Florida Golf – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Will Florida’s Bobby Jones Golf Club be permanently protected? A vote is coming on Monday.

The Donald Ross-designed course was christened in 1927 by Jones himself.

Residents in the city of Sarasota, Florida, will ask city commissioners on Monday to approve a plan to permanently conserve the Bobby Jones Golf Club.

Advocates for the 263-acre property want it to be protected under a conservation easement, which would prevent development on Bobby Jones in perpetuity.

The City Commission will hold a special meeting dedicated to Bobby Jones at 9 a.m. on Monday and will consider several topics relating to the property, such as its upcoming renovation and the conservation easement plan.

City staff members have developed a draft conservation easement between the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast and the city. Bobby Jones advocates want the City Commission to approve the easement on Monday.

They also want the city to follow through with the plan for the future layout of Bobby Jones that it approved in 2020. The plan will set aside a substantial portion of the property as park space.

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Other: Sarasota’s Bobby Jones water quality project funding survives challenge

The Donald Ross-designed course was officially christened on February 13, 1927, when Jones himself took part in a dedication event. He shot 73 that day.

Edda Post, a charter member of Conserve Bobby Jones Now, sees the issue as not just relating to the environment, but also to mental health.

“It’s really good for the heart and the soul and the mind to be able to go out into greenspace and just not be around cars,” she said, “and have a place to go to that’s safe, quiet and comforting.”

The commission will also consider several matters relating to the golf course itself on Monday.

The city received several bids for a project that will renovate the course and has decided to award the contract to Q.G.S Development Inc. On Monday, the commission will vote on whether to approve the city’s agreement with Q.G.S. Development for $12,513,599.

The city is also planning to hire a company to take over management of the golf course, with the commission to vote on whether to authorize city staff to negotiate a contract with Antares Golf, LLC.

Sarasota closed Bobby Jones to golf play earlier in the pandemic. The land is currently being used as a recreational space where residents can walk or run on nature trails.

Anne Snabes covers city and county government for the Herald-Tribune. You can contact her at asnabes@gannett.com or (941) 228-3321 and follow her on Twitter at @a_snabes.

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Members at Boca Raton Country Club in Florida steam over city’s new golf course deal

“I have real concerns about the way the city of Boca Raton has been handling this huge gift to them.”

BOCA RATON, Fla. – As one municipal golf course in Boca Raton closes, another one makes its debut within a month, but the transition isn’t necessarily going as well as a relaxing round on the links.

Using proceeds from its $65.7 million sale of the Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course to GL Homes, the city plans to spend $7.8 million to upgrade the golf course at the Boca Country Club, which will be renamed the Boca Raton Golf and Racquet Club. The site, which was donated to the city by the Boca Raton Resort and Club, is set to open Nov. 1.

The club, located on Congress Avenue north of Clint Moore Road in the northwestern part of Boca Raton, will feature an 18-hole public golf course, a restaurant, and a racquet center with tennis and pickleball courts. Both Boca Raton residents and country club members will have access to the club.

But that, country club members contend, isn’t what they signed up for.

Before the club was closed for renovations on Oct. 1, whispers spread that the city might fill in the pool, angering country club members who asked whether they could pay to keep it open.

“The pool does present a small challenge,” Mayor Scott Singer said. “It would be very expensive to the tune of $300,000 a year to operate that pool. I don’t think 100 residents each want to spend about $3,000 a year to get a pool that would still be open to the public. We’ve encouraged them to reach out to the other communities within the Boca Golf and Tennis Country Club. There are other communities there that have their own pool. That’s probably a better solution.”

For Alan Medvin, who had signature membership at the country club, the idea of getting rid of the pool was outrageous.

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“There’s not a chance in the world that we would have bought a house in a community in South Florida without access to a pool,” Medvin said. “We were told that this access would continue as long as we continue to be club members. The rug was pulled out from under us when the city received the donation and eliminated the signature club membership.

“At this point, we have no access to anything that a city resident doesn’t have access to. I’m not against public access. What I’m against is the city deciding, ‘We’re not going to maintain a swimming pool. We’re going to fill it in.’ Basically, destroying a lifestyle that we’ve enjoyed for close to 30 years.”

Boca Raton City Manager Leif Ahnell argued that the city never promised to keep the pool open.

