BY JEFF KIDD, The Island Packet
Published Thursday, November 11th, 2004
It works for beer. Bluffton's Mark Brown hopes the idea that sparked the creation of his new company can do the same thing for golf.
Brown, who founded Links Magazine before starting his own golf marketing and public relations firm in 1994, has teamed with Florida-based golf course builder Terry LaGree to form Prestwick 12 Golf.
Seizing upon research that suggests the number of avid golfers is on the decline, Prestwick 12 Golf hopes to build and operate courses divided into six-hole segments, which Brown believes will entice both beginners and longtime golfers by addressing a key cause of the sport's eroding base --the amount of time it takes to play nine or 18 holes.
"People have finally realized that the golf industry has to change," Brown said, "because we're actually losing golfers rather than gaining them."
On average, a new golf club opened in the United States once a day between 1988 and 2000, Brown said, but since then, the pace of golf course construction has dropped by nearly 50 percent. Meanwhile, golf is losing casual players faster than it can replace them. In fact, according to a report issued earlier this year by Pellucid Corp., an industry consulting firm, the number of players declined by three percent in 2003 and their per capita rounds dropped eight percent.
"Our company's goal is to make golf more fun for more people," Brown said, citing three reasons many golfers give up the game:
- A round of golf takes too long to play.
- Greens fees, cart fees and club memberships are too expensive.
- Golf is a difficult game to learn, and modern courses often frustrate high-handicappers.
The name of Brown's new company suggests how Prestwick 12 Golf intends to attack the first problem.
Prestwick Golf Club was one of the first links courses in Scotland, cradle of the game. It originally consisted of 12 holes and hosted the first 12 British Open Championships. At that time, there was no standard number of holes for a golf course, though many courses abroad and in Scotland, including Prestwick, eventually built 18-hole circuits to match the track at venerated St. Andrew's.
Prestwick 12 Golf hopes to work with home builders, real estate developers and municipalities to construct 12-hole courses divided into two six-hole segments.
"You can play six holes in about an hour and 15 minutes," Brown said. "That's something you can do on your lunch break. The idea is that you don't have to spend four to six hours to play a round of golf. People today, especially people with families, don't have that much time."
Brown expects some resistance from traditionalists, which is one reason the company also will design and build 18-hole layouts. But those will be routed into six-hole segments, as well.
Brown said Prestwick 12 courses will be well-conditioned but also will be designed for high-traffic play. It's clubs will emphasize customer service and gear its teaching programs toward beginners.
Maintenance costs for 12-hole courses will be less than for 18-hole tracks, which should help owners of Prestwick 12 facilities keep greens fees low. Construction costs will be reduced, too -- Brown and LeGree say they can build a turn-key operation for about $4 million, about half the cost of a typical course -- and amenities such as clubhouses, grill rooms and pro shops will be modest, to keep construction and overhead costs minimal.
"Everything being built right now is on the high end, for people who are already avid golfers," Brown said. "They're ego courses. No one wants to build the daily-fee facility or the municipal course, but that's where you're going to attract the new golfers."
Brown said Prestwick 12 will aim to keep the golfers they attract by building playable courses with expansive practice areas.
"They won't be bunny courses," Brown said. But, "... We want to build less-penal golf courses. The challenge of golf course architecture is to provide high-handicappers a safe route to the hole and low handicappers an opportunity to gain some advantage by taking a chance. There has to be more than one way to play each hole."
Brown has no formal design training and concedes his lack of experience probably will preclude Prestwick 12 from working with developers hoping to lure members with a big-name architect.
But Brown is a buff of golf history and architecture who has played some of the world's most renowned courses and walked numerous construction sites with such notable designers as Tom Fazio, Tom Doak, Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus.
"I didn't have any training as a writer or photographer when I started Links, either. Golf Digest wasn't going to hire me, so I had to start my own publication," notes Brown, who moved to Hilton Head Island in 1981, shortly after quitting his job as a financial analyst for General Electric. "I moved here because I wanted to eventually get into golf course architecture, and I've slowly moved my way toward that."
Brown met LaGree while doing marketing for Florida's Black Diamond Ranch, where LaGree was chief operating officer. The idea for Prestwick 12 Golf germinated from their discussion of how to expand golf's appeal and followed about six months of marketing research by Brown.
"A couple of developers we've talked to don't really want to be involved with building and running golf facilities but would like to offer it as an amenity," said LaGree, whose Inverness, Fla.-based Barbaron Inc. has built several courses around the Southeast over the past 17 years and would construct Prestwick 12's courses. "We think the timing for this is really good."
Cary Corbitt, Sea Pines' director of sports and president of the Lowcountry Golf Course Owners Association, said the industry is ripe for innovation, "whether its a six- or 12-hole concept or family learning centers that give you the ability to go out and play two holes or three holes, something that appeals to the total family."
He said Prestwick 12 shouldn't expect to make much headway in markets such as Hilton Head Island, where the market is dominated by more traditional high-end resort and residential courses. But Corbitt thinks the six-hole concept could do well elsewhere, especially where developers "have some land restrictions or price considerations. This offers another variation that is a good potential alternative."
Brown said if the venture is successful, the company will sell franchising rights and possibly start a string of clubs around the country that carry the Prestwick 12 name, similar to the TPC courses pioneered by the PGA Tour.
"It could take off fast," Brown said, adding Prestwick 12 is close to a deal with an Ohio developer that would allow the company to build its first club. Negotiations also are ongoing with two other possible clients. "I think it's going to work, but you really don't know. I've talked to at least 100 people about this who think it's a good idea, but until you talk to the people with money and sign a contract, you never know."
