"Congressional doesn't have a chance"

I was so taken by The Donald's uncharacteristic hubris that I failed to notice his declaration of intent to lure Tiger's AT&T event to Trump National Washington D.C.

As soon as word leaked that Trump was interested in Lowes, golf nuts in the Washington area started buzzing that he'll make a serious run at bringing all the big-name tournaments to his greens -- especially Tiger Woods, who holds a tournament at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. "Congressional doesn't have a chance," Trump said yesterday.

Someone please tell The Donald that Congressional has the event signed through 2017.

Change Comes To Washington: Donald To Create World's Greatest Country Club, Immediately Orders New Carts

From the Washington Post's "Reliable Sources" blog:

Donald Trump has purchased the Lowes Island Club, making the Washington region part of his luxury golf empire.

"This place, when it's finished, will be the finest club anywhere in the country," he told The Washington Post last night. "There will be nothing like it. I already own the best ones, so I know."

See, just when you start to feel bad about this economic downturn, you are then reminded that not every casualty of it will be a big loss for the game. Oh, continue Donald...

The flamboyant developer already owns seven award-winning courses -- in New York, Florida and California -- and has big plans for his new 800-acre property, which sits along the Potomac River in Sterling. First up: a name change to -- what else? -- "Trump National Golf Club, Washington D.C.," he said.

He's bringing in golf architect Tom Fazio to remake the two 18-hole championship courses, with plans to maximize the site's natural beauty. The clubhouse, pool and facilities will be renovated, he said. Trump said he expects it will take two years "to make it great," and he wasted no time getting started: He's already ordered 150 top-of-the-line golf carts.

There's a man with vision! And class.

Donald Knew What He Was Doing All Along: Weak Pound Trims $600 Million Off Scotland Project Price Tag

And now it makes such financial sense!

Peter Woodifield reports the heartwarming news for Bloomberg:

“On a fairly conservative basis, I certainly think a 30 percent saving is doable,” George Sorial, Trump’s executive in charge of the project, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “When you are in the construction business in 2009, you have to find silver linings where you can.”

Raw-material costs have also fallen since Trump announced the plan with the drop in the crude-oil price, while the U.K. recession has made contractors cut their bids, Sorial said.

Trump hopes to start building the first golf course, which he says will be good enough to host the British Open Championship, by the end of this year, Sorial said. It should be completed within two years.

What a relief.

Donald On Lawsuit: "I’ve been looking forward for a long time to do this."

Victoria Kim reports that The Donald is suing Rancho Palos Verdes, home to Trump Trails National L.A., for $100 million.

“I’ve been looking forward for a long time to do this. The town does everything possible to stymie everything I do.”

So said Donald Trump in an interview Friday regarding the latest dispute with Rancho Palos Verdes, where his golf course is located.

In the latest chapter of Donald Trump vs. City of Rancho Palos Verdes, the real estate mogul has upped the ante -- by $100 million. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Trump accused the city of requiring unnecessarily tough standards for developments on his 580-acre oceanside golf course on the scenic coastline.

Ready for the reason?

The city is holding improvements that are “in keeping with the Trump image” hostage to extract large fees from him, Trump alleges in the suit, which accuses city officials of fraud and violation of federal equal protection rights, among other things. When the developer first purchased the property in 2002, residents and city leaders welcomed the injection of funds into a city pulling out of a recession.

But since then, Trump has been engaged in battle after battle with the city, over a street name, a row of ficus trees, then a 70-foot flagpole.

That seems like it's worth $100 million, no?

I can't wait for The Donald to land a Trump Bedminster-U.S. Open so he can sue the USGA for not "keeping with the Trump image"!

Update on 2008-12-22 16:58 by Geoff

Kim filed a longer story for the print edition of the Times.

"From Dubai to Chicago, from Atlantic City to Aberdeen, the host of the US version of The Apprentice is scaling back his ambitions for global domination..."

The Independent's Stephen Foley explains The Donald's various financial issues and wonders if his Scottish development has much chance of happening. 

The Donald: "I've got £1bn in the bank ready to fund golf resort"

Jane Bradley reports that The Donald has all £1 billion needed to fund the Scottish golf project. Cash just waiting to be wired!

George Sorial, the Trump Organisation executive in charge of the golf resort development near Balmedie, told The Scotsman that Mr Trump had recently "increased his cash position" and has the money on hand to fund the development.

The Scottish Government gave the go-ahead to the project earlier this month, after strong opposition from locals drove the development to a public inquiry.

Mr Trump's plan for the site includes two golf courses and a 450-bedroom hotel and housing, as well as holiday apartments and golf villas.

