Avenel Redo Update

Leonard Shapiro reports in the Washington Post that the TPC Avenel redo is still going to be pricey:

At the moment, the course is getting permits approved. The next step is a meeting before the planning board on July 12.

The PGA Tour, Sullivan said, has set the money aside. They'll pour $8 million into the clubhouse, including expansions to dining areas, upgrading locker rooms and new fixtures and furniture. Another $12 million will go into the course, with what Sullivan described as "significant changes in design of tee boxes, bunkers and green complexes, as well as all new bentgrass on the fairways and greens."

$12 million for an existing course! Amazing. 

Comments

[JakaB]

I seem to recall that one of our nations leading critics is a member there. Ouch. Do members get off for free on these deals...If so, what a deal.

[ParFore]

$12 million for a one course TPC renovation.
You could spend that on 3 or 4 golf courses.
I wonder who's sponsoring the clubhouse.

Geoff, you'll sign up for that won't you?

[Brad F]

1st they spend millions building the original course. For reasons nobody has told me, it is "wrong" and needs millions to be fixed.

What was wrong with the original course? If the land is bad, what are they going to do that will fix the problem?

[dancingnancie]

you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit. better use of money to buy sod and grass seed for congressional to host the at&t national every year than spend it on avenel. if it goes back to avenel then the field goes downhill fast. if it stays at congo then it has the opportunity to become a top 5-6 event on tour. it is that simple.

[Animal Lover]

Bagger Len's last article on the TPC Avenel re-do quoted Finchem as saying the renovation would be completed and "we are not 100 % sure we (the Tour) would bring a tournament back to Avenel even after the completed renovation".

A.K.A., we're prepared to DUMP 20 something MILLION into an existing property whose membership has been sold out and it's potential real estate (home sites) developed and SOLD. In plain simple english, we're going to dump 20 million into a property that has NO realistic chance of recouping this MONEY.

When it comes to the Tour's real needs Tim Finchem has alligator arms, they're to short to reach his pocket. When it comes to unjustified, unworthy causes, Finchem has the arms of a chimpanzee, he can reach around his torso, through his legs, and is still capable of reaching down to the bottom of his pocket in pulling out every dime he needs.

How do we know this fact to be true? He built a Taj Mahal to himself, the new 77,000 sqft TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse, a clubhouse players' will use once a year and PGA Tour employees enjoying 358 days a year. What was the total cost of that project including furnishings and flat screens? Was it the 16 to 18 millon the Tour stated before ground was broke, or was it the 32, 40 or 60 million that has been reported in numerous articles? Hard to really tell isn't it?

Of course all of this is enlightening, Finchem's salary increases are handled the same way as these TPC (Boston) renovations, they are perpetual.

[Four-putt]

>"He built a Taj Mahal to himself, the new 77,000 sqft TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse, a clubhouse players' will use once a year and PGA Tour employees enjoying 358 days a year. What was the total cost of that project including furnishings and flat screens? Was it the 16 to 18 millon the Tour stated before ground was broke, or was it the 32, 40 or 60 million that has been reported in numerous articles? Hard to really tell isn't it?"<

Yeah. Equally hard to believe the PGA Tour is a non-profit, hardly the intent of the concept.

[86general]

The degree of consipicuous consumption evident on the Sawgrass redo,and now this, makes you wonder how the PGA Tour is able to exist as a non-profit. I'm sure they have a stable of lawyers guiding every move, so it's bound to be legal, but it sure smells fishy.

You wonder if there will ever be another economic meltdown in the US, akin to the 1930s, which would _really_ make all of this extravagance and luxury seem foolish.

[moty]

I'm closely tied to the renovation at Avenel, and the membership/golfing public/Tour pros will not recognize this track when completed. It is a true overhaul, and a vast improvement over the original design. The wetland renovation is almost complete, and rough grading has already begun. It will be a an instant classic.