Spring Creek Ranch in Tennessee

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - After 44 years of professional golf, Jack Nicklaus is winding down his storied career this week with his final appearance at a major tournament, the British Open.

Retirement will enable the "Golden Bear" to devote more attention to his business interests, which revolve around the very hot fields of golf course design and real estate development.

Nicklaus Investments and Nicklaus Design, his main business arms, announced a new venture this week, a partnership with Guggenheim Partners, to finance and invest in residential real estate and golfing communities around the world. Each of the new enterprise's developments will be anchored around a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course.

Jake Nicklaus's interest in course design started early on; in 1968 he co-designed Harbortown Links on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Nicklaus Design currently has more than 50 golf courses under construction and more than 280 courses completed in 28 different countries.

"We have more courses in the top 100 golf courses of the world than anyone else," said his son Gary, president of Nicklaus Investments. "And my dad has received more design excellence awards than anyone else."

Golf course communities have become popular places to live even for non-golfers, according to Gary Nicklaus. "We've found about 50 percent of the people who live in golf course communities don't even play golf," he said. They like the amenities, the ambience, and the lifestyle golf-course living provides.

That sentiment has revealed itself in house values. Gary Nicklaus reports that golf course communities outperformed otherwise similar communities by 20 percent in house price appreciation during the past five years.

So, Jack Nicklaus appears to be almost as well positioned in the residential real estate world as he always has been in the world of golf. Even at age 65, he stayed competitive, missing the cut at the British Open by a mere three strokes.

"He hit the ball well," said Gary, who was present in Scotland for his dad's swan song. "He didn't putt as well as he would have liked. But he finished with a birdie on 18."

It meant a lot to the fans who came to cheer the greatest champion golfer in the sport's history.

You'll find a list of the towns with the most nearby golf courses in the United States if you click here. It's all part of our latest "Best Places to Live 2005" package.