Victoria Hills Named One of Florida's Golf Course Hidden Gems?

Victoria Hills Golf Club ? the award-winning Ron Garl design at the heart of Victoria Park, a St. Joe community in historic DeLand ? has been named one of Florida's Hidden Gems by Travel + Leisure Golf magazine.

Victoria Hills was one of only 10 courses in the state selected to the list, which appears in the magazine?s November/December issue. One of America's most-respected golf publications, Travel + Leisure Golf has an estimated readership of more than 1.5 million. Other courses to make the list included the Abacoa Golf Club in Jupiter, Crandon Park Golf Course in Key Biscayne, Dunes Golfers Club in Brooksville and The Club at Hidden Creek in Navarre, all Florida golf courses.

Ron Garl routed the holes here through strands of towering oaks and Augusta pines, with waste and pot bunkers thrown in for good measure. A half hour north of Orlando, the Florida golf course serves as the home to the Stetson University golf teams.

We are honored to be recognized by one of America's leading golf and lifestyle publications, says David Buth, General Manager at Victoria Hills. With the abundance of excellent courses in Florida, its exciting to be one of only ten Florida golf courses selected.

Conveniently located between Orlando and Daytona, the stunning layout boasts more than 50 feet of elevation change, taking advantage of the area's natural rolling hills, foliage and wetlands. Tall pines and majestic oaks frame the Florida golf course while sandy waste areas and pristine lakes make for inspiring sight lines.

We, The People, Not So Worried About Golf Carts On Florida Golf Courses

Florida Golf Courses do not allow walking because motorized golf carts produce buckets of rental money and they move golfers through the course more quickly, clearing the way for more golfers.

"It pays a lot of bills," John Cameron, director of golf for Daytona Beach's courses, said of cart rentals.

Golfers are hard-pressed these days to find a course that will let them walk at all, Cameron said. The two public courses he supervises have fairly liberal rules, allowing walkers in the early mornings and afternoons.

This is not good enough for 71-year-old Zurla, who believes government-owned courses that restrict walking violate the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which prohibits states from depriving people of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law . . ."

Acting as his own attorney, Zurla took his case to circuit court and lost.

Then he lost an appeal.

Then he was rebuffed by the Florida Supreme Court.

Most people just threaten to take their cause to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Zurla did it.

And got nowhere.

Undeterred, Zurla wrote a 72-page book that chronicles his legal battle and outlines his philosophy.

Zurla spent $7,500 to publish The Case of a Civil Right: The Freedom to Walk a Public Florida Golf Course, and he sent hundreds of copies to Congress and the White House, resulting in about a dozen brief, noncommittal letters of thanks.

Zurla followed up in late January with a trip to Washington, D.C., where he tried to call on the president and several Cabinet leaders.

They would not see him.

Zurla does not understand why others fail to grasp the simplicity of his argument, which he summarizes on page 17: "Liberty means that a person can walk on public land."

Zurla is right, but so was Quixote.

Golf is a game best played on two feet, not four wheels.

Carts hasten what should be a leisurely game. They promote laziness and obesity. They scar the Florida golf course with asphalt paths. They make a pricey game even more expensive.

Only occasionally do they allow someone to play who is not physically able to walk 18 holes on a Florida golf course.

Golf carts are obnoxious, but they are not tyrannical.

People have the right to walk on and use public lands, but with limits.

I can walk on the beach, but not on sand dunes because I might damage the plant life.

I can kayak up the Silver River, but cannot swim at Silver Springs.

I can play golf on a publicly owned Florida golf course, but I cannot go running on that Florida golf course at night.

Yes, people should be able to walk on Florida golf courses, but something tells me John Adams would not get too excited if he were forced to rent a cart.

Miami Void Ends For Florida Golf Course Designer Fazio

With a design portfolio ranging from Jupiter Hills to four Pinehursts, the glitzy Shadow Creek and the latest upgrades of Augusta National, rare is the locale where Tom Fazio hasn't left his mark.

Consider greater Miami one of the exceptions.

''It's the biggest city in the state of Florida, and I've not done anything,'' said Fazio, who has kept a Jupiter office for 35 years. ``I'm not sure I've even gotten a call for a Florida golf course in Miami.''

Until now. Fazio gets his chance this summer, when he begins moving dirt for the new Fort Dallas Golf Club a Florida golf course in southwest Miami-Dade.

Named after the 19th-Century outpost that grew to become modern Miami, Fort Dallas will make over 168 acres now occupied by Calusa Country Club. The private, invitation-only club is targeted for a November 2007 opening.

''It's a neat thing that's happening,'' Fazio said.

Unlike the construction boom in Palm Beach County and the Naples and Fort Myers areas, the land squeeze in Miami-Dade has made new Florida golf courses a rarity.

Nothwithstanding such redesigns as Miami Beach GC or Doral's Blue Monster, the last Miami-Dade layout carved from scratch came when Greg Norman transformed Doral's mundane White course into the Great White six years ago.

Before that, you would have to go back to the opening of Deering Bay in 1991.

''The Florida golf courses that are there have been there [for years],'' Fazio said. ``I think Fort Dallas will be good for the area, give it some added distinction.''

With 14 courses ranked among Golf Digest's top 100, Fazio's name lends distinction to any project.

His designs are especially known for their visual appeal, whether it's the natural beauty of the Pinehurst sand hills or man-made masterpieces. Fazio is the man who made Shadow Creek rise up out of the Nevada desert, importing an entire forest with the help of casino magnate Steve Wynn's $37 million budget.

He has been given similar resources for a comparable masterpiece at Fort Dallas, which is being developed by Facundo Bacardi, chairman of the spirits company that bears the family name.

Plans call for moving enough South Florida dirt to create 30-foot elevation changes on this Florida golf course, along with three winding waterways.

''Elevation and contours and drama and framing and definition,'' Fazio said. ``It will be a very dramatic, wonderful feel. [Yet] it'll look like it belongs in South Florida.''

More specifics will be unveiled at a private reception tonight at the Biltmore in Coral Gables. Groundbreaking is scheduled for August.

Meantime, Calusa CC the elite Florida golf course reopened to golfers Monday after a six-month shutdown to recover from Hurricane Wilma damage. Public play will be accepted until approximately Aug. 1.

Treviso Bay A Florida Golf course Is Just A Big Field Right Now

Four white-tailed deer danced and pranced on what will eventually be the first hole of the TPC at Treviso Bay a new Florida Golf Course under construction. This is the first foursome at the prestigious PGA-owned course.

But it won't be until late 2007 before anyone can play golf.

"This is it," said Chris Gray, the project manager for VK Development, as he drove down a dirt road in the middle of the former Lely citrus grove. "It's just a big field right now. It doesn't look like much but it will come together pretty quick."

For now, the land is a duffer's nightmare. Heavy brush and abandoned cars fill the landscape. The exotic red pepper trees that had engulfed the property have been removed. But it still looks like somewhere a wayward John Daly drive might end up.

"The guys on the PGA Tour don't worry about hitting fairways anymore," Gray joked.

Currently, there are no bunkers or lakes. But don't breathe easy. The hazards are coming.

The land has yet to be squeezed into tight fairways, undulating greens and picturesque views. Lakes will eventually flank the 18th and 9th holes, which will both lead to a glorious clubhouse. This is similar to the layout to the original TPC (Tournament Players Club)another Florida golf course, in Ponte Vedra Beach where the PGA Tour is playing this week.

Along U.S. 41 south of Rattlesnake Hammock Road in East Naples, the much-anticipated development finally broke ground in late January. Permit approval from the Army Corps of Engineers caused a longer-than-normal delay. VK Development, which is in a partnership with the PGA Tour, had hoped to break ground last September. It has been two years since the Tour had announced the project.

"The schedule is being dictated by the development," said Tim Hawes, the vice president of sales, marketing and development with the PGA Tour. "These projects don't happen overnight."

