PGA Tour regular Ryan Moore and 13 partners will take over the operations of two golf courses in the south Puget Sound area. The native of Puyallup, Wash., grew up playing at Classic Country Club in Spanaway east of Tacoma.
Moore's group, called RMG Golf Course Management LLC, or RMG Club, and comprised mainly of friends and family, will operate McCormick Woods in Port Orchard. The group also announced it had purchased the private Oakbrook Golf and Country Club in Lakewood, south of Tacoma.
Ryan Moore's father Mike Moore has been the long-time owner of the 18-hole Classic, a public facility, and will serve as the CEO of the new management company.
In addition to the father-and-son Moores, the group includes Shawn Cucciardi, a PGA pro and co-owner of McCormick Woods, Don Bohart, Jason Moore and J.D. Rastovski, the latter two of whom have caddied for Ryan Moore on the PGA Tour.
The group has launched a new membership program for the trio of courses, offering three types of unlimited-golf memberships ranging from its three-course, all-access $179-per-month package, to a one-course, $99-per-month rate, to a twilight-only $49-per-month package.
"We want this to be a product that appeals to everyone - and not just to people who are 45 and can afford a membership and go play golf any time they want," Ryan Moore told Todd Milles of the Tacoma News Tribune. "We want people to have great facilities that they can go play at a reasonable rate."
The RMG Club is hoping to attract new business to the courses, which because of a decline in golfers and a sagging economy have experienced diminished rounds in recent years. "(Business) models are broken," Mike Moore told Milles. "Municipal courses are discounting to the bottom dollar where they cannot afford to maintain them; 75 percent of private clubs are in financial trouble.
"It is a tough economic environment. From afar, Ryan had been making comments and suggesting ideas on how to address issues that have kept golf from growing."
The idea of a management company was pitched to Ryan Moore in late September. "It was one of those thoughts, kind of like a good movie, it just kind of sticks with you, and the more you think about it, you are like, 'Wow it is really good,' " he told Milles.
"And you can't stop thinking about it. And it kept getting better in my mind."
Opened in the mid-1960s, Oakbrook was for years the centerpiece of a thriving residential community south of Tacoma. But like many private clubs in the South Sound area, the equity facility has seen declining memberships and monthly dues in recent years.
On December 22, Oakbrook's remaining 126 members voted unanimously to approve the sale of the course and clubhouse to RMG Club for an undisclosed sum.
"We really like their model, which calls for affordable, fun golf aimed to the family," Paul Peterson, Oakbrook's club president, told Milles. "We thought it would be a very good use of our course."
For Milles' full story, visit http://blog.thenewstribune.com/golf/2011/12/23/moore-buys-oakbrook-sets-up-a-course-management-franchise/.
For more information about the RMG Club, visit http://www.ryanmooregolf.net/?p=327.
Source: http://www.cybergolf.com
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