Old Florida Golf Course Measures Up For Golf Events

Driving past the rows of stores and commercial strip plazas that line Yamato Road just west of Interstate 95, you would never know there was a top-flight, 18-hole Florida golf course tucked behind them.

Mainly for that reason, the Champions Tour is returning to Palm Beach County for the first time in seven years.

The Champions Tour has been trying to find a suitable South Florida home during the winter since the Royal Caribbean Classic at Key Biscayne lost its title sponsor two years ago. Last fall, members at Broken Sound decided they wanted to host a pro tournament to help give some quality exposure to its gated community and the Old Course.

Within months, a deal was reached to move the Allianz Championship from Des Moines, Iowa, to Boca Raton, starting in February. Now the Old Course becomes a New Story.

"It is a hidden gem, not just in Boca but in South Florida," said Franklin Loh, a Broken Sound member serves as the club spokesman. "We have something to offer that not many communities can match around here."

What makes the Old Course so different is its a free-standing layout that features no homes on the course. That's right: 18 holes, zero homes.

"I couldn't believe that when I heard it, " said Hollis Cavner, whose Pro Links Sports is managing the event. "I mean, this is Florida. All of the courses have homes on them - or condos."

There's another thing that separates Broken Sound from other area courses that have hosted Champions Tour events that have come and gone during the past two decades: They're not doing it to sell property, then tell the tournament to move on once that's been accomplished. The 1,600-home gated community has already been built near the course.

So maybe, just maybe, the Champions Tour will remain in South Florida for longer than the initial three-year deal. Loh says that's the plan.

"We're not looking to sell homes," Loh said. "This is great exposure for our community and for our course. This is not a short-term scenario; this is a long-range plan."

This is the Champions Tour's first event in Palm Beach County since the Senior PGA Championship left PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens in 2000 after an 18-year stay.

Two other Champions Tour events have been held in Boca Raton without much staying power: Boca Grove Plantation hosted the Quadel Seniors Classic from 1983-85, and Gleneagles in Delray Beach was the site of the Shearson-Lehman Brothers Senior Classic in '86.

Cavner said he's well aware the Champions Tour has struggled in South Florida, with its abundance of social and sports options during the winter. But he believes things will be different because he's focusing on being a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

"This will be different because this is a Boca event," Cavner said. "It's not a Miami event where you've got 9 million things going on that day.

"This is going to be a happening event in Boca."

The Old Course was built by Joe Lee in 1979, then redesigned by architect Gene Bates of North Palm Beach in 2004. Bates did a massive overhaul, changing the routing while adding mounds and yardage (7,000 from the back tees).

"There's really nothing there today that resembles what it was five years ago," said Bates, who was selected Golf Course Architect of the Year in 2005 by BoardRoom magazine, partly for his work at Broken Sound. "We didn't rebuild it with the intentions of having a tournament, but we rebuilt it as a good venue for club members who have the option of stepping up to whatever tee they want."

Broken Sound's director of golf, John Skaf, said he would like to see the Old Course switched from a par-72 to a par-70 for the 54-hole event. He suggests the first and 16th holes, which play as par-5s for the members, should be switched into difficult par-4s.

Skaf knows trying to predict a winning score on a Florida golf course without knowing the weather conditions can be a stretch.

But he was willing to try, anyway.

"If we play it as a par-70, I could see the winning score between six and 10 under," Skaf said. "As a par-72, I think the winner will be between eight and 12 under."

Bates usually is too busy trying to build golf courses and doesn't worry about how well the older pros will be able to pick them apart. But he's confident the Allianz Championship's leader board won't be dripping with red numbers.

"It's not going to be a go-low Florida golf course," Bates said. "I think if someone shoots 67 or 68 the first two days, that's going to be a good round of golf. By the final round, I think they'll be happy with a 70 or a 71."

Florida Golf Course Heat means Golfing Cheap

Summer in Florida means rising numbers in much of every day life — gas prices, electric bills and, of course, temperature.

But for budget-minded golfers, there's no better time to play because when the mercury heads north, golf prices head south, making this the best time to hit the sticks — provided golfers can dodge the thunderheads and stand a little sunburn and a lot of sweat.

"You can't go wrong here during the summer," said Doug Atwood, a teacher at Port St. Lucie High School. "Myself and the guys I play with, we play more often and we like to choose a variety of courses. Everybody drops their rates, so it's enticing to try different courses."

During the winter months, the selection of affordable courses for middle-class golfers shrinks because non-municipal courses such as PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie and Hammock Creek in Palm City offer rates more than double what they charge in the summer.

Both facilities charge more than $80 for morning play during the winter. Now they are charging less than $35, with afternoon rates below $22.

It's the simple law of supply and demand, Hammock Creek general manager and golf pro Steve Harrop said. But in that vein, it's the drop in demand that benefits the summer players.

"Heat is always going to be a factor," Harrop said. "The population also goes down during the summer. We try to set our prices at a fair market rate. During the season, we can charge more. But in the summer if you are a local person and can put up with the heat, there are good courses you can play.

"If you take the top five Florida golf courses in the area, you can play four or five of them right now for $100. During the season, it would probably cost you around $600 to play those same courses."

With the lower demand comes the opportunity for courses to take care of the year-around residents who might put away their clubs between Halloween and Easter — or play exclusively at municipal facilities in the winter.

