The Bear Roars

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus made an appearance late last month at an East Manatee County golf course that bears both his design work and one of his marks on golf history.

Nicklaus was primarily there to talk to members of the private course, The Concession, about some pending changes to the fairways, greens and tee areas. But since local and national media were also invited to the event, that meant Nicklaus ended up talking about the only real story in golf today: Tiger Woods.

In between chatter about Woods and putting greens, Nicklaus talked briefly about what the recession has done to the industry of building high-end homes on elite golf courses on the Gulf Coast.

“Six or seven years ago, Sarasota-Bradenton was one of the hottest markets in the country, just like certain parts of California. But usually what happens is the hottest market goes to the coldest market,” says Nicklaus. “But the thing about this area is there is not going to be a lot of big golf courses built because of the zoning restrictions. [And] when you have just a few golf courses, you will attract a lot of people.”

Nicklaus has run a golf-course design company since the 1970s and has worked on several prominent courses on the east coast of Florida. The Concession is his first foray on the Gulf Coast.

The Concession is named after a putt Nicklaus conceded to British golfer Tony Jacklin in the 1969 Ryder Cup, a moment still considered to be one of the best acts of sportsmanship in the sport. Nicklaus and Jacklin worked jointly on the design of The Concession, which was named the best new private course in the United States by Golf Digest when it opened in 2006.

“I feel like I'm connected here at the hip, and I want to stay that way,” says Nicklaus. “We didn't come here because this is a bad golf course. But we want to figure out how to make it better, and how we can attract people to be members here and to keep them members here.”

Jacklin joined Nicklaus at the membership-media event March 31. Before the duo spoke to the crowd, they played a round of golf at The Concession with Bruce Cassidy, owner of the 520-acre course and a newly built $20 million clubhouse and dining facility. (See Review, 1/22/10.)

Cassidy, a retired steel and mining industry executive, bought his majority stake in the course last summer from prominent developer Kevin Daves, who brought the Ritz-Carlton to Sarasota a decade ago. In the past six months, Cassidy has made several changes at The Concession, including hiring a new general manager and a new membership director.

Still, given the recession, selling six-figure memberships to a golf club, even one as top-notch as The Concession, has been challenging.

“It's a process,” says Jacklin. “Bruce has got some very good people employed here now who really know the business and how to create new members. We realize it takes time, but we are doing the right things to create a solid membership in a very difficult economic time.”

Of course, there was also the looming issue of Woods. Nicklaus was asked about the golfer chasing his record for majors at least five times. One reporter even asked Nicklaus if he was tired about being asked about Woods.

Nicklaus handled most of the questions with humor.

“I'm surprised you asked me a question about Tiger,” he told one reporter. “No one's asked me about him in a long time.”
— Mark Gordon