Gray, who was hired away from the PGA Tour by VK Development and has worked on 15 of the 27 TPC courses, said this "goes with the territory. We built in some extra time for things like this. So the Florida golf course project is still on schedule."

On U.S. 41, the Treviso Bay billboard shadows the property. Big boulders outline what will eventually be the front entrance. Backhoes dig out lakes. A pile of rubble burns brightly. The intense red flames are indicative of the impact this project will have on the East Naples area.

The visible construction that's occurring at the present time will result in most of the 1,200 dwellings. Land prices surrounding the Florida golf course development have skyrocketed with the start of the project. An owner of a half-acre parcel across the street is selling his land for $1.3 million.

However, the championship Florida golf course, designed by world-renowned architect Arthur Hills with PGA Tour pro Hal Sutton serving as a player consultant, faces a minor roadblock.

Until a roadway is cleared through the state-owned Rookery Bay National Estuarine Reserve, the first divots made by bulldozers or golf clubs will have to wait. The development has been granted an easement through the reserve, which 150 birds and animals call home.

Construction crews could access the Florida golf course via Southwest Boulevard but it would disturb the surrounding Trial Acres neighborhood. The new thoroughfare will be completed in the coming weeks.

Gray leans over his dusty, green Land Rover and expands the rolled-up drawings. Hills and Sutton have already collaborated on the layout of the course. They used aerial photos to create the potential masterpiece.

Gray explains that the 1,050-acre project is actually four parcels of land. One parcel, called B, won't be developed for several years.

"People don't realize how big this development is," he said.

The 7,200-yard Florida golf course will occupy the south end of the project. It stretches almost to State Road 951. The golf course will be separated from most of the housing development by the wetlands. Only 40 estate sites will be for sale on the Florida golf course.

"It's going to be pretty core golf," Gray said.

As Gray said, it doesn't look like much. He cites the TPC at Summerlin in Las Vegas as an example of starting from scratch.

"If you think this looks barren you should have seen the TPC at Summerlin," Gray said. "You're talking about a desert floor there in Las Vegas. So they have a lot to work with here."

For the time being, the wildlife, the deer, the birds, the snakes, the hogs and the bears (yes, Gray has seen Florida black bears) still have free reign of the Florida golf course TPC at Treviso Bay.

Creating The Florida Golf Course At Sawgrass Was No Easy Task

Vernon Kelly, in semi-retirement, gets close to alligators these days only when he watches his beloved University of Florida Gators. Thirty years ago, alligators and snakes were a part of his daily work. So were spiders and mosquitoes.

"I am to snakes what Colonel Sanders is to chickens," Kelly says.

He didn't kill 'em, batter 'em and fry 'em with 11 herbs and spices, but Kelly killed more snakes than he could count when he was the project engineer overseeing the construction of the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, a Florida golf club and PGA Tour headquarters that only Deane Beman, then the Tour commissioner, and Pete Dye, the respected architect, seemed to understand.

"There were days when I'd tell Pete, 'I don't know if we'll ever finish this project,' " Kelly said last week.

"Pete always said, 'Every golf course is that way.' "

Florida golf course construction is a challenge in any terrain, but this property was a man-made bog, created when the building of Highway A1A blocked the natural drainage of the land. It left an area owned by a local developer, who sold 415 acres to Beman for $1 in 1978.

The developer thought he'd make his profit when communities sprang up around the golf course. Beman says he knew exactly what he was doing when he bought the property, but Kelly isn't so sure.

"It was the most awful construction project I've ever been involved with," says Kelly, an engineer by training. "It wasn't a swamp, but the land was wet. It had a huge amount of trees and grass. For years the vegetation had fallen into the water and rotted, forming a tremendous amount of organic matter."

Dye brought in David Postlethwait to be the foreman of the construction crew.

Postlethwait had worked with Dye before but says he has never had a job like the TPC.

"The trees were so thick and the grass was so high you couldn't tell where you were on the property," Postlethwait says. "I got lost in there one day. All I had was a radio. I called Vernon and told him I didn't want to talk long because I didn't want the radio to go dead. He just said, 'Look for the moss on the trees.' I don't know how I got out of there."

Postlethwait had more than 100 men working 80 hours a week in deplorable conditions. They wore snake boots and carried machetes, more to kill the rattlers and the cottonmouths than to cut the vegetation.

"David came in the construction trailer one day, and a snake's head was stuck in his boot," Kelly says. "It had struck the boot, and David had just cut it off behind the head and walked on."

Postlethwait doesn't remember that incident, but he says he got accustomed to seeing snakes, most of them diamondback rattlers of about 6 feet in length.

"They were always waving at me," he says.

Waving?

"Coiled up with their tail in the air shaking it at me," he says, particularly on the day Kelly fell into a gator pit while pushing through high grass.

"The gator was gone," he says. "It was a terrible stinking place."

The job would have been difficult enough, even had there not been snakes and gators to endanger the workers.

They had to cut a ditch around the property to drain the water off the land. Then they had to clear the muck off the land and cover it with sand.

"It was like New Orleans but on a smaller scale," Postlethwait says. "Nothing about the Florida golf course job was easy."

It was compounded by storms and a hurricane that flooded the property after they already had drained it and began construction.

As Dye had predicted, they finished the project — now among the best Florida golf courses in the world — but a year past schedule and who knows how much over budget.

"It wasn't cheap," Kelly says, "but today you'd consider it a bargain."
This is one of the best Florida golf courses ever designed.

Slaying At Florida Golf Course Rattles Retirement Community

With two bullets bleeding the life from her, Cynthia Moffett staggered from her Florida golf course pro shop Thursday evening and lurched into the night.

She didn't make it far. Investigators say the 52-year-old Florida golf course pro shop worker collapsed and died just steps from the building, in sight of the fairways at the Forest Oaks Golf Club near Greenacres.

Her killer escaped unseen, triggering a murder investigation that has puzzled sheriff's detectives and horrified retirees of the surrounding Lucerne Lakes development.

Palm Beach County sheriff's investigators said Friday that the killing of the suburban Boca Raton woman appeared to be a botched robbery. There were no known witnesses or suspects, and nothing appeared to be missing from the store, according to a sheriff's office spokesman.

Officials found rolls of coins scattered on the ground near Moffett's body. Detectives say she was last seen alive around 5 p.m. as she was preparing to close the Florida golf course shop. At 6:45 p.m., a man cutting across the Florida golf course to get to his house found her body.

The Florida golf course, normally crowded on weekdays, was closed Friday, and the pro shop was sealed off with crime scene tape as investigators scoured for clues and employees embraced in the parking lot.

The killing occurred on a pristine-looking stretch of green along a gentle curve at 144 Lucerne Lakes Blvd. The pro shop, a shingled two-story A-frame building, sits near the road, nestled between tennis courts and a path to the fairways.

Frequent customers recalled Moffett as friendly and peppy, a consistently cheerful presence in the store. She had been working there about a year, handling a range of duties from running the register to making sandwiches. Customers greeted news of her slaying with disbelief.

"I was devastated. I knew her," said Elizabeth Ricefield, a neighborhood resident who often golfed on the Florida golf course.

Ricefield said when the development was without electricity for days after Hurricane Wilma last year, Moffett used the gas power at the pro shop to cook chicken and rice for any neighbors willing to shell out a few dollars for a warm meal.

Larry Godwin, a U.S. postal worker who has delivered mail in the neighborhood for five years, called Moffett a "really, really nice lady" who found time after work to teach math and reading skills to the children of non-English-speaking migrant workers.

Moffett moved to South Florida from Michigan and lived most recently in an apartment west of Boca Raton, records show. A sheriff's spokesman said she was engaged to be married.

No one from Moffett's family could be reached Friday. Her supervisors at the Florida golf course pro shop declined to comment.

The investigation left shocked looks on residents' faces as they passed by and ogled the crime scene tape.

