BajaNomad - Tiger's Punta Brava golf course still on track

Tiger's Punta Brava golf course still on track

BajaNews - 2-7-2010 at 10:10 PM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/07/tigers-course...

By Sandra Dibble
February 7, 2010

Tiger Woods has been on leave from professional golf, but his widely reported personal problems are not the reason for delays in launching a luxury development outside Ensenada where he is designing a golf course, say promoters and government officials with knowledge of the project.

Developers of Punta Brava, located on a peninsula about 65 miles south of San Diego, say the permitting process has moved more slowly than they expected, but they count on breaking ground this year and opening in 2012.

Developers say they have maintained their close working relationship with Woods, who has not said when he will resume golfing professionally.

“No matter what, Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world, and there is nobody else that we would rather have design our golf course than the best golfer in the world,” said Brian Tucker, founder and principal of Punta Brava and a vice president of The Flagship Group, the project’s development company.

When Punta Brava was announced Oct. 7, 2008, “the world was a different place,” Tucker said. While the economic downturn has brought coastal real estate development in Baja California to a virtual standstill, Tucker said Punta Brava is moving forward. Since the launching, 167 prospective buyers have been flown down to tour the site, he said, and have shown enthusiasm for the project.

Sales won’t begin until next February, said Susan Wise, spokeswoman for The Flagship Group.

“We’re not selling 600 units of condos,” Tucker said. “This is to be one of the singular golf clubs in the world.”

With views of the ocean at every tee or green, the Tiger Woods golf course is the centerpiece of the development planned at the tip of the Punta Banda peninsula overlooking Todos Santos Bay. The project includes 120 units, with prices starting at $3 million for a lot and $3.5 million for a condominium, according to information released at the project’s unveiling.

Punta Brava’s financial backer is Red McCombs, co-founder of Clear Channel Communications and former owner of the San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Vikings. McCombs is a principal of The Flagship Group, headed by the Austin-based developer Brady Oman. The project’s estimated cost is $100 million.

Construction was scheduled to begin in early 2009 and be completed in 2010, according to the Tiger Woods Design Web site. The site lists Punta Brava as one of three designed by Woods; the others are in North Carolina and Dubai.

Baja California Tourism Secretary Oscar Escobedo Carignan said the project is an important step in projecting the state as a “sand and sea” destination, a term for oceanfront resorts that feature natural beauty. While Punta Brava would have no beaches, it is a dramatic natural setting with views of the ocean on three sides.

The developers say they are taking care to minimize the project’s environmental impact. A group of opponents to the project, the Viva Punta Banda Coalition, says the development threatens one of the few remaining areas of marine coastal sage scrub in Baja California and will require large amounts of water in an area where water supplies are scarce. The opponents say the project’s desalination plant will discharge brine sludge into the ocean, threatening marine ecosystems.

Tucker said that it has taken “way longer” than expected to get permits. The proposal passed a key hurdle late last year when Mexico’s Environmental Ministry gave a green light to the project, said Escobedo, the tourism secretary.

The area still needs a land-use change to allow for a tourist development. Linda Salazar, an official with Ensenada’s Urban Administration Secretariat, said federal environmental officials are expected to act in the next two weeks.

Another hurdle that the project must clear is a detailed review by Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History, or INAH. Archaeologists familiar with the region say the site holds important remains of groups from as far back as 10,000 years ago.

INAH conducted a preliminary study last year, but needs to conduct a more extensive review before the project can move forward, according to the institute’s Baja California office. The study would be paid by the developer, but conducted by INAH.

Julia Bendimez, INAH’s director in Baja California, said the institute is prepared to conduct its review of the archaeological sites on the property, an area known as La Lobera.

“The salvage effort will begin when the company needs it,” Bendimez said.

------------------
Photo by John Gibbins

Punta Brava sales team member Ryan Osterdorf teed off at what would be the location of the golf course’s 10th tee.

UTI1393858_t352.jpg - 22kB

bajadogs - 2-7-2010 at 10:14 PM

Man I hate golf.

Punta Brave Golf Course Article - Update

ElFaro - 2-8-2010 at 09:12 AM

An interesting read...

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/07/tigers-course...

There is a "reader comment" following the article claiming a buddy's ranch nearby was made to cap their water wells by the government.

Woooosh - 2-8-2010 at 09:55 AM

I'll bet a few readers eyebrows raised at the price points: building lots start at $3Mil and condos at $3.5Mil- with no beach. You gotta really love golf and isolation and have more money that brains. It's like being in Mexico without really being there- so what's the point? For those readers who knew nothing of this project before this article- I'll bet they are still scratching their heads...

