8 Golf Inc. May/June 2016
If the golf course market were a tournament, sellers and brokers would
be posting nothing but red numbers.
Indeed, more than seven years after the
Great Recession began, average U.S. sale
prices topped $5 million for the first
time, according to a recently published
report by Marcus & Millichap’s Leisure
Investment Properties Group.
The average golf course sale price
increased 7. 5 percent in 2015, following
a 10 percent gain in 2014. The median
price also increased, jumping 7. 33 percent during 2015 and more than 20 percent since 2012, said Steven Ekovich,
national managing director at Marcus &
Millichap.
Ekovich expects the final number of
U.S. sales for 2015 to land somewhere
between the previous two years’ totals:
145 for 2013 and 181 for 2014. To be
sure, the current golf real estate mar-
ket has a ways to go before it exceeds its
pre-recession valuation, but three con-
secutive years of increased figures and
much-improved sales data have con-
vinced Ekovich that it has “entered a
more normalized cycle.”
In other words, the days of finding dis-
tressed, over-leveraged sellers and unbe-
lievable bank-owned trophy assets have
all but vanished. At least until the next
dip.
For now, real estate developer Randall
Greene is thrilled that he got in when he
did. In July 2012, he and his associates at
DCS Investment Holdings acquired one
of golf’s all-time deals: Bella Collina, an
upscale private resort-style community
20 minutes west of Orlando. The 1,900-
acre property was developed by Bobby
The golf industry has finally cycled through its distressed assets,
leading to higher prices for properties.
BY SCOTT KAUFFMAN
Prices on the rise
Recent sales greater than $5 million
Course Market Type Sale price
(in millions)
The Club at Carlton Woods The Woodlands, Texas Private $29.1
President Country Club West Palm Beach, Fla. Private $26.0
Mililani Golf Club Oahu, Hawaii Daily Fee $20.5
Hudson Valley Resort and Spa Kerhonkson, N.Y. Private $13.8
Kapalua Lahaina, Hawaii Resort $12.0
Ridgemark Golf and
Country Club
Hollister, Calif. Resort $11.5
The Golf Club at Echo Falls Snohomish, Wash. Daily Fee $10.0
Angeles National Golf Club Los Angeles, Calif. Semi-private $8.6
The Bridges Golf Club San Ramon, Calif. Private $8.5
Riviera Country Club Dublin, Ohio Private $7.2
Paradise Preserve North Fort Myers, Fla. Daily Fee $7.0
Great River Golf Course Milford, Conn. Daily Fee $6.0
Source: Marcus & Millichap