Paul Howley, head pro at Eagle Marsh, said the Jensen Beach course lowers its rates in the summer so much — by almost two-thirds — so people like teachers, firefighters and students can enjoy an upscale course and experience.

Stuart resident Jon Resos said he and his golfing buddies play significantly more rounds during the summer. And while during the summer they might still play at courses like Martin County Country Club that are affordable all year, they tend to use their summer outings to hit the more upscale courses.

Resos said his group plays Hammock Creek, PGA Golf Club and The Florida Club in the summer, noting they'll probably not play more than once at those courses during the winter.

"We try to get in on the better rates and play more because when it's $85 a round (during the season), that's out of my budget," Resos said. "I don't want to go out there and maybe shoot 120 and pay that much. I'm willing to pay $35 and have that bad of a day on a Florida golf course."

Jupiter's Ritz Florida Golf Course Maintenance Crew Takes Pride In Pristine Greens

There is nothing like the early morning on a Florida golf course. The last droplets of dew tip the grass, giving it a luminescence that sparkles in the early sun. Putted golf balls create rivelet tracks along the green to the hole and the light breeze at sunrise belies the steamy heat that will mark the course as the day continues.

Savvy golfers — and most golfers in North County fit this category — know that the lush fairways, the neatly clipped bunker edges and the fine-tuned putting surfaces don't happen by some elfin magic.

They are the result of very precise golf course maintenance practices, and when this golf course is the Jack Nicklaus-designed 18 holes at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club & Spa, Jupiter the standards elevate to professional tournament level.

"We are an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Certified golf course," said Lukus Harvey, the Ritz Carlton golf course superintendent, "which means we go above and beyond with pesticide management, awareness and sensitivity to wildlife. Also, right in the middle of the Florida golf course is an 8-acre bald eagle preserve that is fenced off and no one but our certified biologist can go in there.

"It is the centerpiece of the property and if our members don't see the eagles for a few days, they are asking us about them."

These same members demand the finest when it comes to the golf course's condition, so the Ritz Carlton spends more than $1.6 million a year to maintain this course.

Much of the maintenance involves the greens, which are among the most pristine and smooth in the area. And this doesn't happen by accident. Harvey and his crew of 28 continually use various maintenance practices to guarantee that the greens are outstanding.

"I would put my greens up against the (PGA) Tour any day of the week," said Harvey. "We have tour players that are members here and members that want this type of condition."

Until about five years ago, South Florida had the reputation for not having good greens, he said, but now, because of new grasses obtained through gene splicing the grasses — Champion Ultradwarf on the greens and Tifsport on the fairways — allow the course to provide "the finest greens and fairways in South Florida," Harvey said.

Along with these high quality grasses comes a labor-intensive maintenance program that continues throughout the year, but in the summer, several practices are accelerated.

Top dressing, adding a light covering of sand on the greens 40 times during the year, helps the greens to maintain a smooth surface, the "pool table," effect, said Harvey.

"These grasses grow so much and are so aggressive that the more they grow, the more work we have," he said. When we do aerification (pulling out small cylindrical plugs from the greens and filling them with United States Golf Association sand), it helps the greens get more oxygen exchange.

"The previous sand that is down there, three or four inches deep, can build up an organic area and insects and funguses like these organics. So when you take out the plugs, then it will accept water."

The golf course closes for a day for the aerification and for 10 days there are "undesirable" putting conditions, he said, but the members are "very educated," and understand that proper maintenance keeps the golf course at its best.

Vericutting, or making thin cuts along the surface of the green, used to be a minor maintenance practice done about 10 to 15 times a year, but Harvey said it is done aggressively about 15 times a year, and then lightly 20 times a year.

"Picture a mower that is a bunch of circular saw blades," he said. "It removes dead material called thatch that grows under the surface of the green. Because this grass grows so quickly, one piece of grass grows on top of each other, and if you don't vericut, the part under the top surface will die out — you'll get greens that are spongy."

The vericut grooves are filled with sand, so that it is still a true putting service, he adds.

Harvey, who has been at the course for a little more than a year, cut his maintenance teeth at some of the best-known golf courses in the country — Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Johns Island Club in Vero Beach, Calusa Pines in Naples, and the venerable Augusta National in Georgia, home of The Masters.

Because of this experience he is accustomed to the exceptionally high standards demanded at Ritz Carlton.

"There are a lot of great Florida golf courses in the area, and the Ritz Carlton is all about service," he said. "We sell out memberships based on tournament conditions, and because of this, we can't have an off day.

"We communicate with our members, so they know what we are doing and they are willing to accept it," realizing that the maintenance is the key to an outstanding golf course.

Florida Golf Courses In Play?

Sure, Southwest Florida has water activities, - boating, parasailing, jet-skiing - as well as an array of cultural attractions, museums and nature centers.

But when most visitors come to Collier County, they have one main activity in mind: A Florida Golf Course.

Collier County is home to about 70 golf courses. Now, with membership numbers at local golf clubs declining, and the need for affordable housing increasing, how long will Florida golf courses be able to resist development?

“Golf courses are running out of patrons, and as you start to see more and more of that, there’s going to be more and more of a push to either add members or sell them off and do something else,” Collier County Manager Jim Mudd said.

“It’s not going to sit there and be idle space.”

Collier County commissioners passed up two opportunities in the past year to purchase a golf course for public use.

