for men; 110 yards for a five-iron, 90 yards for a 7-iron and 70 yards for a 9-iron. Using our 450-yard par 4 example, for a woman amateur to have a shot from 9-iron distance, she would have to play the hole at a total of 250 yards.
The guidance here is not to trust the guidance of others who do not play your game. Give yourself a chance to improve your customary score by five or more strokes. You have no chance on a course that is too long for you, and every chance on one that lets you play like a pro.
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
US News & World Report publishes an annual ranking of the best hospitals in the nation. In this year’s list, you have to scroll down to the 15th spot to find one located in the Southern U.S. (In this case, it is Houston Methodist.) Many retirees, if they can afford it, choose to live in the South for half the year and spend the rest of the year up north. In their cases, the hospitals of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Minneapolis, home to top-ranked Mayo Clinic, do not require a full-day’s drive to reach.
But what of those who choose to live in the South year-round and would prefer to receive qualified medical care, including emergencies, near their homes. The following is a list of the top hospitals in the Southeast, according to USN&WR, in areas that also include a wide choice of golf communities.
Mayo Clinic – Jacksonville
Ranked #1 in Florida
Nationally ranked in 7 adult specialties.
11 minutes to Marsh Landing Country Club, 14 minutes to Ponte Vedra Country Club and TPC Sawgrass, 20 minutes to Queen’s Harbour Yacht & Country Club.
Duke University Hospital
Durham
Ranked #1 in North Carolina
Nationally ranked in 11 specialties
Treyburn Country Club community within 25 minutes, Governors Club (Chapel Hill) 30 minutes, Hasentree Country Club 35 minutes.
MUSC Health – University Medical Center
Charleston
Ranked #1 in South Carolina
Nationally ranked in 2 adult specialties
Within half hour of golf communities Wild Dunes (Isle of Palms), Daniel Island and RiverTowne Country Club (Mt. Pleasant)
University of Virginia Medical Center
Charlottesville
Ranked #2 in Virginia
“High Performing” in six adult specialties
Less than 20 minutes to Glenmore Country Club (Keswick), 30 minutes to Old Trail (Crozet) and less than an hour to Wintergreen Resort (Nellyford)
Note: Georgia’s top five hospitals are all in Atlanta and the top hospital in Tennessee is located in Nashville.
Many of my fellow golfers ruin their rounds even before they step to the first tee. They play from yardages utterly inappropriate for their games. Their golf handicaps, especially when they play unfamiliar layouts, are their greatest handicaps. They rely on course rating and ignore slope ratings. Big mistake. I explain why in this edition of Home On The Course. Also, the hurricane that devastated the Ft. Myers area in Florida wound up making a second landfall on the South Carolina coast, just a few miles south of where my wife and I were staying at our condo in Pawleys Island. The day after, our golf course was a mess. Two days later, it was open for play. I explain…
The Jack Nicklaus designed Pawleys Plantation Golf Course is brutally difficult from the tips, although I wouldn’t know that personally because I have never been foolish enough to play from just over 7,000 yards. Until about five years ago, I played the 6,200-yard layout but then moved up to the 5,500-tee box (redesignated as the white, or Egret, tees in honor of the ubiquitous waterfowl that circles over the adjacent saltmarsh on the back nine).
The white tees carry a rating for men of 69.1 strokes and a slope rating of a challenging 130. (Ladies rating and slope are 74.3 and 142, respectively. I have never seen a lady play from the white tee boxes.) On my visit to our vacation home in Pawleys Plantation in late September, I decided to run a little experiment and move way up to the yellow, or “Finch,” tees that play to a total just 15 yards shy of 5,000. The rating for men from the yellow tees is modest, at 66.4, but the slope is still a robust 126. (The USGA indicates that a slope of 113 is “standard.”)
For those who may not be familiar with the distinction between rating and slope, let me briefly explain. A course rating is essentially an expectation of what a scratch (0 handicap) golfer would score on a particular layout. Slope reflects the relative difficulty of a course for players who are not scratch golfers; in my experience, it is a good comparative measure, one course to the next, for those of us whose handicaps begin in the low double digits. The lowest USGA generated slope rating is 55, and the highest is 155 (e.g. Pine Valley and the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island from the tips). Thus, those yellow tees I played twice last month should be easy for a scratch golfer; he would be expected to shoot a 66. But for someone like me, now sporting an 11 handicap, the yellow tees layout is more difficult than most.
A decade ago, when my handicap was in the high single digits, I broke 80 only occasionally from the 6,200-yard layout at Pawleys Plantation. Most of my scores were clustered in the 81 to 84 range. When I moved up to the 5,500-yard layout (the white tees), I was still hitting my tee shots a bit past 200 yards. But in the last year or two, as the muscles softened and the shoulders and hips refused to turn as much as they used to, I have found that 180 to 190 is the norm with my all-arms swing, 200 if the fairway is baked out and I catch a hard spot (or benefit from a supporting wind).
My friend Brad Chambers, who superintends the website Shooting Your Age.com and co-authored with me a book for senior golfers, has a simple reference point about which tee boxes to play for the greatest enjoyment without eliminating challenge. He suggests we should all look to the tour professionals and what clubs they generally use for approach shots to par 4 greens. On any given Sunday, and even on 500-yard par 4s, the pros generally hit mid to shortish irons. That, Brad maintains, should be the guiding principle for the choice of tee boxes for us seniors. Why should Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas hit 7-iron from 200 yards and we require, say, a 3- or 5-wood for the same distance? Stated another way, why shouldn’t we play layouts that give us a fair number of 7-iron approach shots on par 4s? And that is why I moved up to the yellow tees; because I had been hitting too many metal woods to par 4 greens, even after what I thought were decent drives.
Did playing from 5,000 yards make a difference for me? Yes it did in terms of enjoyment and what I considered a fair test for an 11-handicap senior golfer. On the other hand, it did not in terms of scoring and, generally, forgiveness for poor shots. I say “generally” because I got away with a few drives that were skied or skulled. When you play par 4s around 300 yards in length, a 150-yard drive still gives you an opportunity for a green in regulation with, say, a 5-iron or hybrid. But if your short game is awry, as mine was, and especially on a challenging Jack Nicklaus design with high-faced greenside bunkers and large, undulating greens, you will get no break on the scorecard. My two scores were 84 and 86. I have played Pawleys Plantation enough to know that had I played from one set of tees longer, I would have been lucky to break 90 either day.
(Note: After Hurricane Ian blew across the marsh and deposited boat docks and other debris onto the course, causing a rerouting of a few holes, I played a third time from the yellow tees. I had my best putting day in months and chipped in for birdie on the hardest par 4. (I also birdied the par 3 signature hole.) But a few careless second shots on par 5s resulted in three double bogies, and a few other mistakes more than wiped out those good holes.) All in all, it added up to a disappointing 84.
Here are my snap conclusions from my experiment with the 5,000-yard tees:
Postscript: I sent a review copy to my son, Tim Gavrich, who writes for GolfPass.com, and Brad Chambers, who co-authored Playing Through Your Golden Years: A Senior’s Golfing Guide with me. Tim suggested that senior golfers should play the forward tees and readjust after they meet some benchmark achievement. A 20-handicap might set a score of 90 or better as worthy of a move back one tee box. Brad reminded me about Dave Wells, now 83 years young, who has shot his age more than 200 times. He has moved up to the under-5,000 yards tees, and he and his golf pro still add his scores of 83 or fewer as shooting his age. And Brad emphatically agrees that scoring is almost entirely about the short game. “If chipping and putting are off,” he wrote me, “no one from Justin Thomas to Larry Gavrich is going to score well.” Amen to that.
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
A reinvigorated Hurricane Ian came ashore the last day of September on the South Carolina coast about eight miles south of my wife’s and my vacation condo in Pawleys Island. As a Category 1, it created nothing like the devastation in Ft. Myers, FL, and surrounding areas. No one lost their life on the Carolina coast and homes out on the beach remained standing, although there was considerable damage from wind and surging water. Protective sand dunes were decimated by the surge and their contents deposited onto the few roadways on the island.
The day after the storm (Saturday October 1), we went for a walk on the back nine of the course which lies within ¾ mile of the barrier island and Atlantic Ocean where Ian came ashore with up to 100 mph gusts and an eight-foot storm surge. A boat dock, with its 20-foot boat attached, had been picked up by the surge and deposited on top of the dike that separates and holds the tee boxes for two par 3s. Pieces of docks – they looked like wooden pallets you see in warehouses carried around by forklifts – were scattered on fairways, in front of a couple of greens and across the length of the dike. We passed a couple of homes whose first-floor contents were scattered across their backyards, drying out. We emailed friends who live on the marsh to see if they would be available for dinner in the coming week. “We would love to but are clearing out our garage and may not have time,” they replied.
By late Saturday morning, all greens had been cleared of debris, although a few beside the marsh had turned a pale brown, showing the effects of the salt water that had passed over them. A 10-foot long, two-foot-wide piece of the green closest to the marsh, the 16th, had fallen into the bunker behind. A large tree had blown down across the first part of the fairway on the par 5 14th hole. Every fairway was strewn with small branches, their leaves still attached, as well as piles of grass clippings that had pooled together. I remarked to my wife that it looked as if it might take a week at least to make the course playable again.