Mr Sorial said: "The money is there, ready to be wired at any time. I am not discussing where it is, whether it is in a Scottish bank or what, but it is earmarked for this project. If we needed to put the development up tomorrow, we have the cash to do that. It is sitting there in the bank and is ready to go."

He added: "I don't think anyone in Scotland has anything to worry about."

He better, since he's suing one of his primary lenders!

Mr Trump, who is due to visit Scotland in two weeks to meet his Scottish development team, has recently filed a suit against a group of lenders – led by Deutsche Bank – on the 92-storey project, in an attempt to extend his $640 million (£430 million) construction loan.

"I used to be proud to be a Scotsman, but I'm going to take both of my kilts out and burn them after this"

Severin Carrell reports that The Donald and Michael Forbes will still be battling if the best course in the world gets built:

It is the ramshackle eyesore standing in the way of Donald Trump's great dream: a 23-acre spread of rambling farm buildings and rusting tractors sitting beside the future site of the world's greatest golf course. But despite offers as high as £450,000 from Trump for their home at Mill of Menie, and now the threat of living in a £1bn construction site, Michael Forbes and his wife Sheila are refusing to sell.

"They reckon the construction will last 10 years, but I'll never, ever sell to that loudmouth bully," Forbes said last night.

"As I said before, I would rather give my land away to travelling people than sell to Trump, if it comes to that."

Yesterday's decision by Scottish ministers to approve Trump's resort made him feel "sick", he added. Once a Scottish National party voter, he would never be one again. "I used to be proud to be a Scotsman, but I'm going to take both of my kilts out and burn them after this," he said.

The Donald Wins Approval For Links; Now About That Financing...

Thanks to all of the readers who passed along the news that Donald Trump received Scottish government approval for his Aberdeenshire links. Now about the $2 billion he says it's going to cost...

"We are greatly honoured by the positive decision and believe that the people of Scotland will be extremely happy with the final product," he said.

"It will be a tremendous asset and source of pride for both Aberdeenshire and Scotland for many generations.

"I would like to personally thank the thousands of people and organisations who have supported us throughout this process.

"As I have often said, because of the quality of the land we are given to work with, we will build the greatest golf course in the world."

Clearly humbled by the process!

“You know, it’s interesting, nobody has ever told me I don’t know how to buy property before. You’re the first one. I appreciate your advice.”

Fred A. Bernstein in the New York Times looks at The Donald's "Adventures in golf" and shares some fun new anecdotes from the recent hearings in Scotland.

During his two-and-a-half-hour appearance, Mr. Trump praised the site — which is in Balmedie, 13 miles north of Aberdeen — for its natural beauty. But when the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds argued that the landscape should be preserved, according to accounts in the British press, Mr. Trump said that 25,000 birds were being shot each year over his property and that residents were dumping garbage there.

“It’s a total mess,” Mr. Trump was quoted in The Guardian as saying. “When you walk on the site right now it’s sort of disgusting. There are bird carcasses lying all over the place. There are dead animals all over the site that have been shot. There may be some people that are into that. I am not.”

Mr. Trump later added: “It’s a killing field. They’re shooting birds. And all we’re going to do is shoot birdies and eagles.”

According to British press accounts, David Tyldesley, a planner hired by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, asked Mr. Trump about Scottish “rambler laws” that would allow birdwatchers and hikers to walk across the site.

Mr. Trump told the inquiry that golfers “would have a problem with people walking all over the course.” Ramblers, he added, could get hit by a golf ball, or break a leg and sue him. (Back in New York, Mr. Trump said, “We go by the laws of Scotland.”)

He was perhaps most combative when he was asked by Martin Ford, a member of the Aberdeenshire Council and an opponent of the project, how he had managed to buy the land without knowing it had been classified by Scotland as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. “You have little understanding of the property you bought or the environmental status of it,” Mr. Ford told him, according to a report by The Associated Press.

According to the Guardian account, Mr. Trump, who said he did know about the site’s designation, replied: “You know, it’s interesting, nobody has ever told me I don’t know how to buy property before. You’re the first one. I appreciate your advice.”

According to reporters at the hearing, Mr. Trump provoked guffaws when he told the inquiry that his proposed golf resort would “enhance” rather than harm the sand dunes. “I consider myself to be an environmentalist in the true sense of the word,” Mr. Trump said.

“We could even name the first hole after you"

I've been part of and seen some awkward group site visits, but this one at Trump's site in Scotland described by Emma Christie takes the prize.