Last August, commissioners had the chance to purchase the Ironwood Golf Course in East Naples. The course owners, Illinois-based Van Elway Enterprises Inc., owed millions of dollars to creditors. The course was foreclosed upon and put up for auction.

County staff members didn’t want to keep up the golf course and instead proposed turning it into a park or an affordable housing area.

East Naples residents objected to the ideas and Ronald Berger bought the course at auction for about $1.4 million, Mudd said.

A resident of East Naples who won $10 million in the Florida Lotto in 2002, Berger decided to keep the course and its restaurant open.

County Commissioner Donna Fiala had hoped to purchase and maintain Ironwood. She said the maintenance estimates for the Florida golf course, provided by staff, were too high.

“She didn’t like the cost figures that we had, but I believe the staff’s analysis of financial feasibility was pretty much dead on,” Mudd said. “It’s a hard business around here. There’s so many darn golf courses.”

At the commissioners’ June 7 meeting, Fiala’s request that the county look into purchasing the Riviera Golf Course in East Naples was met with silence.

“The golf course is in good shape and doesn’t need any improvements, so it’s not like we’d have to rescue the course,” she said. “I thought this would be the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Developers with MDG Capital, well-known throughout the county for their work force housing projects, hoped to purchase the golf course in January to develop affordable housing condominiums. The golf course winds between 692 manufactured and single-family homes that are scattered throughout the 55-and-over Riviera Golf Estates community.

Residents protested the development, saying their contracts guaranteed that the golf course view they enjoyed would remain just that in perpetuity. Developers with MDG are in the process of reviewing contracts to determine whether they have the right to build over the golf course.

“I am for affordable housing, because I have children of my own who need that,” said Kay Randazzo, president of the Riviera Homeowners Association. “I just wasn’t supportive of them building condos in the middle of our community.”

Changing a community golf course to an affordable housing development can be fairly simple, said Cormac Giblin, housing and grants manager for the county.

The first step for would-be developers would be to seek permission to rezone the land from Florida golf course to residential, Giblin said. During that process, county planners and commissioners attempt to decide whether the new zoning will be compatible with the overall plan for the area, known as a comprehensive plan.

The good news for developers, Giblin said, is affordable housing developments in place of golf courses are often changes consistent with the comprehensive plan.

“There are no prohibitions regarding golf courses,” Giblin said. “A golf course is not some kind of protected use, like preservation lands or wetlands.

“There’s nothing like that there to stop development.”

The tough part comes later, when developers need to have a super majority - approval from four out of five commissioners - to rezone the land. If the new development will generate too much traffic, harm protected areas or create conflicts with the comprehensive plan, it may not get approved.

But if everything checks out, there is little that can be done to stop development from overtaking a golf course, he said.

“If something meets the plan, and it meets the code, you’re supposed to be able to do it,” Giblin said. “The county lives by the code, and it dies by the code.”

One sure-fire way to halt development of a Florida golf course would be for county commissioners to buy it themselves.

Mudd said the main reason commissioners balked at opportunities to own a golf course are the high expenses involved. Maintaining a golf course, and keeping greens fees low, is hard work, he said. Especially when the competition for top courses is as steep as it is in Collier County.

“In order to have a public golf course, there’s got to be people out there who can’t have golf anywhere else,” Mudd said. “As land (for affordable housing) gets scarce, there’s going to be all kinds of pressure to develop the remaining parcels differently.”

While Mudd acknowledged that Florida golf courses located within communities aren’t necessarily safe from affordable housing development, he said Collier residents will never have to worry about losing all of their links.

“Golf courses are everywhere you look,” Mudd said. “There’s won’t be a shortage of Florida golf courses here at all.”

Florida Golf Course's Field Of Buyers Narrows

At first, it looked like a 300-yard drive that split the fairway. Now, it's looking like deep rough on the Florida golf course.

What had been a veritable frenzy over the 52-acre Venice East Golf Club -- with 13 developers in the bidding -- has cooled to a field of three.

Seven months after the membership agreed to sell on the expectation of a 25-fold return, the course awaits a buyer. The sale has been delayed because of unexpected corporate taxes and a wavering real estate market.

Members of the small, par 57 course on Tamiami Trail voted overwhelmingly in favor of selling when they had more than a dozen unsolicited offers. The top one was $12 million.

Then the association's leadership was advised that taxes on the corporate profit would be about 35 percent, and builders started discounting homes.

Now the club is down to three letters of intent, with the highest one at $11 million.

"We're open, and we're going to be there quite a while," club President Frank Mack said.

Venice East has 249 shareholder-members, most of whom bought in at $1,667 back in 1983. They pooled their money to save the public Florida golf course from condo development.

The course started seeing unsolicited offers last year. A sale at $12 million, an offer that came in after the proxy statement was issued, would have translated to about $48,000 per share.

The members voted to sell if they could get at least $10.7 million after closing costs, or about $43,000 per share.

That price would have translated to a 2,500 percent profit.

Geoffrey Pflugner, the Icard, Merrill lawyer hired to handle the transaction, predicted before the January vote that the sale would land in Sarasota County's top 10 percent.

Pflugner could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Mack sounded frustrated that all the professionals around him failed to mention the the course would be subject to corporate taxes -- and how high that burden would be.

