Sun News - The two largest golf course ownership and management companies on the Grand Strand are merging, creating one of the 15 largest course management companies in the nation and a juggernaut in the area golf market. Burroughs & Chapin Golf Management and Myrtle Beach National Company have signed a letter of intent to combine their golf assets and become equal partners in a new company that has yet to be named. Myrtle Beach National currently owns 10 of the 14 courses it manages, while B&C Golf Management, a subsidiary of Burroughs & Chapin Company Inc., owns five of the 10 courses it manages. “We believe with the strength of this new venture that represents the best of both companies, it will give us some growth opportunities and give us a greater opportunity to get the message out about the golf offerings Myrtle Beach has,” said Jim Apple, B&C president and chief executive officer. MBN Chief Executive Officer Matthew Brittain said due diligence still has to be done and the merger may not be consummated for “a couple months.” Though both companies own other entities in the golf industry, including hotels and golf package companies, the merger only involves courses.
The Members Club at Grande Dunes, the only private club owned by either company, will continue to be owned by Burroughs & Chapin. Apple said initial plans call for the new company to manage the six-year-old layout so it is involved in the 24-course merger. The merger accounts for 23 of the approximate 90 public courses stretching the coastline from Andrews to Southport, N.C., and they are at 20 facilities, with Myrtle Beach National Golf Club, Myrtlewood Golf Club and Grande Dunes featuring multiple courses. In addition, three of Myrtle Beach National’s courses are 27 holes. “We do some things well and they do some things well and we’ll pick the best practices of both companies,” Brittain said. According to a Golf Inc. magazine study of golf course management companies, the new company will be positioned at No. 15 nationally and No. 19 internationally. The other top-15 U.S. companies in the market are No. 9 Arnold Palmer Golf Management, which owns and operates five former Legends Group courses, and No. 1 Troon Golf, which operates four courses at St. James Plantation in Southport. N.C. The second largest golf course management company on the Strand is Signature Golf Group with six 18-hole Strand courses and nine total courses, so the new company will dwarf its competitors within the market. “It’s a very powerful connection, no doubt about that,” said Tim Tilma, general manager of the 27-hole stand-alone Sandpiper Bay Golf Club in Sunset Beach, N.C., which is a marketing partner with MBN and does business with both companies in lodging and golf packages. “It creates a powerful synergy between those two companies, and let’s see where it takes us.”
Combining the courses with the lodging and package businesses MBN and B&C are involved with, the new company will have the ability to influence a large portion of the golf market. “I hope our relationship with Myrtle Beach National and the volume of business we do with them doesn’t change, but only time will tell,” said Classic Golf Group general manager Tommy Smothers, whose company manages four Strand courses.
All 24 courses in the merger are on the Strand – only Farmstead Golf Links, with holes on both sides of the Carolinas border, is in North Carolina – but the new company may expand outside the area. “It doesn’t have to be limited to Myrtle Beach,” Brittain said. “I think we’re looking for opportunities outside the market.” The executive hierarchy and number of employees in the company have yet to be established. “I think we’re going to identify the positions and fill them,” Brittain said. Brittain and Apple said they believe the merger will benefit the market, because without each other to compete against, the new company is more likely to market the destination rather than engage in price wars in local media. “We do think it’s good for Myrtle Beach and not just for us,” Brittain said. “It’s two companies that believe in advertising and advertising out of the market. We believe Myrtle Beach golf is about choice. … “I think we’re taking two companies out of fighting for the local and making them more marketing oriented.” The merger has the potential to create price stability in a market that has dropped prices nearly across the board since Arnold Palmer Golf Management decreased prices considerably at the properties it took over a couple of years ago. "For a group of properties of that size and importance in the community, if [B&C is] looking for a buyer or merger, what better than to do it with a company with a long-term vested interest in the community,” said Bill Golden, president of marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday. “With that comes stability and commitment. … “For the smaller guy – the stand-alone company and smaller management company – it’s competitive regardless. It’s already hard for the small guy and hard for everybody. We have to focus on getting golfers to Myrtle Beach.”
•Burroughs & Chapin courses
Owned and managed
Myrtlewood PineHills
Myrtlewood Palmetto
Pine Lakes Country Club
Grande Dunes Resort Course
Members Club at Grande Dunes (private)
Managed
Tidewater Plantation & Golf
River Hills Golf & Country Club
Arcadian Shores Golf Club
Farmstead Golf Links
Meadowlands Golf Club
Myrtle Beach National courses
Owned and managed
MBN King’s North
MBN Southcreek
MBN West
Aberdeen Country Club
Long Bay Club
Waterway Hills Golf Club
River Club
Litchfield Country Club
Willbrook Plantation
Pawleys Plantation
Managed
Blackmoor Golf Club
Wild Wing Plantation
Tradition Club
Wachesaw Plantation East
Top 20 golf course management companies
(According to Golf Inc. magazine)
Place; company; headquarters; 18-hole equivalent courses
1; Troon Golf; Scottsdale, Ariz.; 209.5
2; Pacific Golf Management; Tokyo, Japan; 157.5
3; Accordia Golf; Tokyo, Japan; 138
4; Billy Casper Golf; Vienna, Va.; 131
5; ClubCorp; Dallas, Texas; 128
6; American Golf; Santa Monica, Calif.; 109
7; KemperSports; Northbrook, Ill.; 107
8; Eagle Golf; Dallas, Texas; 77
9; Arnold Palmer Golf Management; Addison, Texas; 65
10; Marriott Golf; Orlando, Fla.; 62.5
11; Canongate/Sequoia Golf; Atlanta, Ga.; 58.5
12; ClubLink; Ontario, Canada; 50.5
13; OB Sports; Scottsdale, Ariz.; 42
14; Crown Golf; Binfield, UK; 39
15; Lindsay Management; Fayetteville, Ark.; 32.5
16; SunBelt Golf Corp.; Birmingham, Ala.; 26
16; Heritage Golf Group; San Diego, Calif.; 26
16; Landscapes Golf Group; Lincoln, Neb.; 26
19; B&C-MBN merger; Myrtle Beach; 24
20; Touchstone Golf; Burnet, Texas; 21.5