“I have no knowledge of the city ever guaranteeing that that would happen,” City Manager Leif Ahnell said. “As we’ve discussed previously, we have several pools in the city that are public pools and we are not in need of pool facilities. This one is a smaller pool, so it could not even be used for what our larger pools are used for. It’s simply not financially feasible.

“People have been saying, ‘We’re happy to pay for it.’ If that’s an option that the community wanted to explore, then there would have to be a commitment through the master association to collect that money to pay us to keep it open because we don’t need that facility.”

Many Boca Raton Country Club residents say deal was one-sided

Anita Pellegrino, who had a signature membership at the country club, said it was unfair to ask members to come up with all the money.

“It was a very one-sided deal,” Pellegrino said. “The city said, ‘Pay the $300,000. We’re going to make it a public pool.’ The problem with that is we would be taking the big onus and getting nothing in return.

“Our solution is to open up 500 memberships to the pool. Save 150 or 200 for Boca Golf and Tennis. Open it to the rest of Boca Raton for a reasonable amount. For a year, make it $1,000 or $1,500. For six months, make it $750 or $800. Set up monthly memberships or daily fees to use the pool. There are a lot of creative ways to do this, but they don’t want to hear it. The city said, ‘It’s too much trouble.’ We think it’s doable.”

Another hot issue for country club members is traffic. The main entrance leads to backups in the mornings that extend to Congress Avenue, which country club members argued would become worse with additional traffic. The city responded that it will consider constructing a new entrance south of the existing one that would ease traffic.

To Sharon Rubinstein, who had premium membership that allowed her to access the facilities at the country club, as well as those at the resort, the city appeared to overlook the effect the golf course deal had on country club residents.

“I have real concerns about the way the city of Boca Raton has been handling this huge gift to them,” Rubinstein said. “I certainly understand why that would be an attractive offer and why they would want to take it. I certainly understand the tax benefits to the hotel for that donation. I just don’t want the people in our community to end up with the short end of the stick.”

How did the city of Boca Raton acquire the private golf course?

The neighborhood consists of single-family homes, two-story homes, townhomes, garden villas, and luxury condominiums. The country club’s owners, MSD Partners, and Northview Hotel Group, bought the Boca Raton Resort and Club in June 2019 and with it the Boca Raton Country Club.

The owners learned of the city’s interest in a new municipal course and decided to donate the underutilized facility.

“It’s a beautiful facility in which we’re going to invest millions of dollars to make it a top-notch course that’s playable for residents,” Mayor Scott Singer said. “It’s closer in geographic location than the old course, and it was a gift in more senses than one from the owners of the Boca Raton Resort.”

The city will make the improvements as many golf courses shutter across the nation. It is projected to cost the city $370,000 a year to operate the golf course, which will offer perks like preferential tee times to some country club members.

“They are getting an enormous benefit here by having this facility stay a golf course rather than being developed by somebody,” Councilman Andy Thomson said. “They’re also getting increased access to better facilities because we’re going to be spending between $7 and $8 million improving the place.

“The city residents win because they get access to a championship level golf course for free, meaning we didn’t have to buy the land or buy the course. And these nonresidents get the benefit of having substantially increased access to what will become a better facility. I think that’s a big win for everybody.”

The city anticipates that the new golf course will get more use when it reopens.

“They essentially had a private golf course in their backyard that nobody was using,” Thomson said. “That’s not a sustainable model. If you want to keep this a golf course, which I imagine they do, you must have a situation where you have people playing on it that generates income sufficient to pay for its maintenance. That’s what we’re going to be doing.”

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Florida’s LPGA corridor is flourishing as multiple projects are being added around the golf course

Two new neighborhoods are coming to Daytona Beach’s LPGA corridor, adding 463 single-family homes nestled within the golf course.

Both neighborhoods will be located east of LPGA Boulevard, the final plats approved by the city of Daytona Beach on Oct. 6.

Local developer Parker Mynchenberg’s firm is engineer of the developments for Meritage Homes, a national homebuilder based in Arizona.

“These are two subdivisions that are in the old part of LPGA, so they’re kind of both infill,” Mynchenberg told the Volusia County Council on Tuesday. “So finally LPGA is going to be developed out. That helps the golf course, restaurant there, et cetera.”