"We had an accountant. We had five real estate brokers. I kept saying, 'Give me a price, what our expenses are going to be,'" Mack said. "Nobody, nobody mentioned corporate taxes. And plus, we had an attorney."

Taylor Woodrow Homes was one of the first to make an offer last year. The company is one of the three that submitted a letter of intent in May -- after the Florida golf course revised its solicitation.

Pete Dye Design In Gated Community Represents Trend For Florida Golf Courses

Schalamar Creek was one of the first Florida golf course properties M.G. Orender developed.

The Tampa native has come a long way since Schalamar Creek opened in east Lakeland in the mid-1980s. Orender, who now lives in Jacksonville Beach, is at the British Open this week as a member of the World Golf Ranking committee. And as the immediate past president of the PGA of America, he has served as a rules official at the four majors.

But Orender's day job is developing upscale golf course communities as president and principle owner of Hampton Golf Clubs.

Orender's latest project is Southern Hills Plantation Club near Brooksville, a tour-quality Pete Dye design measuring up to 7,500 yards with estate homes on 2,000 acres of wooded hillsides.

Developing large tracts of rural land into exclusive Florida golf communities is a growing trend as the baby boomer generation retires.

Developers find scenic property, hire top course architects and partner with neighborhood planners, making the course the focal point of a private, gated community. In addition, they manage the course once it is finished.

The LandMar Group, which oversees the building of homes at Bridgewater in North Lakeland, partnered with Hampton Golf to design the community of homes at Southern Hills.

The Pete Dye course, which opened in January, is in superb condition. The plantation-style clubhouse overlooking the development will be completed in October. And the first home -- they range from the $200,000s to $1 million -- was finished in early July when media outlets toured the private Florida golf course and club.

Orender said even though Dye is a friend, he had to audition for the job at Southern Hills.

"I said I know you don't usually audition for a job, but you're going to have to audition for this one," Orender said while explaining the course's brief history.

Five architects submitted course designs, and Orender removed their names from plans before submitting layouts to his board. Dye's design was the unanimous selection. Orender declined to name the others.

Dye was impressed with the property, which features striking elevation changes and some of Florida's highest ground at 250 feet above sea level.

"Pete told me, `You don't need an architect. Ray Charles could have designed this course,' " said Orender, an affable fellow in his early 50s with a love for the outdoors and a good cigar.

The 18-hole Florida golf course features Dye's trademark pot bunkers placed strategically along fairways and around greens. Large, undulating putting surfaces are a puzzle, with subtle slopes curving balls away from the cup.

And with his signature on the course, Dye returned 21 times during construction.

Southern Hills Plantation Club, located about one mile south of Brooksville on U.S. 41, is a stern test from the gold tees, which stretch 6,962 yards with a slope rating of 134 and course rating of 74.1. The black tees, at 7,557 yards and a rating of 77.2, are for professionals and ambitious low-handicappers.

Orender was close to luring the PGA Tour to Southern Hills while planning in 2001, but the 9/11 tragedy derailed those hopes.

Even so, the club will likely seek a Nationwide Tour event, and USGA qualifiers are planned within the next couple of years.

Playing with Orender from the gold tees, the course started with a fairly routine par-4, and Dye's impact begins to set in by the uphill sixth hole, a 452-yard par-4.

The fairway on the 567-yard, par-5 seventh hole (618 yards from the tips) rises to a plateau landing area, then sweeps downhill to the green with a drop of about 80 feet. The ninth hole, a short 321-yard par-4, rises 80-90 feet to a small green with a pin you can barely see.

Then comes the back nine, and you are at Dye's mercy. The homeward nine is 200 yards longer, with par-4s measuring 471, 447 and then 464 yards at No. 18, where you arrive both physically and mentally spent.

Orender, who also developed Southern Dunes and Ridgewood Lakes at Haines City, has developed golf properties across the nation. He will soon break ground on another Florida golf course near Clermont with Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore.

Florida Golf Course Sailfish Point Offers Residents A Slice Of Paradise Between Sand And Sea

When retirees Lewis and Leanna Everett were looking for the perfect home six years ago, they knew exactly what they wanted.

Waterfront property with water deep enough to dock their sport fishing boat. A short ride to world class fishing grounds. A good game of golf within walking distance. And they wanted to live somewhere that had a "small town feel."

Well, that narrowed it down.
After canvassing many of Florida's coastal communities, they found the ideal, and perhaps only, location that satisfied all of their criteria — Sailfish Point.

Since 1980, the 532-acre development isolated at the southern tip of Martin County's Hutchinson Island has offered those who seek the good life a little something extra. And one aspect that sets Sailfish Point apart from other upscale luxury residences is its proximity to some of the most renowned sport fishing anywhere.

For many who live there, the location — surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Inlet — justifies the multimillion-dollar home prices.

"We looked in Naples, Boca Grande and other towns in South Florida," said Leanna, the former owner of a real estate title agency. "Palm Beach had the shopping and shows, but it's pretty crowded. Vero Beach was nice, but the access to deep sea fishing was pretty far off. Sailfish Point was perfect."

The Everetts spend eight months a year at their tropical Treasure Coast reverie and summer in Kilmarnock, Va., a short boat ride away from the Chesapeake Bay. While at Sailfish Point, Lewis has the opportunity to pursue one of his favorite passions: offshore fishing.

His favorite fish to catch? Sailfish, of course. About 20 minutes after leaving the dock behind his home on Harbor Circle, he can reel one in.