"This is a retiree neighborhood," said Allison Waters, who met Moffett on occasional golf outings with her 16-year-old son. "That's why I moved here, because it's nice and quiet."

It is never safe on a Florida Golf Course, or is it?

Golf Ball Diving On Florida Golf Courses Big Business

If the average Joe played the 17th hole at TPC-Sawgrass the way most of the pros will play it this weekend, the water surrounding the most famous island green in golf would be relatively calm.

But thanks to duffers who plunk an average of three golf balls per round into the surrounding water, Florida golf course officials estimate that more than 120,000 balls get wet every year.

It's this hole that makes TPC-Sawgrass the prize among golf ball refurbishers, who usually pay the Florida golf course a per ball recovery fee, commission divers to salvage balls in golf course water hazards, fix them up and resell them at a hugely discounted rate.

"It's probably the most lucrative waters in the entire golf ball business," said Billy Dettlaff, the course's director of golf and general manager. "There are several reasons for this. Playing this course is a once-in-lifetime experience for some people, so they obviously play with the best balls. Combine that with the difficulty of the hole and the fact that everyone wants to hit the green just once."

The other secret? The water surrounding the island green is only 4 to 5 feet deep.

"Not only is the volume of balls great, but the divers don't have to go too far under water to find the balls," Dettlaff said.

The Florida golf ball recovery business can be tremendously profitable. At least 200 million golf balls are lost each year in the United States, with the majority of them being found by divers who have reported annual income in the $50,000 to $100,000 range.

"It takes a special person to want to be a golf ball diver," said Dick Smith, owner of Midwest Diving Specialists, a diving school in Normal, Ill., that offers a golf ball diving course. "That person has to love treasure hunting and be extremely testosterone-laden."

That's because diving doesn't come without a price.

Divers routinely report getting bitten by water moccasins and snapping turtles, and the ultimate impediment to collecting the used golf ball on Florida golf courses is the alligator.

"When I was diving in Virginia and the Carolinas, I was worried about the turtles, the snakes and the muskrats," said Larry Marcelli, owner of Golf Balls Galore, which takes in more than 2 million golf balls a year from courses in southwest Florida. "Then I got to Florida and all of that flew out the window. Those other animals weren't going to try and eat me."

Dettlaff says that divers will find alligators; two 8-foot gators recently were spotted on the 18th hole. But the upper-class golfing clientele -- players who pay between $119 and $257 per round, depending on the time of year -- makes finds in the waters of Sawgrass less interesting than those at some venues.

Marcelli says one of his divers found a person sitting at the wheel of a Volkswagen at the bottom of a lake in Fort Myers, Fla. Other reported submerged finds have included handguns, golf carts, a complete set of clubs with a wallet in it, a Barbie doll and a full telephone booth.

Four times a year, divers for a company called The Best Balls enter the waters at the TPC-Sawgrass to take out the riches. Dettlaff would not disclose the per ball recovery fee but did say the price was reflective of the quality of the balls usually pulled out.

The most coveted ball -- the Titleist Pro V1 -- generally sells for $54 a dozen. But The Best Balls sells the slightly used variety for $18.95.

Although some see this as a bargain, golf ball manufacturers are not thrilled. Executives with the top companies have said that washed or recoated balls might look new but that sitting in water for months affects the aerodynamic qualities of the ball. That contention was confirmed by a 1996 Golf Digest study, which reported that the longer a ball was submerged in water, the higher the odds were that it would lose distance. Lose your ball in the water on a Florida golf course, and someone will be using it again!

FloridaGolf Course Promoter: ‘ More Than Our Share’

The promotion of North Florida golf courses continues to be a success, says the man who coordinates most of it. And, he adds, golf tourism is a key to keeping rates low for local players.

“We see a major increase each year,” said Dave Reese, the president of Florida’s First Coast of Golf, which brings together courses and hotels for common promotion. “There’s a lot of competition out there for the Florida travel golfer and it looks like we’re getting more than our share.”

Reese, a former convention bureau staff member, has been with FFCG for 10 years and can arguably claim to be an expert on golf tourism. He attends golf shows across the nation to promote the area and is the clearinghouse for statistical information that his members can use.

“Here’s a good one,” he says, pulling out a number-laden sheet of paper. “This is the number of golf bags which go out of the Jacksonville International Airport each year. How many do you think it would be?”

Uh ... 15,000?

JIA’s statistics: 84,466 golf bags were checked last year.

“That’s largely tourism play,” said Reese. “Our demographics don’t indicate a large amount of tourism golf by people who live here, so most of those bags are owned by people who flew in to play.”

FFCG has 30 courses - almost all daily fee courses in the area - plus 16 hotels. Through a website a brochure, media trips and golf show visits, Reese and his staff promote group and individual play.

“Each member pays a fee and we use that to promote the area,” said Reese. “We’re looking for additional revenue and one way may be to include businesses other than courses or hotels. Golf shops, for instance, or restaurants.

“I think we could become a golf Chamber of Commerce, branching out to include others. Not as full members, perhaps, but on some sort of associate basis.

“I’d also like to get every club involved as a member, even some private clubs. Everyone has ‘down’ time on the first tee. We can help fill those.”

Reese and the organization are working on various projects in hopes of adding more business.

“We’re upgrading the website to add links to our members,” he said. “Lots of travelers feel more comfortable if they deal directly with someone, rather than going through a third party.

“We also are expanding our outreach to women golfers. That’s a growing market and we’re advertising in Golf for Women magazine to see what that produces.

“We need to take advantage of whatever changes come because The Players Championship is moving to May. We bring in lots of people around the tournament now. We have to keep that March business and bring up the May business.”

Among Reese’s statistics:

• Jacksonville is the No. 5 metro area for golf after Washington, Boston, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

• Couples make up 37 percent of travelers. Families and one adult come next at 24 percent each.

• The average golf tourist spends 1-3 nights here.

• The average age of the golf tourist: 46 years old.

• Over 50 percent of the visitors claim a household income of $75,000 and over.

• The highest number of visitors is in the winter season from December through February, but not by much. That time gets 29 percent followed by 27 percent between March and May, 26 percent between June and August and 18 percent between September and November.

• According to the Florida Sports Foundation, a state agency, golf travel’s economic impact here last year was $95.7 million, a seven percent increase. Rounds played here increased by five percent. Play on a Florida golf course!

Management Group to Oversee The Claw at University Of South Florida Golf Course

Sun Dome, Inc. has signed a five-year agreement with Golf Strategies, LLC to manage The Claw at USF golf course a Florida golf course, the two parties announced today. The agreement puts in place a seasoned management group to oversee The Claw for the first time since opening in 1968 and opens the door to improve the course, allow the USF golf coaches to focus on coaching and provide for both a top notch home course for the athletic teams and a great course for the community at the same time.

“We’re very excited about managing one of the best Florida golf courses in Tampa”, says Tom Wheary, President of Golf Strategies. “This course has a rich history and we (look forward to providing our broad knowledge of the golf industry to make this a Florida golf course that will make everyone proud.)”

Douglas White, CEO of Golf Strategies adds, “We understand the need to maintain a quality Florida golf club for the University, the golf programs and the golfing community and intend to improve the quality of the golfer’s experience. We are in the process of finalizing our strategy and look forward to providing an excellent golf course for the community”.

The operations change will allow Jim Fee and Susan Holt, (the men’s and women’s golf coaches) to concentrate full time on building their respective golf programs. Before the change, the coaches had dual responsibilities managing both their respective team and various aspects of golf course operations. “Our golf programs will be competing in their first full Big East Conference championship in April”, says Jim Fee, USF Men’s Golf Coach. “Like all other USF teams our goal is to build a nationally recognized winning program. We’re confident that Golf Strategies has the expertise to improve The Claw for the Tampa golfing community.”

Holt echoes Fee’s sentiments, adding, “This is an opportunity for the golf course to turn the corner, and I’m very excited about that opportunity. Golf Strategies track record indicates they will maintain a course that not only benefits the USF golf teams, but the Tampa Bay community at large.”

