Sun News - The investor group from China established as Founders Group
International (FGI) has become the largest owner and operator of golf
courses in the Myrtle Beach market. The company has acquired the
majority of National Golf Management’s assets, giving it a vested
interest in 22 courses (423 holes) in the Myrtle Beach golf market. National
Golf Management had been the largest owner/operator in the market with
the 12 courses that it both owned and operated and an additional four
run through management contracts and/or leases. The courses
acquired in the transaction stretch from Pawleys Island to Georgetown.
They are: Long Bay Club; Pine Lakes Country Club; Grande Dunes Resort
Course; River Club; Pawley’s Plantation; Willbrook Plantation;
Litchfield Country Club; the King’s North, SouthCreek and West courses
at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club; and the Palmetto and PineHills
courses at Myrtlewood Golf Club.
The deal does not include
National Golf Management’s management contracts for Farmstead Golf
Links, Meadowlands Golf Club, Arcadian Shores Golf Club and Blackmoor
Golf Club. NGM was formed in March 2012 as a merger of most of the
golf-related assets of Myrtle Beach National Co. and Burroughs &
Chapin Golf Management. Two courses it had been managing – Wild Wing
Plantation and Tradition Club – were purchased by Founders Group in the
past two weeks and a management contract with Wachesaw Planatation East
ended in January and wasn’t renewed. Grande Dunes, Pawleys
Plantation and the King’s North Course are among the area’s upscale
layouts, while Pine Lakes opened in 1927, is the oldest course on the
Strand and rivals The Dunes Golf and Beach Club as the area’s most
iconic course. Those courses are added to the layouts the company
has already purchased in the area: TPC Myrtle Beach, Aberdeen Country
Club, Burning Ridge, Colonial Charters, Founders Club at Pawleys Island,
Indian Wells Golf Club, River Hills Golf & Country Club,
International World Tour Golf Links, Tradition Club and Wild Wing
Plantation.
The acquisition also includes National Golf
Management’s call center known as “Tee Time Central,” its golf package
operations known as “Ambassador Golf” and “Myrtle Beach Golf Trips,” the
Myrtle Beach area’s most visited golf-related websites including
www.mbn.com, www.myrtlebeachgolftrips.com, www.myrtlebeachtrips.com, www.mbgolfinsider.com and National Golf Management’s local membership program known as “Prime Times.” Founders
Group International’s Chinese parent company, Yiqian Funding, is
primarily owned by Chinese investor Dan Liu and New York immigration
attorney and FGI president Nick Dou. According to a press release,
day-to-day management responsibilities will be spread among key
executives for the organization. No changes are planned for current
operational employees at each facility.
