Golf Course Owners and Developers

While golf may be a passion for some and an avocation for others, golf course ownership and management is a serious business. The United States boasts over 17,000 private golf courses, excluding resorts and hotel courses. The number of courses is estimated to grow at 3% per year through the end of this decade. Nearly 90% of privately owned golf courses are owned and operated by successful family businesses and entrepreneurs. The balance of the golf courses is owned by institutions, a few of which are publicly traded.

Gould & Ratner's Golf Course Owners Group is one of the legal profession's few practices dedicated to representing golf course owners and operators across the United States. We provide a 360 degree "holistic" approach to this industry. The dozen lawyers in the group are skilled in corporate, tax, acquisitions, real estate, human resources, ADA, litigation (incuding advice to minimize risk of suit with proper indemnities and due to faulty design), workouts and restructuring, and other disciplines necessary to provide the full range of necessary services. Instead of focusing on narrow and technical legal issues, our attorneys are trained to look at the complete landscape of services which golf course owners require, helping them plan for and overcome legal and business obstacles.

For example, we represent a prominent institution which owns and operates courses nationwide, including several courses in California, Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey, as well as many family business and entrepreneurial owners. We also represent several real estate developers who build golf courses as part of their residential communities.

Our services include:

• Formation. Structuring deals from a tax, growth, financing, management compensation and exit perspective
• Financing. Venture capital, senior secured through junior unsecured debt, leveraged buyouts, guarantees, leveraged and unleveraged leases (including golf cart and equipment purchases and leases), private placements, and public offerings.
• Real Estate Development. Zoning, easements, relations with contiguous land owners, deed restrictions, homeowner issues, land use, community relations, and facilitating the design and construction of golf courses, clubhouses and facilities.
• Management. Negotiating and documenting management agreements, employee leasing, indemnification, operations, budgeting, and insurance.
• Inter-Owner Relations. Structuring relationships and resolving disputes among partners, family members, shareholders, investors, and management.
• Employee Relations. Hiring and firing, ADA issues, employment agreements, stock options and other employee incentive programs, pension and profit sharing agreements, independent contractor agreements, non-competition agreements, and union issues.
• Structural and Organic Changes. Multi-million dollar mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and divestitures of businesses.
• Third-Party Agreements. Negotiating contracts with customers, vendors, distributors, sales agents, licensees, landlords, etc.
• Protection of Valuable Intangible Assets. Trademarks and trade secrets, licensing patents and trademarks, computer software and franchising.
• Dispute Resolution. Pre-litigation mediation, negotiation and settlement; litigation of disputes among owners, family members, third parties, and government entities; and limitations of liability.
• Reorganizations. Creditor and debtor representation in workouts, bankruptcies, and other types of reorganizations.