Boat owners have the option of keeping vessels behind their waterfront home or at the community's 77-slip full service marina. Construction has begun on a new $2 million facility that will house dockmaster offices, a ship's store and a clubhouse upstairs that includes seating for 120 overlooking the Indian River Lagoon.

"The yacht club held 30 events there last year before construction began," said Steve Haigis, dockmaster at Sailfish Point since 1996. "Residents love the personal service we provide."

As many as 40 boats can be stored there on trailers and larger ones are tied up in the marina. Marina staff will put boats into the water for residents or fuel up boats if asked, Haigis said.

In addition to boating access, there's the beach. Jock and Twinks Irvine of northern Wisconsin have owned a place at Sailfish Point for 15 years. The Irvines used to winter in the Keys, but Twinks wanted more access to a nicer beach. Sailfish Point shares a mile of public beachfront along the Atlantic Ocean that extends from Bathtub Beach to the St. Lucie Inlet.

But Sailfish Point offers more than water and beach access.

Spacious, comfortable homes line the Florida golf course or back up to the interior harbor, river or St. Lucie Inlet, offering breathtaking views of the good life in a seaside village. The clubhouse itself overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.

A five-star dining experience at the clubhouse can be worked off the next day with a kickboxing class or vigorous tennis match.

Leanna Everett does not spend much time fishing with her husband, but she enjoys being active in the Sailfish Point community, spending time at the luxurious spa. And she admits to playing golf on a regular basis.

"It's a great setting," Leanna said. "The spa and the activities there are fabulous, and I'm very excited about the redesign of the golf course."

All of the assets line up to make Sailfish Point a great place for the Everetts. But above all Sailfish Point is all about location.

Another Florida Golf Course, Foxfire Golf Club Shuts Down

The public Foxfire Golf Club closed abruptly Tuesday after a $3.6 million sale of a majority of the 27-hole Florida golf course.

The buyer, Foxfire Properties LLC, said it closed the 188-acre course because of environmental contamination and economic losses that have plagued Foxfire for the past several years.

There are no immediate plans for the property, but residential development is the most likely option.

"What's attractive about the property is its size and location," said John Patterson, an attorney representing Foxfire Properties, a company formed by Sarasota investor Barry Spencer.

"What's unattractive about it is it was built over a former landfill," Patterson added. "And the Florida golf course has been losing money. It's not been a financially viable operation for years."

Foxfire has racked up $200,000 in annual losses since 2001, when the 9/11 terrorist strikes crippled foreign tourism.

Foxfire opened in 1975, offering golfers an accessible and affordable opportunity to play year-round. In 2005, its daily rates ranged from $15 to $45.

But as taxes and operating expenses have increased, public Florida golf courses like Foxfire have struggled. At the same time, increased property values have attracted developers interested in courses' large swaths of land.

In addition to Foxfire, the 113-acre Sunrise Golf Club, the 52-acre Venice East Golf Club and the 46-acre Heather Mills Golf Club, in Manatee County, have been targeted for conversion to residences.

At Heather Mills, owners Alva and Rick Copeman have asked the county to alter the course's land use to allow as many as 279 homes on the property.

For Florida golfers like Dean Wince, though, Foxfire's sudden closing marked a sad end to years of happy memories.

"It was a good course," said Wince, who had played at Foxfire for the past six years. "It was always reasonable in the summer and fall. There are quite a few of us that are displeased right now."

When he called last Thursday to reserve a tee time at Foxfire, Wince said he wasn't told the course wouldn't be open.

Customers who purchased prepaid play cards can call Foxfire at 921-7757 for a "prompt refund," according to a statement.

Wince said he plans to take his game to either the Tatum Ridge or Sarasota Golf public courses, now that Foxfire is gone.

"The most prudent thing to do in this case for this property and the surrounding properties was to close the Florida golf course," Patterson said.

Foxfire Properties has no immediate plans for the 104 acres in the former golf club that it purchased, Patterson said. Four of the acres are in the planned Red Hawk Reserve residential community. There, Foxfire Properties could develop as many as 13 lots.

The company also signed a 10-year lease with seller Foxfire Golf Course of Sarasota LC for the contaminated land, with an option to purchase it.

Patterson said Foxfire Properties intends to monitor the adjacent 89-acre tract, which had been a landfill until the mid-1970s and now contains arsenic and other contaminants. The land is also monitored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Any redevelopment of the 7200 Proctor Road course faces other hurdles as well -- namely, agreements implemented in July 2001 with a neighboring homeowners association that restrict development, unless the course is deemed not economically feasible by an arbitration panel.

Foxfire Golf Course of Sarasota, a group of East Florida investors, paid $3.2 million for the entire course in October 1999, according to county land records.

Foxfire Properties "will attempt to work with the neighboring residential property owners and their association in seeking a mutually agreeable plan for the future use of the property," the new owner said in a statement.

Foxfire would be Spencer's first major residential development. Previously, he's invested in retail centers and mobile home parks.

In May, a Spencer-led partnership sold the Sarasota Crossings shopping center, at Fruitville Road and Honore Avenue, to Benderson Development Co. for $14.5 million.

Spencer's Moorings of Manatee Inc. had purchased the center, which also contains a Target store that wasn't part of the deal, for just less than $12 million in 1999.

Are Florida golf courses falling to the great demand of property?

