Golf

The Wyndham Palms Resort and Country Club in Orlando, Florida now has a new identity as the Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club. If that name already sounds familiar, it may be because Tempus Resorts International is simply renaming their flagship Orlando property to carry the name of their well-known golf course.

Roger Farwell, president and CEO of Tempus Resorts International Limited, says, “Our new brand is a perfect fit for our resort as it reflects the unique beauty and topography of our property and the quality vacation experience that we currently provide to our owners and guests, while lending opportunity to expand our property and services even further.”

When Farwell speaks of unique topography, he is talking about the fact that the Mystic Dunes golf course, and much of the overall property of the resort, has been built on some of the highest elevations in Florida. Where once two prehistoric oceans lapped at the sandbar that is now the Florida peninsula, the high sand ridge left behind in the center of the state represents the apex of the ancient beach. Perfect for golf, this land offers natural elevation changes not found in most other areas of the state. Likewise, because the soil is so high in sand content, when the semi-tropical rains fall during hurricane season (late May to mid-November) the high percolation rate of the sandy soil means the greens and fairways drain and dry quickly. Golf courses built along this ancient sand ridge are rarely unplayable because of standing water. No wonder people often liken Mystic Dunes to the sandy links land that buffers the fairways of so many famous British golf courses.

Along with the Gary Koch-designed golf course, the resort offers timeshare vacation owners at Mystic Dunes beautiful vistas of rolling hills, orange groves and native vegetation surrounding each timeshare condo. With the new identity, the timeshare company is expanding accommodations from 652 one, two, and three-bedroom timeshare condos to 717, as well as adding high speed internet access, DVD players and video-on-demand to every timeshare unit.

In the Central Florida Orlando-Kissimmee vacation destination area, Mystic Dunes offers a chance to savor the peace and quietude of the great outdoors, with the convenience of being less than three miles from the Walt Disney property.

Tempus ranks as one of Central Florida’s top 100 privately held companies according to the Golden 100 Rankings established by the Orlando Business Journal 2006. The resort itself has maintained a “5-Star Resort” ranking from Interval International since opening in 1998.

I recently wrote about the new Starwood timeshare vacation property at Desert Willow, scheduled for development under the Westin brand in late 2007 or early 2008. I want to share a few enlightening facts about California’s Coachella Valley, the fastest growing area in all of Southern California.

And while I am not prognosticating or recommending that anyone plan a timeshare deal based solely on this information, I think you will find these statistics very interesting. Knowing the next “hot spot” destination can prove to be valuable insight for anyone looking to buy or sell a timeshare condo.

The Coachella Valley is a geographic area that extends roughly 45 miles from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. Nine cities are located inside this target area: Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Coachella, Indian Wells, Indio, Desert Hot Springs, La Quinta and Palm Desert. There are over 100 great golf courses located here, included the world famous courses at Mission Hills, La Quinta, PGA West, Indian Wells and Tamarisk, to name only a few. And according to research developed by the Global Hospitality Group, the population of the Coachella Valley increased by 59 percent between the years 1990 and 2004.

So what is attracting the influx of both new residents and vacationers to this area?

Surprisingly, despite the number of luxury homes and magnificent resorts, the cost of living in the Coachella Valley beats that of Los Angeles, San Diego or greater Orange County. And the Coachella Valley still represents the desert playground of old-time movie glam stars like Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. While all this fast growth and projected development will gobble up nearly 200,000 acres of undeveloped land in the valley, the good news is that despite such expansion, there will still be roughly a million acres of vast, awesome, spectacularly unique undeveloped desert land.

The historic golfing tradition of the Greater Greensboro Open — a professional tournament that has been in place nearly 70 years — has officially become the Wyndham Championship, effective with the 2007 playing season.

According to Stephen P. Holmes, chairman, president and CEO of Wyndham Worldwide, as quoted in the Greensboro News-Record (www.news-record.com), Wyndham is excited about the sponsorship because many of the people who buy a Fairfield resort timeshare or a Trendwest timeshare (both part of the Wyndham Worldwide brand) are from the Greensboro and Raleigh Durham area of North Carolina. As Holmes explained, “this is a large market for our customers.”

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, as a timeshare company, is the world’s largest vacation ownership business. Through their two primary timeshare company brands, Fairfield Resort timeshare and Trendwest Timeshare, Wyndham Worldwide has developed or acquired more than 140 vacation ownership or timeshare promotion properties with over 18,000 individual timeshare condo units.

The Wyndham Worldwide brand includes Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a timeshare company involved in timeshare promotion for Fairfield Resort Timeshare and Trendwest Timeshare. It also includes the Wyndham Hotel Group and the RCI Global Vacation Network Group. The RCI Global Vacation Network is the world’s largest timeshare condo exchange network and is one of the world’s largest global marketers of vacation properties for rental or timeshare promotion.

The 2007 Wyndham Championship will be part of the PGA Tour’s Fed-Ex Cup schedule, which is itself a new departure for US professional golf. While all of the fine points have yet to be established, the Fed-Ex Cup is patterned loosely after NASCAR’s Nextel Cup, which allows the top 10 drivers to compete for the cup in a 10-race series. Until this year, a PGA Tour member’s status to play the following year was determined almost entirely upon dollars won in each tournament played.

Bobby Cole, the PGA Tour player we at SellMyTimeshareNOW sponsor, finished T-4 in the Florida State Senior Open. Hosted at the championship course of the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club, the event is sponsored by the South Florida PGA of America. In a field of 191 players, Bobby opened with a round of 67, followed by rounds of 71 and 69.

This was the 30th year for the tournament, but only Bobby’s second time to play there. In 2005, he shot 70-68 in a rain-shortened two-round tournament, to finish one stroke off the lead and alone in second place.

PGA Tour veteran Roger Kennedy won the championship with course record low rounds of 63-64, followed by a final round score of 71. Steve Waugh turned in rounds of 71-67-and 63 to claim second place.

The Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club is a landmark resort located in an area of beachside luxury hotels, Florida timeshares, and vacation homes. The original property, The Naples Hotel, was constructed in the late 1880’s. In 1930, the heir to the Jergens hand lotion fortune married Allen Joslin, who built the area’s first 18-hole golf course and purchased beachfront land adjacent to the hotel, where he built The Naples Beach Club. In 1946, Henry Watkins Sr., a retired toy manufacturer, bought the original hotel and later The Beach Club and golf course, combining the properties to create the historic Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.

Naples is the heart of the region known as Florida’s Paradise Coast, and is always a great place to spend the day on the golf course. Congratulations to Bobby and all the golfers who play in this year’s Florida State Senior Open.