Taylor CEO Calls For Bifurcating Pro And Amateur Rules

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Friday we learned that Taylor Made's Mark King, who just eight years ago couldn't see the makings of trouble down the road now wants a re-write of the rules because the game is not growing.

Now in an online video interview posted Saturday at Golfweek.com he goes further, calling for all-out bifurcation that manufacturers have steadfastly refused to even consider as an alternative best suiting the game (skip to the two minute mark unless you want to hear him hump the new white driver).

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Just When Dana Garmany Thought He Was Out, Troon Board Pulls Him Back In

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Jack Crittenden reports that Troon has re-installed Dana Garmany as CEO after his one year of retirement. This is mostly only of interest to those in the golf course industry, but Garmany is one of the rare breed of CEO types who play do the b-speak game but who also has a big picture view with plenty of interesting things to say. Glad he's back in the game!
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"The financing for the acquisition included $1.5 billion of senior debt, $1 billion of mezzanine debt and $800 million of corporate debt, of which $200 million was previously converted to equity."

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Did you get all that?

Bloomberg's Hui-yong Yu and David M. Levitt report on the seizing of some of CNL Hotels and Resorts, placeholders for some of America's best known golf resorts like La Quinta, Doral, PGA West, Wailea and the Arizona Biltmore, by a combo platter of hedge funds, investors, banks and gulp, mezzanine debt collectors.

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"The governing bodies have looked into what happened and uniformly said stop what you’re doing, but you haven’t done anything wrong."

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I've intentionally ignored the stories of the gambling accusations leveled against Ted Forstmann since it sounded like a frivolous lawsuit and blackmail attempt. Yet in this interview with Darren Rovell, I couldn't help but find his answer strange.
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"So a golf company purchase is a long shot -- at best."

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Mike Stachura and E. Michael Johnson consider the possible options for an Acushnet sale or spin off and conclude that private equity or Asian sporting goods will be the likely suitors. There was this on the bottom line...

But more importantly, Titleist has real profits and real dominance in the marketplace. Its EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is approximately $120 million and historically sporting goods transaction multiples are between six and eight times EBITDA. Acushnet being an industry leader would seem to command the high end of that so let's start the bidding at $1 billion. Or possibly beyond.

"The ability of a big hedge fund to get several hours alone with a corporate executive on a golf course reveals the great information disparity that exists between ordinary investors and the savviest of traders."

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Matthew Goldstein gives people more reason to love golf, profiling golf-pro-to-the-hedge-fund-stars Sam Evans, who brokers rounds at elite courses for hedge funders and other corporate tycoons. Warning, this is mildly painful reading.
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"That would eat away at any benefit many buyers would see if they bought just part of the company."

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Besides the potential anti-trust question that reader Del noted in the comments on a possible Fortune Brands breakup leading to the sale of Acushnet, Fortune's Jessica Hall and Martinnne Geller pointed out a few weeks ago that a massive capital gains tax tab--excuse me, "tax leakage" problem--facing Fortune might prove a deal killer.
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