Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 8, 1994 TAG: 9405080037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS LENGTH: Long
As the new director of golf operations at The Homestead, Wayne Nooe confessed he was somewhat dumbfounded by some conversation he heard at several consumer trade shows during the winter.
"I'd say to people, `I'm at The Homestead . . . we've got three golf courses . . . we've got the No. 1-ranked course in Virginia," said Nooe (pronounced NO-ee).
"And they'd say, `Really, I didn't know that.'
"I went to one show in Upper Marlboro [Md.], just outside of Washington, D.C., and the people there didn't know where The Homestead was . . . didn't know that The Homestead had golf."
Therein lies the main mission for Nooe and the resort's new operating partner, Club Resorts Inc. of Dallas.
"The biggest thing we've got to do here is get back out into the golf public," Nooe said. "I think a big part of that is marketing and the emphasis placed on golf.
"You would think golf would be No. 1 here, but it's really not. What's happened here is that golf has become less and less of an emphasis . . . whether by design or accident, I don't know."
Club Resorts Inc., which joined a venture with Virginia Hot Springs Inc. on Oct. 4 to own and operate the resort, plans to change that through an aggressive marketing program designed to tell the world about Virginia's golfing jewel.
"We need to make golf a more important factor here," Nooe said. "We definitely need to increase rounds. We need to get more people here.
"I really think that after we get out and say, `Listen, we've got great golf here,' things will turn.
"It's not the formal place most people think. I think when most people think about The Homestead they think, `Don't you have to wear a coat and tie in the lobby after 5 p.m.?'
"Well, it's more casual and relaxed, particularly for golfers. Get a group of 20 guys together and they want to play cards, drink, smoke and have a good time at night. A lot of people don't think you can do that here, and you can. And, again, that's where marketing comes in. I think if we get them here, they'll come back."
Club Resorts, which has been responsible for reviving the fortunes of the prestigious Pinehurst (N.C.) Golf and Country Club in the past nine years, already has launched a $12.5 million renovation plan. Eighty-six rooms in the hotel are being remodeled.
Improvements already have been made to the interior and exterior of the historic Cascades' pro shop. A new practice facility, scheduled to be completed for the U.S. Women's Amateur on Aug. 5-14, is under construction near the hotel.
As far as the three courses go, the biggest changes will occur on The Homestead layout, designed by Donald Ross in 1892. The course's 18th hole is being relocated to make room for the practice facility. Some new bunkers and tees also are in the works for the hotel course.
At the renowed Cascades, the 1924 work of William Flynn that consistently is ranked among the world's top 100 courses, the only alteration will be an upgrade in machinery.
"There's no need to do anything there," Nooe said. "It's great like it is."
The third course, the Lower Cascades, designed in 1963 by Robert Trent Jones Sr., doesn't face immediate changes. Nooe said long-term plans call for some reworking of the greens, some rebunkering and additional trees.
"The layout is there," Nooe said. "It just needs some dressing up."
Nooe said the three courses combined for 45,000 rounds of golf in 1993.
"When I was at Pinehurst, we did 45,000 to 55,000 per course [on seven courses]," Nooe said. "The season is too short here to get those kind of numbers, but I think 20,000 to 25,000 per course is realistic.
"We know The Homestead is never going to be a Pinehurst, that sort of resort. But it can be a true place to go play golf."
Not to mention a place to buy shirts, caps, sweaters, golf balls, anything bearing a Homestead logo. An increase in merchandising revenue ranks at the top of Nooe's list of things to do.
"At Pinehurst last year, we did some $3.5 million in merchandising sales," he said. "Here, they did about $200,000. So there's a lot that can be done in that area."
Nooe said the majority of the golf marketing will come through tour packages, which hadn't been emphasized in the past.
"If you package it where it's affordable, people will come," Nooe said. "Room, food and golf, everything included. That way you can give a break on the rates."
One of the new regime's first messages was sent in April, when it struck a deal with Lanny Wadkins to represent The Homestead on the PGA Tour.
"No question that Lanny will be a great vehicle to get the word out on The Homestead," Nooe said. "When we started looking into representation, Lanny made the most sense. He's from this state [Richmond], grew up here, won the State Am at the Cascades, has some heart in this place. You can hire anybody to represent you, but it's hard to find somebody who has some feeling about you.
"We feel real good about Lanny. Out of all the people we could have had, I think he's the best one."
Nooe, 31, prefers to use the term "face lift" rather than the word "change" when discussing the new regime's grand scheme for the 15,000-acre mountain resort.
"We want to clean it up, dress it up without changing it," he said. "The history and tradition of the whole resort, not just golf, is unbelievable.
"We've got to be able to keep that and hold onto it, but you've got to upgrade the facility, too, which over the past few years . . . it was hard to do that. Hopefully, we can renovate without changing."
Nooe, who spent the past nine years at Pinehurst as a teaching professional and director of the resort's golf school, said it may take five to seven years for Club Resorts to get the job done at The Homestead.
That's all right. The North Carolina native adores his new address.
"I was awestruck when I came up here last July as part of a site inspection," he said. "I was here for 23 hours. The next day I was in my boss' office saying, `I don't know what's going to happen, but if we end up with it, I'd like to go up there.' That's how quick the place hit me.
"I had never seen anything like it. It's hard to explain. It does have a tendency to get in your blood. And if you fall in love with it, it's hard to fall out of love with it."
by CNB