Milford Hospitality Group (MHG) has entered lease negotiations with the National Park Service (NPS) to operate the historic Cliff Park Inn & Golf Course in Dingman Township, Pike County, within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA).
The course has plenty of historic value as it is believed to be the first in the United States to be commissioned by a woman. Annie R. Buchanan was a widow who oversaw the building of the golf course at Cliff Park at the turn of the 20th Century. The farm fields at the old Buchanan homestead weren’t productive, so Buchanan hired golfer Frank Hyatt to turn her fields into fairways. In 1928, according to her grandson Harry Buchanan, Annie took a trip to China, alone. “She was not a woman to be pushed around,” Buchanan said.
In the early 1900s, when silent film companies visited Milford to make movies, the rugged cliffs in the area overlooking the Delaware River were used for scenes.
MHG plans to maintain a public golf course for all to enjoy the benefits and beauty of Cliff Park, restore and reopen the inn and restaurant, and offer other unspecified public amenities. The project, done in phases, is expected to create approximately 45 temporary full-time jobs during construction and once fully operational, provide around 25 full-time jobs at the resort.
The inn has been vacant since 2012 while the nine-hole golf course has continued to be operated by another lessee, whose lease expires this fall. The resort is accessed from Milford Road (SR 2001).
In January, the NPS issued a request for proposals for leases to take the entire property, including the golf course, inn, restaurant and other outlying buildings on the 54-acre site. According to MHG, the inn is dilapidated, and the golf course needs improvements and upgrades.
MHG hopes to become the operator of the golf course. Its plans are also to renovate and reopen the inn, restaurant, banquet center, pro shop and other outlying buildings.
“We are honored to have been chosen for this unique opportunity, which aligns perfectly with our mission to provide world-class entertainment experiences in Historic Milford, PA,” said William Rosado, president and owner of Milford Hospitality Group. “We look forward to engaging in fruitful negotiations with the National Park Service and are committed to complying with all NPS leasing regulations throughout the process.”
According to the NPS DEWA, there was an attempt in 2012 to lease the property, but there were no bidders then. “Without occupants the maintenance backlog accrued more quickly,” the NPS states. “There are nearly 700 other buildings at the park, 285 of which are historic, which compete for limited maintenance, funding, and staffing resources.”
In 2022, approximately 3,000 rounds of golf were played at Cliff Park.
A view from the tee box of hole No. 2 at Cliff Park Inn and Golf Course in Milford. Photo: POCONO RECORD
NPS purchased the Cliff Park Inn & Golf Course, and approximately 500 acres, in 2003 to protect the property from development.
About 60 years ago, Harry Buchanan, the former Cliff Park owner, made a promise to make it part of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. If the property had been sold and developed for housing, the public would have lost access to the trails, the inn, and the golf course forever, the NPS states.
MHG is the owner and operator of historic inns, hotels, restaurants, bars, and event venues throughout Milford. This includes three hotels, Tom Quick Inn, Hotel Fauchère and La Posad; and six restaurants, Tom Quick Inn, Jive Bar & Lounge, Bar Louis, The Delmonico Room, La Posada & Felix’s Cantina, and Apple Valley Restaurant.
“MHG looks forward to continuing a close and cooperative relationship with the NPS throughout this process and under the potential new lease agreement,” the group’s press release states.
This trophy was given to the winner for a year from 1928 to 1976. It recently resurfaced.
ROCKFORD, Illinois — Nearly three feet tall. Four tiers. Dozens of engraved silver nameplates record each winner through the decades. Five silver figures adorn the sides and top.
They don’t hand out golf trophies like this anymore.
“One of the most interesting things about it is it is old school,” said TJ Baker, who made it the “top priority” in his trophy case after winning his second consecutive Greater Rockford Men’s Classic last year. “That’s why it’s great.”
The most interesting thing of all about the Men’s City traveling trophy is it was missing for over a decade. Robert Dofflemyer III, who won this third title in 11 years in the 96-year-old tournament last week, never knew the trophy existed.
“It’s very unique,” Dofflemyer said. “I don’t remember seeing it before. I do like the women’s trophy. Obviously, I’ve seen that one.”
That’s because his mother, Hui Chong Dofflemyer, and his wife, the former Melissa VanSistine, both proudly displayed the equally large and ornate women’s trophy in their homes as two-time winners of the 98-year-old Women’s City.
But few golfers knew the men had their own traveling trophy, to go along with a smaller one given out each year for the winner to keep forever.
The trophy resurfaced thanks to tournament coordinator John Rabideau. He asked Jamie Hogan, who holds a record nine Men’s City titles if the men had a traveling trophy similar to the women. Hogan said he thought so, but didn’t know where it was.
The Rockford Men’s City traveling golf trophy was lost for over a decade before being re-discovered and handed out again in 2022. Photo: Matt Trowbridge/Peoria Journal Star
“I don’t think anyone knew,” Rabideau said.
But Rabideau knew where to look.
“I figured if it was stored anywhere it would be somewhere in the Webbs Norman building,” Rabideau said of the Rockford Park District headquarters. “I found it in the basement. It was just sitting there on a table.
