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What was dying is now at the very least on life support.
It might not be the resurrection that some were hoping for, but at least for now it doesn’t appear Glen Abbey Golf Club, which has hosted 28 RBC Canadian Opens across five decades, is going to disappear.
Earlier this month, ClubLink, the corporate golf company controlled by real estate billionaire Rai Sahi, announced it was backing away from its four-year battle to develop Glen Abbey, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course in Oakville, Ontario, that hosted most of the best golfers of the past half century. Suddenly, without notice, ClubLink pulled back on its efforts to close the course and develop it into a mix of residential and commercial properties. With more than 3,000 homes and additional office space proposed for the fairways of the front nine of Glen Abbey, the development would have been worth hundreds of millions. Not bad for a property that ClubLink bought for $40 million just more than 20 years ago.
Provincial and local politicians trumpeted the news as a massive victory.
“I am pleased to share that these actions have resulted in saving this beautiful golf course for the good people of Oakville for their recreation enjoyment for future generations,” said Steve Clark, Ontario minister of municipal affairs.
Of course, Clark’s remarks make it sound like the course is an affordable and much-loved muni, when the reality is Glen Abbey is a corporate juggernaut, with a daily fee of $241 that is aimed at the suit-and-tie crowd who want to hit some worm-burners and sip a beer or three. Unless you think spending a thousand bucks for a foursome is affordable, it is safe to say Glen Abbey’s hardly in the wheelhouse of the typical Oakville weekend golfer. This wasn’t a victory for the average golfer.
Clark’s other remark from his press statement is, in many ways, more telling.
“I am incredibly thankful to ClubLink for its cooperation and for ensuring that this heritage landscape will be protected from development,” he said.
For Glen Abbey, the reprieve probably doesn’t change much. Hemmed in by houses, its uninspired design doesn’t capture anyone’s imagination any longer. And Golf Canada has moved on ...
Looking past the remark that Glen Abbey is some sort of classic golf course that deserves to be preserved, it is interesting that Sahi and ClubLink suddenly decided to cooperate after years of battling with provincial and municipal authorities. Last year Sahi told me ClubLink had won the fight against Glen Abbey, though he was less clear on what that victory meant.
“Our view is we would get it zoned and we might never develop it,” Sahi told me last summer. “We are just trying to protect the valuation of it. The city politicians made it more political, thinking if they opposed development they could get elected.”
ClubLink is being very quiet now, something that’s unusual for Sahi, a man who has made his fortune on aggressive takeovers and rarely shies away from a public comment. One thing is very clear – Sahi and ClubLink didn’t suddenly have a change of heart and conclude that Glen Abbey should be preserved. In fact, Sahi spent the past few years actively examining all of ClubLink’s properties for development opportunities, something that comes as no surprise. After all, real estate is what he’s about and he purchased ClubLink at a discount in the first place.
So what does Sahi’s sudden acquiescence mean?
While Ontario politicians are claiming a great victory for golf, the truth is there’s almost certainly a quid pro quo with Ontario premier Doug Ford’s troubled Conservative party. That could mean courses that would have been challenging to develop are suddenly easier to turn into houses and office space. Clubs just north of Toronto like DiamondBack or King Valley, which otherwise might have been undevelopable, could be turned into hundreds of millions in housing as the provincial government turns a blind eye to previous restrictions. One thing is very clear – Sahi wouldn’t walk away from hundreds of millions in profit at Glen Abbey without finding his windfall somewhere else. He’s simply too smart, and in business he rarely loses.
For Glen Abbey, the reprieve probably doesn’t change much. Hemmed in by houses, its uninspired design doesn’t capture anyone’s imagination any longer. And Golf Canada has moved on, working with its sponsor, RBC, on a strategy that embraces classic golf courses like Hamilton, St. George’s and Oakdale. Glen Abbey might be the place where Tiger Woods hit his historic approach in winning the Canadian Open, but that was more than 20 years ago. Time has passed it by, and Sahi hasn’t made any investments into the property in years.
In that regard, the commuted death sentence just means Glen Abbey will continue to fade into obscurity. Politicians may claim victory in the war to save the club. But in a decade, when most of them have long left office, the course almost certainly will face the same fate.
Only this time, fewer will step up to support it.
Top: The seventh green at Glen Abbey during the pro-am at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open
E-MAIL ROBERT