Headquartered in Safety Harbor, Florida, Golf Strategies is a full service Florida golf course management firm whose scope of services encompasses the assessment of the financial viability of a project, to leading the development phase, to the day to day management of golf operations. Golf Strategies currently manages Monarch Golf Club and Penn Brooke Fairways in Leesburg, FL; Timberview Golf Club in Dallas, TX, Schalamar Creek Golf Club in Lakeland, FL and owns The Vincennes Golf Club in Vincennes, IN and Crescent Oaks Golf Club in Tarpon Springs, another Florida golf course. In addition, Golf Strategies has designed and is managing the golf course construction and development of Jack Frost National for Blue Ridge Real Estate located in Blakeslee, PA and is completing the construction of The Golf Club at Bridgewater in Lakeland, FL. Both clubs are projected to open in the fall of 2006.

Dry Weather May Make Florida Golf Course TPC Fast

It has been a dry winter in Florida, especially in the Ponte Vedra Beach area where The Players Championship will be contested for the 25th year at the TPC at Sawgrass Florida Golf Course.

Only 4.9 inches of rain has fallen on the Florida golf course since January. That's in stark contrast to last year's tournament, during which 2.6 inches fell. That gives the tournament a real chance to play as it was designed: hard and fast.

Little rain is forecast the rest of the week, meaning players will have a concern they've rarely faced in years past: hitting the fairways in positions on this Florida golf course that will not allow the ball to bounce and run into the deep, gnarly rough. "If we get firm conditions, it's going to open the tournament up to a lot more guys," said Nick Price, who won the Players in 1993 on this Florisa golf course.

High-Density Florida Golf Course Development Bothers Some

Six years ago, Myers Park homeowner Robert Olmstead battled dorm-style student apartments at the edge of his residential neighborhood.

Today, it's condos at the Capital City Country Club Florida golf course that Olmstead wants to see pared down. The cause for his concerns: The last empty lots in Tallahassee are being developed as land values increase and developers construct on the remaining wooded and sloped areas.

In the coming weeks, when the city updates its online listing of proposed large residential and commercial developments (those of more than 40 units or 25,000 square feet), the list is expected to reach almost 140.

"Density and traffic are going to be our main concerns,” Olmstead said of the condo proposal, which is in the discussion stage. "That's probably one of the worst things about a Florida golf course neighborhood is when you can't walk the streets comfortably."

Those are concerns voiced by Florida golf course neighborhood associations throughout the city. Central Tallahassee's vacant lots are filling in, drawing mixed reactions from residents opposed to sprawl but worried about higher densities in their neighborhoods.

"What we're trying to do is encourage high-density growth within the urban community," Mayor John Marks said.

At the same time, city leaders apparently are listening to some constituents' concerns, as evidenced by recent decisions to prevent higher densities in the West Pensacola Street area. But residents say problems remain, and the conflict between homeowners who want to protect their neighborhoods and the demand for rental units, especially in the areas surrounding the city's two universities, continues.

City and county leaders are proposing changes to the state-required plan that guides growth throughout Leon County with the goal of making it easier to understand and more transparent.

"Because the neighborhood was founded so long ago (in the 1930s), there are no rules, deeds, covenants, restrictions, nothing," said Olmstead, the president of the Myers Park Neighborhood Association. "There's no legal protection that you find in a modern neighborhood."

Should We Rebuild Florida Golf Courses On Coast?

Rush on to build in hurricane hazard zone

After suffering $30 billion in losses to hurricane damage in two years, Florida's insurance industry is pulling its coverage of the state's most vulnerable areas along the coast.

Yet, a rush to rebuild or develop raw land into Florida golf courses with as many dwelling units as possible is raging on around the state, including in Charlotte and Sarasota counties, even in the very areas devastated by Hurricane Charley in 2004.

The insurance industry is calling for the state to reconsider the sense of putting more structures and people along its most vulnerable area, the shoreline.

But, several local planning officials point out that the government can't take away property owners' rights to develop their property without compensating them for it.

Waterfront real estate is selling for premium prices, and the local and state governments are incapable of competing with the private market for the real estate, said Tom Cookingham, community development director for Charlotte County.

"I think it is a choice," said Cookingham, who resides in Deep Creek, located a safe distance from the coastal area. "Should you be protecting people from themselves? What should you be doing and how much can you do?"

Instead of prohibiting coastal development, both Punta Gorda and Charlotte County have adopted building and zoning codes that officials hope will result in a reasonable level of protection.

The rush is on

In the city of Punta Gorda, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Charley, Stock Development is building a 400-unit high-rise condominium project called Avante. The condominiums overlook Charlotte Harbor from the same point hit by Hurricane Charley in August 2004.

East along the Peace River, Core Construction is building the Peace Harbor Condominiums, a multi-story 40-unit complex located across Marion Avenue from the Charlotte Regional Medical Center, which recorded a wind speed of more than 170 mph during Hurricane Charley.

And in the downtown area, a hotel, an events center and the Merchants Crossing commercial complex are planned on waterfront sites where similar structures were destroyed by the hurricane.

Should the city rethink putting such high-density developments back in such a high hazard zone?

"That's a question that does get bantered around a lot on a daily basis, and there's not always a good answer," said David Hennis, community development director for the city. "Bad things can happen, but there are personal and property rights that exist that prohibit preventing someone from using their property, unless you take the property through condemnation."

Hennis also cited the fact that new construction must meet current building codes. However, a substantial amount of repair work is proceeding under older codes for a number of homes in the city's historic district.

"We do have flood rules and building (regulations) in place," Hennis said. "In every case, will these buildings survive in the future? Probably not."


All pay the cost

All Floridians are subsidizing the cost of insuring those residents who live in high-risk coastal areas, including many with million-dollar properties.

That's because the state's major insurance carriers have pulled out of covering homes and businesses within most of the coastal hazard zones.

In the Miami-Dade and Broward county areas, the insurance companies are slated to no longer cover structures east of Interstate 95, said Gary Landry, spokesman for the Florida Insurance Council.

In Southwest Florida, the insurers have pulled out of providing wind-damage coverage within 1,000 feet of all coastal waters, he said.

The pullout places more high-end real estate in high-risk zones in the hands of the state's insurer of last resort, the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.

Citizens, which must charge higher premiums than any private provider, sustained deficits of $515 million in 2004 and $1.3 billion in 2005. All Florida property owners will be expected to cover these shortfalls with surcharges on their insurance premiums of up to 20 percent, according to a report by the FIC.

Property owners can resort to Citizens only if no other insurance company will provide coverage. Citizens currently covers 810,000 properties, more than all other insurers-of-last-resort in the United States.

"When we're going to build in these areas, there are risks associated with it," Landry said. "The trend is to build along the coast, along the most vulnerable areas of the state. I think we need to rethink that.

"The stronger codes help, but if you're on the water, it's not a question of if, but when, you're going to get hit."

The FIC is lobbying the Legislature this spring to "control" the growth in high-risk coastal areas. Proposals include making properties valued at more than $1 million ineligible for Citizens' coverage.

The group also is prodding lawmakers to strengthen building codes, including mandating that even older homes be "hardened" against hurricanes.

Such measures could prove costly, but, "those are the tough decisions" lawmakers need to make, Landry said.


Unprecedented losses

The rush to build on the coast is coming after a 15-month period in which Florida got hit by eight hurricanes and four tropical storms.

In 2004, the hurricanes included Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. In 2005, the names were Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

The storms resulted in 2.8 million claims totaling at least $30.2 million, according to the FIC.

Coastal areas are more vulnerable because the open water provides nothing to deflect the wind before it blasts into structures.

Also, a storm surge hits the coastal areas with some velocity, making it more destructive than inland flooding, which slowly creeps up, according to building code officials.


