BRIEFS DPC definitely Major League Mgt. firm uses pro athletes to market facilities

By PETER B LAI S ORLANDO, Fla. — Diamond Players Club (DPC), a new golf management company headed by St. Louis Cardinals with the assistance of numerous professional athletes, will build a course at the Levitt Corp.'s Skytop Devel- opment at Clermont, Fla. Construction of the course, Diamond Players Club at Or- lando, will begin this summer. The facility is expected to open in the fall of 1999. The club will be semiprivate, with about 180 members, and be open to public play. DPC will own the new Orlando course, which will be designed by golf architect Terill LaGree, modifying an original plan of ARIZ RESORT NAMES KRAUSE DIRECTOR Lloyd Clifton. LaGree is vice president of Barbaron Inc., which LAVEEN, Ariz.—Mountain View will perform the construction. Golf Club has named Kurt Krause its The 175-acre course has elevation changes of as much as 200 new Director of Golf Operations for feet. A practice complex, three-acre putting course and golf the 36-hole golf fa- academy are also planned. The entire 500-acre Skytop site will cility located west also contain an 800-home development. The project brings together one of the leading names in home of downtown Gregg Gagliardi (right), Todd Stottlemyre (center) and Rob Ducey Phoenix in building and one of the newest companies in golf management. Laveen, Ariz. As Levitt Corp. was founded in 1929 by the late Abraham Levitt. DPC won the management contract for Belleview Biltmore in director of golf Diamond Players Club — which also manages Donald Ross- mid-1997. Stottlemyre solicited a number of professional ath- operations, designed Belleview Biltmore Golf Club in Belleair, and has letes who were "easy to get along with, very people-oriented." Krause will over- several other construction, lease and management projects The players agreed to make themselves available for corporate see all activities at under development — was founded in 1997 by Stottlemyre and outings and allow the use of their name for marketing pur- Kurt Krause the course includ- Greg Gagliardi, twice voted the West Central Florida Chapter poses. Among them are Mariners pitcher Rob Ducey, ing golf, food and beverage, retail and PGA Professional of the Year and longtime general of Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Mike Alstott, Arizona course maintenance. Lansbrook Golf Club in Palm Harbor. Stottlemyre is chief Diamondbacks pitcher , pitcher executive officer and Gagliardi is chief operating officer. Continued on page 43

MOZER JOINS FMAC LOS ANGELES—FMAC has fired GUEST COMMENTARY Peter Mozer as executive vice presi- Meditrust, Cobblestone complete merger dent and chief credit officer. Mozer Golf property tax NEEDHAM HEIGHTS, Mass.— The dent] Bob Husband and his organization, plans to reorganize the FMAC credit Meditrust Companies announced that it Meditrust gains an excellent management department by integrating the credit, assessments: Your has completed its acquisition of Cobble- team to speed the rapid consolidation of compliance and workout disciplines. stone Holdings, Inc., the parent of Cobble- this sector. We envision Cobblestone at Mozer will be responsible for oversee- firm's plan of action stone Golf Group, Inc. and will the core of a number of golf- ing the credit function for all FMAC exchange all of the outstanding related acquisitions that we have product areas including the restau- By LARRY HIRSH preferred and common stock of planned in this extremely frag- rant, energy, golf, funeral and equip- ith local governments Cobblestone for Meditrust mented industry." ment finance groups. increasingly squeezed shares. Husband will continue to Wfor operating revenues, Meditrust also assumed and serve as president and CEO of DUNEDIN SELECTS IGM real-estate owners are asked to refinanced approximately $154 Cobblestone, now a subsidiary LAKELAND, Fla.—International bear a larger burden. Golf million of Cobblestone debt. of The Meditrust Companies. Golf Maintenance (IGM) has been courses are an easy target. Why After the previously announced Cobblestone's headquarters selected by Dunedin Country Club to not? Only 12 golf course acquisitions are Bob Husband will remain in Del Mar, Calif. oversee its golf course maintenance percent of the closed, Cobblestone will have a "We are very excited about operations. Under the three-year population portfolio of 45 facilities with 49 courses in the combination of Meditrust and Cobble- agreement, play golf and major golf markets and will be one of the stone," Husband said. "Working together, IGM provides golfers are leading owners and operators of golf we believe that Meditrust will continue to all aspects of perceived by courses in the United States. increase its presence in the golf industry golf course non-golfers as Abraham D. Gosman, Chairman of the and maintain a dominant position. maintenance "rich people Board of The Meditrust Companies, stated, In other news, Cobblestone announced for this Donald in bright 'The acquisition of Cobblestone establishes John Williams will add responsibilities as Larry Hirsh Ross-designed, clothes Meditrust as a leader in the growing golf regional Director for the company's Cali- 18-hole layout. chasing a little white ball/' industry. Golf has attracted over 26 million fornia facilities. Williams will continue to The 6900-yard course has been in op- Moreover, when schools, police participants in 1997, an increase of 13 per- oversee Cobblestone's operations in Ari- eration since 1927. The city of Dunedin and fire protection are at risk, cent from 1996. With [Cobblestone Presi- zona. took ownership in 1962. golf courses are politically acceptable targets. WILSON ADDS MINN. PROPERTY Recently, many jurisdictions' United Golf acquires Sarasota, Fla. layout The Wilson Golf Group, a White tax reassessments have been Bear Lake, Minn.-based golf course particularly hard on golf course NEW YORK—United Golf Group, a as an upscale facility that will be an asset ownership and operations company, properties. For example, Mont- private golf course owner, has acquired to the area." has named Greg Stand director of ac- gomery County Pa. (an area with the Serenoa Golf Club, an 18-hole semi- United Golf is based in New York. quisitions. Stand also is the general a number of upscale, daily-fee private course in Sarasota, Fla., for $7.1 Formed in early 1998, United Golf is ac- manager of one of the Wilson Golf and private clubs) experienced million. The course, designed by David tively acquiring public and private courses Group's golf course properties, Oak -digit reassessment and in Alden and completed in 1990, is located throughout the country. United Golfs Glen, a 27-hole public facility in Beaufort County, S.C. (the Hilton in a residential development. management includes personnel with a Stillwater, Minn. The Wilson Golf Head Island resort area) a United Golf CEO Mark Mashburn said: combined 50 years of experience with Group owns and operates six golf fa- reassessment resulted in in- 'The Serenoa course fits in well with our course acquisition and management as cilities including four in Minnesota Continued on page 40 long-term goal of acquiring a portfolio of well as individuals with extensive experi- and two in Colorado.The group is ac- quality courses throughout the country. ence in the capital markets. United Golf tively seeking to acquire additional Larry Hirsh is president of Golf The course is located in the strong plans to use this platform to make further golf facilities in the upper Midwest Property Analysts, a Harrisburg, Pa- Sarasota market and enjoys the support acquisitions this year. For more informa- region of the country. For further in- based golf course appraisal firm. of visitors as well as year-round residents. tion on the company, please contact the formation, call 612-439-6981. We plan to continue operating the course company at 212-317-0300. GOLF COURSE NEWS "W

