McConnell Golf closes the deal on TPC Wakefield Plantation and Country Club
John McConnell, the head of the fast growing McConnell Golf Enterprises has now sealed a bid to buy the TPC Wakefield Plantation Country Club located at Raleigh, North Carolina, the third golf course clubs in the region which have been bought over by the
group.
McConnell holds the ownership of two other golf courses in the Raleigh region including the Raleigh Country Club and Treyburn Country Club in Durham and the deal has completed the triangle of McConnell Golf courses and clubs in the region.
“We're always looking for the right properties if they become available,” he said. “But they have to have really high pedigrees and quality for us to be interested.”
McConnell elaborated on the deal but remained discreet about the financial issues pertaining to it.
The group has been more interested in buying the private courses which are barely managing to survive the financial crunch in the recent times. This is, however, for the first time the McConnell Golf has ventured into a reasonably stable real estate and
has done excessive lobbying to break it off from the famous TPC chain of courses.
TPC Network of Clubs is a subsidiary of the PGA Tour and according to its website, owns some 30 clubs around the mainland United States. Many of the intricately manicured courses of the network are at the PGA Tour’s disposal including TPC Sawgrass, the venue
of Players Championship, TPC Blue Monster at Doral, TPC Deere Run and several others.
The timing of the deal has puzzled many of the critics and financial observers as the average golf rounds played in this year has fell 4.3 percent in the first quarter of the year as compared a 2.2 percent decline last year for the same quarter. The private
as well as state owned courses are struggling to meet their expenses let alone posting profits.
McConnell Golf also offers some attractive deals for the members which has made the competitors lives miserable. “One-fee-fits-all” deal offered by the group is one of the finest deals available aiming primarily the weekend-golfers who will be eligible to
play at any of the McConnell courses with the one-time initiation fee paid for the membership of any one of the courses.
“Essentially, you now have three clubs in the region for one price,” McConnell said.
This is the second acquisition by McConnell Golf in the year after they first acquired the Sedgefield Country Club, a Greensboro golf course that hosts the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship in February.
McConnell also revealed that the group has managed to post a profit of $15-million in the current year which is 15 percent more than the figures achieved last year.
TPC Wakefield is one of the finest of courses on the PGA Tour and is a yearly venue of the Rex Hospital Open on the Nationwide Tour. Although McConnell reserves the right to write-off the event from the calendar, but apparently the group is smart enough
not to do that. Instead McConnell has vowed to invest another $1-million in the renovation of the course as well as the clubhouse in order to provide the modern amenities to the players and members.
“It's a way to earn your PGA card and play professional golf at the same time,” McConnell said with a grin.
As part of the deal, TPC Wakefield will retain its current name and status and most of the employs will remain associated with the new administration while just a few will be laid off by the company.
McConnell barged into the course business in 2003 when he first bought the Raleigh Country Club, when it filed for bankruptcy.
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