That prediction was off by about six days. The following day, the club opened the front nine which is located well west of the marsh. By Monday, all 18 were open, although club officials and course superintendent Chris Allen circumvented the impassable dike with a temporary layout that sustained the course's total yardages from each of the five tee boxes. After playing the 12th hole, the 17th became the 13th, the 18th became the 14th, the 15th and 16th remained the same, the 13th became the 17th and the 14th became the finishing hole. The rerouting did not impede pace of play; my partner and I finished in four hours behind two foursomes when we played on Monday.
October is high season for golf in the Myrtle Beach area, and the semi-private Pawleys Plantation is one of the most popular layouts for visiting golfers. Superintendent Allen and his crew obviously had them and the club’s members in mind as they worked hard – and quickly – to restore course conditions. As a member and part-time resident, I am grateful they did.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, the current real estate market, with its soaring prices, offers an opportunity to many retirees looking for a permanent retirement home or a vacation home. How so, you ask? Read on…Also, golfers need all the confidence boosts they can get, and sometimes the “lessons” we receive from professionals do not come on the practice range but rather through the television and golf history books. This month we thank Colin Morikawa and Tommy Armour for that.
Cash is king! You’ve heard that before many times, and it is an important notion to keep in mind for retirees seeking to purchase a retirement home or vacation home at a time of unprecedented price increases. Cash, in the form of home equity, is an advantage that many retirees have over most other demographics currently looking for homes.
Over recent months, the real estate market has begun to thaw. More homes are available although prices are still at historically high levels. A rise in mortgage interest rates has tamped down enthusiasm by some buyers who had been looking. The rate rises affect first-time homeowners the most but also have put a damper on couples and families looking for larger spaces. But those of us who have ridden the 30-year wave of real estate price increases in our primary homes do not have the same issues; our homes are loaded with equity that, as soon as we sell them, provide more than enough cash to purchase a more modestly sized home in a location with lower property taxes, as is the case in much of the Sunbelt.
Some popular golf community markets are still locked up pretty tight. In Asheville, NC, for example, just six golf homes were listed for sale in late August, with a median offering price of $2 million. At the sprawling Landings community in Savannah, GA, home to more than 4,600 residents, the median home price for the 55 properties available has risen to nearly $775,000, well over pre-pandemic levels.
Those may seem like daunting statistics but if you have owned your primary home for, say, more than a decade, chances are its value has increased pretty much in step with increases elsewhere, including the Sunbelt. In other words, if you are looking for a vacation or permanent home down South, ignore the media hype about low inventories and high prices and start looking, or begin looking again, for your next home. You’ve worked hard; you owe it to yourself.
Here are some markets and communities you – or your friends and family members, if they are looking -- might consider:
Nowhere on the east coast will you find a better combination of beach and accessible golf (“accessible” as in high-quality, reasonably priced courses open to the public). Near the end of August there were 49 homes listed for sale in the Pawleys Island market with a median price of $575,000 and average cost per square foot of $247. (Some of those 49 homes were listed as “under contract”). One three-bedroom, two-bath home in the River Club community was listed at $400,000. A four-bedroom, three-bath home in Pawleys Plantation was offered at $575,000. (Note: Your editor and his wife have owned a vacation condo in Pawleys Plantation since 2000.) Initiation fee for membership in the semi-private Jack Nicklaus club is $2,500. At the highest end of the Pawleys Island market, a five-bedroom home in The Reserve that includes five full bathrooms and 1 ½ half baths was listed for $1.3 million. The Reserve Country Club is owned by the McConnell Golf Group whose unique membership grants privileges at 14 of the best private clubs in the Carolinas and Tennessee.
Other golf communities in the area to consider: Wachesaw Plantation, Heritage Plantation, DeBordieu Colony.
One of the largest golf communities in the Southeast, Lakewood Ranch is actually a town with its own zip code and plenty of services within its borders, including three golf courses. The community, which is about a 15-minute drive from Sarasota, is separated into more than 22 neighborhoods, each with pretty much their own character and real estate price structures. Lakewood Country Club is currently showing a waiting list for full-golf memberships, but sports and social memberships are available. Of a total 114 homes for sale, 20 are listed between $400,000 and $600,000.
Other (Sarasota/Bradenton) area golf communities to consider: Palm Aire, Prestancia, Longboat Key, Concession, Laurel Oaks.
Wilmington is a full-service city, both historic and modern all in one. One of its top golf communities, Landfall, is sandwiched between downtown and the Atlantic Ocean, less than 10 minutes to each. Other communities, such as Porters Neck, St. James Plantation and Brunswick Forest, offer a wide range of amenities and home pricing. Landfall is at the highest end of the market, with 23 current listings priced from $550,000. Of Brunswick Forest’s 45 listings, 11 are priced under $400,000. Located in Leland, NC, Brunswick Forest is just 10 minutes to downtown and about 20 minutes to the beaches. St. James Plantation, about 45 minutes south of the city, is a sprawling community with four private golf courses and its own beach club just 10 minutes out the back gate. Its 34 home listings begin at $500,000. Porters Neck is a smaller community just north of the city, featuring a Tom Fazio golf course that recently joined the McConnell Golf Group (see above). It shows only eight homes for sale, starting at $864,000.
Other golf communities in the area include: Compass Pointe, Magnolia Greens, Beau Rivage, Bald Head Island.
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
The German word for it is schadenfreude: Pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune. Every time one of the best players in the world struggles, we rank amateurs watching on TV crack a sympathy smile. I admit I do because it is a reminder that the game we love can bring anyone to his or her knees.
According to the Royal & Ancient, there are 66.6 million golfers in the world. Of that number, Colin Morikawa is the eighth best. But for a 20-minute stretch on one hole of the BMW Championship a few weeks ago, Morikawa, to his regret, was one of us. He put up a score at the par 5 12th hole that, I daresay, at least 40 million of us golfers would have beaten. After two nicely placed shots that left a wedge over a pond to the green, Morikawa dumped two shots in the water, then blew one over the green and, when he finally putted out, carded a quintuple bogey 10.
How many times have you beaten yourself up over a three-putt and taken that negative attitude to the next hole? On the hole just before his disaster, Morikawa four-putted for double bogey. See, it happens even to them.
As bad as you may feel for Morikawa, his quintuple bogey doesn’t rank anywhere near the top of the leaderboard for highest score on an individual hole. According to a Golfweek article in March 2021, the 21 highest scores ever recorded on a professional golf tour begin with 13 and end with – wait for it – 23. That 23, which is known as an archaeopteryx, was allegedly recorded by a pro golfer whose name has adorned sets of clubs and golf balls and, as I recall, a line of clothing.
The Golfweek article indicates that, at the 1927 Shawnee Open at the legendary Shawnee Country Club (A.W. Tillinghast design), Tommy Armour, aka the Silver Scot, knocked 10 balls out of bounds on the par 5 17th hole. (Note: Other accounts dispute this and indicate he scored an 11 on the hole). Whether it was an 11 or 23, it is a reminder that we should never take a golf hole for granted – or think about knocking a drive out of bounds. And the fact that we might play well one day has nothing to do with how we will play the next. One week before his awful showing at the Shawnee Open, where he finished a few dozen strokes behind the winner, the Silver Scot won the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
One other note about that 23 – or 11—that Armour made at Shawnee. News reports at the time say he blamed his score on “the yips,” the first time that term was ever used to describe a golf performance. Armour went on to win the PGA Championship and Open Championship in the early 1930s, but he struggled often during his career to make short putts.
Just like the rest of us.
The market for high-quality golf community homes has dried up and, with it, prices have risen significantly the last few years. Those of us still hell bent on retirement in some warm weather location may have to compromise financially – and one way is to forgo the initiation fees and dues of a private golf course inside the gates and, instead, turn to a local municipal golf course nearby at less than $100 per round, in many cases much less. We show you how this month. Also, those same price rises have given retirees the idea that they can sell high, pocket their gains and rent a nice place. We show that’s easier said than done.
There are lots of good reasons to join a private golf club, but cost is rarely at the top of the list. Plunk down a few thousand (or more) for initiation fees and, in most cases, poof, that money is gone, even if you resign the club a few years later. And then there are the dues which run anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a couple of thousand.
On the other hand, in almost all cases, the condition of your private course will be equal to or better – sometimes much better – than the mostly highly rated public courses nearby. But the private course layout may not be.
GolfPass, a property of NBC Sports, recently published a list of the Top 100 courses that you can play for under $100. (Full disclosure: My son Tim is a co-author of the article.) I have played enough of the courses on the list to assume the Top 100 are well chosen and a fine alternative to some of the private clubs nearby.
City of Charleston (SC) municipal courseI live in Connecticut all but two months a year. I had belonged to a fine local private club for 25 years, but when my son went away to college, my wife and I found that our limited use of the club’s facilities did not justify the cost. (Tim had been playing golf there a few times a week through his teenage years.) We resigned our membership 15 years ago. Since then, I have been playing public courses in the Hartford, CT, area; after the city’s municipal course in Keney Park was totally rehabbed seven years ago, it became my go-to place for a local round.