Diamond Stottlemyre's younger brother. Young-designed course in "We take customer service to lebrity you might see at one of Continued from page 39 Tournament revenues grew from Destin from Capital First Hold- the n-th degree," Gagliardi re- our courses. [ , Mariners $35,000 to $175,000 within five ings of Tallahassee. The DPC of plied. pitcher] was here pitcher , years. That further solidified Destin is scheduled to open next "Our focus is on developing last Saturday after he'd pitched Padres Mark their relationship. June. customer loyalty, repeat busi- the night before against the Devil Sweeney, Padres pitching Diamopnd Players Club plans "We'd like to eventually be in ness... We want people who play Rays." and for- to grow through management every major market in the coun- golf here to feel like they are on "Our sports bar inside the club- mer Cy deals, lease arrangements and try," Gagliardi said. "Right now, vacation for a day. We want to house is going to be called 'Box Young ownership. In addition to the we're concentrating on the come up with innovative service Seats Sports Bar & Grill.' We've Award DPC of Orlando and Belleview Florida/Georgia markets." concepts for the golf business trade-marked that. We'll take winner Biltmore projects, the firm in What differentiates DPC from and pepper in the celebrity as- that everywhere, with seating for Dave August will begin leasing a Mike other firms? pect. You never know what ce- 160 to 180 people." Stewart, Yankees pitching coach (Todd's dad), University of Ne- vada Las Vegas pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. (Todd's brother), Cardinals catcher Tom Pagnozzi, retired major league All in a Day's Work. pitcher Rick Honeycutt, Pitts- burgh Pirates outfielder , former pitcher Sam McDowell and Car- dinals utility player John Mabry. "All are committed to support- ing the Diamond Players Club concept," Gagliardi said. "If a company like GTE wants to do a corporate outing we can say, 'Hey we have Dennis Eckersley available to help with that.' The players give us their jerseys and photos, which we incorporate into our clubhouse scheme. We've created a sports bar atmo- sphere here [Belleview Biltmore] with six satellite hook- ups and 17 televisions around the clubhouse. We'll take that theme to our other courses in the future." REWARD® Herbicide. Works Against Weeds in 24 Hours Stottlemyre and Gagliardi first met when Stottlemyre, Ducey and pitcher EWARD Herbicide brings REWARD Vs. Scythe 1 Gallon of Product started playing ^ precision and speed to your Lansbrook in 1989, the year B Gagliardi joined the course staff. weed control program. Gagliard said: 'Todd recalls when he first drove up always • Works faster than other commonly saying, 'I don't want to play this goat ranch again.' It wasn't main- used landscape herbicides tained that well before I started. I told him to keep coming by and • The least expensive non-selective watch what we'd do to the place. He liked what we did, we hit it off herbicide and began hanging around to- REWARD gether." 0.75 oz./gallon rate • Can be used in grounds maintenance, Stottlemyre has a "very savvy" business mind, Gagliardi said. landscape and aquatic areas He was intrigued by the course's improvement and impressed by For more information, contact your • Broad-spectrum—broadleaf, grass and the financial potential. authorized Zeneca Distributor, or call As their relationship grew, aquatic weed control Stottlemyre started helping Zeneca Professional Products Toll Free Gagliardi market Lansbrook, at 1-888-617-7690. • Easy on surroundings using his notoriety as a profes- www.zenecaprofprod.com sional ballplayer in promotional radio spots. He also donated jer- • User friendly seys belonging to him and sev- eral other players which were • Low use rates placed on the clubhouse wall, an effort that stirred conversation, REWARD increased business and gave rise • Reduces inventory Landscape and Aquatic Herbicide to the Diamond Players Club concept. For his part, Gagliardi helped Stottlemyre promote his annual celebrity charity golf tournament to raise funds to battle leukemia, Always read and follow label directions carefully. REWARD* is a registered trademark of a Zeneca Group Company. a disease that claimed the life of Scythe* is a trademark of Mycogen Corporation. ZENECA Professional Products ©1998. Zeneca Inc. CIRCLE #133