Is this a lifetime commitment?
I'd like it to be... It'll keep me from having to tour.
You don't like those concert tours?
No, no, I'm kidding. I love touring.
But touring means two years of my life. It's tough.
GIVING BACK IN MEMPHIS
Justin Timberlake is not a lifelong golfer, but Big Creek Golf Course near Memphis has been part of his life since he was 5 years old. Not only is it the public course where his stepfather, Paul Harless, first taught him to swing a club, it's where Harless and Timberlake's mom, Lynn, had their wedding reception in 1986.
Last year, when Big Creek was about to be turned into a housing development, Timberlake and his parents bought it for $800,000. Their No. 1 goal was to save the golf course, but they also planned to improve it. When the renovated 7,400-yard course reopens next summer, probably on the Fourth of July, Memphis golfers will be blown away by the transformation.
"We're doing this for the area more than anything," says Timberlake, who says the course will remain a daily-fee. Green fees are expected to be $65-$75, including cart, and a nine-hole short course (about 3,300 yards) is being built to encourage beginners and families to take up the game. Timberlake hopes it becomes the home for a First Tee facility.
The 43,000-square-foot clubhouse will include a floor that will become the headquarters and office for Justin Timberlake Enterprises. The family is renaming the golf course and facility Mirimichi Lakes, a name that honors Timberlake's American Indian heritage. Mirimichi means "place of happy retreat."
All in, Timberlake and Co. are investing $16 million into the project, which is about five times what they were thinking when they bought the place a year ago.
"It started out as 'Let's save a golf course,' " says Timberlake's mom, who drops by the course at least once a week. "It turned into 'Let's build a destination.'"
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