Keney Park recently made GolfPass’ list of the top 100 public courses you can play for under $100. I don’t know of a public golf course that is more fun, fair and challenging all in one package; but if there are 99 others that come close, I want to play them. By the way, if you are a walker, Keney Park very well could be number one with a bullet on a list of top courses under $50. For a senior non-resident (over the age of 65), I pay just $37 when I walk, and just over $50 with an electric cart (a good one, too, with a fully functioning GPS).
The top 100 list includes courses proximate to golf communities in the Southeast Region, as well as the northern tier of the country where many snowbirds hunker down during the summer. In South Carolina, for example, Aiken is a magnet for many New England and Midwest snowbirds. Woodside Plantation offers the most comprehensive private club experience in the Aiken area with four courses, for a few thousand dollars in initiation fees and hundreds in monthly dues. But Aiken Golf Club, whose green fee with a cart on weekdays is just $34, a measly $22 if you walk, is an extreme bargain. Woodside Plantation club dues are reportedly $350 a month which means you could play 10 rounds – with a cart – at the local public course for what you pay in dues. (And you’ll pay extra to rent a cart at Woodside.)
If you are a snowbird and live in a southern community only half the year, you pay dues for months you don’t use the golf club facilities. If you also belong to a club up north for the summer months, your combined monthly dues and associated costs (e.g. food minimum) for the two clubs could reach $2,000. If you live in my area of Connecticut, according to GolfPass, you are especially lucky with the aforementioned Keney Park and Wintonbury Hills in Bloomfield within just 20 minutes of each other. The other day I paid just $57 as a senior, with cart, for a round at the Pete Dye designed Wintonbury Hills. If you invest 70 minutes in a drive from Hartford to just over the state line in New York, you will find Copake Country Club, another Top 100 course, which sits above Copake Lake and may be the best course you’ve never heard of. Weekday special rate for seniors over 65 is $25 walking, $45 with cart. And I don’t know of a better country club food facility than the one at Copake.
The winery at Viniterra, New Kent, VAPrivate clubs provide a higher quality of service than do most public facilities, and there is certainly something to be said for the staff greeting you by name. And your private club is likely to have open tee times on the very morning you want to play, unlike popular public clubs where you might have to plan your date and time of play a week in advance. But if you are only playing a day or two per week at your private winter home course and are looking to conserve funds for other activities, such as travel, a reasonably priced top public facility could represent a generous gift to yourself. And if you are fortunate to afford membership in a private club, you can certainly afford occasionally to play one of the great public layouts that might lie just down the road.
My wife and I currently own two properties we use; our primary house in Connecticut and a vacation condo in a golf community in South Carolina. Our daughter and her family live in northern Vermont, a four-hour drive from our primary home; our son and his family live in Florida, a good eight-hour drive from the condo. We see them and our grandkids almost every day – via FaceTime. It isn’t enough; we would like to see them in person more often.
Annual carrying costs for our two homes, including taxes, homeowner fees and other costs of ownership run to more than $60,000 per year. I consider that number and think, “We could sell our two homes, bank the proceeds, rent two decent apartments for $5,000 a month and be closer to the kids.” I am long past the worry that rental fees are dollars flushed down the drain. Well into the third quarter of my life, obsessing over a buildup of equity seems silly.
On the other hand, the enormity of getting rid of the accumulation of more than 40 years of marriage and leaving a house full of memories is a daunting challenge. For example, for the last few days, I have been going through a couple hundred vinyl LPs, 30 of which I will mail out shortly to a dealer in Tennessee. I am selling them to him for $2 apiece. Those are 30 I have no emotional connection to; the other 150 or so I bought during my college days and in the years immediately after. A few of them, rare promotional discs sent to me when I reviewed records for my college newspaper, are worth a few hundred dollars each; many of the rest are worth more to me in terms of memories of a misspent youth playing air guitar and flailing drumstick-empty hands in the air. I know, it sounds silly – but it wasn’t at the time.
From what I have read lately, finding an apartment or house to rent, let alone two, will be a major challenge in the current environment. The incredible increase in the sale prices of single-family homes has sent a lot of us into the rental market at the same time. High demand and limited supply; you don’t need a degree in economics to figure out what that is doing to rent prices (and inventory). Plus, some real estate entrepreneurs are buying up single-family homes for the express reason to rent them. As the supply of homes for sale dries up, that puts even more pressure on rental availability and pricing. Baby Boomers have to live somewhere, and there are just two choices – owning or renting – beside the nursing home.
Since my wife and I have spent time in a condo, we know what it is like to have neighbors. For the 20 years we have owned it, dog owners have lived next door. Both couples are friends and the occasional barking has been of little consequence over the years, except maybe once when I was in the middle of a nap I really needed. But we cannot complain; we have a dog as well, and when the maintenance staff comes in with their leaf blowers and weed whackers, all hell breaks loose for a few minutes. It is nice at those times to have neighbors who can’t complain.
This may seem like obvious advice – like “Don’t quit your job until you have found another one” – but it is worth repeating anyway. Don’t sell your house and then look for a rental. People are paying record prices for homes, and if a realtor comes knocking on your door with the promise of immediate riches, tell them to come back in a couple of weeks and, in the meantime, check out rental availability and prices in a place you want to live. Otherwise you could wind up living at a Holiday Inn for the foreseeable future.
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
For those who live in golf communities, some public golf options are virtually at their doorsteps. Here are a few daily fee golf courses located inside the boundaries of popular golf communities.
The Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course explodes out onto the marsh on the back nine, a mere 1/2 mile as the sea gull flies from the Atlantic Ocean. Sea breezes can bedevil many shots, especially on the signature 13th, a short par three whose tiny green is almost totally surrounded by marsh. The community is a harmonious mix of single-family homes and nicely landscaped condominiums.
Viniterra is one of those golf communities that seems “out there” but, in fact, is within 20 minutes of a thriving city, in this case Richmond, VA. The course by Rees Jones is a pleasant mix of varying elevations, customary Jones bunkering and splendidly conditioned turf. The community’s entrance features an award-winning working winery.
Located on an inland extension of the Albemarle Sound, the water comes into view, if not into play, on a few of the holes on the Bill Lee layout. The paper company Weyerhauser developed the community originally, and their respect for trees is obvious in the overall layout and landscaping. Cypress Landing is just 20 minutes from Greenville, the North Carolina one, home to East Carolina University and a large medical center.
Savannah Lakes offers one of the lowest cost membership plans of any 36-hole community in America. Even at $66 per round, cart included, you will make out better as a member if you plan to play two to three rounds a week. But if you are an occasional golfer who wants to live in a reasonably priced golf community, it’s nice to know you have close access to two excellent layouts open to all – one a bit hilly, the other bumping up against Lake Thurmond.
The surrounding community is small, but many of its homes have views of Lake Greenwood; others look out onto the Tom Jackson designed golf course, whose quality surprises many who play it for the first time (as it did me). The golf course is not overly difficult -– in keeping with Jackson’s customary design principles -- but it offers enough chances to get into trouble, and the greens seemed a bit fast to me for a public facility.
Links at Stoney Point, Greenwood, SC
Advertised as the area’s only Arnold Palmer design, Rivertowne could not be better situated for a golf course and community. The layout plays along the Wando River, and the community of modern homes lies just over the Ravenel Bridge from historic Charleston. Mt. Pleasant has exploded in popularity in recent years, and prices have risen in tandem. Those looking to live there may have to compromise by eschewing a private membership for public golf, even with weekday green fees of around $100.
Grande Dunes features 36 holes of golf, but 18 are open to the public and the other 18 are strictly private. Located pretty much in the middle of golf rich Myrtle Beach, there are numerous fine golfing options within a half hour of Grande Dunes. Those who choose one of the community’s Florida style terracotta roofed homes may find that the Grande Dunes “resort” course is enough.
I indulge myself a bit in this month’s issue of Home On The Course. In 2018, I had intended to make an annual pilgrimage to Crail, Scotland after joining the Crail Golfing Society as an overseas member. I organized a nine-day stay for this past May. My hopes for repeated golf rounds on my favorite courses were dashed during my first round. Please don’t feel sorry for me, but understand that although golf may seem like everything on a golf trip, it isn’t the only thing.
Last month I wrote about my excitement about my first visit to play Scottish golf since before the pandemic. Here is how the nine-day trip went.
My Scotland golf vacation started off innocently enough, with a “practice” round at Hartsbourne Golf Club north of London. I had stopped in London to visit with my family and to be introduced to a nephew and niece I had not met, thanks to the pandemic. The friend who invited me to play and I teed off in early afternoon on a drizzly Sunday in mid May. The rough was rather wet and thick but otherwise the round I played with perfectly fine borrowed clubs was uneventful in all regards. I considered the round a good warmup for my first Scotland round two days later.
My friend Bob arrived at London Heathrow Airport on Monday morning, and we met at Kings Cross station in London. The Big Yellow Taxi Company had promised to be waiting for us on arrival Monday at Leuchars train station mid-afternoon; the station serves both St. Andrews, about a half-hour drive, and Crail, 15 minutes farther. James, the driver and part owner of Big Yellow Taxi, was on time and waiting for us outside the station. His taxi would be easy to miss in midtown Manhattan but not in Fife Scotland. (We learned later in the week that he started the company a year ago and named it because he was a fan of the early 1980s American sitcom Taxi. His yellow taxi received nods and comments throughout the week wherever he took us.) James, a former website designer, ferried us around the Kingdom of Fife during the week.
