Source: The Myrtle Beach Sun-News (S.C.)
Course ownership company GGG of Myrtle Beach LLC and its marketing and management arm, Classic Golf Group, have been moving ahead with plans to sell off some of their courses while adding management contracts.
The sale of Quail Creek Golf Club to West Virginia company Glenmark Holdings was consummated in October, and the back nine of the West Course at Burning Ridge is now under contract to be purchased by a developer when a lease restriction on the property runs out in June 2005, according to Ed Jerdon, a major shareholder of GGG.
GGG shareholder Julie Parrish said the original sales contract for Quail Creek with Glenmark Holdings was for $3.75 million. Glenmark is expected to eventually lease the course to Coastal Carolina University, and students in the school's Professional Golf Management Program would operate it.
She also said the buyer of the back nine of the West Course is Portrait Homes of South Carolina, which is paying $35,000 per acre for 63 acres, or just over $2.2 million, in a deal that will close on June 15. The property is already zoned for residential housing.
When the sale of the West Course's back nine is complete, GGG, which inherited the management of its courses when The Links Group management company went bankrupt in January 2002, will be down to ownership of 4 courses - Indian Wells, Sea Gull, Black Bear and 27 holes at Burning Ridge. Jerdon said the remaining nine holes of the West Course will be completely rebuilt beginning next June.
Classic Golf Group also manages International Club of Myrtle Beach and Crown Park, and Jerdon said it's in discussions for management contracts with other Grand Strand courses. GGG's last purchase was Black Bear in 2000.
"We'll end up with a bigger number than we started with," Jerdon said. "We're not in the market to buy any additional courses. Our aim is to become truly a management company."
Parrish, who was originally an owner of Quail Creek and Burning Ridge before they merged into the GGG network of courses, said she was against the sale of Quail Creek and is looking to sell her shares in GGG. "It's not a comfortable situation and I would like to be out of it," she said.