LPGA International (Courtesy of LPGA International)

Meritage Homes of Florida is paying more than $2.9 million in proportionate fair share agreements for the new neighborhoods, 99% of which is going to the county for road improvements:

• $1.8 million for Legends Preserve, which will add 264 homes on 141 acres
• $1.1 million for Links Terrace, a 57-acre development adding 199 homes

County Engineer Tadd Kasbeer said this money will help fund the widening of Williamson Boulevard to four lanes from Strickland Range Road north to Hand Avenue.

Kasbeer said there also will be LPGA Boulevard improvements down the line, including to the bridge crossing Interstate 95, which he hopes the Florida Department of Transportation will largely fund.

“We want to try and leverage their budget as much as possible and minimize the impact to ours, but any of our proportionate fair share moving forward, we would start gathering and it would supplement whatever DOT doesn’t (pay for) on LPGA,” he told the county council.

Also: More restaurants, retail, luxury apartments coming to Daytona Beach’s red-hot LPGA area

Meritage Homes also owns two New Smyrna Beach developments, Sarinna Lakes and The Palms at Venetian Bay. Homes are priced at about $300,000 and up.

Mynchenberg said development likely won’t slow down in the LPGA area anytime soon.

“Quite a few projects coming your way,” he said. “My office designed quite a few and has a few more. They’re all subject to fair share, so there’ll be more checks coming.”

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Florida’s first reversible 9-hole golf course opens, part of $8 million facelift

The 60-acre course alternates weekly between clockwise and counterclockwise directions.

STUART, Florida — Shirley English’s Friday golf games at the Martin County Golf Course had paused for about a year after the property closed for an $8.2 million facelift.

After pivoting to the Shores of North River Golf Club north of the Roosevelt Bridge, the Stuart resident returned Monday morning to the newly named Sailfish Sands Golf Course on Southeast St. Lucie Boulevard.

She was one of the first players to test out the first reversible 9-hole course in the state.

“It was really fun and really beautiful,” English, 90, said. “We were used to the old course. This is different, but it’s very nice.”

The county debuted the 60-acre course, which alternates weekly between clockwise and counterclockwise directions, as the first phase of renovations alongside a driving range with ball-tracing technology. Both routes have a variety of par 3s, 4s and 5s with five sets of tee boxes at each hole for varying skill levels.

English and her peers were one of about 25 groups who reserved tee times Monday for the course, which takes about two hours to finish.

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An 18-hole course is set to open in about three weeks after the golf cart paths are finished, said Will Reilly, golf professional at Sailfish Sands.

The reversible-9-hole course opening, originally scheduled for August, was delayed because of contractor issues with labor and the supply chain, said Kevin Abbate, parks and recreation director. This slowed down the $1.4 million parking lot improvements that also were tied to a separate irrigation project on Southeast St. Lucie Boulevard.

Still under construction, a 14,000-square-foot clubhouse with a restaurant, full bar and two levels of hitting bays — similar to TopGolf — is expected to be complete in March, Abbate said. A company or restaurateur independent of the county will manage the clubhouse.

In addition to the ball-tracing technology at the driving range, golf carts are outfitted with touch screens that can be used for keeping score. The screens automatically show architectural renderings of each hole when driving by tee boxes.

English and her golf partner, Brenda Susla, said they had hiccups using the technology, specifically with fixing a score for a previous hole.

“I wish there were directions on the cart. (That) would be helpful,” Susla, 75, said of the touch screen. “But it’s pretty easy to do.”

County residents get a 20% discount for the reversible-9 course. Depending on the time of day, current rates are $12-$20 for residents and $15-$25 for non-residents. Both of these ranges include golf-cart use.

Buckets for the driving range are about $6-$19 for all players.

Rates will increase Nov. 8 after daylight saving time, said Mike Saunders, golf course administrator. Residents can play for $30 in the morning and $27 in the afternoon. Respectively, non-residents can play for $37 and $34.

Lina Ruiz is a watchdog reporter for TC Palm, part of the USA Today Network. You can reach her at lina.ruiz@tcpalm.com, on Twitter @Lina_Ruiz48 or at 321-501-3845.

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Billy Maxwell, a Texas golf legend, PGA Tour winner, long-time Hyde Park owner dies

The seven-time PGA Tour winner passed away at the age of 92.

