The Lehigh Valley’s most prolific landowner has never owned a golf course, or even played the sport.
Now, David Jaindl owns two golf courses — one each in Lehigh and Berks counties — seeing an opportunity in the game’s growth since the coronavirus pandemic to grow his considerable portfolio.
The turkey farmer and owner-operator of the Jaindl brands said he took possession Thursday of Berks County’s Moselem Springs Golf Club, after late last year buying Iron Lakes Golf Course off Shankweiler Drive in North Whitehall Township near Jaindl headquarters.
“We just think they’re good investments,” he said during an interview Friday.
Jaindl declined to disclose the purchase prices.
Steven Ekovich, executive managing director for Leisure Investment Properties Group of Tampa, Fla., which marketed the site, said Moselem Springs, a private club, sold over the list price of $2.35 million.
A confidentiality agreement prevented him from disclosing the exact figure.
Lehigh County records show Jaindl acquired Iron Lakes, a public course, in December, paying $1.28 million.
Jaindl said that golf course is reverting to its original name, and will be known as the Club at Twin Lakes. He also said he will keep both sites as golf courses, (and the farmland for agriculture), “as long as I’m around.”
KemperSports in Northbrook, Ill., a privately held golf course and hospitality management company, will handle operations of both facilities. Jon Cheshire, KemperSports vice president of operations, said the family-run company manages more than 130 courses in 27 states.
Golf has seen a resurgence in the last couple of years, said Jim Muschlitz, a longtime area golf pro and instructor.
The pandemic, like everything else, shut down courses statewide in March and April 2020, but the outdoor game flourished after shutdowns were lifted.
It bounced back later that year and 2021, according to Muschlitz. “was one of our best years in at least 10 years.”
Ekovich said participation has risen in the last two years to 25 million golfers nationwide.
When the Great Recession hit in 2008-09, the number had dropped to 23.8 million. People returned to the fairways during COVID-19, he said, because individuals and families saw it as a safe way to exercise outdoors.
Yet, even with golf’s growth, the real estate on which the game is played has also been in high demand in recent years.
For the golf courses, Jaindl holds firm the intent to keep them as just that, golf courses.
Glorious past
Both courses have long histories, but Moselem Springs in Richmond Township has a particularly lengthy resume.
Besides holding major local and national tournaments, it was the site of the 1968 U.S. Women’s Open.
The course along Route 662 also hosted celebrities and politicians looking to get away from crowds, Ekovich said. At one time, it was ranked among the top 100 courses in the U.S. by Golf Digest, he said.
The Twin Lakes property, which has an 18-hole golf course, banquet facilities with two ballrooms, an artificial-turf field and other buildings, was initially operated by John G. and Mary V. Simcoe as the Northampton Sanitary Dairy and Simcoe Farms.
During the heyday of iron ore mining, mines were located on the property.
Ekovich said Moselem Springs, formerly owned by the Flippin family of Berks County, received eight offers but the Jaindls’ plan included putting in more capital expenditures than other prospective owners.
The family “made a conscious decision to pick a buyer who would be the best steward going forward,” he said.
The Flippins were key figures in Reading Eagle Company, which went bankrupt in 2019 and sold its assets to MediaNews Group.