“It just needed to be cleaned up a bit. The plates weren’t looking good. The wood was scruffy. I took all the plates off and polished them up. It needed to be sanded, buffed, shined, etc.”
And added to. The trophy is a living testament to Men’s City history, with a nameplate for every winner since 1977. With the trophy not updated in the last several years, Rabideau had to ask around to learn who to make new nameplates for over the last several years.
Then, shortly after he presented the restored trophy to TJ Baker 11 months ago, he found another Men’s City trophy.
WREX TV sponsored the current trophy, starting in 1977. The original traveling trophy was sponsored by The Rockford Register-Republic, a forerunner of the Rockford Register Star, and presented from 1928 through 1976.
Mike Johnson won his third of four Men’s City titles in 1976. He kept the old trophy in his basement until he gave it back to the Park District last year, shortly after the other trophy was re-discovered. It is now displayed next to the fireplace at Sandy Hollow Golf Course.
“I didn’t know there was another one before this one,” Rabideau said. “Mike offered it up out of the blue.”
It is a much smaller trophy than the current traveling award, but once again is very old school and includes a record of past winners.
“I picked it up a month ago, took it apart, polished it up and put it back together,” Rabideau said. “ We had to re-attach the statue on top because it was welded with lead or some other odd thing that doesn’t work well anymore, so we had to drive a stake through it. It is now repaired and looks pretty good.
“It required more polishing than the current traveling trophy because it was older. It may not look nearly as nice, but it’s polished up as well as it can be.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
YORKTOWN, N.Y. – The overwhelming Lower Hudson Valley floods brought tragedy and destruction, but for plain old frustration look to this town.
On July 8, golfers, families and officials reveled at the grand opening of a town-owned, par-3 golf course with a DJ and ribbon-cutting. Returning a course to the property had been eyed for more than a decade.
By evening of July 9, the course was submerged in the deluge.
“The golf course was completely flooded with water,” Town Supervisor Tom Diana said.
The 9-hole Links at Valley Fields course in the Shrub Oak hamlet, in the town’s north end, shut down that Monday. Diana said on Tuesday that a good amount of water had receded from the course.
On Thursday, the course reopened.
The clubhouse was spared flooding or damage. But the pro shop did get some flooding and various equipment such as golf carts and grounds-keeping equipment were affected.
Chris Munoz, a partner in the team that operates the facility, said on Tuesday that a lot of manpower was working at the site, “trying to save everything as much as possible.” He said the crew was doing everything to clear out the water. He expressed hope the course could open by the weekend, which it did.
“Even if we open, still we’re still going to have repairs going on, but we’d like to get the public back on our course as soon as possible,” Munoz said.
A September 2018 article on the United States Golf Association website said one key is to get excessive water out, quickly.
“When submersed for long periods, grass is deprived of oxygen and begins to die,” the article said, adding that the situations can be worse if it’s salt water – not the situation in well-inland Yorktown. “Beyond the damage caused by floodwater, deposits of silt, rock and debris can prevent routine maintenance and can take weeks or even months to clear.”
A view of the newly opened The Links at Valley Fields in Shrub Oak, July 8, 2023. Town officials celebrated Yorktown’s golf course grand reopening with an all day event after being closed for years. Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News
Yorktown and a host of other localities in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Orange counties, as well as their residents, may well apply for disaster relief to help offset some of the repair costs. The governor declared states of emergency in those counties, a step toward seeking Federal Emergency Management Agency help or reimbursement. Towns and residents must assess what’s damaged and its value. For towns, experts need to assess structural integrity of things such as bridges and roads.
Diana said the town has a number of things along those lines to consider seeking assistance for, such as badly-damaged culverts.
Financial costs the flooding may have foisted on the golf course weren’t known. Munoz said “we really don’t know at this point” and “we’re just assessing at this point as well.”
On July 8, roughly 24 hours before record rains fell in some places, Diana used a giant pair of scissors to cut the red ribbon at the grand opening. Adults and children stood to either side as he proclaimed, “open for business.”
“We are so excited that, after so many years, this group has opened this place in 14 weeks,” Diana said, asking for a round of applause. “Fourteen weeks, after waiting more than 10 years, to have this jewel in the town of Yorktown today.”
The golf course, off Taconic State Parkway and bordered by Route 6 and Lee Boulevard, has a restaurant/bar, an outside dining area with a pergola, and provides golf carts for mobility-impaired people. Part-way through the course, there’s a spot to get cold drinks and there’s a fire pit. Plans are for people to book tee times online. It’s nine holes for $40. People can also take golf lessons, with the website showing a half-hour session for $75, an hour for $100, and a package of five half-hour lessons for $350.
Under a five-year agreement, Yorktown Golf Group, which will operate the facility, will pay yearly to the town, starting at $78,000 and rising annually.
“It’s really a beautiful course; these guys did a wonderful job,” Diana said, adding that it’s perhaps one of only two such public 9-hole courses in Westchester.
But creating the golf course spanned years, on and off. And a legal battle launched last year over it continues in state court.
In 2014, the town and RC Recreation Development, a limited liability company, notched an agreement. RC Recreation Development would bring the course to life and operate it, the restaurant and clubhouse for 10 years, then turn it over to the town. The company’s operating license was extended to 2028.