Billy Maxwell, a feisty, gritty competitor who won seven PGA Tour titles with the help of a lethal 4-wood and precise short game, died Monday at the Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, at the age of 92.

Maxwell had suffered a stroke on Sept. 5.

In addition to a golf career that included eight top-10s and 19 top-25s in major championships and a 4-0 record in the 1963 Ryder Cup, Maxwell also owned the Hyde Park Golf Club, long considered one of the top public-golf experiences in the area.

He loved nothing more than to set up shop at the practice range, hit balls, tell golf stories or give free tips to customers.

“That’s all he ever wanted to do, was play and talk golf,” said his daughter Melanie Bevill. “I asked him one time, ‘do we always have to talk about golf in this family?’ But it was fun to watch him with people. He had an amazing career and an amazing life.”

A golf pro to the end, Bevill said as recently as last week her father was giving a nurse at Brooks a lesson on how to grip the club.

“I walked in and asked how he was doing and one of them said, ‘Oh, he was just giving us golf lesson,’” Cavill said. “Then the nurse told me that she Googled Dad’s name and didn’t realize all that he had accomplished.”

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Duke Butler III, a fellow member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame with Maxwell and former PGA Tour pro and Tour executive, said Maxwell had “enormous passion for the game, and for playing it correctly.”

Billy Maxwell grew up in the game

Maxwell was bred to play golf. He and his twin brother Bob were the last two of seven children born to W.O. and Eudona Maxwell and his father was the head pro and superintendent of the Maxwell Municipal Golf Course in Abilene, Texas, which is still operating.

Maxwell went on to win the 1947 Texas State Junior, the 1951 U.S. Amateur and play on three NCAA national championship teams at North Texas State – in a lineup considered the best in college golf history, along with Don January, Buster Reed and Joe Conrad.

Maxwell beat Joe Gagliardi, 4 and 3, in the U.S. Amateur final at Saucon Valley in Pennsylvania but that wasn’t his biggest victory of the year. It was earlier when he married Mary Katharine (known to family and friends as “M.K.” They were married for 47 years before she passed away in 1999.

Maxwell then went on to carve out a respectable career on the PGA Tour, winning 10 professional tournaments in all, adding the Mexican, Puerto Rican and Florida Opens to his Tour ledger.

Maxwell’s best season was in 1961 when he won the Bob Hope Desert Classic by two shots over Doug Sanders, then out-dueled Ted Kroll on the seventh playoff hole to win the Insurance City Open, the forerunner to the PGA Tour’s current event in Hartford, Conn.

Maxwell finished 10th on the PGA Tour money list that season with $28,335.

He also won the Memphis Open and the Dallas City Open, which later morphed into the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic.

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Maxwell, Blocker buy Hyde Park

Maxwell then found a second career as a golf-course owner. Through his years of playing in the Greater Jacksonville Open, Maxwell discovered Hyde Park, which had been owned by the of Jacksonville. He and fellow Tour pro Chris Blocker got the money together to buy the course in 1971, and it has since become a favored place for players of all ability levels and backgrounds.

When he wasn’t touring, Maxwell was often at Hyde Park, either hitting balls or giving lessons on the range, or telling tall tales in the pro shop.

“He was always very positive and very supportive of my career,” said 10-time PGA Tour winner Mark McCumber, who grew up across the street from Hyde Park.

McCumber said that after he began winning on the Tour, he could count on a congratulatory hand-written card being in the mail from M.K. Maxwell.

Later, he played with Maxwell at the Tour’s team championship at Disney World and got a taste of Maxwell’s legendary competitiveness.

“Billy had a 50-foot putt that was really breaking hard,” McCumber said. “It burned the edge. I yelled over, ‘nice roll, pro.’ He yelled back, ‘if I wanted nice rolls I’d go to the bakery.’ Billy was a very determined competitor. Put hit his head down and plowed forward.”

Another product of Hyde Park, former Tour member and two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Charles Raulerson, said Maxwell told him how to handle the day-to-day competition on the Tour.

“He said to get on the first tee, and be a gentleman,” Raulerson said. “Shake their hands and be polite but in your head, tell yourself, ‘you’ve got to beat these guys today.’ If you don’t, you’ll never win a golf tournament.’”

