The Pellucid Perspective - December 2015 - (Page 10)

Golf industry transactions CaddieMaster joins the Troon family By Jim dunlap 10 The Pellucid PersPecTive ministration and oversight of the club's caddie program. "Each agreement is different, according to what the club needs," Costello said. "In some cases, where bringing us in to run the whole caddie program is not feasible, we can create a program for their needs. For some clubs, we've brought their caddie master in for our specialized training program, involving things like scheduling, recruiting of caddies and various other skills to increase their efficiency and proficiency." One new level of involvement for the company involves an industry deficiency that Pelucid founder Jim Koppenhaver and partner Stuart Lindsay have long lamented, the decline of caddie programs at U.S. clubs and courses which tend to create lifelong golfers. Costello said CaddieMaster will be participating in a presentation with the World Golf Foundation and others at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando next month focusing on ways to get our youth involved in golf, including positions as caddies. Youth-oriented programs with individual courses are also in the works for CaddieMaster. Schantz indicated that the CaddieMaster acquisition was not necessarily part of a grand plan to expand and diversify Troon's family of companies, but rather an opportunity that arose and seemed to make sense for both parties. It differs from the Troon acquisition of Honours Golf in late 2014, which Schantz characterized as a more wholesale integration into Troon's core business of operating golf and hospitality properties. That relationship, Schantz said, has been very successful, resulting in the growth of the Honours brand in the Southeast region in "not an insignificant way." Troon, meanwhile, continues to bulwark its position as the world's largest golf course operator, and one reason for that, Schantz said, is the success of the company's Privé division in the private club sector. "We've dramatically grown our private club portfolio in recent years," Schantz said. "We have over 60 private clubs now, and half of those are member-owned. I think that [private club] paradigm is shifting a little bit, with clubs increasingly willing to entertain third party management. Expectations are maybe a little higher in that space, but we're committed to it, and we feel we have the resources and expertise necessary to help them ensure that their clubs are successful." In the meantime, if your club or your favorite course or resort is contemplating the addition of a caddie program, Troon may have a recommendation for them. n www.caddiemaster.com t he Troon Golf family of companies grew by one earlier this month with the announcement that Troon has acquired CaddieMaster. Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.-based CaddieMaster provides caddie service management and personnel to more than 50 golf properties in the U.S. and abroad including Pinehurst Resort, Pebble Beach, Inverness Golf Club, Medinah Country Club, several TPC properties, Troon North and The Phoenician. The latter two are Troon owned or managed properties, so Troon had first-hand knowledge of the caliber and scope of CaddieMaster services. Both parties, not surprisingly, expressed pleasure over the acquisition, which apparently will not impact the day to day operation of either's businesses. CaddieMaster CEO Mike Granuzzo, VP of Sales & Marketing Dan Costello and the rest of the senior executive staff will remain in their current capacities running CaddieMaster and maintain equity stakes in the company. While the client course portfolios of the two companies are both primarily concentrated in the high end daily fee, resort and private club segments of the marketplace, spokespersons for both companies said that the acquisition was neither based on nor contingent upon the extension of CaddieMaster services to Troon-managed properties. Both Troon EVP for Global Business Development Tim Schantz and CaddieMaster VP for Sales & Marketing Dan Costello agreed, however, that it's likely the two companies will explore possible additional fits at selected Troon properties in the future. As the Recession recedes and for the first time in many years U.S. golf rounds will apparently show a very slight uptick this year, Troon's timing seems to have been good for the CaddieMaster acquisition. Costello said this year has been CaddieMaster's busiest since the Recession hit, with 7 new client courses added, mostly in the second half of the year, and the expectation that another 3 or 4 will sign on in the next 60 days or so. For those not familiar with CaddieMaster and its services, the company has been around since 1993. Its primary service is providing caddie services and management of caddie programs to client courses, although it provides a wide scope of related services such as training of club caddie masters, consulting and advisory programs. Payment schedules vary from course to course according to their needs and the services they contract for, with the most common being either a usage fee for each caddie round booked or a management fee for organization, ad- December 2015 http://www.caddiemaster.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - December 2015

TOC
Winds of change blowing at NGCOA?
The one that no one saw coming: The GPAPA
Naughty and nice – Best wishes for the New Year
CaddieMaster joins the Troon family
November golf weather impact: Off the Charts! Better East than West
Columbus, OH: Fiesta for OSU football, golf not so much
Single? No posting allowed

The Pellucid Perspective - December 2015