Florida Golf Courses Taking Part In Heart & Stroke Challenge

The Jack Nicklaus Heart & Stroke Challenge is being played during the month of July across the country, and at nine Florida golf courses, according to a press release.

In its third year, the Challenge is a month-long series of golf events to raise awareness about the increasing risk of heart attack and stroke among men and women age 55 and older, and encouraging them to talk to their doctors about what they can do to reduce their risk.

Entry is free with the option of buying a $10 mulligan to raise money for cardiovascular disease research and education. Each member of the two winning teams at the local level will win a framed lithograph of Nicklaus’ farewell at the British Open and will become eligible for a day of golf activities in West Palm Beach with Nicklaus.

The participating Florida golf courses in Naples are: Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club, Moorings Country Club, The Strand, Eagle Creek, Golf Club at Fiddler’s Creek, Golden Gate Country Club (the Quality Inn & Suites Golf Resort), Arrowhead Golf Course, Bonita Bay Club East, and Olde Florida Golf Club.

Save a life today on a Florida golf course.

Device Can Be A Lifesaver On Florida Golf Course

The ring tone had no urgency when David Sanchez picked up the phone in the Monarch Country Club golf shop in April. A phone, after all, has no ability to convey emotion.

But the voice on the other end was full of urgency: "Call 911. We've got a heart attack on No. 9."

The Palm City club's Florida head golf professional knew what to do.
Sanchez dialed 911 and put into action the Florida golf course's medical emergency plan that includes contacting emergency services, guards at the front gate of the community to let them know to allow ambulances to enter and police and club employees who might need to guide paramedics to the scene as quickly as possible.

Then Sanchez went for the automated external defibrillator (AED), the portable version of the heart paddles used by emergency medical technicians and hospitals to deliver a shock to a stopped heart in hopes of jump-starting it.

Despite the quick response and correct usage of the AED, the Florida golf course's member did not survive.

"It was pretty tough," Sanchez said. "It was real tough on the staff. We'd been through the training, and you hope it's going to work. But everybody stayed calm and did their role, just like in training. There was a registered nurse in the group playing behind, and we gave (the victim) every chance to survive that we could."

AEDs are becoming more common in public places in hopes of improving the chances of living for victims of sudden cardiac arrest. In recent years, local Florida golf courses have purchased the machines and put their staff through cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED training courses so that they are prepared in case of an emergency.

Florida golf courses are the fifth most likely public location for a heart attack, according to a 2001 study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Sudden cardiac arrest also is the No. 1 killer on Florida golf courses, which often are large, with remote locations and poor accessibility for emergency personnel.

Of 42 Treasure Coast golf courses surveyed, 66 percent have a least one AED on the property, and some have as many as three placed at different locations for quicker response to emergencies. Many golf courses with just one machine have a card or book outlining the quickest routes to each hole to optimize response time.

With the average age of club members and players skewing to the 50s and older in the area, many Florida courses see having an AED as a smart precaution.

"We're an over-55 community so we just thought it would be a good thing to have," said Cathleen Whelan, club manager at Hobe Sound's Eaglewood Country Club, which just got an AED last week. "We want to help our community as much as we can."

Although the majority of courses with AEDs haven't had to put them into action, a few have.

Bob Komarinetz, director of golf at Sandridge Golf Club in Vero Beach Florida, said the course has used its AED, although the victim did not survive. Komarinetz said a death from sudden cardiac arrest about nine years ago prompted the club to buy an AED.

In some places, such as New York City, courses are required to have the machines on site. But in Florida there is not a requirement.

Still, Dr. Amy Eversole, a cardiologist with the Stuart Cardiology Group, said she supports courses having them.

"They're simple to use and can be life saving," Eversole said. "We definitely see a couple of patients during the (tourist) season who have had cardiac arrest on the golf course. The quicker a person can receive therapy, the better. I think (the use of an AED) would considerably improve the chances of survival."

Sanchez said he agrees, even though he and the responding paramedics couldn't save the life of Monarch's member.

"Even though you can't always have the situation work out on the Florida golf course, it's nice to know (the AED is) there," he said. "We have one more way to save a person's life, and that's a great feeling."


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Dye Gets It Right In His Area Florida Golf Course Design Debut

When Southern Hills Plantation owners were vetting who they wanted to design their golf course, the list was short.

"There were about five guys, top guys, heavy-hitters," said Randy Houseman, the club's general manager.

Pete Dye's submission won out and, after about two years, the club opened in January. The 18-hole private Florida golf course set in the gated community off S.R. 41 is the only course in the Tampa area designed by the renowned golf-course architect. Houseman said Dye's work has been a hit. More than anything, the terrain makes the course unique, with holes elevated as high 240 feet above sea-level.

"Out of those that have played the course, I'd honestly say that 99.9 percent have loved it," said Houseman. "People are amazed by the fact that it's in Florida. They're used to playing courses with flatter terrain, but this course is so hilly that they think they're in Georgia, Tennessee or the Carolinas. The hills are rolling and people find that they love that feeling."

Houseman also said players have commented on the courses playability, specifically the lack of scruff and water hazards. The lack of places to lose your ball is good for the high handicapper.

The lush Florida golf course is set amidst a community that's still growing. Two homes were in mid-construction on both sides of the fifth fairway, and the mixture of chirping birds and echoing pounds of hammers serve as a soundtrack of sorts.