But after what town officials asserted were delays in getting the project closer to a finish line, the Town Board last year voted to end the agreement. Later that year, the board asked for proposals from others and selected Yorktown Golf Group.
RC Recreation Development last year sued several town officials. RC Recreation Development has also filed a suit naming as defendants the company operating the course and its partners.
RC has said it put more than $8 million into development including renovating greens and code upgrades, the Journal News reported. RC has said delays were due to the pandemic, supply-chain issues and bug infestations.
On June 15, a state judge dismissed seven of the suit’s claims. The suit is moving forward on the remaining claims.
Michael McKinney covers growth and development for The Journal News/lohud.com and the USA Today Network.
STOCKTON, California — A fire burned at the shuttered Van Buskirk Golf Course in south Stockton Friday afternoon.
Around 2 p.m., local firefighters battled the grass fire near the Van Buskirk Community Center, across the street from Conway Homes.
Smoke plumes could be seen for miles — as far as Lathrop — as fire crews worked to get the blaze under control. It’s unclear how many acres the blaze has consumed.
The former municipal golf course, which was closed four years ago, is located between Houston Avenue and the levees of the San Joaquin River and French Camp Slough.
A multiple-acre grass fire rages at the former Van Buskirk golf course in south Stockton. The 214-acre property has been idle since 2019 when the city shuttered the course. Photo: Clifford Oto/Stockton Record/USA Today Network
A grass fire previously burned the area in June 2022.
The golf course, a longtime staple in the south Stockton community, was open to the public for six decades before it closed in 2019. This classic Larry Norstrom design was built in 1960. The 214-acre property has sat behind a chain-link fence since the Van Buskirk family decided to give it to the city, provided it’s only used for recreation.
After years of planning and community meetings to discuss the reimagining of Van Buskirk Park, Stockton City Council approved a master plan for the property at the Jan. 24 meeting. The proposed layout includes a BMX track, disc golf, skate park, splash pad and community garden, as well as areas that can serve as potential flood control space.
City officials did not give an estimated completion date for the project.
Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at recordnet.com/subscribenow.
OLD BRIDGE. N.J. – A spokesperson for a township just south of New York City said its new golf complex will not open until a management firm is found to run the facility.
The complex’s driving range is expected to open by the end of July, but that is subject to finding a management firm, Township Business Administrator and Director of Finance/CFO Himanshu Shah said.
“The range opening may be delayed if we don’t have a management company in place,” he added.
The course is expected to open in late fall, Shah said. Old Bridge is just south of New Brunswick, which sits near the southern tip of Staten Island.
“It is very difficult for a municipality to operate such a facility,” Shah said. “There is a lot of intricacy required.”
Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose Lambertson is located on the north and south side of Lambertson Road. The facility includes an 18-hole golf course, driving range, short-game practice area, practice putting green and mini-golf area.
Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose Lambertson is expected to open later this year.
The project also includes a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse, 5,000-square-foot maintenance building, eight bioretention basins and six wet ponds for stormwater management throughout the golf course.
As part of a redevelopment agreement, Efrem Gerszberg, owner of 2020 Acquisitions, a national real estate development company, agreed to build the course, at no cost to the township, and turn it over to the township.
At its June 13 meeting, the Township Council unanimously approved going out to bid for a management company to operate the complex.
The township will maintain ownership of the land and the golf course, township officials said.
One of the conditions of the contract, Shah said, is the selected provider make annual payments to the township,
It’s unusual for a governmental entity to operate and manage a golf course because employees don’t have the expertise, Township Attorney Mark Roselli said.
Roselli explained that competitive contracting is being used because it is “designed for specialized services and the operation of a golf course is certainly a specialized service.”
“It’s not a situation where you go out for the lowest responsible bidder because there’s so many different issues involved in managing and operating the golf course,” he said.
The management firm will be responsible for the operating, upkeep and maintenance, but also acquiring the necessary equipment for operating a golf course and the concession stand, Roselli said. The concession stand will also be management’s responsibility, he added.
“It’s not unusual to do it this way,” Roselli said. “It’s a win-win. It’s a large undertaking, but the goal is to seek and obtain it from someone who has the expertise in operating it, so that we can move forward.”
The course will have a four-tier rate schedule, with the lowest rate for Old Bridge residents, followed by Middlesex County residents, then state residents and then out-of-state residents, as required under the Green Acres agreement.
Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
The architect’s firm will adjust the front nine and build a back nine for the municipal layout in California.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. has signed on to renovate and complete the North Course at Corica Park in Alameda, California. The layout – just south of Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco – is scheduled to open in December of 2024.
The front nine of the North Course, most recently renovated by Marc Logan with input from Golf Digest architecture editor emeritus Rob Whitten in 2021, will remain open for play during the Jones Jr. renovation. Logan’s plans to build a back nine were halted during a legal battle between himself, the course operators and the city of Alameda, and the course was never completed. Those legal issues were resolved in January 2023.
Jones’ firm, Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects, will make adjustments to the existing front nine while constructing the new back nine. Work is scheduled to begin in June. The original 18-hole North Course was designed by William Park Bell and opened in 1927.