[Edited on 2-8-2010 by Woooosh]

Martyman - 2-10-2010 at 09:34 AM

Man I love golf!

Woooosh - 2-10-2010 at 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Martyman
Man I love golf!

I thought I would too until I played the Real del Mar course in Rosarito norte. All those canyons and narrow fairways. Think I lost a dozen balls in 9 holes. I never even finished my SD Golf Center lesson package... lol

bajabound2005 - 2-10-2010 at 07:14 PM

they could make a couple of 18 hole courses out of the road from Maneadero to La Bufadora and Punta Brava right now. The pot holes could be made into water traps and sand traps. It's UNBELIEVABLY bad.

Udo - 2-10-2010 at 07:24 PM

I love fishin' and it's only a few hundred feet from the proposed golf course.

Quote:

Originally posted by Martyman
Man I love golf!

DENNIS - 2-10-2010 at 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajabound2005
they could make a couple of 18 hole courses out of the road from Maneadero to La Bufadora and Punta Brava right now. The pot holes could be made into water traps and sand traps. It's UNBELIEVABLY bad.

Only enough noise from the cruise ship tour buses will get sombody's attention. It can't be far off. It's bad.

wilderone - 2-11-2010 at 10:53 AM

This project is far from "on track". If it were "on track" it would be almost finished - originally scheduled to open in 2010. They haven't even started yet and there are still significant hurdles. INAH indicates a "salvage effort". Not sure what that means, but if they are going to do a proper excavation to retrieve artifacts and/or catalogue and map the site, it will take some time. And they can't sell any units yet. There may be people flying down for free to take a look, but are they collecting deposits? Do they have letters of intent? Can they state with specificity that they have buyers? There won't be a development without buyers. Brian tucker is blowing smoke.

"INAH conducted a preliminary study last year, but needs to conduct a more extensive review before the project can move forward, according to the institute’s Baja California office. The study would be paid by the developer, but conducted by INAH. Julia Bendimez, INAH’s director in Baja California, said the institute is prepared to conduct its review of the archaeological sites on the property, an area known as La Lobera.

“The salvage effort will begin when the company needs it,” Bendimez said.

k-rico - 2-11-2010 at 11:20 AM

"The project includes 120 units, with prices starting at $3 million"

so that's a minimum of $360 million

"The project’s estimated cost is $100 million."

nice profit margin - what a bunch of BS.

DENNIS - 2-11-2010 at 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wilderone
but are they collecting deposits? Do they have letters of intent? Can they state with specificity that they have buyers?

If there's a yes to any of those questions, you and I would be the last to know. I doubt they're concerned with our approval or opinions.

Dave - 2-11-2010 at 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
I'll bet a few readers eyebrows raised at the price points: building lots start at $3Mil and condos at $3.5Mil- with no beach. You gotta really love golf and isolation and have more money that brains. It's like being in Mexico without really being there- so what's the point?

No one would spend 3mil for a home in Mexico this close to the border without being isolated from all the crap.

So...being in Mexico without really being there is the point.

k-rico - 2-11-2010 at 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave
So...being in Mexico without really being there is the point.

For sure, if this works it will be an exclusive crowd, certainly excluding me. I would like to hang out at the bar where Tiger's fan club congregates. Not that I have a chance.

I wonder if the clientele will helicopter to "Fine dining and pool tables" Sharky's for some fun.

Not a chance

Dave - 2-11-2010 at 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by k-rico
I wonder if the clientele will helicopter to "Fine dining and pool tables" Sharky's for some fun.

And my guess is any of the 'locals' who venture too close to the compound will be shot.

DENNIS - 2-11-2010 at 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave

So...being in Mexico without really being there is the point.

Another thing...if these uber-wealthy folks do want to be out and about in Mexico, it won't be Ensenada or Punta Banda.

Sharksbaja - 2-11-2010 at 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by k-rico

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave
So...being in Mexico without really being there is the point.

For sure, if this works it will be an exclusive crowd, certainly excluding me. I would like to hang out at the bar where Tiger's fan club congregates. Not that I have a chance.

I dunno, are you a blond? :rolleyes:

Doesn't matter

Dave - 2-11-2010 at 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sharksbaja
I dunno, are you a blond? :rolleyes:

Everything will be imported.

'Putas' included.

Bajahowodd - 2-11-2010 at 01:35 PM

"The area still needs a land-use change to allow for a tourist development. Linda Salazar, an official with Ensenada’s Urban Administration Secretariat, said federal environmental officials are expected to act in the next two weeks."

