A Golf Course Double Cross?

Filed in archive Golf Courses on October 25, 2007

Thundering Waters, Niagara Falls, ON

Very often when we hear about golf courses under threat from development, that development is coming from "outside", in other words, the threat comes from a company not connected in any way with the course.

So it's odd to learn that John Daly's "signature" course near Niagara Falls in southern Ontario, which has only been open for the past two years, is facing what could be called a "palace coup".

First, let's be clear about Daly's involvement. He was paid handsomely to allow his autograph to be used prominently in the course's advertising; he had his picture taken with landscaping plans spread out before him, as if he were actually designing the course; and he was on hand to officially open the course - by trying to hit balls across Niagara Falls. End of his story.

Since its opening, Thundering Waters has met with a lukewarm reception from golfers. It's expensive and the course fails to live up to expectations, either in design or conditioning. So much for Daly's involvement.

The course developers have now surprised everyone by announcing their plans for an enormous condo development surrounding the course, including a ten-storey condo tower. They have also declared that the first two holes will be torn up and moved, necessitating the destruction of mature trees.

This is not sitting well with residents who live around the course. Understandable. What's worse is that the course has only been open for a year and it's already being uprooted - no pun intended - to make room for housing.

This, of course, is how most new high-end courses are financed. Build the course, then build the homes. That's the reality. Usually, they both happen in tandem.

What irks residents - and those few golfers who think Thundering Waters is any good - is that the course hasn't begun to mature and it's being ripped up.

More than that, there are fears - well-founded, I would argue - that the course owners have more plans afoot for further housing.

Rick Brady, the urban planner hired by the owners to push the housing project at the city council level says his clients have no further plans for development that he's aware of.

Uh-huh.

He went on to say there are plans from another developer for another condo tower in front of the golf course.

Ah, "another" developer...

All of which is going to make that signature of John Daly's worth absolutely nothing in the years ahead, if it isn't worthless already.