The municipal Corica Park also is home to the South Course, originally designed by William Francis Bell Jr. (son of William Park Bell) and opened in 1957. That 18-hole layout was renovated by Rees Jones, brother of Robert Trent Jones Jr., in 2018.
The project was initiated by Greenway Golf, the long-term lessee, developer and manager of the 333-acre golf complex. Greenway Golf is owned by Avani and Umesh Patel.
“The Patels and Greenway have a remarkable vision for municipal golf courses, one that evolves the role municipal golf can play in mitigating climate change and creating green spaces for everyone to enjoy,” Jones Jr. said in a media release announcing the news. “Our goal is to deliver on their vision of a memorable, challenging golf experience for all players, while taking a holistic approach to design and sustainability of the natural environment.”
Greenway Golf said in its media release that it has worked for 10 years to upgrade the facility, which also includes the Mif Albright Par-3 Course, the Lucius Bateman Driving Range and an extensive practice facility.
The announcement from Augusta National brought smiles to many, but with change comes uncertainty.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — For all the merriment surrounding Augusta National Golf Club’s announcement last week that a new partnership would be forged with Augusta Municipal Golf Course, there was anything but a look of glee on Jim Dent Jr.’s face the day after the 2023 Masters wrapped up and Jon Rahm was fitted for his first green jacket.
The son of the former PGA Tour pro and 12-time PGA Tour Champions winner, Dent Jr. has been the head pro at Augusta Municipal, known as “The Patch,” for five years since relocating from Shreveport, Louisiana. He played college golf at Talladega College, an HBCU in Alabama, after growing up in Florida. He moved to Augusta to take the job at this historic course and be closer to his father.
Dent Jr. thinks the news is a major coup for the course, which stands to gain a considerable investment from the new partnership with Augusta Municipal, the First Tee of Augusta and Augusta Tech, which previously announced a deal with the City of Augusta to assume the operation of The Patch by 2025. As part of this new announcement, Augusta Tech will relocate its golf course management program to The Patch, creating a living classroom environment.
But while that should mean better conditions for those who play the course designed by David Ogilvie in 1928, it puts Dent Jr. in the awkward position of not knowing whether he’ll be part of the campus’s future.
“It’s good for the golf course,” Dent Jr. told Golfweek on Monday. “But we’re still in limbo because we’re with the management company. Things are going to change, for sure, and we don’t know where our jobs are going.”
Head pro Jim Dent Jr. stands behind the counter at Augusta Municipal Golf Course, known as “The Patch,” which will partner with Augusta National on a major initiative. (Photo by Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)
As with many municipal golf courses, The Patch works through a management company, which helps handle day-to-day operations. In this case, the company is Cypress Management of Orlando, which took over the course nearly a decade ago. So it’s possible the change to Augusta Municipal and the stronger relationship with Augusta National could force Dent Jr., course superintendent Scott Giles and general manager Ira Miller to the side if Cypress Management is not retained. No details have been released on that business arrangement.
Still, Dent Jr., who clearly has the trust of regulars, has tried to stay positive for those who will reap the rewards of the new arrangement.
“Even the announcement was something. We heard when everybody else heard. At least I did. I didn’t know anything. My first reaction was, this is good, it’s great for the golf course, great for the community,” Dent Jr. said. “And then my second reaction was, am I going to have a job? That was it. I mean, it’s great for the city. Great for the course. When Augusta takes something over, they make sure it’s right. But we don’t know what’s next for us.”
Augusta Municipal Golf Course, a public course also known as The Patch in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo: Augusta National)
Like his dad, who excelled as a senior, Dent Jr. hopes to eventually crack the PGA Tour Champions and has been working toward that goal as he approaches 50. His father, who turns 84 next month, made more than $9 million in earnings in professional golf, much of it on the senior circuit.
But Dent Jr.’s focus is still clearly on The Patch, a place where many congregate even when they’re not playing golf. On Monday a group was playing cards in a back room while a number of golfers practiced on the range. The Patch is a bustling place, and while it certainly can use some more love, it’s become a community hub of sorts. The elder Dent still plays in the local skins game each week, and he’s still posting low numbers.
“You get my dad at the right tees and he’s still knocking birdies down,” Dent Jr. said. “He still hits it good. And he gets him some skins. He can still play, man.”
The course could use some renovations, for certain, including on the tee boxes, which Miller told the Augusta Chronicle are “in desperate need.” While Dent Jr. said Giles has done a great job keeping the course in good condition, Miller said the influx of ANGC money could make The Patch something truly special.
“Oh, they could make it look like Augusta National,” Miller told longtime Chronicle reporter David Westin. “They’ve got unlimited money, they could. Whether or not they go that far with it, I don’t think so.”
Benjamin Wright, 58, of Augusta, Georgia, prepares to play Augusta Municipal Golf Course, also known as “The Patch.” (Photo by Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)
But what will that mean for many locals who now can afford to play multiple times a week because greens fees are as low as $20 for 18 holes?
Benjamin Wright, 58, of Augusta, has played The Patch for years. He hopes the changes will be good for everyone.
“It’ll bring more revenue in, number one. And it’ll get a lot more people coming here. You’ve got one golf course near here that’s closed down, and we don’t need more of that,” Wright said. “The course is in great shape and if they do come in, they’ll do some things different, I’m sure, in the fairways and making the holes longer and whatnot.
