Taking Sabbatical!

I looked up the word Sabbatical and its definition pretty well describes what I am going to be doing.

A sabbatical year is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an individual taken in order to fulfill some goal, e.g., writing a book or traveling extensively for research.

Well, I guess it is time to finally fess up that none of this stuff out here on the internet really works. I would like to say it is just me, but unfortunately there are a large number of us out here that are now realizing that None of this is really all worth it.

I will be taking a sabbatical to work on my next book that I will be outlining all of the fallacies of the internet…until then you may want to check out my other book to catch up on what is going on.

You can check out the periodic blogs I will post over at my main site, IBGS Blog. Hope you enjoy the archive of blogs I have posted here.

Getting After It! TDL and PL’s

Working on my To Do List (TDL) today.  I was multitasking working on a few tasks at the same time and talking to Rex Dixon via email about the finer points of managing a TDL…

I finally got a version of the video introduction finished and uploaded it to my  Brightcove.com account.  Looks good…placed the code on my VideoCasting page plus launched a blog announcing what is going on.

Then I was off to do some offline projects on the Project List (PL), like repairing the tile on the kitchen countertop. 

Got that done in short order so now I ma back here checking emails.  Received an answer from BrightCove.com on how to get into their Studio where can set up my videocasts and rent them to viewers….I was getting an error message so I asked for help.  I got help but we are still talking via email.

Cruised around looking at my stats and saw where people are hitting my Club Corp & KSL blogs on both of my sites, so I called for another strafe run on the subject and blogged more information I dug up during the rounds of golf I played at the club this weekend…didn’t take much since everyone at the club is in a WTF mood and some or selling their homes on the course an moving off to private clubs where they have a say in what the club does….

Put out a blog announcing the videos I am producing…hope to get some more out soon.

Getting things set up to do some videos this evening…guess I need to get ready for that…

ClubCorp Sale: No New Plan

 

Well it took a week for KSL to announce where it was going to invest and the mistakes continue to pile up on where the money is going to improve on the facilities they own.

OK, $150 million is a lot money, but according to the announcement made in the club’s monthly newsletter is not initially going to do anything with the Flagship club that started it all 50^th years ago, Brookhaven Country Club.

With Brookhaven celebrating its 50^th anniversary it would seem only respectful to announce the building of a New Clubhouse, New Golf Academy, New Golf Course a New Resort to be added , or something New for the next generation of members.

But, nope! No announcement yet or will there be one? Or will the announcement be one that the members who have built ClubCorp are not going to what to hear? One of the many mistakes being made by the management who is leading the sale of ClubCorp and of Brookhaven…

Guess the realtors need to stand by, there could be a lot of golf course property up for sale here in Dallas.

ClubCorp Sale: FINAL, But where is the Plan?

 

OK, I let the KSL PRESS RELEASE they sent out on the 26^th mull for awhile giving everyone there a chance to take a deep breath and then jump in to let the over 200,000 dues paying members know what they are going to do to get things at most of the over 100 private country clubs they own going to improve the properties.  Yes, many of these facilites need major renovation, if not overhauls, just to get up to the standard of the membership fees the members pay each month.

Here it is, New Year’s Eve, a perfect time to tell all what they plan to do. But NO!, Still no word, just speculations.  Like…..

Are they going to ‘Flip-It’?

Are they selling off the properties that have large capital needs?

Are they going to change the add-on fees or do away with the member privileges?

Are they going to invest in the renovations so to shore up their investments?

Are they going to raise the membership dues?

Are they going to assess the member’s for large amount of cash to have the facilities overhauled?

Are they going to bring in innovative club managers who know how to treat all members (Yes, this means the ladies also), and want to do what the members want to make them happy and loyal?

 

OR, are they just going to sit tight while the good ship CCA slowly sinks with its $1.6 Billon on board?

My bet, they are going to ‘flip-it’ and then that starts all of this all over again since whoever they ‘flip-it’ to is going to have to deal with the problems that get worst each day.

I am sure one of the solutions KSL will consider is to hope that some of the members who are concerned with their decisions (or lack of one) will leave so they can bring in younger, and hopefully stupider, memberships who don’t know they are getting screwed.  That could be in the plan and the smarter members, who also are not property owners, will probably take them up on that strategy.