If granted, could this be the first domino in the Punta Banda area? Lots of ejido land could be coaxed into development. Of course, not in such a ridiculously high-brow manner. But, just wondering.

wilderone - 2-11-2010 at 01:39 PM

"If there's a yes to any of those questions, you and I would be the last to know. I doubt they're concerned with our approval or opinions."

A basic selling technique is to pique interest and develop a momentum by announcing "50% sold" or bragging that that there are confirmed buyers once the zoning or permits are in place, or simply stating a business status report as with condo purchases in the US - how many vacant, how many in foreclosure, how many sold but not yet constructed, how many deposits. Even announcing that the developer can negotiate with an interested buyer with a letter of intent, would indicate good faith dealing on both sides and more commitment to follow-through. but he best they can say is that sales won't begin until "NEXT February" - year from now? Certainly not "on track" and a lot can happen within a year, as can be seen what happened last year re the project.
Just saying that people are flying down to look at them doesn't mean a thing. If I were interested, I would want to know that other wealthy people who have also seen them would concur with my own opinion; accordingly, a seller would be able to state that they have potential buyers as a result of the viewing. As a seller, I'd state that buyers from Connecticut, Spain and Montana have expressed interest - or whatever. They state diddly. I saw Brian Tucker on TV last week talking to the guy who does the Money Matters show on Sundays about buying property in Mexico. He didn't say a word about the Punta Brava project. Why? Maybe it's just not viable yet - maybe too many hurdles to clear before he can even make them for sale. That whole article is just hype: “This is to be one of the singular golf clubs in the world.”
What is a "singular" golf club? And that puts us at Square One. Very wealthy people are not going to cross the border in TJ and drive a couple hours to play golf. If they boat in, they need a decent protected dock. If they fly in, they need to have supplemental transportation from the airstrip to the course. They will necessarily need golf club amenities - capital, common improvements. They already will be paying Tiger about $6 million for the course design. That's a lot of capex out of the chute.
Let's wait until February 2011 for the next report.

DENNIS - 2-11-2010 at 01:59 PM

Wilderone.......I agree with what you say, but I'm not so sure it will apply to this special market. I don't think we'll be seeing multi-color pennants flapping on the hillsides to attract customers. Their buyers won't be coaxed from the common pot.
Perhaps you're like me in that I can't comprehend having so much money that a purchase in Punta Brava will be like a day at the mall, but there are people like this who don't have to be hustled. They need a place to put their money and they will at PB....perhaps already have. You and I will never know.
I don't like the idea any more than you do.

wilderone - 2-12-2010 at 10:09 AM

No - I certainly can't say that I am privvy to the attitude and livestyle of the ultra-rich. But this project requires that, no only one be rich, but also has a passion for golf and be a Tiger groupie, and be willing to own property and want to live in a foreign country. Shrinks the arena of potential bueyrs. Tiger has a golf course in the US; there are already golf resorts in Mexico, there are already multi-million dollar properties in mexico with private beaches. I just don't see it happening in Punta Brava in this economy with the drug wars ongoing. The ultra-rich were Madhoff's clients - they were recruited at parties, by word of mouth, among friends and business partners. Not available to the average Joe. All part of the secret club mentality. This investment is priced at top dollar, and re-sale questionable. These people aren't stupid.

Save your money

bajaguy - 2-12-2010 at 10:21 AM

Hey, save your money, play golf, still live close to Punta Banda, mingle with the locals and have great neighbors.....:

http://bajacountryclub.com/

DENNIS - 2-12-2010 at 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wilderone
These people aren't stupid.

It's OK to be stupid if you're rich. Look at some of the lottery winners. :lol:

Anyway, I think you and I are seeing a different market here. We'll just have to wait and see.

DENNIS - 5-17-2010 at 09:29 AM

I talked with a friend this AM who is distantly connected with the Punta Brava group. He says the ball is starting to roll, slowly, as balls will do in Mexico. One of the hangups has been permits and it seems progress has been made.
Vague....I know. But, it's something.

Just this bit of news along with other small indicators, like the Art Project in the TJ alley, give a feeling of imminent resurection from the dead.

OK...Everybody [key of G please]

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!
Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
'Til there's none!
When I'm stuck a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh
The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow!
Tomorrow!
I love ya
Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
A way!

wilderone - 5-17-2010 at 10:15 AM

Must have been written by someone in Seattle.

Woods' status isn't the same now. Even more reasons why this project would not be successful.

DENNIS - 5-17-2010 at 10:26 AM

I'm not a big fan of the project. Never was. It's just promising that something, anything, is starting to happen around here.

Cypress - 5-17-2010 at 11:47 AM

Can a golf course generate enough jobs etc. to change an area from being depressed to prosperous? How much do they pay groundskeepers, caddies, and all the rest of the "servants"?