“I’m just happy to be here. I love the game. And I practice and get better. That’s all you can do.”
Jim Dent Way near the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, a public course also known as The Patch in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo: Augusta National)
But while Wright remains positive, Dent Jr. said many other regulars have expressed concern about potential changes. This is a haven for them, many of whom make the trip up Jim Dent Way as many as six times a week.
“We just don’t know anything yet,” Dent Jr. said. “It sounds really, really great for the golf course and the community, but a lot of the regular guys, they don’t know what’s going to come out of this. Any time change happens, people get a little nervous. A lot of guys come and play cards here and with Augusta Tech, that might not be something they keep going.
“Look, like I said, this is great for the course, it’s great for the community. We just don’t know what’s next.”
The city has filed a lawsuit, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in lease payments.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The city has filed a lawsuit against historic Municipal Golf Course’s former operator Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city.
The complaint was filed with Buncombe County Superior Court on Oct. 4, over three months after the city attorney’s office sent a letter to Keith Pope, CEO of Pope Golf, based in Sarasota, Florida, advising that the city intended to initiate litigation over the past due lease payments, some of which have been accumulating since 2016.
Chris Corl, the city’s director of Community and Regional Entertainment Facilities, said the decision to file was made in the course’s first week with new operators, Commonwealth Golf Partners II — Asheville LLC, as “conversations kind of died” between the city and Pope golf. It is the first time in 10 years the property has had new operators.
As the historic Municipal Golf Course changes hands, under the leadership of new operators for the first time in 10 years, the city has filed a lawsuit against former operator Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city.
Until the filing, Corl had hoped to settle the matter outside of court.
“It got to the point that they stopped communicating, so we decided they weren’t planning to negotiate anymore,” Corl said.
Pope did not immediately respond to requests for comment. No legal response was filed by Pope as of Oct. 20.
The course itself has seen “steadily degrading conditions” over the last several years, according to the city, and at its center are significant stormwater drainage issues, which Pope said in September is the reason behind not only the course conditions but his termination of lease payments.
The 18-hole golf course was designed by Hall of Fame golf architect Donald Ross and opened for play in 1927. It is home to the longest-running Black-owned and operated professional tournament in the country.
The city’s management and lease agreement with Pope Golf began Oct. 1, 2012, and expired Sept. 30.
As the historic Municipal Golf Course changes hands, under the leadership of new operators for the first time in 10 years, the city has filed a lawsuit against former operator Pope Golf, alleging deteriorating course conditions, destruction of property and $340,830 in outstanding lease payments to the city. (Photo by Angela Wilhelm/Asheville Citizen Times)
The lawsuit filing
The lawsuit filed by the city attorney’s office lays out a number of “unacceptable conditions,” what the filing says “developed as a result of Pope’s Asheville’s failure to meet its minimum maintenance obligations as set forth in Articles 8 and 9 of the Lease.”
These conditions include:
• Severe deterioration of all Bermuda grass fairways.
• The complete destruction of a chipping/practice area that had existed near the 8th hole at the time Pope Asheville assumed management of the course.
• The destruction of fencing along Swannanoa River Road.
• An overgrowth of vegetation throughout the virtual entirety of the course, including over the clubhouse.
According to the filing, at the conclusion of the lease’s term, Pope had failed to address and remediate any of the conditions noted by city staff in a Sept. 8 email.
Further, at the conclusion of the lease’s term, the filing alleged Pope had failed to make mandatory lease payments totaling $340,830. This amount is an almost $16,000 increase from the outstanding lease payment amount named in a June 29 letter from the city attorney’s office to Pope.
Corl said this increase resulted from additional accrued interest since the initial letter sent at the end of June. Prior to the filing of the complaint in court, finance updated the figures to reflect the current accrued interest as of the end of September.
The filing requests a jury trial, a judgement for compensatory damages, and an order declaring transfers of assets between Pope Asheville and Pope Golf, which led Pope Asheville unable to satisfy to city’s claims against it, to be void.
‘It’s a process’
Commonwealth Golf Partners, owned by Peter Dejak and Michael Bennett, immediately took over the course Oct. 1 in a seven-year license and management agreement, a new model of partnership with the city.
Despite being only three weeks into the transition, some golfers say they already notice a difference. On Oct. 20, a sub-freezing morning meant the clubhouse was all but empty at 8:30 a.m., but C.Y. Young was hard at work, more than game to take a golf cart out on the course.
He was old hat at navigating the crumbling cart path and sinkhole-pitted fairway, pointing out areas cleanup has already started, remarking on the most damaged holes along the back nine, where torn turf gives way to dirt and tree boughs overhang the course, stunting grass growth and impairing golfer vision.
The 122-acre course weaves through the East Asheville neighborhood of Beverly Hills. Early morning, the fairway was limned with frost, red, orange and golden foliage skirting the cart paths and rolling greens.
Young said the course is heading in a better direction, though there is much work left to be done.
He noticed the decline of conditions over the last two or three years since Pope Golf stopped making payments and the worst of the stormwater issues began.
“Pope knew they were going to lose out,” Young said. He’s been involved with the course for more than 20 years. He plays there four days a week and works as a starter and course ranger for another three.
