Noted by our on-site Observer, Mr Science
Phil Mickelson Buys Golf Course in Arizona
By mustang6560 on 5/4/11
Phil Mickelson is the beneficiary of an over-populated golf course market in Arizona.
The golf star and his agent recently purchased Sanctuary Golf Course in Scottsdale for a cool $2.2 million. Not a bad price considering five years ago that course was probably valued near $20 million.
Golf clubs all over Arizona, from Superstition Mountain in Gold Canyon to Seven Canyons in Sedona, have been hurt. But the economic fallout is especially noticeable in Scottsdale, the pinnacle of the Valley's sprawling golf landscape of close to 200 courses.
There are just too many golf courses for the metropolitan Phoenix market, said Roger Garrett, an Insight Land and Investments partner who has sold golf courses for 25 years.
I live in Mississippi where there are just over 200 golf courses in the entire state. In metropolitan Phoenix alone, there are 200 courses. Granted, there are more people in Phoenix than in the entire Magnolia state, but you wonder how they ever thought they would be able to support all 200 plus courses. Tack on an economic recession and a crumbling housing market and you have yourself a Grade-A problem. But hey, that's capitalism, right? The boom and bust cycle. The minority of people boom while the majority bust. And then the vultures come in and pick up the scraps (I'm not hating, Phil).
http://www.oobgolf.com/content/fore+play/1-4723-Phil_Mickelson_Buys_Golf_Course_in_Arizona.html
Phil Mickelson is 41 years old. His putting prowess has disappeared, he won just one tournament each of the past two years after multiple victories the previous six seasons, and kids half his age are winning majors.
Yet Mickelson is convinced that the PGA Tour hasn't passed him by. In fact, he believes his career is about to get a second wind.
"As good as these young players are, there are glaring weaknesses in their game," Mickelson said Tuesday. "I feel like being out there (on Tour) for 20 years, being able to work with top-notch instruction and have the practice really apply to my performance, that some of my best years are coming."
Mickelson, the Arizona State product who now lives in the San Diego area, was in north Scottsdale to promote the newly christened and re-designed McDowell Mountain Golf Club, formerly known as the Sanctuary Golf Course.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/golf/articles/2011/10/11/20111011phil-mickelson-still-confident-in-game.html#ixzz1aZc95HqQ