Maxwell continued playing competitive golf into his 70s at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf event on the PGA Tour champions. He also played in Northern Chapter PGA events, the Henry Tuten Gator Bowl Pro-Am and an earlier version of the Underwood Cup matches.

He also was a member of “The Munchkins,” a group of former PGA Tour executives, players and charter members of the TPC Sawgrass who frequented the Stadium and Dye’s Valley Courses

Fond caddy memories of Billy Maxwell

Raulerson said Maxwell was never afraid to speak his mind. One day while chatting with Maxwell in the pro shop, a customer came in and asked how much a golf glove cost. When Maxwell told he could buy the glove cheaper at Edwin Watts, a golf retail chain that had just opened its first store in Jacksonville, Maxwell replied, “then go play their course.”

Former TaxSlayer Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett came to know Maxwell through his father and brother, PGA Tour player Terry Catlett, and caddied for Maxwell at the GJO when he was a student at Parker.

Maxwell then offered Catlett a working vacation: before entering the Air National Guard in 1970, Catlett caddied for Maxwell in all four Florida Swing events.

The trip to Miami to play at Doral included a visit one night to the Miami Playboy Club to hang with Maxwell and one of his friends – baseball legend Mickey Mantle.

“I was mesmerized,” Catlett said. “Caddying for Billy was one of the top-five experiences I’ve had in my life and I’ve had some pretty good experiences. He was very good to me, a lot of fun to be around. It wasn’t like a typical player-caddie relationship where the player would go one way and the caddie another at the end of the day. I stayed with him at the best hotels, ate dinner with him, went to the pro-am parties. It was a unique insight into PGA Tour life.”

Bevill said funeral arrangements are pending and may include a memorial for her father at Hyde Park, which is undergoing renovations in its 96th year of operation.

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Only a 1970s recreation restriction can save a Florida course from becoming a housing development

If approved, it would be the latest in a series of golf-course conversions. Palm Beach County has seen more than 10 in five years.

PALM BEACH, Florida — The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission voted Thursday to support another golf course conversion — this one west of Lake Worth Beach that would result in a 450-unit residential development replacing the 50-year-old Forest Oaks golf course at Lucerne Lakes.

Zoning commissioners heard more than two hours of testimony in support and in opposition to the plans of Canadian homebuilder Mattamy Homes, which is under contract to buy the 79-acre course for $15 million from Grillo Golf Management.

County planners received petitions with more than 700 signatures opposed to the project and another 200 unique emails in opposition as well. They received more than 100 letters in support of the plans.

Land-use attorney Lisa Reves of West Palm Beach, representing disgruntled homeowners at Lucerne Lakes, spoke in opposition. She argued that a restriction included in the documents when the planned-unit development was built in the 1970s prevents the golf course from being converted into a development. The documents, she said, require that the golf course be maintained as recreation in perpetuity.

She said Mattamy’s own title insurance company has refused to insure the title to the property if objections are raised citing the restriction that allegedly bars development of the golf course.

“People purchased these homes based on the reliance that the recreation area would always be there,” she noted.

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County land-use attorney Robert Banks advised that the issue of the covenant was not within the purview of the Zoning Commission to address. He explained that the issue is something for homeowners at Lucerne Lakes and Mattamy to resolve.

Residents said they were upset over the loss of their golf-course views. They were also concerned about the amount of dust that would be generated as a result of the conversion.

Staff concluded that the project is consistent with county zoning and recommended approval.

Vincent Grillo and his business partner, Nick Pisano, said they cannot compete with county-owned facilities.

“We cannot make a go of it anymore,” Grillo said, noting that very few Lucerne Lakes residents golf at the course. In the 1990s, Grillo said, as many as 100 residents would golf on a daily basis. Today, that number is fewer than 10.

In this June 2001 photo, a golfer at the Forest Oaks golf course at Lucerne Lakes in Lake Worth Beach plays out of a sand trap. The course is set to become a housing development. (Photo by Taylor Jones/Palm Beach Post)

“The residents do not support the course,” Grillo said.

The golf course, in an unincorporated area under county jurisdiction, is on the south side of Lake Worth Road at Lucerne Lakes Boulevard. Access will be through a traffic light on Lake Worth Road with a future connection to Charleston Street. Nearly half of the 79 acre-tract would be left as open space.