Already, the new operators have made changes on the green − aerating the grass, roping off areas so turf can regrow and staking off the worst of the holes that pockmark the course, in some places 6 feet deep chasms, exposing antiquated metal piping.
“It’s a process,” he said of the repairs. “But the golf course is doing better, it really is. They’re working on it.”
Corl agreed that change is coming for the better after “years of neglect.” He said Commonwealth Golf is getting started with smaller, day-to-day changes while they finalize the capital budget, what will determine the timeline and blueprint for changes to come.
The city is embarking on a $3.5 million project to initiate capital improvements and is seeking grant funding from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, along with other sources.
The requested funding would cover stormwater infrastructure, water collection, tee box upgrades, and green and sand trap improvements.
‘Friends of the Muni’
As well as new leadership at the course, both from Commonwealth Golf Partners and Corl, whose department only took over the course from Asheville Parks and Recreation Jan. 1, outside community efforts are also rallying around the beloved course.
Donna Bailey, an area golfer and chair of the Civic Center Commission, has been working for over a year to prepare a “Friends of the Muni” campaign, which would fundraise for the course’s rehabilitation and open up volunteer and program opportunities at the course.
She described the course as “overrun” and “overgrown,” a broken water system creating gullies, lifting the cart path and creating dangerous conditions.
“(It’s) a great piece of property, a Donald Ross course, that just needs somebody to care,” she said.
Like Young, Bailey said she can see positive change already under the new operators.
“They know their business and they care about their business,” Bailey said. “I don’t know if Pope knew their business or not. I have no way to judge it. But these guys have a track record of caring, and I’ve seen it just in the little things.”
Other state municipal golf courses, such as Charleston and Wilmington, have “friends of the muni” groups that have helped turn their courses around, said Corl. He hopes for the same in Asheville.
Bailey said Asheville’s muni is an “everyman’s” course, a place that is affordable, accessible and welcoming, home to a historic tournament whose players have been sounding the alarm for years.
“I care because it opens the door for so many people. I know what golf does, I know what it did for me. It opened so many doors,” Bailey said. “It opens the doors to friendships and opportunities, right there on the golf course. So I want to make it accessible to everyone.”
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.
Locals packed the meeting room ahead of a development proposal in place of the now-defunct course.
GAINESVILLE, Florida — Locals packed an Alachua County meeting room Tuesday night as county commissioners rejected a residential development proposed in place of the now-defunct West End Golf Club.
The Alachua County Commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Raemi Eagle-Glenn dissenting, to deny a developer’s proposal to change the land-use designation for the site to low-density residential from recreational. A 70-home residential development called Tara Club was proposed for the property, located at 12830 W. Newberry Road across the street from the Tioga Town Center in the Jonesville-Newberry area.
The course, which had been a fixture in the golf community, closed its doors in December of 2019. The par-60, lighted course has been for sale for more than a year, but finally closed as it became unplayable.
The course included lights — attached to palm trees when it first opened — for play at night. Once the first nine was open, they began working in a second nine.
Residents “are not saying to us they object to development, they’re saying that our comp plan has laid out where that development should be,” said Commissioner Ken Cornell. “And more importantly, we need to have recreational green space to absorb not only the new development, but existing development.”
The proposal’s applicant, JBrown Professional Group, requested to change 38 of 75 unkept acres of the West End property from recreational to low-density residential. The plan also included 37 acres of recreational land that would be dedicated to Alachua County as a park and 10 acres of green space around existing homes.
Commissioners on Tuesday decided whether to transmit major land use amendments to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity — the agency responsible for signing off on comprehensive plan changes.
Thirty-one residents spoke during the hearing, including 10 represented by planner and former city commissioner Thomas Hawkins.
All were opposed to the plan except for one, who said that denying the bid will continue to make homes in Gainesville less affordable.
“If my children and grandchildren want to live in the same town I live in, I think they won’t be able to afford it because there is just too limited of a (housing) supply in this town,” said Jacob Yin, a homeowner in the Arbor Greens neighborhood.
More green space needed
Others argued, however, that there are already enough residential developments around the area but not nearly enough recreational spaces.
If the West End property is “rezoned to residential, where else in the Jonesville area could the county find an equivalent land already zoned recreational for a highly accessible, highly utilized green space and nature park that would surely bolster the people’s health and wellbeing?” said University of Florida professor emeritus Charles Guy.
For nearly three years, developer JBrown and Sayed Moukhtara have hosted neighborhood workshops and gone over various revisions of the project to meet the public’s concerns to no avail.
“The truth is, we couldn’t reach an agreement with these folks, and I can assure you that we tried,” said Jay Brown, project manager and president of JBrown, during a planning commission meeting earlier this year. “We have worked through dozens and dozens of designs.”
In April, the Alachua County Planning Commission unanimously shot down the proposed development after nearly five hours of deliberations, mostly because the plan wasn’t “dense” enough and should have included more workforce and affordable housing.
At one point, a sprawling mixed-use development was proposed with homes, a hotel and stores. That later shifted to a 129-home development — with an option to put in up to 140 homes — along with donating around 36 acres of the property to create the third-largest green space park in Alachua County.