I had booked a three-bedroom apartment in the Balcomie Farmhouse in Crail, about a 15-minute walk from the golf courses. About an hour after we arrived at the Farmhouse, we were due at my Crail friends’ house for an early dinner. I met George and Dorothy online in 2008 when I listed our vacation condo in South Carolina on a home exchange website, and they did the same with their Crail vacation cottage. (They have since moved to Crail from Glasgow permanently.) We arranged an exchange; they spent two weeks that April in our condo, and my son Tim and I spent a glorious week in 2008 at their cottage and played both Crail courses as well as The Old Course at St. Andrews, The New Course, Elie Golf Links and Lundin Golf Club. After that I returned on my own to Crail for golf weeks in 2012 and 2017, staying at George and Dorothy’s home both times, once on my own, once with them in residence.
By the end of my third visit, I was so besotted with the postcard-perfect fishing village of Crail and the two golf courses – Balcomie and Craighead – that I joined the club as an overseas member, expecting to return in 2019 and, I hoped, every year after. The pandemic made that impossible until this year. (Annual fees for an overseas member are so reasonable I did not mind subsidizing the club through the pandemic years. For my membership, I receive 8 rounds of golf on each course and for any guests I bring, I am assessed the equivalent of $26 per round.)
Our week in Crail got off to a dubious start. We awoke on Tuesday morning to fog so dense I could not see the field of sheep just 70 yards beyond my bedroom window. Yet fog would become the least of my problems that day. The fog did not clear for our tee time at 10 a.m., and since Crail Golfing Society sends golfers out starting at 7:30 a.m., I figured tee times would eventually be pushed back four or five hours and we would not start our rounds until mid to late afternoon. That isn’t a problem in mid-Scotland in May; the sun does not go down until almost 10 p.m.
But Crail and other heavily trafficked Scottish golf courses handle delays quite differently than do public courses in the U.S. They cancel all tee times affected by the delay; if you have, say, a noon tee time and that is when the first group goes off, you and every succeeding group are in luck. If you have the tee time just before noon, or earlier, Sorry Charlie.
We were lucky, though, because we had some local knowledge going for us. George, a longtime Crail member, called the pro shop after he awoke that morning and saw the fog; he made a conditional tee time for 2:30 pm. As the fog began to lift late in the morning, he was able to move that up to 1:10. That gave us enough time for after-round drinks in the clubhouse which, because of staffing shortages, closed at 6 p.m. every day of our visit.
The first hole on the Balcomie course is a downhill, rather short par 4 with the North Sea beyond and off to the right; a gaping bunker guards almost the entire front of the left-to-right green. What the hole lacks in distance it more than makes up in a challenging approach shot. In every pin position, the bunker obscures the bottom of the hole and half the flagstick. Even with a short iron in hand, and mindful the turf on the green is firm, if not hard, the temptation is to bail out to the left edge of the green. Faced with such shots when I am away from home, I typically mutter to myself, “Cmon, you’re on vacation,” and go for the pin. This time, I came up just short, rolled back into that yawning bunker and, when all was said and done, started my round with a double bogey.
That approach shot was not the most painful of the day. That occurred at number 10, an uphill par 4 with fairway bunkers left and right. Earlier I had felt a twinge in the right side of my lower back but figured the walking would help work it through. But by the fifth hole, I knew I was going to have to play with some pain; the ibuprofen was not providing much relief. Long shots – driver and fairway woods – were only a slight problem, and I was actually hitting them pretty well. But it was the shorter shots – oddly the shortest chip shots – that made me wince. My bending to the proper position for chip shots had found the perfect point of pain. On the 10th hole, I pulled my drive well left and faced a straight uphill six-iron into the wind. I hit it as solid as I ever do – and almost fell to the ground in pain. I was sure my golfing day was over – even though that final shot wound up pin high, six feet away. I could not bend over for the putt, shanked it and my friend Bob picked up the ball for me. I walked the remaining holes with my group.
A hot bath that night and another dose of ibuprofen did little to relieve the pain, but I resolved to give it a go the next day at Lundin Golf Club, aka Lundin Links, about 45 minutes south of Crail and the only course other than the two Crail layouts that we were scheduled to play during the week. I had fond memories of the course from 2008 and was looking forward to the round. But beside the first green on the seaside links course, I pretty much knew my clubs and I would be walking the course rather than playing. (Note: I rented battery powered carts for every round during the week; at least I couldn’t blame self-caddying as a source of the back problems.) I tried a few more shots but, by the 7th hole, I was done for the day – and the week. The rest of the week I walked the courses at Crail with my friends as they played. On the Craighead course, designed by Gil Hanse in the mid-1990s and a perfect complement to the Old Tom Morris-designed Balcomie course (circa 1898), I made sure to take photos from each hole, incorporating the views of the North Sea. In golf circles, Balcomie and Craighead are acknowledged as the only pair of 18-hole golf courses on one site with views of water from all 36 holes.
I was disappointed that my remaining week would not include golf, but Crail is my favorite place on earth and the views from the golf course are unmatched in my experience. Our lodgings were wonderful, the middle part of a former 16th Century castle with parts of the structure still intact. The ability to walk to the clubhouse in less than 15 minutes – we did so a few times to have our morning coffee and scone – and the couple hundred acres of surrounding verdant farmland and grazing sheep and their lambs relaxed every part of my body – except my back. My friend Bob, an inveterate walker, was out every morning by 5:30 a.m. to scale the fence that separates the golf course from the farm and walk down to the rocky beach. (A few miles of the 63-mile Fife coastal walk runs along the edge of the Crail Golfing Society courses.). He would repeat those walks a couple of other times each day and must have logged at least 75 miles during the week, golf courses included.
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Postscript about my back: When I returned to London a few days before my flight back to the States, I visited an osteopath. He diagnosed my back pain as a “strain” and did some gentle manipulations. He said I would feel better in a few days but should visit a chiropractor for just one session when I returned home. After lugging my bags through airports, I regressed a bit. By the time I arrived in Vero Beach, FL for my granddaughter’s first birthday celebration, I felt the need to visit a walk-in chiropractor who confirmed the London osteopath’s diagnosis. On his first visual inspection, even before he laid a hand on me, he said, “Yup, you’ve twisted something back there.” He added that it wasn’t serious. He lay me face down on a padded table, moved the table in such a way that it stretched my back, and then pushed on my legs twice, both times somewhat aggressively.
As I write this, it is two days later, and the back feels a lot better, although not quite good enough to swing a golf club yet. Tomorrow is my last day in Vero Beach before driving north with wife and dog; depending on how I feel, I will either head to a local practice range before we leave or to the chiropractor for one last manipulation. (Further update and praise of bone and muscle manipulators in sidebar.)
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
I am not a big fan of chiropractors. Three decades ago, I thought one I had been seeing literally broke my back. As I staggered out of his office, I vowed never to darken the door of a chiro’s office again.
But 30 years is a long time, and the osteopath in London who treated my recent back issues treated me gently and effectively enough to ease my pain slightly.
“You should see a chiropractor in the States for one more treatment,” he suggested. An osteopath is pretty much the British version of a chiropractor and I was skeptical…until the pain of lugging my bags through London Heathrow and JFK and hoisting them into the overhead compartment on the plane convinced me to follow through on the osteo’s advice.
After an overnight in New York, I flew down to Vero Beach, FL, to celebrate my granddaughter’s first birthday. My daughter-in-law told me about a local chiropractor she had used who ran a walk-in service. After I filled out some paperwork and waited just two minutes for him to treat a regular patient, he inspected my back, had me lay face down on his moving table, stretched me out, had me turn over and bend my right leg up, and then he made an aggressive push on the leg – more violent than the London osteopath but, at that point, I just wanted to get back on the golf course and was willing to endure some momentary pain. He told me I would be playing golf within two or three days.
He was right. A few days later in South Carolina, I swung a mid-iron rather tentatively, fearful of reinjuring myself. But it felt fine. I made a tee time for the following day and got through 18 holes with just a mild ache. Except for favoring the back a bit and pulling more drives than usual to the left, my 74-year-old body felt normal. The exhilaration at being back on the course – and back on course physically – more than compensated for the ache, as did the 400 mgs of ibuprofen. Two days later I made it through another 18 holes with no damaging effects.
My faith in chiropractors has been restored. Thanks to both.
Starters hut, Hole #1
3rd green, North Sea to the right, Balcomie Farmhouse through the trees.
Behind 7th green, former WWII concrete defensive naval gun emplacements
My friend Dorothy, taking aim at the dogleg left 12th hole, the North Sea beyond.
Condominium ownership has become more popular in recent years as many city and suburban dwellers sought reasonably priced second homes away from the pandemic’s influences. But condo ownership isn’t for everyone, especially those who like to control what they can do in and around their homes. A personal cautionary tale highlights this month’s Home On The Course.
Real estate is still hot, despite the rise in inflation. I write this from northern Vermont where my wife and I babysat last week for our grandson. (His place of daycare was on vacation for the week and his mom and dad both work.) Our daughter and her husband would like to move to a larger home in the area, but nothing is available. In the past I might have said nothing available “in their price range” but, today, virtually nothing is available below or above their price range.
