McConnell Golf's Private Portfolio Reaches 10

By: Dave Droschak

John McConnell did anything but hibernate over the unseasonably harsh North Carolina winter.

The head of Raleigh-based McConnell Golf tackled two new challenges in the private golfing sector with "bookend buys," locking down historic Country Club of Asheville in the state's western mountains and Brook Valley Country Club in what is often described as the "Down East" portion of the Tar Heel State.

That makes a perfect 10 courses now since the former high-tech executive saved the last design of famed architect Donald Ross - Raleigh Country Club - in 2003 from a potential condo development.

All of McConnell's previous private club purchases came as "financial saves," but Brook Valley added a different twist to the equation.

The late Carlton Taylor was an original Brook Valley investor who McConnell knew from working together at Burroughs Corp. Taylor (who died in 2010) bought the club and merged it with Greenville Country Club. However, in 2014, Greenville Country Club returned the property to the Taylor family to eliminate debt obligations. At that point, Brook Valley, which was designed in 1966 by Ross pupil Ellis Maples, faced a potential shutdown.

This was right up McConnell's proverbial alley, except for one exception - Brook Valley in essence had no members. "I've never been a zero before," McConnell joked last week in an interview prior to the ribbon-cutting of the "new" Brook Valley.

"We've always purchased clubs with members in place. It really is a brand-new business. Even though the golf course was here and the facility was here we've had to do things like order china and get the entire interior of the club done. It's really a start-up."

Since the late-October purchase until the mid-March re-opening, 275 members have joined Brook Valley, and McConnell estimates that number could reach 400 by the summer. "The first vision we had was to maintain it as a private country club," he said. "The other option was development … and certainly it looks better to me as a golf course. I'm sure the neighborhood seconds that comment. We're going to bring something special to Greenville."

Like other private clubs he's purchased, McConnell immediately pumped some serious cash into the course, bringing in architect Kris Spence - a Ross restoration expert - to give the layout a facelift and add his signature upgraded practice facilities.

McConnell has now used Spence on a half-dozen or so of his projects in one form or fashion. "Kris has an eye for detail and he is also the contractor so he can manage those crews as well as being the architect," McConnell said. "That has been a benefit at times. Golf courses are kind of like clubhouses; I look at them and see where I want to go as a vision and then try to select the team that can get us there. I don't think every architect or every designer is perfect for every property."

"John splits golf courses in a couple of ways," Spence said. "He will ask: 'What do we need and have to do structurally to make the golf course sound, and then what do we need to do agronomically as it applies to greens and bunkers to make each golf course the best it can be?' And it's pretty obvious to me that he's very interested in preserving the architecture when he can and respecting the original architect's work."

Using Maples' drawings, Spence's work at Brook Valley included revised bunkering and one green modification (No. 2), along with significant tree removals, a pond dredging and relocation of a number of cart paths. Spence called Brook Valley an "out of the box" design for Maples, mostly due to its intricate cross-bunkering.

"We brought the Ellis Maples bunkering back, as well as adding a few bunkers to modernize the golf course," Spence said. "Brook Valley is a very nice mix of golf holes with a lot of variety. The par-5s in particular are some of the best three-shooters I've seen."

Back to Business

It's fair to say that golf in North Carolina east of Interstate 95 (with the exception of coastal designs) has a reputation as being "underwhelming" compared to the rest of the state, which includes the Sandhills (Pinehurst), Charlotte and the Blue Ridge Mountains. However, McConnell believes Greenville (the state's 10th largest city) has untapped potential for the private club experience he plans to offer at Brook Valley.

"I think two major things are important when purchasing a club; one is how many potential members or rooftops are in a 10-15 minute drive of the property. That is huge. Secondly, what decisions did the boards make in the past that may have not been a good forecast or decisions we can make now that can make a difference? Having some financial capital to invest into the properties, to bring them up to more current status and add some other amenities has also been very important as well."

McConnell Golf has the Triangle and Triad areas covered with three courses there each, but missing from the portfolio is a Charlotte layout or one in the Sandhills.

For now … things are quiet on the McConnell Golf front … with plenty of projects to button up and memberships to sell at Asheville and Brook Valley in the coming months.

"We are obviously one of the few local companies that have been buying golf courses, so we get a lot of calls," McConnell said. "We're getting to a point where properties aren't as easy to find that meet our current portfolio, and anything that is outside of a drive for me is something I'm not interested in. We're concentrating on the courses within a four-hour's drive of the Raleigh market."

"For us, we feel our bread-and-butter is in the Carolinas," added Brian Kittler, the company's director of golf. "From Asheville down to Musgrove Mill is only about an hour-and-a-half down Interstate 26, so connectivity between the courses is very important to us. There are some markets in North Carolina we would still like to be in at the right place at the right time, but those haven't presented themselves."

Asheville, located in the state's 11th largest city, adds another Ross course to the McConnell Golf portfolio (Raleigh CC and Sedgefield being the other two). It is one of the state's oldest layouts, opened in 1894.

"On the front nine you feel like it's a valley course; it feels like you are playing anywhere in North Carolina, and then on the back nine the mountain character takes over," Kittler said. "That view on No. 15 green, looking back down into downtown Asheville might be one of the best golf sights in North Carolina."

At 64, it's unclear if McConnell is slowing down or just getting started with 10 private club purchases in a span of 12 years. I'm not sure he even knows that answer.

"I have to make a lot more decisions every day now because people look to me for capital decisions, strategy, staff changes, etc., so there are always decisions to be made every day that I wake up," he said.

"The most enjoyable thing is seeing people come in off the golf courses and rave about what a great day they had and what pristine condition the golf courses were in. The feedback you get from members is really what it's all about."

David Droschak has covered golf in the Carolinas for three decades, mostly with The Associated Press, where he worked for 20 years as AP sports editor in North Carolina prior to launching Droschak Communications, a full-service marketing and PR firm based in Apex, N.C.

Dave, 53, has covered numerous major golf tournaments, including the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens at Pinehurst Resort, and is a longtime member of the Golf Writers Association of America. Dave will represent Cybergolf to provide coverage of the historic back-to-back 2014 U.S. Men's and Women's Opens at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina's Sandhills.

Dave was honored with the Sports Writer of the Year award in North Carolina in 2005, and is currently editor of Triangle Golf Today (www.trianglegolf.com), a print and online publication regarded as the "No. 1 Source for Golf News in North Carolina." He is also golf editor for Pinehurst Magazine, an award-winning glossy publication.

Dave grew up in Penn Hills, Pa., about five minutes from famed Oakmont Country Club and was introduced to the game of golf as a caddie at Green Oaks Country Club in nearby Verona, Pa. Dave was the co-captain of the 1978 Penn Hills state championship baseball team, was a pitcher for the 1982 Atlantic Coast Conference champion University of North Carolina Tar Heels, and pitched professionally for two years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He is a member of the Penn Hills High School Sports Hall of Fame, which also includes NBA coach George Karl and former four-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Bill Fralic.

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