After David Southworth, who had been involved with the development of the exclusive Mashpee, Mass. club and community since its founding in 1991, announced he was selling his interest to focus on a new venture that will develop high-end golf resorts, some members and residents began to speculate that some or all of Willowbend’s 27-hole golf course could be redeveloped for homes or other purposes. But the remaining partner, Joe Deitch, has stated that “all is good,” noting that existing zoning would make any redevelopment of the course difficult, and also that his son, and Southworth’s, have taken leadership roles to set the club’s future direction.
A split has been announced between the partners in the exclusive Willowbend Country Club on Cape Cod in Mashpee, Mass., Boston Magazine reported, but while the announcement was characterized by the principal parties as amicable and not a portent of any threat to the club, it has created concern among members and residents of the community that some or all of Willowbend’s 27-hole golf course could be in danger of being turned into new homes or used for other purposes.
While the partners—David Southworth and Joe Deitch— are parting ways, they both insist there’s no trouble in paradise, Boston Magazine reported. Southworth, founder of Southworth Development, which owns and operates high-end golf and resort properties along the U.S. East Coast, including Willowbend, as well as the Caribbean and in the U.K., announced that he is leaving the company, effective with the start of 2021, to pursue a new venture, the David Southworth Company, that will build high-end golf resorts.
Southworth and Deitch have been business partners since 2006, Boston Magazine reported, when Deitch, founder of Commonwealth Financial Network, joined Southworth Development as chairman and co-owner. Together they have owned and operated golf clubs, including Renaissance in Haverhill, Mass. Machrihanish Dunes in Scotland, Creighton Farms in Virginia, the Abaco Club in the Bahamas, and Meredith Bay, a “resort-style gated community” on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
In 2012, Southworth Development bought Willowbend from the club’s founder, Paul Fireman, the former Reebok CEO. David Southworth had been hired by Fireman when Willowbend was founded in 1991 to help oversee its operation and management.
“It is with extreme mixed emotions that announce that I have sold my interest in Southworth Development and all of its communities to my business partner, Joe Deitch,” Southworth wrote in an e-mail to the Willowbend community, Boston Magazine reported. When the publication followed up with Deitch for comment, he responded, “Rest assured, all is good” and that “we all have much to be excited about in the coming months and years.”
Still, Boston Magazine reported, the departure of David Southworth, who had come to be known as the “mayor” of Willowbend, from his 30-year connection with the club has raised concerns among members and community residents that he may have been forced out against his will and that Deitch, who is not as avid a golfer, will now move to develop all or part of the golf course into new homes or a dog park or yoga retreat. The concern reached a strong-enough level, Boston Magazine reported, that there has even been talk about pooling funds among members to buy out the property entirely.
Southworth sought to put those fears to rest by telling Boston Magazine that he was parting ways with his longtime business partner on very good terms and that there are no plans for dramatic changes at Willowbend. “It’s amicable, and Joe [Deitch] will tell you the same thing,” Southworth explained. “People circle around the issue and they’ll say, ‘Are you still friends?’ And the answer is yes.”
The time had simply come, Southworth added, for him to set off on his own and pursue his passion of building world-class golf resorts solo through a new venture.
Over the past few years, Boston Magazine reported, Southworth’s sons and Deitch’s son have been taking leadership roles at Willowbend CC and developing plans to renovate some of the amenities and make the club more appealing to younger members.
Tommy Southworth is now the Southworth Development’s President and Chief Operating Officer, The Boston Globe reported, and works closely with Matt Deitch, a principal in Commonwealth Financial whom he has known since fifth grade, to improve the club’s profitability and the customer experience so Willowbend can offer more appeal to younger prospective club members and property buyers.
With everything running smoothly, the two partners said, it eventually made sense for Southworth to walk away, Boston Magazine reported. “I think there came a point when David decided that he loves us all, and we love him, but he’d rather go off and do his own thing and own it 100 percent,” Deitch said. “So that’s the story. Everyone’s happy.
The Willowbend property’s zoning with the town of Mashpee, Deitch added, all but requires that it remain a golf course. Plus, he pointed out, with three of his sons still involved with running things, and his own residence still on the property, Southworth isn’t likely to put that much distance between himself and the club that’s become synonymous with his presence.
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