DENNIS - 5-17-2010 at 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
Can a golf course generate enough jobs etc. to change an area from being depressed to prosperous? How much do they pay groundskeepers, caddies, and all the rest of the "servants"?

I really doubt it. As far as I'm concerned, they can bring in machines to do everything. Then maybe they can develop a machine that will pick strawberries and tomatos. Maybe some of this bickering will stop.

I'm just glad to see any indication that the stagnation will come to an end.

Bajahowodd - 5-17-2010 at 01:24 PM

Was not Woods merely the celebrity name that was being paid to design the course? Or maybe even just use his name as designer? I'm thinking that whatever his recent personal problems, affluent golfers won't care. And worst case scenario, the developer could change course designer.

Cypress - 5-17-2010 at 02:06 PM

Did Tiger Woods neck problems derive from pounding the "head board"?

bajabound2005 - 5-18-2010 at 07:12 AM

We heard that the project is officially dead.

fandango - 5-18-2010 at 07:49 AM

bb2005: i hope you are right.
when will they take the fencing down?

durrelllrobert - 5-18-2010 at 08:36 AM

Quote:

They are replacing those with modern Mexican speed bumps:

:lol:

sorry the images didn't post. Try the links instead:
IMG]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh37/durrellrobert/pothole.jpg[/IMG]
IMG]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh37/durrellrobert/pothole2.jpg[/IMG]

[Edited on 5-18-2010 by durrelllrobert]

tripledigitken - 5-18-2010 at 10:12 AM

It had a shaky business plan to begin with...........when the economy was booming, and when Tiger was untarnished.

Now, I wouldn't bet a lunch it ever opens.

Woods hasn't punted on Punta Brava after all

bajabound2005 - 3-25-2011 at 01:45 PM

Woods hasn't punted on Punta Brava after all
Posted on: March 24, 2011 11:16 am

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Looks like Tiger Woods' course design on the rugged cliffs of Baja California isn't going to die the same lonely death as his first course in Dubai.

Alex Chehansky, an Orlando-area entrepreneur with a background in player management and course development, is working as an adjunct on the project with Woods and his design-team leader, Bryon Bell, and said Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational that the project has absolutely been resuscitated.

We'll spare you the intricacies of the financing details, because it certainly sounds complicated, but Chehansky said the project is set to pick up steam soon as a golf-only proposition over the short term.

"Later, once the world economy shakes out," he said, "we might go back and add the residential component."

The Punta Brava project, located south of San Diego, was kicked off amid massive fanfare several years ago, replete with an eye-popping, Ridley Scott-style promotional video featuring Woods standing on the edge of the craggy cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. On several of the holes, the ocean comes into play.

Woods' course in Dubai, a casualty of the real-estate slump, never really got off the ground and the developer earlier this year stopped watering and maintaining the handful of holes Woods had completed as an inducement to potential home buyers.

To date, the only real project that has gone from drawing board to fruition is the four-hole practice facility Woods has built in the backyard of his new Jupiter Island, Fla., abode.

Reports about the status of the project have been conflicting, but the course Woods designed in an upscale South Carolina community is also behind schedule and said to be on shaky financial ground because of the real-estate slump and a lack of home site sales.

Chehansky, a Naval Academy graduate, said he would supply more details later this week. Stay tuned.

http://www.cbssports.com/print/mcc/blogs/entry/6267041/28057...

sancho - 3-25-2011 at 02:06 PM

There was a post recently about TJ 'coming back',
tourists in restaurants, etc. I don't see the TJ situation
improving to any great degree and I don't see how in
el mundo, this P Banda Golf Project will go ahead
in the near furture or in the distant future. Things have
not changed much in the US Economy, and the 'casual'
US Tourists feeling of fear of the Mex Border Region
remains the same

DENNIS - 3-25-2011 at 02:25 PM

I think Tiger's schedule has opened up a bit since he may have realised that he's a has-been on the PGA circuit. Now he'll have more time to promote some projects.

Dave - 3-25-2011 at 02:29 PM

I've toured the site and seen the proposed renderings. IMO, if this gets built according to Hoyle it should rival any ocean course in North America. Including Cypress Point.

Probably never get to play it, though.

Woooosh - 3-25-2011 at 02:47 PM

Even if the course is great, the commute will kill you. Isn't this course intentionally isolated? Without the residential component I don't see why build it unless you can golf free when your buy a $Million house site in advance. Then again, the rich are getting richer in this screwed up economy and a lot of them can fly their jets in for a round.

mtgoat666 - 3-25-2011 at 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
I think Tiger's schedule has opened up a bit since he may have realised that he's a has-been on the PGA circuit. Now he'll have more time to promote some projects.

looking forward to hookers and night clubs at punta banda -- would a tiger development have anything less?

denny, i wonder if you retirees will be able to handle the new club scene coming to your neighborhood?