Something similar is happening in golf communities where single-family home prices have risen by double digits annually in the pandemic years; although condo prices have risen almost as much, they started from a generally lower base and, therefore, appear to be a bargain, relatively speaking.
As readers of this newsletter know, my wife Connie and I own a condo in Pawleys Island, SC, which is an area of terrific golf and a beautiful Atlantic Ocean beach. Our condo is at the west end of a six-unit building; it faces a pond, beyond which is one of the community’s pools and immediately beyond that the clubhouse and first tee of a fine Jack Nicklaus golf course. When we purchased the unit in 2000, our golf-obsessed son was 11 years old, and the condo’s location a short walk from the first tee gave him the ability to walk over and play early in the morning — without waking his parents. The guys at the bag drop became quite fond of him and, don’t tell anyone, started letting him drive a golf cart at around age 14. Tim, who went on to play college golf and today writes for the Golf Channel, honed his early game at Pawleys Plantation.
Unfortunately, life intruded on our “investment” at Pawleys Plantation, and what we enjoyed in terms of a grand buffet of golf course choices and access to one of the best beaches on the east coast was neutralized by a shortfall in use of our vacation home. We simply did not spend as much time there as we expected when we purchased the condo and that, of course, made the home a questionable financial decision (although not a bad long-term investment). Between dues for the semi-private golf club, the cost of mandatory carts to play, Homeowner Association Fees (for both our condo association and the overall property owners association), and property taxes — modest by New England standards — we have paid $20,000 per year over our 20 years. (We finally downgraded our full club membership to a social membership a few years ago and now pay half the dues we did before; but we now pay green fees, although reduced, just like daily fee golfers.)
Our most extensive annual use of the condo was probably 14 weeks during two of those 20 years, and some years we did not spend more than eight weeks there. The average was 10 weeks and that works out to about $2,000 per week considering the costs of ownership and golf. I daresay that we could have rented a place for an entire summer in Pawleys Plantation for $20,000, or less.
But my wife and I are content understanding that you can’t put a price tag on good memories, and we have some wonderful ones from Pawleys Island. I should mention that the condo cost us just a bit more than $200,000 in 2000 and that it is probably worth twice that today. But something recently occurred that has put a damper on two decades of relative calm. And it is a reminder that, as dense and turgid as documents like master deeds and association bylaws may be, it pays to read them before you become a member of an association that can affect your finances. It also has convinced me that it pays to get involved in association governance; even if you don’t serve on the association’s board, reading the minutes and attending what meetings you can prepare you for some nasty surprises.
Our condo building was ready for occupancy in 2000, six years after the original two-unit building opened 80 yards down the road. Today, the association comprises seven buildings with 28 units in all. Our building includes six contiguous units and sits beside the 15th hole’s tee boxes with a lawn and some pine trees serving as a buffer. Our building’s units each feature a ground-floor screened-in porch from which we enjoy views of the pond and of golfers banging balls off the 15th tee — and cursing when they slice their shots into the condos off the fairway on the right.
In 2005, the original developer of our neighborhood community opened the third building of condos and, over the following three years, the remaining four buildings. Larger than our own condo units and some with garages rather than our carports, the new buildings shared one other feature that ours did not have — second-story porch decks just off the main upstairs bedroom. As is customary and required, the developer filed an amendment to the original master deed indicating that, among other things, the new units each included the second-floor porch decks and that — here is the nub of the issue — the elevated porch decks would forever be considered “limited common elements.”
I pause here for a bit of a discourse on “common elements,” also referred to as “common areas,” which are typical of all condominium developments. Examples of such common elements are parking areas, external elements like roofs and foundations, lampposts, park areas and other landscaped sections, and even ground floor screened-in porches. These are “common” to all units and their owners. But until recently I was not aware that some common elements are “limited.” “Like other common elements,” according to one definition, “a limited common element is owned jointly by all of the unit owners (in a condominium) or by an organization of which all the unit owners are members (in a planned community or cooperative). But unlike other common elements, the use of a limited common element is restricted to only certain unit owners.” (The italics are mine.)
In other words, the 20 of 28 units in our association include porch decks that my immediate neighbors and I have no access to but for which we are as financially responsible as those who have exclusive use of them. A study of the association’s infrastructure conducted in 2018 indicated that the second-floor porches, under normal conditions, would require replacement in the year 2026. But as luck would have it, some of the porches sprung leaks beginning in 2018; one thing led to another and after repairs to the decks failed to correct the problems, the board hired an engineer to inspect them more closely. He found rotting wood around doors and joists adjacent to some of the decks. The Board decided to replace them all, at a total cost of $310,000.
The porch replacements were completed in late summer of 2021 and the funds to pay for them virtually exhausted the association’s reserve fund which exists to cover for such emergencies. But here’s the rub: The roofs on all seven buildings are also in need of replacement — some more urgently than others — and there is nothing left in reserve to pay for the roofs.
In a December 2021 letter to all association members, the Board announced a special assessment of $14,000 per owner to refill the reserve in order to pay for the upcoming roof replacements — something that would not have been necessary without the damages to the second-story porch decks and the costs to replace them.
You can imagine how those of us who do not have porch decks felt about the assessment, in effect subsidizing those who do enjoy them. But we are members of the association, and the master deed applies to all of us and indicates that the porches are limited common elements. (Note: Neither we nor our neighbors understood previously that limited common elements existed; I doubt most with porch decks knew that either before the assessment letter arrived.) My neighbors and I petitioned for a special meeting, permissible under the bylaws of the association when 10% of members request it. At the meeting we asked such questions as whether all porches required replacement, why insurance did not cover at least some of the costs, and why members of the association were not offered the opportunity to vote on whether the board should take out a low-interest loan and have all members pay the costs of the porch replacements over time, rather than in one lump. In most cases, the responses from the board and the management company it hired were essentially that the board acted in the best interests of the association; while some members might disagree with the decisions or the logic behind them, the laws of South Carolina and the association’s bylaws give condo boards broad power to do what they consider best. Everyone’s $14,000 payment for the assessment is due September 1.
Why am I taking the time to recount what is basically a personal expense and a unique situation? The answer is that anyone who owns a vacation condo or plans to purchase one can extrapolate helpful lessons from this experience.
First, read the condo association documents before you buy a unit or, even if you own one, review those that govern the operation of your association. Condo associations and the management companies they employ are required to provide all association documents upon request. Be on the lookout for any provisions that distinguish between units, especially “limited common elements” (like porch decks, entryways, certain pipes, etc.) that might apply to other units in your association but not yours. Pay attention to the bylaws. Some, like our own, for example, compel a member of the association to solicit the support of at least one board member in order to speak at a board meeting. (We will be working to change that rule in our association.)
Get involved in the governance of your association. That can be as much as serving on its board or as little as reading the minutes of quarterly board meetings. I am a part-time resident of the community but some of my immediate neighbors, equally upset with the surprise nature of the assessment, are full-time residents. (Note: The president of our board is a part-time resident.) Yet none of us were on the board when the decision on the assessment was made, and we only sporadically attended quarterly meetings. My wife and I and our five adjacent owners comprise more than 20% of the association’s members and should be directly involved to avoid the equivalent of taxation without representation. Given our recent experience, a few of us are considering running for board slots in the coming year. Better late than never.
Become familiar with the laws that govern condo associations in the state where you intend to purchase a condo, or already own one. I have friends who own condos in Florida and have served on their boards and, as we compared notes, I learned there were significant differences between Florida laws and South Carolina laws. (South Carolina laws appear to give broader powers to association boards.) No matter where you live, however, condo boards have a fiduciary responsibility to their members. (That they may fail to live up to those responsibilities, on the other hand, is extremely difficult to prove.)
My neighbors and I were surprised at how much the board seemed to defer to the management company it had hired. Board members are volunteers, unpaid for their time and energies, and it seems logical they would defer operational activities to a management company the association pays. But that does not mean that the board should defer its oversight responsibilities; for example, to qualify vendors. Repairs of the porch deck leaks in 2019 and 2020 took longer than promised by the contractors and, as it turned out, did not address the root causes for the damaged decks.
There is much to consider when considering purchase of any vacation home or full-time residence in a condo community. Financial considerations are always top of mind, and of course you should consider if you will get your money’s worth out of the investment. But right behind those considerations should be the governance of your condo association. I learned a lot from reading the master deed, bylaws and other documents related to our association, as well as the state laws regarding governance of condo associations. My neighbors and I would have been much better off reading them before we needed to.
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
In 2008, I became smitten during my first Scottish golf vacation with the Crail Golfing Society and the nearby fishing village of Crail. Located in the Kingdom of Fife about 75 minutes north of the famed city of Edinburgh, Crail is postcard perfect. In June, when the flowers are in bloom, there are dozens of sites above the village from which even the most mediocre of photographers can snap what will appear to most as a professionally taken photo. Crail is small and lacks some of the creature comforts that visiting golfers seek out, like more than two pubs and a few choice restaurants. But the golf at Crail is more than worth missing a few amenities, and the bustling, university town and mecca of golf is just nine miles away in St. Andrews.
Golf at Crail may be the most underrated in the British Isles. Not only is the links golf everything an American dreams of on a Scottish golf excursion, but the views – literally from every hole – are unique. It may be the only 36-hole complex in the world with views of the ocean – in this case the North Sea – from every single hole. Throw in pot bunkers, brick walls – some that cross fairways – rocky beaches, grazing sheep, hard-packed linksland turf and the ever-present ocean winds and you have virtually every British Isles golf condition wrapped up into a single round.