But what about the ten’s of thousands of property owners who live or own property on these golf courses?  Some of whom are not members.  What takes place with the club affects their property value?  How does their decision affect these property owners?? 

Well by selling off the club to a Daily Fee management company or to a golf management company that has developed a negative cash flow process and drives the course into the ground, this could affect the image of the property surrounding the dilapidated club.  This results in cuts being made to quality and develops into a less desirable facility. 

All of this would result in lower property value.  If the property values go down, well then so does the Tax base.  When the Tax base goes down then the Cities these clubs are in are not able to keep up the infrastructures of the neighborhoods around the facilities and then there goes the neighborhood.   Who would want to be a member of a club that has shacks and run down homes along its fairways?  Even homeowner associations could not hold up to the pressure that this change in local economy would make. 

So, you see, the property owners hold HUGE interest in this venture that KSL and CCA seemingly are taking so lightly.  And not revealing their plan causes concern, speculation and negative assumptions which result in Real Estate Agents leading potential buyers away from property on the club’s courses because of the uncertainty in the outcome of the club’s management style.  This leads to stressed investments and reduced pricing to below the market to being buyers into the neighborhoods.

All of this keeps going on until there is so much negativity towards the owners of the club by the non-member property owners that….that…..well…on negative results could develop.  And this is an example of how things have gotten out of hand because the plan was not announced when the sale for ClubCorp to KSL was final.

And here it is New Years Eve and still no plan. 

Maybe KSL is hoping that once the headaches and hangovers from New Year’s are being felt they will cheer us due paying members up by telling us what they are going to do to this 50 year old company. 

 

 

ClubCorp Sale: UPDATE

 

Yes, I see all of you fans reading my thoughts on the sale of CCA to KSL… I guess you must be like me and want to know what the heck is going on and asking ‘when will the plan for this deal be told?’.

Well I have not seen anything and as the midnight hour comes for this year I can only guess that if there is a plan revealed it will be at the eleventh hour…not that there is anything the thousands of members of the hundreds of country clubs owned by CCA can do about it….or is there?

I know that the members I know are very concerned with the way this deal has gone down and the treatment they have been provided since the announcement back in May that ClubCorp was selling. The many property owners around the hundreds of country clubs affected are getting very concerned with who is managing this show. Both are combined in what is felt by all as a lack of respect in their investment in the deal…the true stakeholders in this deal…not stockholders, but stakeholders.

When someone is not treated with respect what happens to the trust? The trust there will be a golf club to enjoy. The trust that there will be a place left to take family, friends and business associates to be treated with respect. The trust KSL has hoping that the members will continue to be members and continue to fork over the bucks each month to keep their club and ClubCorp running? Well, the further the time spans between the latest news and when the truth is told, the lower the trust rating by the members towards the management of the deal.

We know that the Pink Slips have been issued as is the case in most deals where change for the worst is in the plan, but is that the plan? Is it going to be left up to rumor or speculation? I guess so…so let’s begin speculating.

I first feel that there will be properties sold off. Which ones? More likely the ones where the cost of bring the facility up to standard is going to cost more than the value. Smart business and could be good news…depending on who the new buyers will be.

I also feel that deal will be to raise the membership fees, which if the raise resulted in some equity in ownership and the facilities brought up to above standards and add a resort to the properties and other added value Member Only features could be a good deal if the membership fees were reflective of the service that was going to be given.

But the balance of current events still has to be weighted to speculate further. As in most cases, membership dues have gone up recently and still no better service, no better treatment, no better management and no better facilities…so what can you trust?

Right now all you can trust is that there is a change coming. What it is, well we are left to guessing and I guess it is not going to be to anyone’s liking. What can you do? Well, if you are dues paying members I guess that is up to you….

 

Scot Duke is President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, LLC and author of How To Play Business Golf. Mr Duke uses his 32 years of business management experience to help businesses develop to be more successful and mentor business people on how powerful of a business tool Business Golf can be towards solving many business challenges. More information on Mr Duke and Business Golf can is available at the Innovative Business Golf Solutions web-site.

ClubCorp Sale: Will It Be The Same?

There are a few business cases I will not bore you with that show how a badly managed change to a company kills the business and it could be that this will hold true with  the way the sale of ClubCorp of America to KSL is being managed.