If approved, it would be the latest in a series of golf-course conversions in South Florida. Palm Beach County, by itself, has seen more than 10 conversions in the past five years.

Vacant land is difficult to find. Homebuilders gobble up failing golf courses as soon as an owner puts it up for sale. Grillo has agreed to keep the course open until permits are obtained so that it will not go fallow and become “a nuisance to existing surrounding communities.”

The agent for Mattamy Homes said the builder has gone out of its way to address concerns raised by residents of Lucerne Lakes. A number of adjustments have been made, he said, noting that buffers have been extended and setbacks increased to accommodate the residents. Mattamy had planned at one time to build 600 homes.

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‘What’s going on is extraordinary’: PGA of America execs offer timetable for once-shuttered Florida course

After years in which weeds have blanketed this course, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh says he anticipates a fall 2022 reopening.

WEST PALM BEACH — Could it happen?

After years in which weeds have blanketed West Palm Beach‘s closed golf course, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh says he anticipates its reconstruction will start this summer, teeing up a fall 2022 reopening.

At a community meeting Feb. 17, Waugh came armed with renderings of the proposed 18-hole course with a 9-hole par 3 course nestled next to it, along with a clubhouse, practice areas and pro shop, and a building for South Florida PGA offices and youth programs.

A parade of proposers and urban designers have presented artists’ renderings before. But Waugh has assembled pieces missing from past presentations:

$22 million pledged from donors, toward a goal of endowing the facility with $35 million to cover construction, maintenance and contingencies such as emergency storm repairs.
A nonprofit concept that doesn’t require sacrificing any of the 196-acre site to real estate development, a long-held desire of neighborhood residents who hope to preserve fairway expanses where the likes of Arnold Palmer once played.
An enthusiastic mayor and commission.

The vision, Waugh told residents gathered virtually and in person for his presentation, is to create “best in class” programs to serve youth, families, the disabled, beginners and accomplished golfers. A nonprofit trust led by Waugh and other PGA of America officials and community members would build “an inspirational and inclusive golf hub” to expand the sport in West Palm Beach, building “one of the best public golf experiences in the country,” he said.

“What’s going on is pretty extraordinary.”

PGA of America Board of Director, Seth Waugh poses for a photo during the 100th PGA Annual Meeting held at the Grand Hyatt New York on November 11, 2016 in New York, New York. (Photo by Montana Pritchard/PGA of America)

The project is overseen by West Palm Golf Community Trust, a nonprofit consisting of community and business leaders and golf industry experts. They will restore the course, which dates to 1947, and operate it under the name West Palm Golf Park, Waugh said.

Plans call for:

A “community-minded” public course, with a focus on junior golfers, world-class coaching and affordable prices for residents. Prices for non-West Palm Beach residents will be higher.
A new Gil Hanse-designed 18-hole course with tees ranging from 4,700 yards to more than 7,200 yards, par 71.
A Gil Hanse-designed 9-hole short course, with holes ranging from 60 to 110 yards, lighted for evening play.
A 380-yard, two-sided driving range that also will be lighted; a practice area for chipping; and two putting greens, one of them a putting course for use by the broader community.
Club and putter fitting.
World-class instruction for beginners to elite golfers.

An artist's rendering of the proposed clubhouse at West Palm Golf Park. COURTESY SPINAOROURKE — An artist’s rendering of the proposed clubhouse at West Palm Golf Park. COURTESY SPINAOROURKE

The clubhouse will be modest but inviting, designed for low-maintenance costs and to be environmentally friendly, he said. It will have room for up to 150 people indoors and additional space on its patios for banquets, weddings or other events.

To date, $22 million has been committed by donors, he said. The founding group is prepared to contribute about $3 million and is looking for like-minded Palm Beach County golfers to join them, he said.

The total of $35 million required to build and sustain the project will include no money from city coffers. It will come from individual donors and a limited number of corporate partners, Waugh said.

An artist's rendering of the east-side entry of the proposed clubhouse at West Palm Golf Park. COURTESY SPINAOROURKE — An artist’s rendering of the east-side entry of the proposed clubhouse at West Palm Golf Park. COURTESY SPINAOROURKE

The entrance will be off Georgia Avenue, no longer off Forest Hill Boulevard and Parker Avenue. Assistant City Administrator Armando Fana said that Georgia Avenue might require landscaping or other beautification but what form that would take and who would pay has not been decided.