Commute? Pish-Tosh

Dave - 3-25-2011 at 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
Even if the course is great, the commute will kill you. Isn't this course intentionally isolated? Without the residential component I don't see why build it unless you can golf free when your buy a $Million house site in advance. Then again, the rich are getting richer in this screwed up economy and a lot of them can fly their jets in for a round.

The plans call for being helicoptered in from the new airport at el Tigre up on the mesa. Saw the plans for that, too. :rolleyes:

Everything was in place then it all turned to $**t.

chippy - 3-25-2011 at 03:50 PM

"Once the world economy shakes out" hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

Woooosh - 3-25-2011 at 04:04 PM

If the rich are just as rich as when this project was planned- what's their problem? It's not economics to these people- they make money no matter what the economy does it seems. Are the uber rich now Mexi-shy or is owning property in Mexico too great a social stigma at the Polo Clubs?

DENNIS - 3-25-2011 at 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666
denny, i wonder if you retirees will be able to handle the new club scene coming to your neighborhood?

That would just about do it for me. They may even change the name of the Buf road to Revo Avenue.
The one thing that's for certain out here is nobody know's what's going to happen. The expat conduit for real information is non-existant and the unsubstantiated rumors fly around just like basic training and some, if not most, of the suppositions are worse than absurd.

For Tiger Woods, a Golf Course Design Business Is in the Rough

bajabound2005 - 4-3-2011 at 04:14 PM

April 2, 2011
New York Tiimes
For Tiger Woods, a Golf Course Design Business Is in the Rough
By PAUL SULLIVAN

IN late June 2008, a week after he astonished the golf world by winning the United States Open while grimacing in pain on a torn left knee, Tiger Woods traveled to a craggy chunk of land on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. It was a lunarlike landscape of dirt and rock, with an inactive volcano in the background. For several hours, he hobbled over the terrain, discussing with developers his vision for the golf course he would build there, while waves from the Pacific crashed onto the shoreline below. His knee, said one companion, rattled like tools in a tool box.

Mr. Woods would soon undergo surgery that would shut down his season, but no matter: the Tiger legend was steaming ahead, and the fall from grace that would follow was unthinkable then. His heroic performance in the Open had enhanced his stature as perhaps the greatest player ever. It was his 14th major championship, putting him only four behind Jack Nicklaus’s 18, the singular goal that Mr. Woods had been pursuing since he turned pro in 1996. His earnings from golf and endorsements had made him wealthy beyond imagination.

Now he was turning his attention to a new challenge, his course design business, one that would extend his brand, bring him untold more millions and leave his permanent imprint on the game he seemed to have mastered so easily.

The Baja course, called Punta Brava, was Mr. Woods’s third design. With its breathtaking landscape, it was easy to envision it rivaling Pebble Beach and establishing his legacy as an architect at age 32. At the news conference to unveil the course, in October 2008 at the Hotel Bel Air in Beverly Hills, he looked at ease sitting next to Red McCombs, the billionaire co-founder of Clear Channel Communications, who was one of the investors.

“I can’t wait until we actually start construction, and we get to move some dirt because that’s when I can really get my hands on it and really be out there even more than I am now,” Mr. Woods said at the time.

Now, two and a half years later, no dirt has been moved at Punta Brava and Mr. Woods has not visited in some time. His two other designs, in Dubai and near Asheville, N.C., are also troubled; the Dubai course, according to people familiar with the project, has been shelved permanently. The desert sands have started to reclaim the strips of green from the six holes that have been completed. The Asheville project is searching for new financing, and construction has halted until at least this summer. In the nearly five years since Tiger Woods Design was founded, none of the courses have been completed.

It’s a trajectory that mirrors just about every element of Mr. Woods’s life these days: As he enters the Masters tournament beginning on Thursday, his golf game has fallen apart and he is overhauling his swing for the fourth time in his career. The string of affairs that made him tabloid fodder in 2009 and 2010 cost him his marriage, custody of his two young children and the loss of endorsement deals with Accenture, AT&T and Gatorade.

Brian Tucker, the founder and developer of Punta Brava, said the delay there had nothing to do with Mr. Woods’s personal scandal. His group had to redo the environmental impact study, he said, and groundbreaking is set for later this year. What remains to be seen is how much the developers will use Mr. Woods’s image to sell the course. Mr. Tucker suggested that Punta Brava would be marketed mostly on its exotic locale.

