How much is Bandon Dunes Worth?

[SoCalCarl]

On 1/13/2023 at 7:09 AM, graveydellic said:

Bandon's revenues are right around $65M and they make a healthy profit.  It's lodging/food/bev that drive much of the operation.  

 

I doubt they'll sell in our lifetime.  They are building an empire with Bandon as the base.  That said, all it takes is one generation that doesn't want to deal with the business and wants to cash out.  Over a long enough time, it happens with most family businesses.  

If that's right, then the billion dollar+ estimates seem crazy. If we're talking pure intrinsic value, what's a healthy margin on golf course operations, let's just say 40% EBITDA margins, which would be crazy good. So you're looking at $25mm-ish EBTDA, which for a business that probably isn't growing all that fast given it's always sold out, you can probably sell for 10 - 15x EBITDA, so call it $250-400mm. + Whatever the land is worth. Of course, I'm totally ignoring vanity value, so yeah, if some crazy rich dude wants to offer a can't refuse amount, all bets are off, lol.

[FSCMatt]

I have heard in the past that Bandon pays the salary of their employees with either the hat sales of apparel sales. I can never remember which one. That’s just an old rumor that seems feasible.
 

I do know that pre Sheep Ranch they were doing 1,000 rounds a day on occasion in the summer. 
 

Based on the little knowledge I have.. It’s and insane amount of zeros, but a billion seems reasonable to me. 

[AltC]

Don’t get the maths of 1000 rounds a day - it doesn’t add up - even at 18 hour days ( white nights) it’s a 4.5 minute tee interval- cannot see that working!! As for “worth” that’s a very far distance from “price” - good luck with the accountant’s assessments- it’s a project of a  Uber wealthy individual personality- cos he wanted to make a superb golf experience- money is different- so long as it pays its way why sell the baby with the bath water? Stays in the family jewels for at least 3 generations. Then who knows? These issues don’t occur in the classic courses of Scotland - they are common land owned by the community within which they are set -or such a diversified ownership through trust they can never be sold to commercial interests.

[ND2005]

1 hour ago, AltC said:

Don’t get the maths of 1000 rounds a day - it doesn’t add up - even at 18 hour days ( white nights) it’s a 4.5 minute tee interval- cannot see that working!! As for “worth” that’s a very far distance from “price” - good luck with the accountant’s assessments- it’s a project of a  Uber wealthy individual personality- cos he wanted to make a superb golf experience- money is different- so long as it pays its way why sell the baby with the bath water? Stays in the family jewels for at least 3 generations. Then who knows? These issues don’t occur in the classic courses of Scotland - they are common land owned by the community within which they are set -or such a diversified ownership through trust they can never be sold to commercial interests.

 

10 minute tee times x 10 hours = 60 tee times

 

60 tee times x 5 courses = 300 tee times

 

300 tee times x 4 golfers = 1200 rounds 

 

 

(Plus they presumably are counting the preserve so 6 courses, gives you even more wiggle room) 

Edited February 28 by ND2005

[tw422]

6 hours ago, ND2005 said:

 

10 minute tee times x 10 hours = 60 tee times

 

60 tee times x 5 courses = 300 tee times

 

300 tee times x 4 golfers = 1200 rounds 

 

 

(Plus they presumably are counting the preserve so 6 courses, gives you even more wiggle room) 

Don't disagree with the math but there is no way they are selling out all tee times across the full 10 hours - so maybe tee sheet is full across 5-6 hours but it's still damn close to a 1000 rounds a day.  At $200 a round that's 200k a day in golf revenue let alone food, lodging and merch revenue it's easily a $65-70M yr business

 

[ND2005]

18 minutes ago, tw422 said:

Don't disagree with the math but there is no way they are selling out all tee times across the full 10 hours - so maybe tee sheet is full across 5-6 hours but it's still damn close to a 1000 rounds a day.  At $200 a round that's 200k a day in golf revenue let alone food, lodging and merch revenue it's easily a $65-70M yr business

 

 

Well they said summer/peak days. 

 

Tee sheet opens at 7am. Even 8 hours of tee times (7am-3pm) x 6 courses gets you over 1000

 

I don't think it is an everyday occurrence but it is a pretty believable number IMO

[Kernel]

Was told by a starter on a day in April 2021 that the previous day was the most rounds ever at the resort. I think he said 1200. That was two years ago and I may be misremembering, but that's what I recall. 

[mallrat]

I used to know the exact number but I believe the most any individual course there has done was 94,000 rounds in a year with the average being high 80’s. That was pre Sheep Ranch. 
 

The Director of Agronomy did a presentation at a Superintendents meeting and told us, sorry I forgot the number. 

Edited February 28 by mallrat

[dukedoc]

It's worth every penny.