This FGI golf course on the Grand Strand will reopen under new management and may be sold
Colonial Charters Golf Club in Longs is expected to reopen in early August under new management, which takes operation of a second course from the largest course owner on the Grand Strand in the past seven months.
Golf pros Bill Jones and J.J. McCabe are partners in a company that is leasing the course from Founders Group International, which shut it down in March along with seven other courses among its 21 to save money and offset a decrease in demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jones is the head pro at The Valley at Eastport Golf Club in Little River and McCabe is a former Eastport assistant who has been the general manager/head pro at Dubois Country Club in Pennsylvania since leaving Eastport in October 2018. Jones’ father, William Jones II, is also a partner in Jones and McCabe LLC.
McCabe will be the executive manager and run daily operations while Eastport partner and superintendent Joey Vereen will serve as a maintenance consultant. The group is considering hiring a separate head pro and superintendent, as well.
“We’ll get some assistance from Joey, and Joey does a spectacular job on the agronomy and it shows,” Bill Jones said. “I play all the courses in Myrtle Beach and this course Joey has been putting his time and effort into is in spectacular shape.”
They hope to reopen Colonial Charters by Aug. 1.
Jones and McCabe want to buy the course, but the purchasing process in the midst of the coronavirus is going to take too long. So they are starting with a three-year lease to be able to immediately prepare the course for a reopening, with an option to buy.
“This will get us into the course almost turnkey,” Jones said. “Going under their umbrella will help us get in there and give the members a place to play again. They were sent all over the place membership-wise and they really wanted to have their home track back, so this was the easiest, fastest way, but we do plan on buying the course outright as soon as possible.”
Colonial Charters is a 6,427-yard par-71 layout that opened in 1988 but was redesigned in 2008 by North Carolina course architect Rick Robbins. It is relatively short for today’s golf architecture and is on the low end of green fees in the market.
“Founders Golf is focused on providing a resort-style experience for vacationing golfers, for our members as well as locals,” FGI president Steve Mays said. “Colonial is a nice golf course for that community, but it doesn’t fit our business profile or the direction of our company and that’s why we made that decision.”
FGI, which is owned by investors from China, purchased 22 courses between September 2014 and April 2015 to become the leading course owner and operator on the Grand Strand.
The company now operates 20, as Indian Wells Golf Club was closed in favor of redevelopment in December.
Mays said he doesn’t anticipate selling or closing any more courses. Of the eight courses FGI closed in March to save on expenses, all but Founders Club at Pawleys Island have reopened. Mays expects that course to reopen in August.
“In no way is this a reflection of our commitment to the golf industry,” Mays said. “We take great pride in being the leading company in the country’s premier golf destination. This really does not change that, and we don’t anticipate any other changes to our portfolio.”
FGI has maintained Colonial Charters in anticipation of the course reopening when demand warranted, so it is in pristine shape.
“I couldn’t believe when I walked in there how nice the course was,” Jones said. “It has a lot of potential.”
The McCabe family is involved in multiple businesses including restaurants, and J.J. McCabe plans to oversee the restaurant in the Colonial Charters clubhouse, at least at first. He wants to cater to residents and even those outside the community in addition to golfers.
“We’ll totally rebrand that restaurant to say, ‘public welcome,’ ” McCabe said. “I’ll definitely make some critiques of the menu. It will never be a white table cloth venue. But we’re going to make 12 to 18 really good meals and we’re going to keep our food costs down and we’re going to do it really well at an economical price.”
McCabe runs the restaurant at Dubois CC and said sales have increased more than 400 percent in the 22 months he has been there.
Jones will remain Eastport’s head pro, and with the involvement of both he and Vereen at Colonial Charters, the two clubs will work closely together.
“Eastport is my main gig. I love it here. I’m not looking to leave and go anywhere else,” Jones said. “We’re going to try to do a lot of cool things back and forth, try to have the clubs compete against each other and try to grow membership. We’re not a group per se, but we’re going to work together whatever way we can to make both clubs as good as we can.”
Though the golf business remains challenging, Jones believes the closing of approximately 30 courses in the Myrtle Beach market over the past 15 years, including a handful in the past three years, gives Colonial Charters an opportunity to increase play from outside the community.
“It’s sad to see some of these courses closing in the area,” Jones said. “and there’s room with all of these other courses closing for a lot of local play.”
McCabe said that after years in the golf business, he and Jones wanted the autonomy to determine how a course would operate and be a success or failure.
“Between he and I we’re more brothers than business partners,” McCabe said. “We just wanted to have our own thing going, go out on our own and be the boss, to not be told ‘no’ every time you ask for something, and there’s no money and you’re only allowed this much help. I’d just rather be the one calling the shots and training the people and showing them how I’d like it done. I’d say the No. 1 thing I’m looking forward to is not being micromanaged.”
McCabe said he will retain all furloughed employees who want to return at first on a 30-day probationary period and will adjust with new or additional workers thereafter.
Neither party disclosed the lease or sales prices.
FGI managed courses
▪ Aberdeen Country Club
▪ Long Bay Club
▪ River Hills G&CC
▪ International World Tour Golf Links
▪ Pine Lakes Country Club
▪ Grande Dunes Resort Course
▪ Myrtlewood Palmetto
▪ Myrtlewood PineHills
▪ Myrtle Beach National King’s North
▪ MBN SouthCreek
▪ MBN West
▪ Burning Ridge
▪ Wild Wing Plantation
▪ TPC Myrtle Beach
▪ River Club
▪ Pawley’s Plantation
▪ Willbrook Plantation
▪ Litchfield Country Club
▪ Tradition Club
▪ Founders Club at Pawleys Island
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 9:56 PM.