Two years before the pandemic began, I signed up for an overseas membership in the Crail Golfing Society. The modest fee pays for eight rounds annually on each of the two golf courses – the vintage Balcomie course designed by Tom Morris and the more “modern” Craighead layout by Gil Hanse. (“Modern” is in quotations because Hanse did a wonderful job of making Craighead fit the landscape and the notion of vintage links.) My membership also grants me the ability to bring guests to play at a rate about 1/6th the regular green fee rate. You will never feel more charitable than introducing a friend to Crail Golfing Society and at a rate so low you will feel like treating them; they will certainly feel treated.
I leave this week to visit Crail for the first time in four years and to play my club’s two golf courses for the first time as a member. My friend Bob will accompany me for seven days of golf, a day of touring the castles and other sights of Fife, and one day of relaxation in the village of Crail. I can’t wait and look forward to recounting the nine days in this space next month.
Village of Crail
I worked for a brilliant CEO during my corporate days. His presentations to Wall Street analysts were legendary within the company. His philosophy was simple: Under-promise, then over-deliver.
I recalled that this morning when I began tracking my golf club shipment to Scotland via ShipSticks and its carrier, DHL. I have used ShipSticks and DHL four times in the past with nothing but smooth sailing (well, flying actually). My clubs were picked up by DHL at my Connecticut home on Monday, and ShipSticks guaranteed their arrival at Crail Golfing Society in Scotland for the following Monday, the standard five-business-day promise most shippers make. Yet every time I have shipped my clubs with Shipsticks, they have arrived within just three or four days.
This morning (Wednesday) I checked my tracking information for this trip and my clubs are already in England, ready to be driven over land to Crail. My first round is Tuesday and, if past is prologue, my clubs will be waiting for me in the pro shop, well rested after an early arrival. My playing partner’s clubs arrived there just three business days after he sent them from North Carolina. That was his first experience with ShipSticks but probably not his last.
I rarely make any public endorsement of a company’s service, but in ShipSticks’ case, I am happy to make an exception. Literally, in two senses of the word, they consistently over-deliver.
It is a feature and a bug of capitalism that one hand giveth and the other taketh away. Over the last few years, the real estate market reacted to the Covid pandemic by increasing the equity in American homes by billions and billions of dollars. But, at the same time, it has made it virtually unaffordable — or at least a “wash” — to move from one “overpriced” house to another. So unless you move from a place with comparably higher priced homes to one with lower priced homes — and comparably lower property taxes — so what? We contemplate that quandary this month.
The real estate pricing formula is the most basic in all of economics: High Demand + Low Supply = Rising Prices. The pandemic has been the best thing to happen to home sellers in decades, and about the worst for new home buyers — and vacation home buyers as well. The migration from the cities increased dramatically the demand for homes in suburbs and rural areas, so much so that it exhausted supplies of all but the most un-sellable homes. Millions of workers were told by their employers to work from home — many permanently — and that just added to the luster of owning a home far from the maddening — and potentially viral — crowds in the cities. Add to that the U.S. Government forgiveness of the almost $800 billion in PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans to four million businesses to assure continued employment. For anyone who thinks some of that money didn’t find its way into the pockets and bank accounts of individuals — one study estimates as much as $76 billion was skimmed fraudulently — there is a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. All that cash has undoubtedly helped fuel competitive bidding for the best available houses.
The run-up in prices has made it financially feasible for Yankee homeowners to sell their homes up north and head for popular Southern towns where comparable homes are priced lower and property taxes are much lower (in many cases, 50% less or more than what they have been used to paying).
“A typical homeowner accumulated $50,200 in housing wealth, looking at the median price from 2020 to 2021,” according to a CNN Report. Maybe some of those lucky souls shouldn’t be complaining too loudly about gas prices since 50 grand will buy about 1,000 gallons of gas. And that average price increase is on top of any appreciation over the years of home ownership. One sector of the economy giveth more than the other taketh away.
The dramatic price rises span the entire range of home types in the South, but the increases have become most acute in the luxury segment of the market.
“Luxury listings — the top 5% of the market — are the tightest relative to demand since at least 2012, when brokerage Redfin Corp. started tracking the data,” according to a Bloomberg report earlier this year. “As of the fourth quarter it would take 1.9 months to sell all of the U.S. luxury single-homes for sale, compared with 3.3 months at the end of 2019.” Six months is considered a “balanced” market. Bloomberg Report
In recent months, two clients have asked me to help find them $1 million homes — one wanted the east coast of Florida, the other was open to any golf community home with a water view. After months of searching, the first client gave up on the east coast of Florida — no houses available in his price range — and purchased a nice home at The Landings in Savannah, GA, for $700,000. I have searched all the luxury communities with golf and a lake for the other client and I have been surprised that such listings in the $1 million to $1.2 million range are almost non-existent. The client and his wife are now looking at purchasing a homesite and building a home on it in a couple of years.
As of the end of March, here is a rundown of high-end homes for sale in luxury golf communities I follow in the Carolinas and Georgia. Where the community has its own on-site agency, I have used its listings. For those without an on-site agency, I have used a local Realtor who publishes comprehensive listings (from the MLS, or multiple listing service). Since almost all “luxury” homes are substantially sized, I set 2,500 square feet as the minimum for the homes I surveyed; and I have not included any homes that are “under contract” or have a contingent offer.
Lowest priced home for sale at $925,000; 2,680 square foot townhome with lake access, 4 BR, 3 BA, open floor plan with hardwood floors. Able to be rented. Seller making golf membership available to buyer. (Reynolds has six fine golf courses.)
Only home available up to $1.5 million is offered at $1.045 million; 3,250 square foot cottage home on 3.75 acres, 5 BR, 3 BA, with three-car garage. Short walk to clubhouse on wonderful Tom Fazio course, with most picturesque par 3 I have ever played. Initiation fee for Cliffs full-golf membership is $50,000 and provides full access to all seven of its courses in the Carolinas.
Lowest-priced home available at $2.895 million, 4,400 square feet with 4 BA and 4 BA on just under one acre. Home is located on the lake and is close to the community’s beach club and future clubhouse site. The Tom Fazio layout features three loops of six holes each which makes it easy to play six or 12 holes if time is tight, or a full 18. (See above for membership details.) Note: The lowest priced home on the market at neighboring Cliffs at Keowee Falls is listed at $1.7 million. The 18-hole course was designed by Jack Nicklaus.
Only one listing, a Craftsman cottage home at 2,750 square feet, is priced under $1 million, at $989,000 with 5 BR and 5 ½ BA and two master suites on the first level. The only other home available for sale at the end of March was listed at $2.1 million. The Reserve’s Jack Nicklaus course is rated one of the best in the state and has hosted professional level golf tournaments.
Just three houses currently for sale, with the lowest priced home listed at $1.65 million(currently under construction) with 5 BR, 4 ½ BA at 4,500 square feet, including a heated garage. The property is almost one acre large with spacious backyard. Debordieu is a rare east coast community that borders the Atlantic Ocean and maintains its own ocean beach club. The golf course is by Pete Dye.
Larry Gavrich, Founder & Editor, Home On The Course, LLC
Prices have risen significantly in virtually every segment of the residential real estate market over the last few years. And, in most areas, the hangover effects are still producing inventory shortages and mad scrambles for vacation and retirement homes among the Baby Boomer population. But bargain hunters should still be pleased with old-reliable Myrtle Beach, SC, where home prices have also risen in the last few years but not quite as dramatically as other popular areas that do not offer anywhere near the number of quality golf courses.
The Myrtle Beach, SC, area runs along both sides of US Highway 17 from the North Carolina border to where the Waccamaw River spills into the Winyah Bay at the charming city of Georgetown, about a total 75-mile stretch. In Murrells Inlet, noted for its Restaurant Row of bustling seafood restaurants, only five homes are currently on the market, the lowest priced one listed at $579,000. At a generous 3,570 square feet and on a half-acre, the home features four bedrooms, two baths and a sweeping view of a private Tom Fazio classically designed golf course. Wachesaw Plantation is ultra-convenient to shopping, the local hospital and a beautiful Atlantic Ocean public beach just 10 minutes away. (Fact: All beaches in South Carolina are open to the public.)
Farther west in Murrell Inlet, Prince Creek borders the public TPC of Myrtle Beach layout, another Tom Fazio design and the former host course for a professional Senior PGA Tour event. Prince Creek always seems to have plenty of newer homes for sale at attractive prices, and the surrounding area has blossomed with retail stores and restaurants to serve the burgeoning local population. At last look, there were 34 homes for sale in Prince Creek’s numerous neighborhoods at an average price of $531,000. The lowest priced home I could find was listed at $385,000, although there were four homes priced lower – all waiting for the buyers’ financing to come through.
Readers of this newsletter know that my own vacation home is in Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island which is far enough south of the honky tonk of Myrtle Beach proper that it can almost seem rural – well, as “rural” as a town with five supermarkets can be. Of the five homes currently for sale in our community, just one is available under $750,000. It is currently under construction on 1/3 acre with three bedrooms, two baths and 1,900 square feet. Pawleys Plantation is gated, and this home is located via a sharp left hand turn after passing through the gate. (Ooops. In the three days after I first wrote this paragraph, the $356,000 home sold. Sorry.)