“This project is not about Tiger Woods,” Mr. Tucker said last month, emphasizing that the course is surrounded on three sides by the ocean and has 12 holes requiring a player to hit the ball over water.

Punta Brava’s location allows it to play down Mr. Woods’s involvement, but the two other courses he designed do not have this luxury. His allure as one of the world’s great champions was a crucial pillar of the sales plan.

Bryon Bell, president of Tiger Wood Design, said the firm would not be looking for new partners in Dubai. “As the course designer, it is not our role to secure financing for the projects,” he wrote in an e-mail.

When asked about the Asheville project, he said: “Our role beyond design work can vary depending on the client. Some request additional promotional or marketing opportunities, others just ask for our patience during these economic times.”

For now, the only golf project that Tiger Woods Design has completed is behind Mr. Woods’s newly finished mansion on Jupiter Island, Fla. With four greens, seven sand traps and different cuts of grass, the 3.5-acre pitch-and-putt course would delight any golfer.

While Mr. Woods could surprise the golf world and win this week at the Masters, it will take more than a major championship to rehabilitate his business career. And that raises some questions: What will become of the two remaining courses that bear his name, and can Tiger Woods Design re-emerge as a viable enterprise?

WHEN Tiger Woods started his golf design business in 2006, few doubted that he could deliver a course that everyone would want to play. That confidence didn’t vanish when the global economy began to fracture in 2008. Real estate values — so vital to any golf development — were dropping but were not yet considered at crisis levels. There were signs of a financial reckoning on the horizon, but not in the world inhabited by millionaire investors looking for a spot in golf’s most exclusive clubs. The Tiger market remained bullish.

Investors had compelling reasons to hope that Mr. Woods was recession-proof. Dubai had ponied up an estimated $55 million, according to widely circulated reports, for the privilege of owning Mr. Woods’s first-ever course design. The Asheville project, at a gated community called the Cliffs at High Carolina, had reportedly paid him $10 million. The usual fee for course design by a top architect runs $2 million to $3 million.

It didn’t matter that Mr. Woods had never designed a course. Who more than Tiger Woods knew his way around bentgrass and bunkers? With his practical experience, he would learn the details of the business on the job.

And so he set about to do so. “The amount of meetings I’ve been in — people would be shocked,” he said in an interview in 2008. “But that’s how you gain experience, how you can gain knowledge, being in meetings and participating. You learn and grow.”

In the beginning, Mr. Woods was hands-on. To the delight of his backers, he visited the sites often. He reworked the layout of the courses until they met his standards. At Punta Brava, he made 27 routing maps, when most top architects do three or four. At High Carolina, he changed the layout so that that the ninth hole would not be northern-facing and unplayable in the winter.

He also made time for the publicity events that were part of the deal. He traveled to Dubai in December 2006 to announce that his first course design would be built in the desert, surrounded by mansions costing tens of millions of dollars. In 2007, he strolled into a packed room at one of the Cliffs’ other communities, in South Carolina, to unveil his plans for High Carolina, his first course in the United States.

A year later, after his victory at Torrey Pines, he made his trip to Punta Brava to approve the final layout.

Actions like this only burnished his image with investors: he was a great golfer, and also a man of his word. What was selling these projects, of course, was Tiger Woods the champion, not Tiger Woods the course designer. Jack Nicklaus, who has operated a successful design business since 1969, was one of the few who added a sobering voice when asked about Mr. Woods’s precociousness in course design: “Yes, but he hasn’t done any yet,” Mr. Nicklaus said soon after the Cliffs broke ground. “He’s on his third golf-course contract.”

His comment proved prescient, though no one wanted to hear it any more than they wanted to hear that housing prices wouldn’t always go up. Mr. Woods’s aura was evident at the gala in Beverly Hills that officially announced Punta Brava. In a scene more like a film premiere, Mr. Woods met with hundreds of the world’s wealthiest golfers, many of whom had made their money through shrewd business dealings.

“I introduced him to every single person that night, 250 people,” said Brady Oman, who was then part of the development group but has since left. “It went past midnight. He stayed way past the end.”

The prospect of working with Mr. Woods caused even the savviest among them to drop their normal skepticism. At the unveiling of the project in 2008, Red McCombs, the major financial backer of Punta Brava, said that initially, “I wasn’t turned on by the whole thing. Then they said, ‘I think we can get Tiger involved in designing this.’ I said, ‘Forget it, it’s over, I’m in.’ ”

Mr. McCombs, a lifelong real estate investor, added: “It was the idea of Tiger coming in as a partner and designing the course, not just in name but in total involvement in the course. He has such an impeccable background and he added to the property.”