Tuesday’s plan called for just 70 homes to be built across only 38 of the 75 acres of West End Golf Club’s property, which has been unmaintained since closing in 2019.
Another concern expressed by citizens and the commission included increased traffic, though Brown claimed that the project would produce less traffic than what had been happening when the golf course was open.
“That’s another thing I don’t you’re going to find very often, that when someone brings a development in front of you and suggest that this new development is going to have less traffic, because traffic is always one of the biggest things folks complain about,” Brown said.
Commissioner Anna Prizzia, however, was skeptical of Brown’s claim.
“You’re proposing a park that would be the third-largest in the county (beyond the development). I’m assuming there would be a massive amount of trips to a large park,” she said. “Wouldn’t the trips to that park also have to be included in this conceptual plan in terms of a transportation study?”
Chris Dawson, county transportation planning manager, admitted that staff had not analyzed the application for the amount of traffic the proposal would bring, but later said that regardless of what became of the property, it would increase the number of cars on Newberry Road.
Commissioner Eagle-Glenn, who supported the project, said that residents opposed to the plan were gambling with the possibility of the property later becoming a highly dense traditional neighborhood.
“I don’t see this property on a major corridor remaining recreational,” she said. “Mr. Moukhtara has brought to us the opportunity for recreation without having to raise the taxes of the citizens … and I think what we have on the table today is something that we may never have again.”
Though residents insisted on the importance of keeping the West End property recreational, Moukhtara said they could easily be prohibited from enjoying the property at all.
“This is a private property with its own rights,” he said. “(The owner) can fence this property where only the birds can get in there. So, what I’m doing is carving a part of it … to be open for everyone to benefit and make good use of it.”
To help allay residents, the developer proposed to develop only the inner part of the property while keeping the outer portion recreational, allowing for existing neighborhoods to keep green spaces adjacent to their homes.
This was not enough, however, to prevent the commission from voting down the project, sending Brown and Moukhtara back to the drawing board.
“I have to say I know how much you’ve spent, and I know how much you’ve worked on this, and it’s unfortunate that even after all that time, there was inability to really hear what the community was saying to you,” Prizzia said.
Editor’s note: Reporting from former Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley was also used in this post. Javon L. Harris is a local government and social justice reporter for The Gainesville Sun. He can be reached by phone at (352) 338-3103, by email at jlharris@gannett.com or on Twitter @JavonLHarris_JD.
For 100 years, people have been making memories at this two-course golf complex on the city’s northeast side.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — For 100 years, people have been making memories at Lincoln Park, a now two-course golf complex on the city’s northeast side.
“I think (Lincoln Park) means a great deal to a lot of people around here,” said Aaron Kristopeit, just the course’s fourth head pro and golf director in a century. “It was the first public golf course to open in the state, and so I think it has generated a lot of interest in the game. It’s where so many people started playing.”
Before joining Lincoln Park’s pro staff, Kristopeit worked at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club and the Quail Creek Golf & Country Club. He sees some of those familiar faces from the private clubs at Lincoln Park at times. Many of them played golf for the first time at Lincoln Park, he said.
“It’s amazing to me how many members of those places I know that will come through Lincoln once a year for a tournament, and they will recognize me and stop and say ‘Hi’ and say ‘I remember playing here when I was 16,’ or something like that.
“I think (Lincoln Park) also means a great deal to the African American community who plays golf, especially because of the area of the city it is located in, the northeast quadrant.”
Lincoln Park turned 100 this year. Generations of families have gathered there over the years to play a few rounds and swap stories. It’s been a second home for many.
The beginning
In 1922, a small band of outdoor sportsmen launched a golf course that Oklahoma historian Bob Blackburn said “quickly entered the pantheon of public places in Oklahoma City.”
In 1909, Oklahoma City voters had approved a bond issue to establish four regional parks and a circular raceway connecting them. The raceway was called Grand Boulevard, and the four parks became Lincoln, Will Rogers, Woodson and Trosper.
Lincoln Park was the largest, but for the first decade was simply open space for picnics and exercise. In 1921, a local citizens’ club proposed building a public golf course in the park.
Art Jackson, the Scottish-born head golf pro in Tulsa who built a course in McAlester and the Marland course in Ponca City, was hired as the architect and construction supervisor for Lincoln Park. He became secretary/treasurer for the Lincoln Park Golf Club, a private group which would manage the course for 40 years.
Jackson let the terrain of the land dictate the design of his first holes. With a budget of $600, Jackson mowed the prairie grass for the fairways, drilled two wells for watering, installed sand tee boxes and built sand greens that averaged 50 feet in diameter.
The first official day of play on the new nine-hole course was July 4, 1922. The Oklahoman reported that every golf player in town, along with hundreds of curious people, flocked to the park for the opening.
Lincoln Park’s first golf tournament was held the following month. Three years later the course was expanded to 18 holes.
Keep improving
Over the next few years, the Lincoln Park Golf Club invested in more improvements. A stone clubhouse was built with locker rooms for men and women and a small pro shop and caddy shack.
The greens were planted with Bermuda grass, which turned green in early summer and went dormant during droughts and after the first freeze.
At Lincoln Park, Jackson had built one of the finest municipal golf courses in the country from the wilderness of blackjacks and the rocky sand hills in northeast Oklahoma City.
