• The State of Golf Economics: Strategies for Making a Golf Course Work in Your Community


Including a golf course as part of a residential community is a complicated and risky endeavor that offers many opportunities and potential pitfalls. Strategies to make the golf course a more feasible and profitable amenity for your development should be thoroughly planned before the first shovel goes into the ground. This session will present strategies that will help you make the golf course an economically viable part of your plan. A panel of those who live in the trenches will explore a range of pertinent topics including: tax strategies for exiting the golf course; the use of conservation easements; and alternative methods of offering golf as an amenity.


• Trends in International Resort Development


The scope of resort development continues to expand as more and more people look outside their own borders for development opportunities. How are international resort developers attracting and keeping today's global consumer? What lessons from overseas resort markets can be applied to U.S. projects? What opportunities exist for U.S. developers to enter the global resort market? Join this diverse panel and get up to speed on today's worldwide resort market.


• Condo-Hotels and Golf


Though the condominium hotel concept has been around for several years, it recently experienced an upswing in activity. Nationwide, condo-hotel units are being developed as an alternative source of financing for resort and hotel projects. Allowing a potentially quick return on capital and a quick exit strategy for developers, buyers can realize gains from appreciation, possible tax benefits, and income from the rental of their units. But conflicts can easily occur. This session will combine lessons learned from developers, with regulatory and financial strategies from recognized, consulting professionals and financiers in the field. Topics to be discussed will include: structuring workable access and use agreements; rental pools versus rental programs; and how to accommodate diverse users to everyone's satisfaction.


• Reviving a Classic: Golf and Resort Redevelopment Case Studies


Golf resorts are a mature industry. Many once-thriving golf resorts today find themselves tired and struggling to reclaim their place in the sun. This fast-moving session will present case-study overviews of two resort redevelopments. Speakers will present the vision for the design and development strategies being used to reposition these projects for today's market.


• When the Visioning Stops and the Operations Begin: Differentiating Your Resort through Service


How do successful owners and developers continue to command premium pricing and a clear position in a marketplace where vision and design may have reached a level of parity at the high end? Today's sophisticated buyer expects to hear a great vision, see architectural authenticity and experience a significant "wow" factor with their resort home purchase. With the increasing range of communities competing for lot and unit sales, only those projects whose people and service levels meet the expectations of the high end buyer will be able to maintain their premiums and momentum in the marketplace. The key to differentiating communities is level of service and a resort's ability to achieve operational excellence—areas in which developers are less likely to focus.

This session will bring together professionals from the development, community governance, hotel, and golf industries to discuss why and how service, programs, and operations can be one of the most important cornerstones of your development and sales strategy.


• Planning with the End in Mind: Don't Change Horses in Midstream


Eventually, nearly all developers will exit a project. For the transition to be as seamless as possible, planning for the eventual exit should start at the inception of the project. As resorts, communities, and other projects become more complex, the necessity for exit planning becomes critical. A panel of experts will analyze how to ensure that your resort and community amenities —golf, swimming, tennis, the beach, fitness/spa, and commercial—can be successfully transferred out of your control while continuing to maintain high standards of operation and maintenance. The panel will discuss the business decisions and legal issues that must be addressed in conjunction with this advance planning.


• Safety and the Bottom Line: The Role of Design


Leading members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects will discuss design and planning solutions that address major changes in golf ball and club technology and construction. As balls fly farther, and often wider, than ever, creating larger safety corridors is becoming a necessity. Larger corridors can eat up valuable land resources leaving less space for other community development. See how today's architects are coping with this issue through innovative design practices that satisfy safety requirements while still maximizing acreage.


• Ask the Experts: Golf and Resorts Past, Present, and Future


Join us for this final plenary session featuring an interdisciplinary panel of experts related to golf and resort community development. Drawing on their years of experience in the industry, the panel will address where the industry is today, how it got here, and where it is heading. Following a brief introduction by each panelist, the floor will be opened to the audience to query the experts.

What's Included in the Packages Audio Package includes Audio CDs-For use in your car or portable CD Player MP3 and iPod Audiobook files-To use on a computer or download to your iPod Download includes Audiobook format- To use on a computer or download to your iPod