Now, two and a half years later, with the business seemingly stymied, it is hard to sort out all the contributing factors. The economic crisis was certainly one of them. Credit dried up, and real estate prices plunged. It was a bad time for any development, and the golf industry suffered. According to the National Golf Foundation, only 46 new courses opened in the United States in 2010, the fewest in 25 years.

There is evidence, too, that all three developments significantly overestimated the prices they could charge for surrounding real estate, with lavish mansions in Dubai and homes at Punta Brava priced as high as $12 million.

The tarnishing of Mr. Woods’s image has presumably hurt as well. Its impact is harder to quantify, though it probably has been more of a factor for the Cliffs, which based its initial sales pitch as much on Mr. Woods’s personality and reputation as on his athletic accomplishments. Jim Anthony, the project’s founder, does not even play golf. He likes to fish and take long walks with his pedometer ticking off the miles. His vision of the Cliffs was to sell the communities based on a lifestyle of health and wellness and a family-friendly image.

So when the string of affairs that ended Mr. Woods’s marriage was revealed, the Cliffs had to scramble; now, the marketing is affected by the fact that the company doesn’t want to plaster Mr. Woods’s image over all of its promotional materials.

Mr. Anthony said he harbored no animosity toward Mr. Woods. “I don’t know of any of us who hasn’t made a mistake,” he said. “I had some conversations with Tiger when he was here. I think he’s genuinely working hard.”

He said he does not blame Mr. Woods’s travails for the sluggish sales at High Carolina. “I think it’s very minimally Tiger,” he said.

Regardless, Mr. Woods’s work with these projects is largely done. He has been paid the bulk of his contract fees. “Traditionally, a course designer’s job begins and ends with designing a great course,” said Mr. Bell, the head of the company.

In the meantime, there have not been any new projects announced by Tiger Woods Design. “We are evaluating opportunities from all over the world,” Mr. Bell said. “We’re staying focused on our original mission of finding great sites, great partners, and creating spectacular designs. I’m very confident about our future.”

FOR the investors who backed Tiger Woods’s designs, time is running short, or has run out altogether. The Dubai project appears all but dead. Mr. Woods’s Web site says completion of the course is pending and that he might revive it. But an official at Golf in Dubai, which promotes the sport in the emirate said the project was “as good as dead and buried.” He said the chief executive had left and that the second in command was back in Canada.

“Basically it was an exorbitant project,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid contradicting his organization’s role. “The $100 million mansions were too expensive even during the years of real estate boom in Dubai.”

Punta Brava, the hardest-to-reach of Mr. Woods’s courses, is the one in the best financial position. It, too, started with grand plans of 8,000-square-foot mansions and a gigantic clubhouse.

But as the economy cratered, the developers found themselves battling local groups over the environmental impact study it had submitted. Even after they redid the study, they faced hurdles to getting the proper permits to build along the Pacific.

Mr. Tucker, the founder, said this delay, however frustrating, turned out to be a blessing. He was able to go back to prospective buyers who had toured the site and ask if they were still interested.

“We said, ‘Let’s talk about prices.’ Before, we were looking at the $3 million-$12 million ranges; now based on all of this we’re looking at $800,000 to $3.9 million,” he said. “We took advantage of a difficult, stressful, frustrating situation that allowed us to refine the land plan for Punta Brava and give not what the market wants but what our people want.”

The project has also benefited from financial backing from Mr. McCombs and Ruben Gonzalez Pena, a businessman in the Baja area, so it has not had to rely on bank financing. They have also appealed to a crowd of wealthy golf purists who have access to the private jets they will need to land at the local airport. (The club provides members helicopter transportation from the airport to their homes — that is, if they don’t have their own helicopter.)

AS for the Cliffs, it seems to be caught between success and failure. It seemed to be the safest choice — a string of seven golf communities with a proven record of success. But its ability to pay for the course, and its constant operation, was contingent on the ability to sell homes.

After the groundbreaking in November 2008, with Mr. Woods attending in specially designed Nike clothing, the Cliffs said that it had sold 40 lots at High Carolina, starting at $500,000. That number has not changed since then.

After struggling through 2009, the Cliffs realized that it needed financial help. It borrowed $64 million from a group of residents in April 2010, and, in January this year, a Dallas-based property developer made an investment to help restructure its debt. Mr. Anthony said that this helped reduce the debt burden by $50 million, and that he continues to work with other lenders.

“We make no bones about it: cash flow is still tough,” he said. “We feel fortunate that our property owners are supporting us.”