As all know, ClubCorp was sold to KSL Capital Partners a few months ago and the close on the deal is to be finished in the next few days.  What is know of the deal is very little other than there is a lot of money at stake and there are a lot of members of a lot of the private country clubs owned by ClubCorp that are upset that they have not been told ANYTHING.

…OH, yes, there was a message saying  ‘no changes being made at this time’ and comments made by the management to the members leader board that ‘it is business as usual’ , but being a business person who has seen many of the deals go down, it is by far not going to be business as usual.

As the eleven hour rolls down to the close of the deal you can rest assure a plan has been in place for some time.  With the estimated $1.2B involved in the sale there is more than likely at least twice that much in access which includes a large number of private country clubs that need major updates to their facilities. 

With a need for immediate capital investment to be made hitting a new owner in the face the decision was probably already made sometime ago to put a Band-Aid on the books and flip the deal as soon as possible.  Or break up the properties into packages that include profitable clubs with non-profitable clubs in a take it or leave it package…this way the profitable clubs lure the buyers into taking the package that includes clubs that need millions of dollars of upgrades.

Either way the writing on the clubhouse wall is clear what the plan is going to be; pull out what is profitable and ditch the rest…  KSL is not in business to manage private clubs; they are in the business of making money for their investors.  So what else would be the plan?

There has been some move in this direction already with KSL quickly moving all of the CCA Resorts out of CCA and placing them into the KSL Resort Management group which insures that KSL will keep the cream of the crop.  So where does that put the older clubs…the clubs that are celebrating their 50^th year?

Who knows the plan?  Not the members.  And why not? 

So will it be the same after the sale?  Probably not.  Since KSL feels it is not important to tell the memberships of the club what the plan is and how each member fits into the plan then you can take it that they don’t care much about the members or trust they would understand.   Trust…yes that is what will not be the same after the sale.  Will they hope those members who voice opinion go away?  Probably.   So why should the membership trust that the investment they made each month to keeping the club a float is going to go to improving the clubs so they can be used as a Country Club?  Well you can trust that members will remember how they were treated during this deal and it just will not be the same as before the sale…

Look for more to develop in the next few days.

 

 

 

 

 

ClickCaster Interviews Mr Business Golf

 

Podcast: ClickCaster Interviews Mr Business Golf

Yes, Mr Business Golf is me and Yes, Pete Davis, Chief Marketing Officer of ClickCaster, one of the larger podcasting sites on the internet, did a Podcast interview with me on my view points on podcasting. It is a very good Podcast that outlines how Mr Business Golf came about, how the Mr Business Golf Podcast is put together and what the future of the Mr Business Golf Show, Business Golf and Innovative Business Golf Solutions will be in 2007. Listen up, it is a good one.

Scot Duke is President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, LLC and author of How To Play Business Golf. Mr Duke uses his 30 years of business management experience to help business owners and executives develop their business to be more successful and mentor business people on how powerful of a business tool Business Golf can be towards solving many business challenges. More information on Mr Duke and Business Golf can is available at the Innovative Business Golf Solutions web-site.

Club Corp Sale Update: All Hat and No Cattle

I over heard my grandpa made a remark one time in reference to a gentleman who he had been talking for several hours. ‘The guy was talking to be talking’ as he put it and he referred to the misguided gentleman has being ‘All Hat and No Cattle’, meaning he had more money than he knew what to do with it and was in the wrong business to be doing anything with it.

Well this remark holds true here with what new CEO of CCA, Eric Affeldt said in the report that Ronnie Musslewhite made in his article published at Golf Business.com on The Changing Face of ClubCorp.  All talk and no plan is still the conclusion here.

There was mention of CCA moving their crown jewels, Barton Creek and Homestead, to the KSL’s Resort division and remarks on what is being talked about in the industry about selling off properties as being ‘premature’.  The report or Mr Affeldt still does not say what they are going to do with the 50 year old properties that are in desperate need of a complete facelift.  From the information I am being furnished, it is going to take more than the cost of the total sale price of this deal to bring just a few of these properties up to snuff, much less to the level the memberships deserve.

I am sure there is more to come, so we will just have to see what Santa brings us in the next few weeks.