Local approaches

Both the county and city have adopted stronger building codes and policies to address the hurricane hazard. Much of the codes are based on state laws adopted after Hurricane Andrew devastated southern Miami-Dade County in 1992.

Charlotte County has begun using a cap on the total density of the county to limit boosts in density along the coastline. However, the effectiveness of the growth management tool is debatable.

The original intent of the cap was to compel developers to concentrate projects in areas close to county services, instead of remote subdivisions platted decades ago.

The county's comprehensive plan also limited the density in the so-called "Category 1 Hurricane Vulnerability Zone" to no more than 3.5 units per acre. That's the zone that would flood in a minimal hurricane or even a tropical storm.

The county adopted a Transfer of Development Units ordinance in 2005, however, to allow developers to transfer development units into coastal areas by agreeing not to develop properties in other areas within the same flood zone.

The code was drafted to allow one particularly low-lying coastal area, Charlotte Harbor, to boost its densities to spur economic development, recalled Tom Cookingham, county community development director.

Now that the TDU ordinance is a year old, a group of land-use attorneys has begun lobbying to expand the zones from which development rights can be transferred.

The TDU ordinance has not stopped a rush to develop high-hazard areas on Manasota Key and Lemon Bay, said Inga Williams, county comprehensive plan specialist.

She cited the Wildflower Golf Course near Lemon Bay as one recent example. A developer has purchased enough development rights from within the same flood zone to propose building some 400 units on the 80-acre tract.

Such proposals are garnering more scrutiny by the Florida Department of Community Affairs, however.

"The DCA is still very, very concerned, even though they are transferring density from like to like," she said.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection also questioned the wisdom of the county's recent decision to allow some 6,000 luxury home sites, high-rise condominiums and shopping plazas along Burnt Store Road.


Blasting Burnt Store

In a July letter criticizing the plan, Cohen wrote, "The Burnt Store area is a designated FEMA Flood Zone (and) is a coastal high-hazard area."

Cohen also emphasized the importance of preserving the natural environment of the Burnt Store area, which is surrounded by the Charlotte Harbor State Buffer Preserve and the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve.

She called for the county to re-examine its plan and "incorporate lessons learned from the viability of built and natural systems as a result of Hurricane Charley."

To resolve the DEP's hurricane concerns, Dan Delisi, a planning specialist for the Bonita Bay development group, demonstrated that evacuation times would be adequate from the Burnt Store area once certain roads linking the developments with Interstate 75 get completed.

In response to Cohen's call for the natural landscape to be preserved, Cookingham pointed out the parcels are privately owned.

"There's been an opportunity for the state to buy it for years, and the state has never done it," he said.


A test of time

To comply with state building codes, structures in the high-hazard coastal areas must be hardened to withstand wind loads up to 130 mph.

Also, structures must be able to withstand a tidal storm surge. Not only must the first habitable floor be built above the base flood elevation, but also the underground foundation must withstand the scouring effect of erosion.

Jim Evitt, county chief building official, said he believes the codes are adequate -- to protect the buildings.

Evitt theorized that Charlotte County has less chance of getting inundated with a catastrophic storm surge than other coastal areas because of the county's location on the peninsula. That's based on the most common track of a hurricane from the Florida Straits northward.

However, Evitt said he's seen evidence of a rush to build on the coast. He's also seen an increase in the number of requests to build taller buildings.

While the structures may withstand a hurricane, their windows may blow out, he said.

"The buildings are going to be safe," Evitt said. "It's the people that are not safe. The only chance we have is to evacuate."

Evacuations are expected to take twice as long from Cape Haze compared to Punta Gorda, according to Wayne Sallade, county emergency management director. That's why Sallade opposes any boost in density along the coast, particularly in the western part of the county.

"I don't think we can stop building on the water -- because people want to live on the coast," said Dave Sabo, project manager for Core Construction, which is building the 42-unit Peace Harbor Condominiums.

Impact-resistant glass is being installed on the buildings to make their inhabitants safer, he said.

"As long as people are building with those types of codes, those buildings will be OK," Sabo said. "Of course with a Category 5 hurricane, with 180 mph, will the building withstand that?

"Maybe," he added. "Maybe not."

The Hottest City of Florida Golf Courses

It has been almost 50 years since Arnold Palmer first set a spiked foot in Orlando, then a humble little town that featured a smattering of cozy Florida golf courses, the intoxicating smell of orange blossoms and hundreds of sparkling lakes decorating the sandy, rolling terrain. Palmer had been looking for somewhere to spend his winters and was fast smitten by the pace of the place.

"I loved the quaintness of Orlando in those days," Palmer says. "It was an old farm town, a great place, but not really on the map."

Now it is the center of the golfing globe. Palmer found a personal hideaway in 1969, purchasing the site of this week's Bay Hill Invitational. Ever since, the King has seen his adopted hometown become to golf what Hollywood is to the movie biz, and he can hardly believe the profusion of pros now residing around him.

"Everybody sees what I saw," Palmer says. "There were always a lot of pluses. Now it's the hottest Florida golf course place on earth."

Orlando has become the game's leading Florida golf-pro repository, simultaneously serving as home base and launchpad for professionals of every level, an industry town indulging every golf demand. Once known mostly as the Valhalla of theme-park destinations, dozens of players from around the world have visited O-town and come to a quick conclusion.

Nice place to visit. Would wanna live there.

St. Andrews might be the cradle of golf, but Orlando is where it went to grow up. No fewer than 50 players with status on the PGA Tour were raised in Orlando or have homes in the area, including top guns Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen. Moreover, of the top 15 players on last year's final LPGA money list, six have residences in Orlando, including stars Annika Sorenstam and Se Ri Pak.

"It's getting a bit crowded, isn't it?" says Justin Rose, a native Englishman who is building a home in the Lake Nona community.

Unquestionably, players have migrated to Florida Golf Courses for years, taking advantage of the mild winter climate and lack of state income taxes (see chart, page 40). Orlando also possesses the country's top-rated airport, another benefit to anybody who lives out of a suitcase. But over the past decade, the Orlando infrastructure for tour pros has sprouted like Bermuda grass, feeding almost any golf-related appetite.

Amen to the amenities, they say. "Whatever you need, it's there," says Charles Howell III, who moved to the city four years ago. "If you can't find it, you aren't trying."

Thanks to a spike in upscale, private Florida golf course communities that provide players with the anonymity and accoutrements they prefer, keeping track of the infusion of newcomers requires either a real-estate license or an immigration badge. Last December alone, established winners from three world tours - Christina Kim, Nick Dougherty and Andre Stolz - bought property in the so-called City Beautiful.

Of course, the city's reputation took its biggest credibility leap when Tiger Woods bought a townhouse at Isleworth CC nine years ago, shortly after turning pro. He had played a practice round with club members Mark O'Meara and Ian Baker-Finch as a teenage amateur and enjoyed the outing, despite the fact that O'Meara dropped a tidy little 63 on him. Woods' new management firm believed the California native needed a tax break and someplace to get started.

"They figured that if he didn't like it, he could always move pretty easily," says David Lightner, a tax and investment specialist with IMG. "Turns out, he liked it fine."

Nearly a decade later Woods has relocated to a bigger house and still calls the club home. Though he has toyed with the idea of moving to south Florida to be closer to the Atlantic Ocean, camaraderie and the comforts of home have kept him around. "I have friends there," Woods says. "I have yet to find a place like Isleworth, where I can have peace and quiet as well as a great place to practice and get ready, and some good competition as well with the pros that play down there. We have some great games. So it's always been fun."

For the resident pros, Orlando - whose origin dates to 1838, during the Seminole Wars, when the U.S. Army built Fort Gatlin south of the present city to protect settlers - has become collegial, almost familial. To modify a term, birds of a feathery and all that. Aussie Peter Lonard was lured by mate Paul Gow. Arjun Atwal and Daniel Chopra were recruited by Smriti Mehra, another player with ties to India who lives in town. But make no mistake, the Orlando roster continues to grow unpredictably in terms of geographic diversity. The Lake Nona Florida Golf Course community alone contains pros who hail from The Netherlands, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, Germany and Sweden.