Still, the scenery is the course's main attraction.

A picturesque river runs along the 11th hole. The seventh hole, however, is the marquee hole. It's set atop a lush hill and, at 618 yards, is the longest on the course.

"We get a lot comments about No. 7," said Houseman. "It's long and with the rolling hills ... people love it."

In all, there are four par-fives, four par-threes and 10 par-fours.

"We wanted to make it an experience for those that play the course," said Houseman.

This, being Dye's introduction to the Tampa area's golf community, is a grand way to say hello on this Florida golf course.

Florida Golf Courses Offer Discounts To Get Golfers In The Summer

If you build it, they will come" worked for Kevin Costner's character in the popular baseball movie, "Field of Dreams."

But area professionals and Florida golf course managers must do more than roll out the green carpet to seduce players to grab their clubs when the temperature and humidity are in the 90s.

Buffalo Creek Golf Course manager Bob Conforte reminds his staff of a tried-and-true means of getting repeat business: keep smiling.

"Everybody on our staff smiles at our golfers," Conforte said. "Only one person is allowed to be grumpy, and that's me, because I'm behind closed doors pushing papers."

Like most public and semi-private Florida golf courses throughout central Florida, Manatee County-operated Buffalo Creek discounts rounds throughout the summer to attract golfers - hoping they will buy a few cold drinks and visit the pro shop for equipment needs.

From a current high of $23 to ride and $21.75 to walk 18 holes to the twilight rate after 4 p.m. of $14.86 (with a coupon), Buffalo Creek strives to stay competitive.

"We want to make it easy for everyone to play," said Conforte. "In the past 10 years, we've been getting a lot of working people who take advantage of the twilight rates."

Tracy Lowry, head professional at Imperial Lakewoods in Palmetto, has another reason for discounting. The greens recently were aerified, so golfers who can handle less-than-perfect putting surfaces play 18 for $20. That's down from the normal $38 plus tax up until 11 a.m. (Imperial Lakewoods' normal summer rates decrease to $29 after 11 a.m. and $22 after 3 p.m.).

Lowry instructs his staff to inform players about the maintenance work and course conditions.

"Golfers appreciate it when you tell them up front," he said. "It doesn't matter to some people, but everything is reduced now, and they can go a lot of different places."

Imperial Lakewoods will be closed for four days starting Monday to allow maintenance workers to sprig and/or sod some bare areas.

Both county-run Florida golf courses, Buffalo Creek and Manatee County Golf Course, allow juniors 15 and under to ride and play for $4 when accompanied by an adult.

Seven Manatee County courses offer further discounts from May 1-Oct. 30 to holders of the Big Summer Card, which partners with 35 additional layouts in Sarasota, Charlotte, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties.

The card costs $60. Manatee courses linked with it are Imperial Lakewoods, The Links at Greenfield Plantation, Preserve Golf Club at Tara, The River Club, Rosedale, Stoneybrook Golf Club and Waterlefe Golf & River Club.

"If you play about five rounds here in prime time (7 a.m.-noon), you have your money back," said Chris Kratzer, a pro shop employee at The Links at Greenfield Plantation another Florida golf course.

Sounds like a deal that's hard to beat - but, this time of year, easy to find.

Golf-Cart Crackdown On Florida Golf Courses

In this mega-retirement community, the golf cart rules.

Garages are designed with carts in mind. Parking spots at the Publix are golf cart-sized. And Villagers have turned their carts into status symbols resembling Hummers and Lamborghinis and costing up to $15,000.

But the tricked-out, road-ready carts owned by more and more people are also heavier and less friendly to the terrain they were originally intended to ride on -- the Florida golf course.

So starting this month, The Villages is implementing a series of strict rules for golf carts whose owners want to drive on the community's eight championship Florida golf courses.

The restrictions -- thought to be the first for any golf community in Florida -- require that front tires must have rounded edges and horizontal treads to avoid tearing up the turf.

Not all Villages residents are thrilled, especially about the $80 to $150 price tag to replace the square-edged tires that came standard on their carts.

"We've been driving on these courses for years, and there's never been a problem before," said Mel Esposito, 79, who switched out his square-edged tires for a used, balding set that pass the new standards. Like others, he thinks being forced to change tires -- without a detailed explanation of the need -- is an affront to civil liberties.

"It's a joke," he said.

In this 60,000-resident retirement community, many people clock hundreds of miles a month in their carts. Paths weave between the 26 golf courses -- the tire requirement doesn't affect the other 18 developer-built courses -- and at least 140 neighborhoods. A golf-cart bridge arches over U.S. Highway 441. Homes have golf-cart garages, and the town square has golf-cart-sized parking spots.

Even standard carts may get subtle adjustments. Some have illegal, after-market gearboxes to boost the maximum speed to 25 mph. Others get bigger wheels for increased lift, or higher tire pressures for a smoother ride.

Florida golf course experts say those upgrades can wreak havoc on delicate grass. But the real problem appears to be where the tire tread meets the sidewall.

"See how these edges are square? That's bad," said Steve Kelley, owner of Steve's Golf Carts, inspecting a tower of tires now illegal on The Villages' most-prized courses.

Kelley's customers have been calling and demanding refunds for tires he sold them six years ago or asking him to file down the corners on their square tires. And service bays in golf-cart shops around The Villages were packed last week with carts needing a set of approved tires by the July 1 deadline.