Hagley Estates surrounds and is surrounded by the Founders Club, one of the southernmost courses on the Grand Strand. (Long-time Myrtle Beach golfers may remember it as Sea Gull Golf Club, one of the original 20 on the Grand Strand.) Only two homes are available in Hagley Estates, one priced over $1 million but the other more in keeping with the customary range in the community. It is listed at $540,000 and was finished last year in a cottage-style design comprising four bedrooms and 3 ½ baths on a modestly sized lot. Golf within 10 minutes is superb, and includes Pawleys Plantation, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, True Blue Golf Club and Heritage Plantation – all available to the public (or you can join for deep discounts and other privileges).
Hidebound private golf clubs have traditionally been a lagging indicator of what the market wants. But in recent years, many have come to understand that extending memberships up and down a family tree is good for member retention and for attracting new blood. We discuss some recent innovations in membership plans…United Van Lines publishes an accurate annual assessment of where people are moving to and from. Their latest survey is out, and you will be surprised at the most popular state…Golfweek magazine’s best residential golf course list is out as well, and it holds only a few surprises. All this in the February/March issue of Home On The Course.
In the early years of my private club membership in Connecticut, I was pleased that my golf-obsessed son could play as much golf as he wanted without me having to pay anything beyond monthly dues (except for the golf cart when he used one). But then he turned 23 and I had a choice; pay for his new membership and dues — after all he was just out of college and not making much money — or resign the club after 25 years since I didn’t play enough golf or use the facilities enough to justify the expense.
I resigned, scratching my head over how shortsighted it was for private clubs to cut off “free” access for the children of members just when they were starting their careers and could not afford the fees. If they had permitted him to play on, he (or I) would have paid cart fees, taken lessons from the pro who earlier helped him learn the game, and brought friends for whom we would have paid guest and cart fees and food and beverage. And my wife and I would have continued to eat dinner at the club chiefly because we were paying a minimum anyway. But when I left the club, my monthly dues payments went with me.
About a decade ago, private clubs began to redefine the notion of a “family” membership so much so that, today, some clubs provide “vertical” memberships, often referred to as “legacy” memberships, with privileges extended to direct relatives on the family tree trunk. For example, if you are a full equity member at Champion Hills Golf Club in Hendersonville, NC, home to a lush mountain golf course designed by local boy Tom Fazio, then your children, grandchildren, parents and, if you are still lucky to have them, grandparents have full use of the facilities — golf course (with no green fees), clubhouse, pool, tennis courts, et al. At the end of the month, your family members’ charges will show up on your club bill. (Your option whether to back-charge them or not.)
The vertical golf membership at Champion Hills had previously applied only to full golf equity members, almost all of them over the age of 55, but the club expanded it to all members last July as an additional incentive for new residents to join the club, according to Membership and Marketing Director Heather Myers. Initiation fees at Champion Hills are $40,000 with dues of $1,200 per month, competitive with other higher-end private clubs in the Carolinas — some that offer legacy memberships, some that don’t.
“During the pandemic, younger retirees and others who are still working started moving to the community in greater numbers,” Heather told me. “Membership is not mandatory for community residents, and we wanted to encourage them to join soon after they moved here.”
Champion Hills, Hendersonville, NCThe result was the “Equity 55” program which essentially lowered the age requirement for the vertical membership. Although the extended program is just half a year old, Heather says there is plenty of evidence of its popularity.
“During the holiday period,” she indicated, “the clubhouse was busier than in past years and not just with families. Many children of members used it on their own.” That, of course, has driven an uptick in revenues from all facilities.
At the end of January, I could find only one home for sale in Champion Hills that was not pending a contract, and it was priced over $1 million. There were, however, plenty of lots on the market, starting at $25,000 (for a half-acre property). One lot at 1.19 acres and facing the 5th fairway of the golf course was priced at $50,000. It is located on Bobby Jones Drive. (What golfer wouldn’t be happy with that address?)
The first legacy membership I heard about, 10 years ago, was at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, SC. With a crystal-clear lake and a beautiful pool beside it, a 100-yard-long lawn that sweeps downhill from the clubhouse to the lake and a fine and challenging Jack Nicklaus golf course, the community is a summer magnet for the children and grandchildren of residents. I visited The Reserve a summer after the legacy program was announced and the Great Lawn was filled with multi-generational families lolling on blankets and tossing frisbees. The golf course, tennis courts and pools were plenty active too.
The Reserve’s legacy membership was unique (to me, at least) at the time, but other luxury golf communities quickly caught on. At the sprawling (12,000 acres) multi-course Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, GA, now in its 33rd year, the focus has been on building “emotional equity” between members’ families and the club, according to Dave Short, the community’s senior vice president of marketing, sales and strategic planning.
“We introduced what we call a Generational Family Membership about five years ago and the results for us and for our members and their families have been even more than we could have hoped,” Dave told me. “It made obvious sense to broaden out the membership usage footprint to help build a connection with the generation just below our members.”
“With a pretty significant aging-in-place membership,” he added, “by extending the benefits to include multi-generational members in the same family, the club was better able to build a strong connection with their children.”
Before the Generational membership, when a couple moved on, Short said, the reaction from their surviving children was typically, “Wait, mom and dad had a lake home!?” But over the last few years, because of the Generational plan, that reaction has shifted to “Whatever we do, we are not getting rid of mom and dad’s lake house!’”
“The results are gratifying to the club not simply because of the increased activity,” Dave said, “but also because of a more youthful rhythm that permeates the club.”
Not only has the Reynolds Generational program padded the membership rolls with younger blood over the last half decade, but member retention numbers are up as is income from the six golf courses and clubhouse restaurant and bar. Members pay a one-time $100 “activation fee” for each family member they sign up for the Generational Membership option. This is pretty much standard at other communities with a legacy program.
Creek Club, Reynolds Lake Oconee, Greensboro, GAThe Generational Membership option is available only to the top-level Platinum membership — $60,000 initiation, all six courses — but a Silver membership ($30,000, two courses) can be upgraded at any time without restriction. Family members in the Generational program have access to five of the community’s six courses, more than enough diversity for a two-week summer visit with mom and pop; and the member can always pay a guest fee and take a child or parent to play the beguiling Creek Club course as a guest.
Those looking for a lake home in an active community might be intimidated at learning Reynolds has a “mandatory” membership program; when you buy a home or lot, you must commit to one of the two club memberships when you close on your real estate, both of which offer golf and many of the community’s other impressive amenities.
“It’s an odd obligation that you don’t see many places” Dave admitted. “But because the resulting benefit is that the dues obligation is spread to nearly every member, even the highest level of dues is still under $1,000 per month.” With nearly everyone in the Club contributing dues, there are few revenue surprises for the club or its members, even when the economy goes soft.
Those who decide to buy a piece of land at Reynolds and build later can save up to 45% on dues until they live in the community full time. Then they can upgrade, if they want, from a two-course membership to the full six-course membership.
The Cliffs Communities in the upstate area of South Carolina and one near Asheville, NC, started its own legacy program in 2013. It is similar in approach to the others, but the Cliffs charges a modest $50 fee for connecting family members to the program. Initiation fee at The Cliffs, for access to its seven excellent layouts, is $50,000, with dues around $1,100 per month.
If you are looking for a place to entertain family especially in winter, there are other nice options. The Grand Harbor Club in Vero Beach, for example, makes its family-tree trunk approach front and center on its website, advertising free access to all amenities for “the children (regardless of age), parents, grandparents, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the member and spouse or significant other and [their] spouses…” as long as those family members do not own or lease a residence within 100 miles of the Club.”
My research for this article uncovered one irony and one surprise that induced a chuckle. The irony was that most golf clubs with the word “Legacy” in their names do not appear to offer legacy memberships. And perhaps the oddest “branch” of the family tree to qualify for legacy membership privileges is at the Bays Clubs, a group of country clubs located in California and Oregon. For a one-time service fee of $250, “Nannies are permitted full access to the Club, and children need not be present for a nanny to utilize the facilities.”
Every year about this time, I and the 120 other members of the South Carolina Golf Rating Panel are asked to vote for the best golf courses in the state. Some years we vote for the best public accessible courses, other years for all courses, including private ones. As panel members, some of the fine private courses in the state are available for us to play under certain conditions.
This year we are voting for the best “classic” courses in the state and a separate vote for the best “modern” courses. I just cast my votes a few weeks ago. Even though we receive some guidance on how to assess the golf courses, I suspect that, like me, many fellow panel members put a heavy emphasis on which courses are the most fun to play. For that reason, an otherwise visually impressive layout like the Arnold Palmer- designed Musgrove Mill in Clinton ranked #23 of 30 on my list. It was just too difficult for this 10-handicapper when I played it. Fun for my eyes but not for my game.
After my downgrade of Musgrove Mill for its degree of difficulty, my #1 choice for best modern course might bring cries of hypocrisy. It is the Ocean Course at Kiawah, no pushover even for the pros, but they play it from tees way behind the ones I played some years ago. But combine a brilliant Pete Dye design with all-in-one views of the ocean and the intriguing links-like layout, and excellent conditions that bely the heavy traffic the course gets, and you can’t ask for a better five-hour experience on a golf course. Of course, if the wind is blowing too hard, you might come to an entirely different conclusion.