From a historical perspective, Walt Disney World Resort's arrival in 1971 started Orlando's economic growth spurt, sending it climbing like a booster rocket from nearby Kennedy Space Center to 1.8 million residents. "Certainly the fact that Disney came enhanced what was happening," Palmer says, wistfully. "But what would it have been if Disney hadn't come? That's a big question." And getting bigger every day, actually. In Orange County, where Orlando is located, the population has grown 180 percent from the 1970 census.

Like anybody else, Florida golf course pros appreciate a decent bargain. Relative to many cities, the cost of living in Orlando is thrice as nice as some far-pricier locales. For instance, when Kim, a 20-year-old native of the San Jose area, started looking for a home to purchase in her native California, she almost croaked from sticker shock. "My uncle found me one listed for $1.8 million," she explains. "Let's just say I didn't want to spend quite that much."

Kim bought a comparable 3,141-square-foot, six-bedroom house with a pool located not far from Bay Hill for $575,000, less than one-third the San Jose home's asking price. The relative cost of living, if not the less-stressful quality of life, were major issues in her relocation. "Plus, there are just so many other girls in the area," she says of her LPGA peers. "It's great to have them all down here to play or hang out with."

For every established professional, there is a handful of would-be stars who trek to a Florida golf course in Orlando to whale away on the mini-tours such as the Moonlight, Hooters or old Tommy Armour circuits. A quarter-century ago, long before there was a PGA Tour-sanctioned developmental proving ground like the Nationwide Tour, the now-defunct Space Coast Tour was ground zero for aspiring pros. Several events were held in central Florida, attracting armies of wannabes. Scads of established pros cut their teeth on the Orlando mini-tours, including veterans Skip Kendall and Bart Bryant, and never left town. Play A Florida Golf Course Today.

How to Accessorize On The Florida Golf Course

You know what they say -- if you can't go low, at least look your best out on the Florida golf Course.

While I typically focus on the gentlemen, at this year's PGA Merchandise Show I happened to find two great accessories for the ladies that I wanted to share with you.

"Split Pursenality"

While Sherie Giles' line is predominantly handbags, Sherie has ventured into the headcover arena. The handbag lines feature unique reversible fabrics and Sherie likes to throw in some exotic boa feathers to spice things up.

When I stumbled upon the Kissing Cowgirl Line, I knew it would be a hit for my readers! The headcover is made of cotton and is available in black or pink. Dress it up with the ostrich boa and you will be the talk of the club at any golf course in Florida! A set of three headcovers retails for $80.

Split Pursenality is available at many Florida retailers, but may be easiest for you to find at their online store, splitpursenality.com or call them at (713) 417-0578.

"Sassy Swings"

Don't cover up your jewelry with your glove! Instead slip on a Sassy Swing and your hand will be all decked-out!

The Sassy Swings line of women's golf gloves starts with high-quality leather for fit and comfort but then goes one stylish step beyond! How about beads of hematite, gold, silver and a rainbow of Swarovski crystals? And the bracelet at the wrist doubles as a stroke counter by simply sliding the beads. A matching "ring" sits on the finger. the Florida golf courses will be loaded with them.

Owners Lisa and Tina say, "A woman can never have too much jewelry!" The line consists of four models, Alecia, Gale, Renee and Sophia. They all carry a retail price of $49.99. Not bad considering you're getting gold, silver, crystal and hematite!

You can purchase the Sassy Swings glove online at sassyswings.com
Remember that Mother's Day is just around the corner. These items will make your woman the talk of the Florida golf course. So guys, treat your special golfer right and you won't be sorry!

Top State Amateur, First African-American In Four Years To Compete On The LPGA On A Florida Golf Course

Andia Winslow, the first African-American to compete in the Ivy League and for Yale University, and the first African-American to compete on the LPGA in four years, has accepted a sponsor's exemption to the inaugural Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open at the Reunion Resort & Club in Florida, April 24-30.

Winslow will compete against the prominent 144-player field, which is also expected to include No.1-ranked LPGA player Annika Sorenstam. The field will be squaring off for one of the richest purses in the history of the LPGA at $2.5 million.

Winslow is the first African-American since LaRee Pearl Sugg in 2001 to compete on the LPGA. The Orlando-area resident is honored to have the chance to play in this prestigious event. Winslow was also the first scholarship recipient for a partial scholarship at Yale University from the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

"I'm delighted and pleased about the chance to play on a Florida golf course in the Ginn Open," Winslow said. "The city of Orlando is embracing the event, I am working hard on my game and I'm excited about the whole experience."

"Andia is a wonderful addition to the premier field we have at the Ginn Clubs and Resorts Open," said Bobby Ginn, president and CEO of Ginn Clubs & Resorts. "She is a trailblazer being the first African-American to play at Yale, and shows great determination as she perseveres to be on the LPGA some day. We look forward to watching the Orlando-based players please the hometown crowd."

Winslow of Winter Garden, Fla., is the first African-American to play varsity golf for Yale University (2000-03). A native of Seattle, Wash., she is a freelance writer and a documentary filmmaker. Her uncle is Pro Football Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow. She was the 1999 National Minority Junior Golfer of the Year, and she is the first ever African-American, man or woman, to compete in the Ivy League.

Winslow, who is currently playing amateur tournaments with hopes of eventually qualifying for the LPGA, won the Golfweek Orlando City Championship in 2005. She currently works at the Walt Disney World Golf Resort and previously was the part of the golf operations staff at the Yale University Golf Course in 2004.

The four-year Florida golf course agreement between Ginn Clubs & Resorts, tournament organizer Pantheon International and the LPGA, ensures that women's professional championship golf will be prominently featured at a first-class Florida venue for years to come.

Private Florida Golf Course To Open On Calusa Grounds

Golfing fans -- get ready to grab your clubs and hit the links. South Florida will soon enjoy its first golf course designed by well-known golf course architect Tom Fazio.

Due to open in November 2007, Fort Dallas Golf Club is being developed by Facundo Bacardi, chairman of the Bacardi spirits company.

Fort Dallas is to take up 168 acres at 9400 S.W. 130th Ave., currently the site of Calusa Country Club another Florida golf course. The new course's name is meant to honor the 19th-century outpost that first marked the site of modern Miami.

Calusa Country Club has been closed since Hurricane Katrina damaged it in August.

While the Florida golf course is expected to open in again in mid-March, the Fort Dallas team said they expect the course to then close permanently in August, when groundbreaking is scheduled for Fort Dallas.

The 18-hole championship Florida golf course will feature 30-foot elevation changes and three winding waterways.

Membership for the Florida golf course will be invitation only, limited to 275 individuals or corporations.

In addition to Fazio, the design team includes Zmistowski Design Group as clubhouse architect and Cole Martinez Curtis & Associates as interior designers.

Zmistowski has collaborated with Fazio on previous projects in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Tulsa, Okla. Cole Martinez Curtis interiors include The Lodge at Sea Island, the new Crosby Club and The Lodge at Pebble Beach.

Gains, Losses In Mizner Trail Florida Golf Course Deal

It is time to put the Mizner Trail Project to rest after a crushing defeat by the Palm Beach County commissioners.

So let us analyze what has been gained or lost in this defeat.

The South Florida Coalition was concerned with the increase of traffic if the Mizner Trail Project were approved. A traffic study showed that it would not be a problem. The Palm Beach County commissioners ignored the findings of a company that only deals with traffic problems.

The South County Coalition, which was spearheaded by the La Hoya Group, objected to their view being obscured by the building of 22 homes, which would start at $1 million.

They preferred a Florida golf course view, which only applied to 12 of the homes facing the Mizner Trail Florida Golf Course. Logic dictates that with the building of the 22 homes at $1 million each, it would only increase the value of their property and every home and condo in the Boca Delmar area. Now for the next six years, they will be facing a "sea of weeds." So South County Coalition, you have just traded a view of million-dollar homes for a browned-out Florida golf course.

