Golf Inc. - Most Influential People In Golf Sales PP 2018

Golf’s
SALES
LEADERS
Jeff Woolson
Managing director,
CBRE Golf & Resort Group
There must be a reason so few people excel
at golf course acquisition. You might be able
to cobble together a few foursomes, but you’re
not goingto field atournament with them.
Our gut feeling: It’s because their jobs are
really,really hard.
Take buying a member-owned course, for
example. In that scenario, prospective buyers
and their representatives have to persuade the
equity partners to sell. Imagine if you were
trying to buy a car that had, say, a dozen
owners, and each one had a different opinion
about the merits of the car. That would be
fun, no?
That’s why Golf Inc. asked the most active
buyers, sellers and brokers to identify the
people who influence golf course sales the
most.
The results showed that longtime professionals
—those who’veweathered booms and
busts – continue to influence others the most.
They’re well known in the industry, and their
names won’t surprise anyone who’s been
following the ups and downs of golf course
acquisitions over the years.
Jeff Woolson has reached the place he wants
to be in his career. When he started out, he
thought it wouldbe great if one day people
would call and ask, “Are you the golf
course guy?” It happens daily now, he says.
Yes, Woolson is that golf course guy and has
been one of the leading brokers in the industry
for years now. Maintaining that status is
impressive, given how the business continues
to evolve.
For one, deals have become more timeconsuming,
particularly the ones involving
member-owned courses. Woolson recently
brokered the sale of Las Vegas Country Club
for its members, a process that took a full 18
months.
“Those deals are unbelievable grinds,” he
said.
In the Las Vegas case, several potential
buyers came forward, and the members had to
whittle it down to two finalists. This wasn’t a
small group of members, either. Try 466. They
had to vote online. And after they went
through negotiations and voted, the original
deal fell through and another buyer had to be
found.
These equity-owned clubs are in demand
because they’re often being operated in a
financially inefficient manner, so they stand to
have alot of upsidepotential.
Many are nonprofits, so making money isn’t
a priority, and board members have a tendency
to overpay staff because they want to be seen as
nice guys, Woolson said.
So professional operators see an opportunity
to cut costs and increase revenue. Members
want out of the ownership business because, in
many cases, they see members walking out the
door and fear a potential death spiral
beginning to unfold.
Another change has been the shrinking
pool of buyers, Woolson said. Some major
purchasers have slowed their acquisition
programs considerably.
While deep-pocketed investors still
exist, they aren’t necessarily sophisticated
when it comes to the golf business, so
those deals can take longer, he said. And
still other sellers are single-course owners
who are getting older and have families
who don’t want to be part of the business.
While golf courses continue to be
shuttered because of a lack of buyer
interest, that’s not necessarily a bad thing,
Woolson contends. “Way too many golf
courses had been built,” he said.
18 Golf Inc. May/June 2018