Developers Build Quality Florida Golf Courses As Part Of Sales Pitch
Gordon Lewis' work studio above the garage in his North Naples home looks like it was hit by a twister.
Blueprints are scattered on drafting tables, chairs, the floor and rolled in bins in every corner. Golf balls and half pencils hang on every wall, momentos of the dozens of Florida golf courses Lewis has either designed or played. More than 300 hats hang on the walls to further mark stops in Lewis' career.
As recently as a few years ago, Lewis was worried his eternal mess might clear up.
The chill in tourism caused by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the ensuing national economic slump had Lewis and others concerned about a slowdown in Florida golf course construction in Southwest Florida, the location of most of his roughly 70 golf course designs.
The diminishing amount of land locally and what many termed an oversupply of golf course memberships — both the result of rampant growth in Lee and Collier counties in the latter half of the 1990s — also had the area's golf course industry predicting a slow down.
As many see it, though, just the opposite is happening.
"After 2001, I thought we were going to just have to stay alive, but this year, we've been busier than we've ever been," Lewis said. "And next year, I see the same thing. We're going to be swamped. We just have a bunch of golf courses."
Although none have been announced publicly, Lewis said he is working with developers on as many as eight new Florida golf courses for Lee and Collier counties alone. As with nearly all of the region's 168 existing courses, the new layouts will be part of residential communities.
"I think these are going to be pretty firm," Lewis said of the likelihood that the planned courses will come to fruition. "It's all fueled by development. Houses are selling great." SW Fla. bucks trend
While golf participation across the United States has been flat for several years and new golf course openings have fallen off considerably nationwide since 2000, demand for real estate in Southwest Florida continues to drive growth in golf course communities that seemed only to hit a lull after 2001.
From 1997 to 2002, an average of eight Florida golf courses opened every year in Lee and Collier counties. In 2003, however, that number dropped to four openings, followed by none last year and only one so far this year.
But even with that decline and with some in the industry predicting more rigid standards when it comes to including golf courses in future communities, developers say golf courses still will be built in Southwest Florida as long as they can find places to put them.
"We're having a pretty good year," said Joey Garon, vice president of operations for The Bonita Bay Group, which has begun work on new courses at TwinEagles in North Naples and Verandah in Fort Myers and plans to have both completed by the end of 2006.
"Rounds are at least level everywhere, with some upswing," Garon said. "But more important to us, our customers — new members and prospective members — are still rating golf as their No. 1 amenity, which is a good sign for us."
As recently as January, when The Bonita Bay Group was first announcing the new courses at TwinEagles and Verandah that will give each community 36 holes of golf, company representatives said future residential developments in the region wouldn't include golf courses almost by default.
"It used to be, if you had a master-planned or a residential community, you had to have a golf course, even if the demographics don't support it," Ed Rodgers, a former vice president with The Bonita Bay Group for about 15 years, said earlier this year shortly after leaving the company to build his own Florida golf course.
"The thought was, even if I don't sell all (the golf memberships) to residents, there's plenty of demand outside the community to sell these," said Rodgers, serving as a consultant for The Bonita Bay Group at the time. "That's not necessarily true (now). Developers will be much smarter than they were in the late 1990s when it comes to building Florida golf courses."
Indeed, at Renaissance in Fort Myers, an upscale development opened by Worthington Communities in January 2003, demand for the community’s spa and fitness center exceeded expectations in the first two years, while sales of Florida golf course memberships were only in line with projections.
Blueprints are scattered on drafting tables, chairs, the floor and rolled in bins in every corner. Golf balls and half pencils hang on every wall, momentos of the dozens of Florida golf courses Lewis has either designed or played. More than 300 hats hang on the walls to further mark stops in Lewis' career.
As recently as a few years ago, Lewis was worried his eternal mess might clear up.
The chill in tourism caused by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the ensuing national economic slump had Lewis and others concerned about a slowdown in Florida golf course construction in Southwest Florida, the location of most of his roughly 70 golf course designs.
The diminishing amount of land locally and what many termed an oversupply of golf course memberships — both the result of rampant growth in Lee and Collier counties in the latter half of the 1990s — also had the area's golf course industry predicting a slow down.
As many see it, though, just the opposite is happening.
"After 2001, I thought we were going to just have to stay alive, but this year, we've been busier than we've ever been," Lewis said. "And next year, I see the same thing. We're going to be swamped. We just have a bunch of golf courses."
Although none have been announced publicly, Lewis said he is working with developers on as many as eight new Florida golf courses for Lee and Collier counties alone. As with nearly all of the region's 168 existing courses, the new layouts will be part of residential communities.
"I think these are going to be pretty firm," Lewis said of the likelihood that the planned courses will come to fruition. "It's all fueled by development. Houses are selling great." SW Fla. bucks trend
While golf participation across the United States has been flat for several years and new golf course openings have fallen off considerably nationwide since 2000, demand for real estate in Southwest Florida continues to drive growth in golf course communities that seemed only to hit a lull after 2001.
From 1997 to 2002, an average of eight Florida golf courses opened every year in Lee and Collier counties. In 2003, however, that number dropped to four openings, followed by none last year and only one so far this year.
But even with that decline and with some in the industry predicting more rigid standards when it comes to including golf courses in future communities, developers say golf courses still will be built in Southwest Florida as long as they can find places to put them.
"We're having a pretty good year," said Joey Garon, vice president of operations for The Bonita Bay Group, which has begun work on new courses at TwinEagles in North Naples and Verandah in Fort Myers and plans to have both completed by the end of 2006.
"Rounds are at least level everywhere, with some upswing," Garon said. "But more important to us, our customers — new members and prospective members — are still rating golf as their No. 1 amenity, which is a good sign for us."
As recently as January, when The Bonita Bay Group was first announcing the new courses at TwinEagles and Verandah that will give each community 36 holes of golf, company representatives said future residential developments in the region wouldn't include golf courses almost by default.
"It used to be, if you had a master-planned or a residential community, you had to have a golf course, even if the demographics don't support it," Ed Rodgers, a former vice president with The Bonita Bay Group for about 15 years, said earlier this year shortly after leaving the company to build his own Florida golf course.
"The thought was, even if I don't sell all (the golf memberships) to residents, there's plenty of demand outside the community to sell these," said Rodgers, serving as a consultant for The Bonita Bay Group at the time. "That's not necessarily true (now). Developers will be much smarter than they were in the late 1990s when it comes to building Florida golf courses."
Indeed, at Renaissance in Fort Myers, an upscale development opened by Worthington Communities in January 2003, demand for the community’s spa and fitness center exceeded expectations in the first two years, while sales of Florida golf course memberships were only in line with projections.
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