My second-place vote went to Secession Golf Club in Beaufort (pronounced byoo-fert in SC, bow-fert in NC). Secession, which opened in 1991 and, yes, recalls the declaration of the South’s split from the North in 1860, seems almost to have borrowed the designs of 18 great marshland holes from other courses; you might believe you have played them all before just not on the same single patch of land. When you learn that Pete Dye did the original routing but then left after a dispute with the founders of the club, and that former tour great Bruce Devlin finished the course, the attractive inconsistency in design of the holes makes some sense. With a tough island green surrounded by marsh on its signature par 3 (echoes of the 13th at my own Pawleys Plantation), a sharp couple of doglegs around water, and wind shaping your approach on virtually every hole, anyone who loves coastal golf will love Secession. And what atmosphere: The cannon in between the flagpoles at the clubhouse salutes the winning team in an annual event at the club — when the South wins it points South, and when the North wins it points the other way.
One memorable hole on an excellent layout caused me to vote the Cliffs at Tom Fazio’s Keowee Vineyards as my 3rd favorite modern course in the state — and the only one of the top five located in a developed golf community. That hole is the par 3 17th, which runs to 230 yards from the tees I played; but because of the tee box’s elevation, it really required no more than a 200-yard play. What a view! With the beautiful Lake Keowee bending from behind the green all the way to the right front, a large menacing bunker blocking most paths to the pin and a smaller bunker back right that is preferable to finding the lake, you would love to spend an hour just banging tee shots.
The late Mike Strantz left a legacy of imaginatively designed golf courses — some might say “weirdly designed” after they have played Tobacco Road or True Blue — but his somewhat more classic efforts are enjoyable in the extreme. I have his Caledonia Golf and Fish Club (Pawleys Island) at #4 and Bulls Bay (Awendaw) at #5. Caledonia is the premier public accessible course in the Myrtle Beach area, and it charges a premium, especially during the peak seasons (green fees about $200). Like most of Strantz’s courses, each hole winks at you as if there is some mystery you are about to engage; for me, it is the golf equivalent of playing the game of Clue. Along the way, you think you know the answers to how to play different shots but, in the end, you are left guessing on most approach shots (and on the mostly enormous greens). Bulls Bay, while oddly more straightforward, is extreme fun for its wide-open fairways, beaches worth of sand, and an occasional “oh my gosh” hole like the 9th and 18th that play straight up a shared backbreaking hill to the clubhouse. It wasn’t fun to play in a driving rainstorm in 40-degree weather some years ago, but that 5-wood I stuck to four feet from the hole remains the only one of my five most memorable shots that didn’t go in the hole.
The rest of my top 10 are located in developed golf communities and include, in ranked order: The May River Golf Club in Bluffton (Nicklaus); Wexford Plantation on Hilton Head Island (Arnold Palmer); the Cassique Course on Kiawah Island (Tom Watson); The Reserve at Lake Keowee (Nicklaus); and Haig Point on Daufuskie Island (Rees Jones). As I consider the designers of my top 10 courses, I note they include eight different designers, with two each from Strantz and Nicklaus. I am asked all the time about my favorite designer, and my stock answer from now on will be “Whoever designed the outstanding golf course I played last.”
(Note: When the SC Golf Panel publishes its list of the best Classic and Modern Courses, I will write about it at GolfCommunityReviews.com, along with some thoughts on the state’s best “classic” courses).
That’s right. In one of the most reliable annual surveys of where people are moving to and from, the most popular state is Vermont. In 2020 the most popular state was Idaho.
What kind of cockamamie survey is this? Well, it is probably the most accurate study of state-to-state migration there is, compiled by the people who actually move the people who move. United Van Lines publishes a study just a few days after the end of each year in which it reveals which states have the highest net inbound migration and which have the highest outbound migrations. The mover has published the study for 45 years.
With a 74% net inbound migration, Vermont led other states like South Dakota (69%), South Carolina (63%), West Virginia (63%) and Florida (62%). The states with the most outbound migration will not come as any surprise: New Jersey topped that list at 71%, followed by Illinois (67%), New York (63%), Connecticut (60%) and California (59%).
United Van Lines displays a map at its website with states designated by the amount of inbound/outbound migration – dark blue for strong inbound, dark yellow for outbound, shades of each for other states – and the Southeast remains strong as an inbound region, with only Georgia and Mississippi colored anything but dark blue. New England was also surprisingly blue, with Rhode Island and Maine joining Vermont as dark blue (although the rest of New England was either “balanced” in terms of migration (New Hampshire) or deep yellow (every other state).
Jay Peak, VTMy daughter lives in northern Vermont and when we visit, my sense in talking with real estate agents there is that Covid has driven many New Yorkers and other urban and suburban families to look to the Green Mountain State. Prices have jumped and listings of homes for sale have evaporated.
United Van Lines does a bit more than publish data about who is moving where. It also surveys its clients about their motivations and influences for moving. And in 2021, almost 32% of its clients told them they moved to be closer to family which, the mover says, is a “new trend” emanating from the pandemic and the pressure it has put on lifestyle choices. Another 32.5% of clients moved because of a new job or transfer; this is a significant decrease, the mover says, compared with the 60% who moved for the same reasons in 2015.
I have been a broken record since early in the pandemic that Covid’s effects on work and family would have profound consequences for real estate. Therefore, I was not surprised to see this in the report on the study, especially the part about moving closer to family.
“This new data from United Van Lines is indicative of COVID-19’s impact on domestic migration patterns, with 2021 bringing an acceleration of moves to smaller, mid-sized towns and cities,” Michael A. Stoll, economist and professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, said. “We’re seeing this not only occur because of Americans’ desire to leave high density areas due to risk of infection, but also due to the transformation of how we’re able to work, with more flexibility to work remote.”
Attention Baby Boomers who want to move to Florida and other southeastern states: You have plenty of competition, according to United’s survey.
“…many Gen Xers are retiring (often at a younger age than past generations), joining the Baby Boomer generation. While many are retiring to states like Florida, United Van Lines’ data reveals they’re not necessarily heading to heavily populated cities like Orlando and Miami — they’re venturing to less dense places like Punta Gorda (81% inbound), Sarasota (79% inbound) and Fort Myers-Cape Coral (77% inbound).”
No state income tax in Florida, but oy that traffic.
The link to the United Van Lines study is here: https://www.unitedvanlines.com/newsroom/movers-study-2021
Golfweek magazine is out with its latest list of the top 200 Residential Golf Courses, and Tom Fazio dominates the top 10. Three of the top 10 courses are located in the Southeast Region, including the #1 residential course, Wade Hampton (Fazio) in Cashiers, NC; Diamond Creek (Fazio) in Banner Elk, NC; and Mountain Lake, a classic layout by the famed Seth Raynor, in Lake Wales, FL. Tom Doak, Pete Dye and the team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore are the only other designers to crack the top 10.
Other highly ranked notables for which I can testify, having played them, are: Colleton River Dye Course, Bluffton, SC (T22); Cuscowilla, Coore and Crenshaw, Eatonton, GA (T24); Old Tabby Links, Palmer & Seay, Spring Island, SC (T31); Cassique Course, Tom Watson, Kiawah Island, SC (T35); Cliffs at Mountain Park, Gary Player, Travelers Rest, SC (37); River Course, Kiawah Island, SC (38); and Champion Hills, Hendersonville, NC, Tom Fazio (T51).
For the full list, see Golfweek https://golfweek.usatoday.com/lists/golfweek-best-2022-residential-golf-courses-united-states/
The Internet and print magazines are filled with lists of the best places to retire, best cities for entertainment, best states for taxes and myriad other bests. But nowhere have I seen any rankings of the smartest cities and states, those with the highest percentage of college-educated citizens. Until now. (Thanks to faithful reader Keith Spivey who sends me all sorts of interesting surveys.)
An organization called Heartland Forward organizes data at the metropolitan and state levels, with a focus on the Midwest (but includes all states and cities in all regions). A recent Heartland Forward study measured all states and their major metro areas, 350 in total, by “educational attainment and the share of the workforce engaged in knowledge, professional, and creative occupations.” The organization calls it the “geography of talent” in America. For Baby Boomers who want to live in places where the citizenry is engaged in intellectual and cultural interests, it should be an effective guide.
The map of the 350 metro areas is fascinating. Hover over each of them and a text popup indicates the number of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher and the percent of degree holders in each metro area in 2019; where that metro ranks nationwide; and the growth in educational attainment in the metro area between 2010 and 2019. As you might expect, most metro areas that are home to universities typically rank near the top. Most, but not all.
A scan of universities located in the Southeast Region yields the following in terms of national ranking:
If you want to check the nearly 340 other metro area results, Heartland Forward’s web address is: https://heartlandforward.org/case-study/heartland-of-talent-how-heartland-metropolitans-are-changing-the-map-of-talent-in-the-u-s/
How did a glorious week in New York City make me rethink the parameters of retirement living? Read this January issue of Home On The Course to find out. Also, I digest the notion of food as a consideration on where to live in retirement. And I look forward to this May when I finally travel internationally to play golf…maybe. Thanks for your continuing interest in Home On The Course.