The golf park entry would be on the southeast side of the property, off Georgia Avenue. COURTESY SPINAOROURKE

“Efforts to revive the municipal course have been stop-and-start in recent years, but I’m very confident we now have a wonderful path forward,” said City Commissioner Christina Lambert, who hosted last week’s information session.

Mayor Keith James said the city was fortunate to have a partner in Waugh and PGA and added he was especially happy the project wouldn’t cost the city anything.

“We wanted to get it done right,” the mayor said. “I’m so pleased with the direction in which this project is moving.”

James announced in March 2020 that he had reached a handshake agreement with Waugh to give PGA of America 15 months to find donors to finance the proposal. During those 15 months, James said, West Palm Beach would work up an arrangement to lease the 196-acre property to PGA.

West Palm Beach Municipal Golf Course closed in 2018 but the city is negotiating with PGA of America to reopen it as a nonprofit.

Despite millions spent to restore the course in 2009, the popular South End facility soon fell into disrepair. The city razed the clubhouse in 2015 and in 2018 chained the property closed to spare maintenance costs while soliciting proposals to bring it back to life.

@TonyDorisPBP

Bobby Weed design will be first new course in this Florida region since 2004

A new golf course midway between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida, will be the area’s first new course opening in more than a decade and a half.

The Stillwater Golf Club, which is being built within the Lennar’s news active adult community between Longleaf Pine Parkway and Greenbriar Road on County Road 210, has about 12 of the 18 holes shaped and irrigated, with sod walls put in. It will be grassed in April.

“We’re pretty far along and the surprise is that the soil is much better than I initially thought,” said course architect Bobby Weed. “It will be fantastic for draining and playability.”

The course, which will be managed by Hampton Golf, will be a par-71, tipping out at around 6,800 yards. The property was already clear-cut for the 549-home development but there are numerous wetlands throughout the course, native areas that Weed said will be left undisturbed and a variety of short and long holes, small to large greens and strategically-place bunkers.

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He also said it won’t be a cookie-cutter Florida golf course.

“It’s the first golf course built in St. Johns County [since Palencia in 2004] so don’t expect a golf course from the past,” said Weed, who has also designed the Slammer & Squire, the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley and done renovations at Timuquana and the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club Ocean and Lagoon courses. “It’s not the same-style golf course. We’ll have things you don’t see on North Florida courses, such as sidewall bunkers, lay-down walls … they will be angled, with a much cleaner, elegant finish.”

Weed also said there will be no rough and no cart paths. Most of the time, carts will be driven through crushed shell areas.

The routing also will lend itself to creative choices by players. It is set up for three-, six-, nine-, 12- and 15-hole loops, with every third hole winding back near the clubhouse. Stillwater will join other area courses such as Blue Sky and The Yards in offering more options than 9- or 18-hole rounds.

There will be five sets of tees, with tifeagle bermuda grass on the greens and tiftough on the fairways.

[lawrence-related id=778086346,778085446,778081635,778080471]

As Florida’s Bobby Jones Golf Club shrinks, new maritime museum could fill in gaps

Last year, city commissioners agreed to shrink the size of the municipal Bobby Jones Golf Club and open the park for broader public use than golf.

SARASOTA, Florida – A group of boating enthusiasts believes Florida isn’t doing enough to collect, preserve and display Florida’s rich maritime history.

Dating back 7,000 years to the early Native Americans, it’s become a major industry and continues to be a key economic driver. But there are few places in the state to explore that history.

They hope to soon change that.

But the Maritime Museum isn’t proposed along the shimmering waters of the Gulf of Mexico or Sarasota Bay, but five miles inland at Bobby Jones Golf Club.

The board of the Gulf Coast Maritime Museum, a newly formed nonprofit, is slated to ask Sarasota city commissioners on Monday to OK a $1 lease agreement for up to two acres of the city-owned Bobby Jones Golf Course – a course already earmarked for a $15 million renovation project.

