Is the American golf business waking up? The Skywater Over Horseshoe Bay golf community in Texas has found new owners, and today will mark groundbreaking on the site’s Nicklaus-designed golf course.

A real estate investment group assumed control of Skywater earlier in the summer. The group, known as SW Ownership, is backed by several investment firms from Dallas, New York and Connecticut. SW Ownership has engaged Skywater Management, an affiliate of Southstar Development Partners, to develop, market and sell the project. The International Bank of Commerce San Antonio is the primary lender for Skywater's relaunch and build-out.

The groundbreaking – held at the future fourteenth hole of the course – was attended by owners of Skywater lots, known as ‘Founders’, by Texas Hill Country dignitaries, officials of the nearby Horseshoe Bay resort and representatives of the new ownership group. Ninety-four of the lots at Skywater have been sold, and several homes have been completed.

“SW Ownership is committed to the long-term success of Skywater,” said Bill Cargill, a representative of the group. “Our first order of business is to complete the golf course, which promises to be the premier course in Horseshoe Bay. With that under way, we expect the lots in Skywater to be in high demand.”

Skywater offers views of Lake LBJ and the Texas Hill Country, and will feature about 1,200 sites for single-family homes, villas and condominiums..

The Nicklaus-designed Summit Rock Golf Course will wind through the community.

In addition to the course and clubhouse, amenities at Skywater will include a private recreation centre with a resort-style pool and fitness centre and more than seven miles of hiking trails. Skywater lot owners will be offered full membership privileges (with no initiation fees) to the neighbouring Horseshoe Bay Resort. The resort has three renowned championship Robert Trent Jones Sr. golf courses (Slick Rock, Apple Rock and Ram Rock), two clubhouses, a fitness centre, a spa, a yacht club and full-service marina, extensive tennis facilities, a 349-room Marriott hotel, and a private airport and jet centre.