The company that manages the Florida golf courses announced the tire change in March in The Villages Daily Sun, the developer-owned newspaper. The explanation: Square-edged front tires cut into sensitive fairways during turns.

Since then, store owners like Kelley and tire distributors like George Cotey have been sending tire samples to the course-management company for approval on a case-by-case basis.

But Cotey, a salesman for a Tampa tire distributor, was skeptical that tires were damaging the courses and launched an investigation after tires made by several major manufacturers were initially denied approval.

He said the real problem is the heavier custom carts.

"When you have Hummer replicas and roadsters and Model T's and all of these souped-up carts, it kind of opens a whole different can of worms," said Cotey, who has worked in Florida's golf course industry for 32 years.

Pat Bloomberg, a cart-driving resident who would not give his age, did a little private-eye work too. After surveying maintenance workers at several courses, he came to the same conclusion as Cotey and reported his findings in a resident-published newsletter.

Maintenance workers "agree that course damage is not from standard [square-edged] tires being used on the vast majority of carts," Bloomberg wrote.

"How come there's a problem now after these tires have been used for over 15 years on your courses?" he asked. "And why don't other Florida golf courses outside The Villages, which also get constant play, have the restrictions we do?"

The Villages and course superintendents directed all inquiries to country-club administration staff member Tony Simpson, who declined to explain how the tires damaged greens or why the regulations are necessary.

Jeff Bollig, spokesman for the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America, said the retirement community's new rules are unusual.

High traffic is a superintendent's biggest concern, he said. "The issue then becomes tread type, the weight of the golf cart itself, and whether people are doing sharp turns," Bollig said. "In a perfect world, you would not have golf carts."

Superintendents in large communities such as The Villages or Peach Tree City, Ga., have more troubles than your average country club, where most people rent carts. Residents in these communities drive 18 holes with the same vehicles they take across town to happy hour. Still, Peach Tree City has no tire restrictions on the several thousand carts rolling over its fairways, said Casey Smith, superintendent at the Planterra Ridge course there.

"They're not riding around in those souped-up jobs that are down there, " Smith explained.

The special features and stylish additions to Villages carts dramatically increase their weight, which studies by The Environmental Institute for Golf say causes significant damage to the courses.

"I understand it, I guess," said retiree Wes Jory, 75, after he grudgingly had Steve's Golf Carts come change his tires in his driveway. "I'm in favor of anything that makes the Florida golf courses better."

Investors Snap Up Twin Rivers A Florida Golf Course

Twin Rivers Golf Club, one of three financially troubled Florida golf courses that Seminole County officials considered buying earlier this year, is under contract with a private investment group.

The buyers, operating under the name University Golf Club Inc., are partners in five Central Florida golf courses and have a reputation for turning around struggling properties.

Bob Dello Russo and Chad Barton said they hope to close on the property by mid-July, if issues regarding water supply can be worked out. The local utility, Alafaya Utilities Inc., has had problems recently providing sufficient reclaimed water to customers, including Twin Rivers, Barton and Dello Russo said.

"We don't think it's a major problem," Dello Russo said. "If Alafaya can't provide the water, we'll go to St. Johns [River Water Management District] and get a permit for a well."

Dello Russo and Barton own Country Club of Deer Run, Casselberry Golf Club, Wekiva Golf Club, Country Club of Mount Dora and Rock Springs Ridge Golf Club, all Florida golf courses.

Twin Rivers was one of three taken over and put on the market by Banc of America Strategic Solutions last year after the lender took possession of them from Meadowbrook Golf Inc., an Orlando-based management company.

The courses initially were offered as a package, but Winter Springs Golf Club and Sabal Point Country Club were sold to separate buyers earlier this year.

California businessman Arman Rahbarian bought the Winter Springs course for $2.1 million. Last month, he closed the course and dismissed more than two dozen employees. He promised city officials the course would reopen, though he gave no timeline.

Rahbarian is still trying to determine what would be the best use for the property, said Winter Park attorney Christopher Cathcart, who has been retained to manage it.

In the meantime, at least one of the Florida golf course's neighbors has complained to city officials about high grass on the course. A letter was written to Cathcart about the complaint, said Winter Springs City Manager Ron McLemore.

But McLemore noted that the Florida golf course is technically a conservation easement. That prohibits development, he said, but it doesn't mean the owner has to keep it looking like a golf course.

An investment group behind four apartment-to-condominium conversions bought Sabal Point Country Club in June. It is unclear what RB-GEM Golfbrooke LLC paid for the course, which was advertised for $2.375 million.

That group turned over operations to a private company, Kitson & Partners, but the course has been closed since Banc of America closed it in January.

Last month, the new owners met with representatives of homeowners in Sabal Point, an older, upscale subdivision near Longwood. Wayne Hunicke, president of Sabal Point's largest homeowner group, said residents are concerned about the lack of maintenance on the course and its water features.

"The frequency of callers complaining about weeds and ponds has increased," he said. "We're all having a hard time figuring out why more hasn't been done."

But Hunicke said the meeting with owners left a good impression with residents, which makes it easier to remain hopeful.

"If they spend money for the Florida golf course, they're going to do something with it," he said. "Residents are no happier [since the golf course was sold]. If fact, they may be a little unhappier. But at least there is reason for optimism."