⛳️ We Submitted A Bid To Acquire Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland

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Good morning and welcome back to another edition of The Mulligan. 

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432 Days Since Launch

Highlights

Spey Bay Golf Club Bid Submitted

Does the week of February 12th-19th stand out in your mind? At Links we were delivering value & utility to golfers around the world while prudently laying the framework for what we believe to be the next preeminent brand in golf. In other words, it was just another run-of-the-mill week. Marketers were marketing, engineers were engineering, designers were designing... you get the point. So why reference those dates to start off this edition of The Mulligan?

Because the week of February 12th-19th was the week we became aware that the ownership group of Spey Bay Golf Club, one of 247 true links golf courses located along the northern shores of Scotland, was accepting bids to acquire the property. After careful consideration and input from the DAO we ultimately decided that the opportunity to purchase a historic property in the "home of golf" was too intriguing to pass up, so we put it to a DAO vote on February 20th. An overwhelming 88.6% of the 4,289 votes were in favor of placing a bid, and six days later the bid was submitted.

The Mulligan team couldn't think of a better person to provide more context on the diligence and bidding process than our CFO Chris Bruce, so we sat down with him for a short-form interview.

Introduction

Tell us about yourself! What is your golf story? Before Links, where did you spend your professional time?

I'm originally from Atlanta, GA and played golf since I was 10 or so, playing in the AJGA tournaments and such. I didn't play too much through college and right after school, but have played much more in recent years. Before Links I was a management consultant for a number of years, and then spent the last 7 years as part of the founding team of a travel technology startup called Journera.

How'd you become aware of Links? Why did you decide to join full-time?

I saw Mike's tweet and jumped in the Discord! I was completely swept up by the idea, bought my membership at mint, and started contributing shortly thereafter. I wasn't actively looking for a new job at the time, but when the opportunity presented itself to work for Links full-time I couldn't pass it up.

In your opinion, where is Links headed over the next couple of years?

I think much of the next few years will be about (a) going from idea to reality, and (b) expanding the breadth and depth of what we do. We're off to an incredible start and have delivered so much for the community already, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg.

Spey Bay Golf Club Opportunity Discovery

How did the core team become aware of the Spey Bay acquisition opportunity?

We're constantly scouring the internet for opportunities, and it popped up on our radar as soon as it was listed and got some initial press. I think it was also mentioned in the Discord chats early on too, so we saw it in a few different places.

What factors, aside from price, influenced the decision to move forward? From a 30,000 foot view, what were the initial pros and cons of the course itself?

Ultimately it was the potential upside of the course and the property. Our community has a lot of varied viewpoints and opinions, but there is on thing that has been pretty unanimous and consistent throughout this project - that the quality of the golf course(s) and experience(s) we create is the most important thing. That was far and away the top-ranked attribute when we voted on them in Proposal 14, and we hear it consistently from members.

There are only so many true links-style courses, and even fewer that are situated right on the coast for the majority of the property - and it's exactly the type of land that you'd look for when trying to create an incredible golf experience and a course that can crack the Top 100 lists. Put that together with a reasonable price and our ability to move quickly, and we felt it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. And after our Proposal 17 vote, it appears the community feels the same.

The course being in Scotland was of course a factor, and that was the largest point of discussion, both amongst the team and in the community - does this make sense as a first course when the majority of our community is in the U.S.? But after we took a hard look, we determined that we could move forward on this and capture an incredible asset while not significantly affecting our course acquisition efforts in the U.S.

Bid Structuring + Diligence Week

The week or so leading up to placing the bid must have been chaotic. What relevant parties helped in the diligence and research?

It was a ton of different parties - KemperSports, U.S. and U.K. lawyers, real estate agents/brokers, over a dozen golf architects, and of course the core team and members. We had a local member visit the site for us earlier in the process, then the week of the bid I flew over and toured the site with two golf architects along with the owner and the greenskeeper.

What key pieces of information did you and the team feel were necessary to gather as part of the diligence process?

There were a number of key things we were looking at, specifically verifying what we viewed from afar as the quality and potential of the site, getting a better sense of current maintenance practices and potential improvements (including the financials of the operation), vetting all planning/zoning and environmental approvals, and also what other potential buyers were in the equation - among other things.