Don Tucker, a lawyer who serves on the advisory board for the group that lent the club $64 million, said his group had recommended that work be halted on the Tiger Woods course — and that other improvements at the Cliffs be postponed — so it could first finish the development’s seventh course, one designed by Gary Player.

But this has created a chicken-or-egg scenario: Mr. Woods’s course can’t be completed until more homes are sold, but buyers won’t commit until the course is finished.

“That’s the conundrum for every golf course designer,” Mr. Tucker said.

Mr. Anthony, who began his career as a telephone lineman, remains optimistic. He noted that Southwest Airlines is going to start flying into Asheville, which he hopes will help with sales.

In many ways, living on a Tiger Woods course was always based more on allure than financial calculation — the seductive combination of natural beauty, exclusivity and Mr. Woods’s platinum image. “I want to get to know them, and they should get to know me,” Mr. Woods said in the 2008 interview, of the people he would work with. “It’s not just going out there and designing golf courses. I consider it a partnership. We’re in this together through thick and thin.”

While Mr. Woods’s early forays into course design have stumbled — and have definitely come at great cost to the projects’ financial backers — no one is accusing him of doing his job poorly or failing to keep his commitments. Like his golf game, the business is simply stuck, beyond even his power to lift it up, bend it to his will and defy natural forces the way so many of his superhuman golf shots did when he sent them soaring.

Still, it seems likely that Mr. Woods will get the opportunity to build other courses in the future. At some point, his personal scandal will have faded, the real estate market may pick up and he could even start winning golf tournaments again.

Until then, Mr. Woods at least has the practice course in his backyard. That is more than his partners can say.

805gregg - 4-6-2011 at 07:57 PM

F, Woods a flash in the pan, no longevity.

Man's Quest To Build Tiger Woods Golf Course Continues

BajaNews - 5-25-2011 at 01:54 PM

http://www.10news.com/news/27971519/detail.html

Developer Brian Tucker Says Punta Brava Project In Ensenada To Break Ground In October

May 20, 2011

SAN DIEGO -- A San Diego man who invested everything he had in a golf course project involving pro golfer Tiger Woods still believes the project will be successful despite numerous setbacks.

There was a time when Woods could do no wrong. A week after winning the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, he was 65 miles south of San Diego on a little-known peninsula outside of Ensenada. It was a site considered a perfect spot for the world's next great golf course.

Woods agreed to design the course, and billionaire and former Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs would back it. San Diegan Brian Tucker would then be called upon to develop "Punta Brava."

Three years later, Woods struggles to rebuild his image and career. Of his three golf course designs, one in North Carolina is struggling financially and another in Dubai has almost failed.

But his Baja Mexico course continues with the help of Tucker, the founder and CEO of Punta Brava.

Punta Brava is years behind schedule and still months away from breaking ground. However, Tucker continues to be the glue that holds the estimated $100 million project together.

Long before there was ever a road into the area, Tucker hiked 1,200 feet up the mountain that hides the inaccessible piece of land. On a foggy morning, looking down the other side, he discovered his destiny.

"The wind came up, the clouds parted. I joke about the sun coming down and the angels singing. But there it was … there was Punta Brava," said Tucker.

Tucker had a vision. Where others saw thick brush and rocks he saw oceanfront fairways.

"Your ball will roll down and you'll be in a great spot for a potential birdie," said Tucker, describing one of the many Punta Brava holes requiring golfers to hit over water.

When others said the land was too isolated to be developed, he pictured villas with spectacular views.

Working with what nature provides, there are some who say the day Punta Brava opens it will instantly be among the world's top 10 golf courses -- all this despite Woods' very public downfall.

"The reason that people are attracted to Punta Brava wasn't because who designed it. They were attracted because of what you are looking at here," Tucker said of the landscape.

What makes this project even more remarkable is that Tucker gave up his job. He leveraged all his investments and rolled the dice in a down economy to make it all come together.

"My appetite for risk, I would say, is a little bit higher than the average," said Tucker.

After years of delays, Punta Brava recently received all its permits, including a difficult to obtain environmental permit.

According to Tucker, groundbreaking for Punta Brava will take place by October.

Woods issued the following statement regarding the Punta Brava project: "Punta Brava is my first oceanfront course, and it is going to be spectacular. The site is breathtaking, and I have created a design that takes advantage of the dramatic views. It will be an amazing place to play. I am looking forward to the project breaking ground and spending more time on-site during construction."

The Gull - 5-25-2011 at 03:09 PM

The website features photos of his babes walking among the rocks on the shore. Not bad. A $12M homesite is available. Drug lords be alert, this is your chance to get in on the ground floor since many of you missed with The Donald project.