In January 1931, the Oklahoma City Parks Commission voted to add three new 18-hole courses at city parks in partnership with private management clubs, including a second 18 holes at Lincoln, creating a north and south course. Jackson would design all three new courses.
The second pro
Jackson retired a head pro in 1952 after 30 years and U.C. Ferguson replaced him. Ferguson already had worked at Lincoln Park since 1928, starting as a 15-year-old caddy and taking other jobs before eventually becoming an assistant pro.
In 1959, the Lincoln Park Golf Club announced a plan to sell $500,000 in municipal bonds for improvements under the management of a new Lincoln Golf Course Trust.
Six months later, the old club that had operated the courses since 1922 no longer existed and Ferguson and the rest of the golf staff became city employees.
A new clubhouse was built, and the two 18-hole courses were reconfigured. The new layout created a west and east course instead of north and south.
In 1965, Lincoln Park got a makeover again as the Oklahoma City Golf Trust allocated $875,000 in bonds and cash for improvements. The west course was closed during the renovations as a new parking lot, driving range and automated watering system was added. Tee boxes were enlarged, and the greens were replanted with Pencross Bentgrass.
At the end of his career, Ferguson considered the new clubhouse, rerouting the courses to east and west, and the improvements on Lincoln West as some of his greatest achievements.
Ferguson would retire as head pro in 1984 after 47 years on the job.
Susie Maxwell Berning (Oklahoma City University Archives)
The star from OKC
Over the years, Lincoln Park has hosted a wide range of tournaments, including high school state championships, collegiate championships, state amateur qualifiers, city championships and others.
A three-time state high school champion from Northeast was a familiar face at Lincoln Park. Susie Maxwell-Berning learned to play golf at Lincoln Park under the tutelage of Ferguson.
Maxwell-Berning would be the first woman to receive a golf scholarship from Oklahoma City University, where she played on the men’s team. She joined the pro tour in 1964 and would go on to win the U.S. Women’s Open in 1968, 1972 and 1973.
In 1978, during an anniversary celebration for Ferguson as Lincoln Park’s golf pro, Maxwell-Berning lauded her teacher for the help he had given her and other junior golfers in Oklahoma City during his career.
In this Sept. 9, 1960 photo, President Dwight Eisenhower, right, enjoys a laugh with Arnold Palmer before they played a round a golf together at the Gettysburg County Club in Gettysburg, Penn. Palmer would play Gary Player in a head to head match at the Lincoln Park Golf Course in Oklahoma City in 1961. (Associated Press)
Palmer vs. Player
Lincoln Park was on the international stage in 1961 when it hosted a match between two of the biggest stars in golf at the time: Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
Player had won the the Masters that year while Palmer had just won the British Open. The previous year, Palmer won the Masters, and Player won the Open.
Player and Palmer were playing 25 head-to-head matches in six different countries to support youth golf. Tickets were sold to raise money for college scholarships for junior golfers.
Palmer won the match at Lincoln Park by seven strokes over Player.
The third and fourth pros
Steve Carson would become Lincoln Park’s third head pro and director of golf in 1990. Carson had grown up in Midwest City and previously was the head pro at Trosper.
During the 1990s, fewer golfers played at Lincoln Park as new courses were opened in the area. At the time, Lincoln Park also was dealing with a failing infrastructure as the greens and bunkers were old and declining.
Carson hired a golf course architect to develop a master plan to improve the golf courses and in 1998, the Oklahoma City Council authorized a $6.2 million bond package for renovations.
The west course was closed and every green was replaced, every bunker renovated, a new irrigation system was added and new paved golf cart paths were built. The course, remaining true to the historic layout of holes, reopened in the fall of 1999 to rave reviews.
Eight years later, with increased revenue from the west course, the Oklahoma City Council approved spending another $1.6 million to renovate the east course.
In 2012, the council approved an $8 million bond issue for a new and larger clubhouse. The 32,000-square-foot facility opened in 2015 and Lincoln Park became a popular place again.
Carson retired in 2021 after 31 years as the head pro. Kristopeit, who was the the assistant pro at Lincoln Park at the time, was hired to succeed him.
The future of Lincoln Park
Last year, 98,000 rounds of golf were played at Lincoln Park, the most since the 1980s.
“We’ve been the busiest course in the state over the last two years,” Kristopeit said. “It’s a product of COVID making golf very popular again, kind of driving people outside, and some of the other golf courses being closed around the vicinity.”
Some of those closed golf courses are about to reopen, and keeping Lincoln Park competitive among the best public courses will be a challenge in the future, Kristopeit said.
Kickingbird Golf Course in Edmond will unveil a new clubhouse next year. Earlywine and Lake Hefner courses also have plans for new clubhouses.
All of a sudden we are not going to be the new show in town anymore, so we need to make sure we do what we can to stay relevant,” Kristopeit said.
Will Lincoln Park be around for another 100 years?
“I would like to think so,” Kristopeit said. “Obviously time will tell. You never know what is going to happen. You don’t know what kind of new sports are going to be around that might take people’s interest, but I think if there is one course in Oklahoma City that would survive, I think Lincoln would be at the top of that list.”