Now the Palm Beach County commissioners didn't consider what was best for the 400-condo owners in Camino Real Village and the 900 homes surrounding the Mizner Trail Florida Golf Course.

By taking away our Florida golf course view, they have just lowered the value of our properties by 10 percent to 15 percent.

The commissioners didn't even take into consideration the Boca Delmar recommendation in favor of the Mizner Trail Project. Their minds were already made up.

Unfortunately, there are no winners. The 400 condos in Camino Real Village, Mizner Trail Project and the 900 homes facing the Florida golf course had the most to lose. The La Hoya Troup only lost the view of 12 homes.

Florida Golf Course Lot Scores $1.2 Million In Suit

Delia Eisenberg, 87, a retired beautician, owned a 7,500-square-foot lot on Fisher Island that her late husband bought for $3,500 in 1961, when the island was undeveloped. Hold onto it, he said. It will be valuable someday.
She heeded his advice, turning down offers to sell. Fisher Island became a fancy residential community for millionaires with a hotel, spa, tennis center, marina and championship golf course called The Links.

In the late 1990s, Delia discovered that part of The Links' fourth hole was on her property.

Eisenberg sued Fisher Island Club in Miami-Dade Circuit Court -- for trespass, civil theft and unjust enrichment. She demanded $1.5 million in damages.

Attorneys Jerry Katzen and Elizabeth Katzen say the club ignored her ownership rights. ''They used it for 13 years without offering to provide her with any compensation,'' says Jerry Katzen, who is Eisenberg's nephew. Real estate analyst Michael Y. Cannon, hired by Katzen, says Eisenberg's lot ended up underneath the fourth fairway and one of its sand traps.

The club argued for dismissal, saying Eisenberg ''sat by'' while ''valuable improvements'' were made on the lot. But Circuit Judge Robert Scola ruled the club ``has committed a trespass.''

The parties just settled -- for $1.2 million. The club got title to the lot.
Eisenberg's husband, jazz musician Norton ''Nortie'' Eisenberg, died in 1983 of lung cancer. Delia Eisenberg now lives with her sister in California.

Eisenberg's portion of the settlement is $700,000. She gave it to grandchildren Jeremy Bernstein, 29, an accountant, and Jill Bernstein, 25, who teaches autistic and developmentally delayed kindergartners at Blue Lakes Elementary. Grandma Delia wants them to use the money to buy their first homes. The balance of the settlement went to pay attorneys' fees, expert witnesses and court costs. Eisenberg's daughter, Carole Bernstein, owned four Get Smart Educational Superstores, from Miami to Palm Beach. She sold the company last year.

1-Year Countdown Begins For Area's New PGA Tour Date On Florida Golf Course

This is the week, and today is the day. In 12 months the PGA Tour is scheduled to be in town to begin first-round play at Innisbrook Resort on a Florida Golf Course for a tournament that, as of right now, has neither a sponsor's name nor a contract guaranteeing it a golf course to play.

Other than that, next year at this time should be a real blast.

"Next year will be great," Davis Love III said. "There will be those four tournaments on Florida golf courses that I know I want to play."

After this fall the PGA Tour event that has been the Chrysler Championship and played in October will move to a March date and take a spot as the second week of the high-profile Florida Swing.

After completing its early-season trip around the West Coast, the tour will come to Florida for the Honda Classic at its new home at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, and then make its way to Tampa Bay. The Arnold Palmer Invitational (formerly Bay Hill) in Orlando follows and then Doral, which has been the first stop on the Florida Swing since 1987, will be the site of a big-money World Golf Championship event the fourth week of the month, all on Florida golf courses.

Two weeks later, and a month after Tampa Bay, comes the Masters Tournament.

It is a reworking of the schedule that appears to have sent a jolt through the routine-weary ranks.

"I think everybody is happy in Florida," said Love, a member of the tour's player advisory council. "Everybody has improved, and that's the thing we've been trying to tell the other players - that the whole new system has made everything better."

Except for a couple of pesky details.

"This is our week," Tampa Bay tournament director Gerald Goodman said. "Great weather. It's going to be wonderful. But no, we have no news as far as a title sponsor or Florida golf course."

The title sponsorship, while worrisome, is expected to take care of itself. The PGA Tour is courting potential candidates, and a spring date in Florida during a time much of the country is still in shivering cold will be one of its easier sells.

Not so promising have been negotiations with Innisbrook officials. While the acclaimed Copperhead Course is one of the major reasons Tampa Bay received the coveted spring date, resort officials have questioned the benefit of hosting the tournament during what is already a busy tourist month.

"We feel confident we'll get this finished," Goodman said. "I'm being positive."

He certainly hopes so. If the demands of 2007 are not enough, there is the fact that Goodman and his staff still must host this year's tournament in October before turning around and doing it again four months later.

"We are going to have two tournaments on Innisbrook Florida golf courses within 17 weeks of each other," he said. "Unprecedented. Never before done on the PGA Tour. … Do you think I'm having any stress?"

Goodman can take solace from history. What tournaments have done during the years to give golf resorts an identity may be reflected best by Miami's Doral. For 42 years it has been a staple of the PGA Tour's spring broadcasts and has become famous for its appeal to northern television viewers stuck in snow and dreaming of a Florida golf trip.

Now, with the spring date, even PGA Tour players are allowing themselves to look ahead.

"Playing Innisbrook in an overseeded condition vs. the Bermuda, it's going to play totally different," Fred Funk said. "It'll be a lot softer, more like we had with the JCPenney years ago. Most of us like it. It's a demanding Florida golf course and it's pretty tough in those conditions."

But what any golf fan - and maybe more those who are not - wants to know is how the new dates might fit into Tiger Woods' schedule.

"Well, I'm going to look at it a little more in depth, where I need to schedule my breaks and get organized," Woods said.

"So, obviously, it affects it a little bit because it's not the same order, and obviously, having a World Golf Championship, you want to be ready for that."

Candidates Return Developer's Donations To Destroy two Florida Golf Courses

Tamarac City candidates are returning campaign donations from the developer who has advanced an unpopular plan to convert two Florida golf courses into residential developments.

Prestige Homes owns Sabal Palm and Monterey Florida golf courses, both located near Commercial Boulevard and the Florida Turnpike. The company's proposal to build more than 700 homes on the property has drawn considerable opposition from residents. Some residents questioned during meetings last month whether the company's contributions might play a role in future votes.

Financial disclosure records show Prestige Homes donated about $2,000 to five of the seven candidates running in Tamarac, and company president Bruce Chait donated another $1,500. Business associates of Chait's contributed an additional $3,500.

Three of the candidates receiving money said they intended to return the donations, while one said she didn't have any of the money left. The fifth candidate, unopposed and thus already elected, was planning to donate all of his remaining funds to two charities.

"At the time of your contribution to my campaign, you did not inform me of your pending project before the city of Tamarac," mayoral candidate Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco, who received $2,000, wrote in a letter to Chait. "Therefore, I am returning your contribution to avoid the appearance of impropriety."

Mayoral candidate Mae Schreiber and District 2 candidate Patricia Atkins-Grad both said they planned to return the donations, $2,500 and $1,750, respectively. Karen Roberts, a sitting commissioner and candidate for mayor, said returning the $500 donation she received would be impossible.

"I'm running a grassroots campaign here," she said. "There's no way I can return it. It's already spent. It's gone." Guess he does not golf on a Florida golf course.

Running unopposed for one commission seat was Harry Dressler, who said Wednesday he intended to split his remaining funds with donations to a children's charity and an Alzheimer's disease charity. He received a donation of $250.

Neither Prestige Homes officials nor their attorney could be reached for comment on Wednesday. The matter of converting the Florida golf courses to residential will come before the Tamarac City Commission on March 22.