Architectural plans drawn up by Seibert Architects call for three 10,000-square-foot exhibition buildings for more than 50 boats. Two 4,000-square-foot buildings would be needed for a gift shop, ticket office and movie theater. There will also be room for workshops, administrative offices and parking.

The Board of the Gulf Coast Maritime Museum, a newly formed nonprofit, plans to ask Sarasota City Commissioners on Monday to OK a $1 lease agreement for up to two acres of the city-owned Bobby Jones Golf Course – a course already earmarked for a $15 million renovation project.

“The museum will put Sarasota squarely in the ranks of major maritime museum locations in the country,” John Pether, the Gulf Coast Maritime Museum’s secretary, told commissioners last week.

“The Gulf Coast Maritime Museum has no competition, and will attract local visitors and tourists, as well as boating enthusiasts from all over Florida and out of state,” Pether said.

Pether said he anticipates between 50,000 and 80,000 annual visitors. The number, he said, was based on the visitor count to the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton. A maritime museum could bring in about $2.1 million into the local economy, Pether estimates.

Pether’s proposal doesn’t mention the Florida Maritime Museum nestled within the fishing village of Cortez about 19 miles north of Bobby Jones in Manatee County. That museum, run by Manatee County, also provides a look at Florida’s rich maritime history.

The Bobby Jones Golf Course is situated between Fruitville Road and 17th Street, just east of Beneva Road, in Sarasota.

The proposed location may meet with some resistance. Last year, city commissioners agreed to shrink the size of the municipal Bobby Jones Golf Club and open the park for broader public use than golf. The property covers 293 acres and the city has selected 47.4 acres of parkland to be used for preservation and recreation.

The design for the new course and park space is still in the works and it might be too early to make certain changes, said Commissioner Liz Alpert.

“I don’t want to do piecemeal bits until we see the overall plan,” Alpert said. “If there’s another place in the city that we can find, that would probably be more optimal.”

Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch pointed to the lengthy process the city underwent to finally settle on a plan to modernize and renovate Bobby Jones.

“Bobby Jones has been through a lot,” said Ahearn-Koch.

“It’s a great idea but I’m not completely convinced that Bobby Jones is the place for it,” Ahearn-Koch said.

In its proposal, the Gulf Coast Maritime Museum identifies the space earmarked for golf. However, it does not say where in the park it would like to build its two-acre museum.

Sarasota is an attractive city for such a museum, Pether said. It’s close to Interstate 75 and is central to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Sarasota also has a rich maritime history.

In 1885 the first Scottish settlers arrived by boat in Sarasota Bay. Bill and Marie Selby loved to fish. John Ringling had a large yacht. The Sarasota Yacht Club had a racing fleet as early as the 1920s, and an active fishing and charter fleet operated from the old Sarasota City Pier until it was demolished in the 1950s.

Major boat builders such as Yellowfin Yachts, Andros Boat Works, Panga Marine, Chris Craft and Ocean 1 Yachts all call the area home.

Sarasota Bay is regularly used for recreational sailing, as well as state, national, and international sailing regattas, as well as offshore powerboat racing. From Venice north to Bradenton, there are six active Yacht Clubs.

The commodores of those clubs unanimously support a Sarasota location for the Gulf Coast Maritime Museum, according to Pether’s petition.

If the City Commission agrees to the proposal, the nonprofit would begin fundraising $5.5 million for construction and endowment funds. Pether estimates it may take up to 2 ½ years to raise the money, which he expects would come from a combination of private donations and Sarasota County bed taxes.

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Forward Press podcast: Taking a swing through Florida golf

In episode 35, David Dusek catches up with Jason Lusk, the foremost expert on golf courses and resorts at Golfweek.

It’s a special Florida swing of Golfweek’s Forward Press podcast. For episode 35, it’s time to bring in Jason Lusk, the foremost expert on golf courses and resorts at Golfweek. Dusek and Lusk discuss why it’s important to appreciate golf in Florida, what are some of the better tracks across the state and why grain is more of a factor on the greens.

Forward Press is a weekly Golfweek podcast. In each episode, you’ll get insight and commentary on all that is golf from David Dusek, Steve DiMeglio, Beth Ann Nichols, Eamon Lynch and Adam Schupak, as well as special guests throughout the industry.

You can download and listen on all of your favorite platforms, including: iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Castbox, Radio Public.

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