The group stopped to listen to the Trump Organisation’s project director, Neil Hobday, who said the spectacular view towards the sea from the green would remain “unchanged” if the course was built.

Pausing to admire the dunes, Mr Trump’s right-hand man George Sorial shared a light moment with Martin Ford, the councillor whose casting vote scuppered the US tycoon’s plans.

Mr Sorial asked Mr Ford if he played golf – he does not – before saying he could be made an honorary member of the club, should it get the go-ahead.

“We could even name the first hole after you,” joked Mr Sorial, a suggestion Mr Ford said would make him feel uncomfortable.

The 13th hole, a par three, crosses the vast swathe of mobile sand dune known as a ‘sand sheet’ or ‘the dome’.

The vast majority of the sand sheet would be planted with marram grass in order to stabilise it. Golf course architect Martin Hawtree pointed to some existing grass growth on the dome, which he said had appeared naturally over the past year.

“This dome wants to be green,” said Mr Sorial, in reference to the same site.

But Mr Ford disagreed, and said the beauty of the sand sheet reconfirmed why the decision of the infrastructure services committee was the right one.

He said: “This has simply reminded me that this is a magical wild place with a real sense of wilderness. That’s something we don’t want to lose.”

There goes the honorary membership.

"But on initial examination, the layout would not constitute a links course and is certainly not a championship course."

Hardly a shocker here, nonetheless The Scotsman's Frank Urguhart reports that The Donald has rejected an alternate routing for his Scotland course by a gent named Mike Wood. The new sequencing of holes would have avoided the most sensitive portion of the site.

DONALD Trump last night rejected an alternative golf course design that environmental groups claimed would allow him to go ahead with his project without destroying the protected dune system at the Menie Estate.

RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) revealed they had commissioned Mike Wood, a respected golf course architect, to come up with a new plan for the Aberdeenshire resort.

They claimed the alternative showed Mr Trump could have a "championship level" course at Menie without damaging the vulnerable sand-dunes on the Foveran site of special scientific interest (SSSI) – the focus of the environmental objections to the £1 billion golf resort and housing development.

Mr Wood's design is to be formally submitted this week to the public inquiry into the Trump International Golf Links development as a potential way forward.

Anne McCall, the head of planning at RSPB Scotland, said: "The developers continually claimed they could not change the course design, but have said they might do so to take account of environmental destruction. Rather than the minor tweak that their new indicative plans would mean, we hope they will now agree with us that it's entirely possible for them to have a top golf course without building on the SSSI in the north or the sensitive dunes to the south."

Who is Mr. Wood you ask? 

Mr Wood, who chairs the environment committee of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, said: "I believe there is ample room on this site to accommodate a golf course designed to the highest modern standards without using the valuable mobile dunes."

But George Sorial, the Trump executive in charge of the Menie development, said: "We sincerely appreciate the RSPB's efforts at golf course design, but on initial examination, the layout would not constitute a links course and is certainly not a championship course."

Does not constitute a links eh? Someone's going to have fun with that remark. 

Trump In Vanity Fair

There's no chance I'm going to read this online since it's seven pages long and there's a whole lot more to read about right now than a man with limp combed over hair, but Alex Shoumatoff profiles Donald Trump and it appears to be mostly golf related.

Thanks to reader Jon for the warning so that I can really look forward to my May issue when the forklift delivers it to my front doorstep.

"You're looking at the shortest golf window along the entire North Sea."

Golf World's John Huggan weighs in on the viability of The Donald's Scotland project moving forward. This lept off the page...

All of which presupposes that the course actually will be built. While the odds are currently heavily in favor of the project gaining official approval, nothing yet is certain. Indeed, the story of Trump and the Menie Estate already has taken many twists and turns. As a "Site of Special Scientific Interest" that is home to many varieties of plant and wildlife, the area always was going to be difficult from a planning standpoint. American Mark Parsinen, who developed the highly acclaimed Kingsbarns course near St. Andrews, was one who previously rejected the site because of possible environmental restrictions. "I looked at this location, but it is on a Site of Special Scientific Interest," says Parsinen, who is now building another project at Castle Stuart, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. "These things take a lot of time. I settled here with my family to slowly build up relationships with the local community. I want them with me, not angry with me."

Meanwhile in last week's Golfweek, Bradley Klein writes of the project:

Didn't any of The Donald's consultants tell him that the site for this proposed 36-hole golf resort and real estate spread north of Aberdeen is on the East Coast's coldest stretch of land? Between the frequent morning "haar" or fog and the early afternoon shadows cast by the Grampian Mountains to the west, you're looking at the shortest golf window along the entire North Sea.