Honda Classic Hopes Fazio Design Draws Stronger Field On A Florida Golf Course

If Tom Fazio builds it, will they come?

Honda Classic officials hope the world's best PGA Tour pros will turn out next March to see what kind of test Fazio has designed at The Country Club at Mirasol. The famed architect has built more than 200 courses around the world, but Mirasol's new Sunrise Course is the first of his designs that will be home to a PGA Tour event.

Mirasol unveiled its Sunrise Course during a media day on Monday. It opened to club members for play last week. The unveiling for tournament play comes March 11-14, when the Honda Classic plays host to its annual PGA Tour event.

``I hope players will find it fun to play and challenging,'' Fazio said in a telephone interview. ``I think what makes it special is the wonderful feel. Sometimes, when you build courses for real estate developments, the homes give you this boxed-in feeling. On parts of this course, you feel like you are out in a nature preserve.''

The Honda Classic left its home at the TPC at Heron Bay in Coral Springs and moved to Mirasol in north Palm Beach County last spring. Mirasol's Arthur Hills' designed Sunset Course was the temporary home last March, and Tour pros scorched the short course with Justin Leonard winning at 24 under par.

Fazio's Florida golf course should stand up better to Tuesday's long-hitting pros and the newest distance technology. The course rating is 76.8 with a slope of 150. The course pros will play will measure more than 7,400 yards from the tournament tees, but its first line of defense are Fazio's giant, elevated and undulating greens.

The Florida golf course should offer a precise second-shot test. With numerous decks within these enormous greens, players must accurately hit to pins in certain sections of the greens or watch the undulations carry their errant shots away. With shaved banks leading to collection areas around the greens, a creative short game will be rewarded.

``I don't think it's a Florida golf course where a long hitter's set up to always win,'' Honda Classic Executive Director Cliff Danley said. ``There's a premium on the short game. Guys are going to miss greens and have to get up and down, and it's not going to be easy in tournament conditions.''

The 18th hole of the Hills' Sunset Course will continue to serve as the tournament's finishing hole because of its suitability for spectator seating and luxury boxes. At 476 yards, it's also a challenging closing hole. Fazio reconfigured the green to fit the rest of his design.

The Honda Classic's last two homes came under significant criticism from Tour pros. The TPC at Heron Bay and the TPC at Eagle Trace were panned for various reasons. Danley's optimistic players will warm to Fazio's test.

``There are 144 players in a field,'' Danley said. ``Some will like the course, some won't, but I think they all hold Tom Fazio in high regard and I don't think you'll find a lot of the negativity we've suffered in the past. I think it's a fair golf course.''

With the course sprawling out across the property like a links design, the walks for spectators will be long. Shuttles will be used to transport spectators to the 10th tee, which is located on a far end of the property.

Danley believes the overall venue is the best the Honda Classic has ever offered.

The new clubhouse opens Thanksgiving week. The state-of-the-art practice facility is close to player/family dining, day care and the spa and locker rooms. The clubhouse will be home to corporate functions and other events tournament week.

``We think this is as good as it gets from a presentation standpoint,'' Danley said.

Deltona Florida Golf Course Condo Plans Draw Traffic Concerns

Plans to build condominiums in the middle of the Florida's Deltona Hills Golf and Country Club are riling some local residents.

They are worried a 300-unit, four-story condo with underground parking on the Elkcam Boulevard golf course could mean more traffic and more problems than the city can handle.

Florida Golf course leaders, meanwhile, said the project's impact would be minimal. They say the condos are a part of an overall renovation project to improve the 42-year-old Florida golf course.

"It's really a maintenance project, but at the same time it allows us to do other things," said John Meade, the Florida's golf course's general manager.

However, residents like Frank and Marie Mazzoni, who live near the golf course, say there is nothing minimal about the four-story building and its underground parking garage.

"Elkcam is one of the busiest roads around here, and I don't see how putting a . . condo is going to help our traffic situation," Frank said.

A traffic study estimates the condos would generate 1,633 daily trips on the road.

Mazzoni's home is on the edge of the golf course, and he said he doesn't like the idea of walking into his back yard and the view being a four-story structure.

"What me and my wife are afraid of is . . . whether we are setting a precedent," he said. "Are they going to build more later, and I am not sure what it could mean."

Meade said with proper design and buffers, it's unlikely that existing residents would ever view the structure. He estimated the buffers will range from between 325 to about 650 feet long.

"We tried to bring the condo building into the center of our property, so that we had a large distance buffer between the surrounding homeowners and the new multistory building," Meade said. "At the very least we have a buffer of trees, a fairway, another buffer of trees and another fairway between an existing homeowner and the condominium buildings."

As for the issue of traffic, Meade pointed out the condos will house mostly residents who are 55 and older.

"By federal standards an age-restricted community generates few trips per day and has less impact on the surrounding traffic," he said. "One of the things people have to remember is that we are already here and we are already generating a certain amount of trips per day. The only incremental increase with trips on the road would be the condo development."

Commissioner David Santiago said he has fielded calls from residents on both sides of issue, and "there are a couple of areas of concern that still need to be addressed."

Santiago said he is also concerned about the traffic on Elkcam and the building height but will review all the paperwork before making up his mind.

The project is currently being reviewed by the city's staff, and it's not known when it will go before the planning and zoning board or the City Commission for a public hearing.

If the city allows the project, Meade said developers hope to break ground in the late summer. Let's all play on a Florida Golf Course.

Residents Blast Florida Golf Course Plan

Developer wants homes on sites of Tamarac links

There are many steps to come before two Florida golf courses can be converted to residential developments, but to many people living along the golf courses, the decision is already clear. And they don't like it.

Sabal Palm and Monterey golf courses, both located near Commercial Boulevard and Florida's Turnpike, were acquired last month by a developer that proposes building more than 700 single-family homes and townhouses. Nearby residents are desperately hoping the Tamarac City Commission will deny the developer's request to change the zoning from recreational to residential.

"Just say no," implored Mainlands resident Reuel Sherwood.

The first step toward the zoning change will come during a planning board hearing 9 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall.

Tamarac is not the only South Florida city where fairways are being considered for conversion. Officials in Pembroke Pines this month approved the closing of 123-acre Raintree Golf Course, which will be turned into 103 luxury homes, and a proposal to build 168 luxury condos on a portion of the Country Club of Coral Springs received rezoning approval last fall.

Tamarac city officials conducted an informational meeting Thursday at 8601 W. Commercial Blvd. and will have another one there at 7 p.m. today, offering residents a briefing on what developer Prestige Homes has proposed and the process it will have to go through. Thursday's 21/2-hour session, described by some city officials as the most heavily attended city meeting in years, saw hundreds of residents fill the Tamarac Community Center ballroom.

Community development director Chris King and City Manager Jeff Miller spent about 20 minutes illustrating the standards that Prestige Homes will need to meet and the various city, county and state agencies it must satisfy. They made it clear that Prestige, as the new owner of the property, had a right to apply for a zoning change, and they also noted that commissioners could not express an opinion on the issue until it was formally presented.

But after the presentation, the audience spent two hours making its opinion crystal-clear.

"I don't know of anyone in the Mainlands, or anyone in east Tamarac, who supports this proposal," said John Halenar.

Subsequent comments addressed traffic, pollution, the strain on schools and utilities and the danger of more vehicles on the streets in a senior community that has no sidewalks but lots of memories.

"We walk slower, we drive slower -- we're good voters, though," said Carol Lauren.

Some suggested Prestige Homes' purchase of the land, before it was rezoned, indicated the rezoning was a "done deal," a contention denied by both Tamarac Mayor Joe Schreiber and Prestige Homes attorney Gerald Knight. Knight said the company hoped the long-term benefits of the new homes would win over the City Commission and residents.

"Hopefully, once they get more information about the project, they'll become more receptive to it," Knight said, adding, "but maybe that's being optimistic."

More Florida Golf Course Information.