Bez mentioned that a number of different architects reached out or were reached out to, can you detail what the general sentiment was with those architects as well as with our contacts/relationships in the golf industry?

This was actually a key part of our diligence process and ended up giving us a lot of confidence in moving forward with the vote, and ultimately a bid. The architects we talked with pretty much unanimously had positive reviews both on the course as it stands and on the potential of the property.

Site Visit

You mentioned that you flew over to Scotland as a final step in the diligence process, how was it?

It was a striking piece of land in an incredible setting with a course that is really interesting, though could use some TLC in terms of maintenance and investment.

What was the surrounding town like?

It is pretty remote as you'd expect for being in Northern Scotland. The town of Fochabers is a very small "one main street" type of town about 10 minutes away, and the immediate surrounding area is pretty rural with only a few residences and a good deal of open space. The coast is actually known for it's dolphin watching (the Scottish Dolphin Centre is down the road from the Spey Bay clubhouse) and there are a ton of scotch distilleries (Macallan and Glenfiddich for example) within a 30 minute drive.

What facilities are currently in place?

Today in addition to the course there is a clubhouse with a dining area, showers, changing rooms, pool tables and some other simple amenities. There's also a campground on-site with 18 spots for driving campers, and a covered driving range structure, though it's not currently used as a driving range.

How was the actual golf course?

There were some great green sites and complexes, though some have clearly had their featured muted over time. The fairways are one of the most unique aspects of the course. They are firm and fast with dune-like contours, but there's an incredible amount of small scale contouring - humps and bumps and wrinkles which makes for really interesting golf.

What is the potential of this golf course from your POV? Describe the vision in your mind as you were on property.

If it hasn't been evident from my answers to previous questions, I think the potential is so high. It's great land, can be brought up a couple levels with a pretty modest increase in maintenance and some simple tweaks like removing some gorse, and with more substantial improvements it could be something truly special.

Spey Bay Information

Links Recognized As Top 10 Most Innovative Company In Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

Nike, Roblox, the Ethereum Foundation and Links all have one thing in common... we were each recently nominated as one of Fast Company's 10 most innovative companies across blockchain, cryptocurrency, Web3 and the metaverse.

Just 14 months ago our entire brand existed entirely inside a single Google Doc shared between 30 or so golf-loving internet strangers from around the world. We've come a long way since then, and we're truly just getting started...

Our VP of Partnerships Nick Walker was quoted this week as saying "we've just signed our biggest partnership for utility to date." Sounds exciting right? Join us this Thursday at 8pm EST in Discord for the unveiling of our newest partner.

P.S. As part of a new branding initiative, our marketing team traveled out to The Saticoy Club in California for an unbelievable photoshoot in our favorite Links gear. If you're looking for high-quality golf content this season, our Instagram and TikTok feeds are the place to be.

Also, a special thanks to our friends at the Arnold and Whitney Palmer Foundation for their generous offer of all-inclusive chalet box tickets to the final round of last weekend's Arnold Palmer Invitational... which four lucky Links members enjoyed. Make sure you have your Discord notifications turned on so that you don't miss out on more ticket giveaways throughout the 2023 season.

We highly recommend you replace your favorite podcast with the recordings of the last two community calls posted to our Youtube detailing the Spey Bay bid as well as our U.S. Course acquisition efforts.

Spey Bay Community Call

U.S. Course Acquisition Update Community Call

Bucket List Course Access

Few Spots Remain In Our Signature Event Series

Our Signature Event Series is undoubtedly one of the things we were most excited to debut since the project's launch. There is nothing more rewarding than providing Links members with the opportunity to play premier, top-ranked private courses that they otherwise wouldn't have access to. A majority of the spots sold out within 24 hours of the announcement, but we have some news if you missed out...

We've grabbed a couple more spots at the below courses!

• Philadelphia Cricket Club (#110 in U.S.)

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• Robert Trent Jones Golf Club (#97 in U.S.)

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Click here for more information and to reserve a spot.

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Contributors

Nick B (barbs#7712) - Creator of The Mulligan & Project Lead

Chris K (ckelly627#0963) - Lead Contributor

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