Twin Brooks Golf Course in St. Petersburg has reopened after investing $1.5 million in its 12-hole layout to create bigger greens and fairway mounds, expand the driving range, add golf cart paths and bring in 12 new electric carts. In Naples, LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort has reopened after six months, featuring 18 new greens and newly grassed tee boxes.
After six months and $1.5 million in makeover work, Twin Brooks Golf Course, a 12-hole, par 3 course in St. Petersburg, Fla., reopened on November 6 with bigger greens, fairway mounds to make it more like a regulation course, an expanded driving range, practice holes, golf cart paths and 12 new electric carts, the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune reported.
The course also features a manmade lake adjacent to three holes, and views of Clam Bayou and the Pinellas Trail. “We are very excited. I think it’s a dramatic change,” said Jeff Hollis, St. Petersburg’s golf courses director. “It turned out beautiful.”
Mayor Rick Kriseman made the Twin Brooks renovation a priority, noting in February that the 27-acre course, built in 1957 with 18 holes, had fallen below the standards of the city’s other courses. Its irrigation system was insufficient to maintain the course, its greens were too small, the driving range was uncovered and it had no golf carts, the Tribune reported.
Tony Hall, who lives nearby, said he plays a lot of courses and was impressed with the renovations on Friday. “This is a fabulous practice facility for me,” he said. “They did a nice job. It couldn’t be better, actually.”
The reopening comes as good news to The First Tee program, a youth golf and mentoring program that had to move to the city’s Mangrove Bay and Cypress Links courses during the construction. Three of the course’s 12 holes have been set aside for First Tee, which will resume its golf clinics at Twin Brooks today, the Tribune reported.
About 85 percent of nearly 5,000 youngsters ages 6 through 18 who participate in the program each year are considered at risk, and many ride their bikes to the golf course. Pam Abrisi, the program’s director of business development, said the move to Mangrove Bay and Cypress Links has been a challenge for the kids, the Tribune reported.
“The core of our program is those at-risk kids in south St. Pete, and they don’t have access and transportation to get to the northeast St. Pete courses,” she said. The kids especially missed the mentoring and life skills programs, she said. “At the end of the day it’s not about the golf,” she said.
First Tee plans to build a mentoring center at Twin Brooks, where youngsters can socialize, do schoolwork and get mentoring from adults. The non-profit group has raised about $600,000 of the $800,000 needed to build the center, and had hoped to have it ready in time for the reopening of the course. But delays have set back the construction, with ground-breaking now scheduled for the spring, Abrisi said.
Twin Brooks opened as a privately owned course that was available to the public, and the city bought it in 1974, Hollis said. This was its first renovation since then. The original 18-hole course was cramped, but the new greens have doubled in size and the overall course “is more playable,” Hollis said. “It’s just a more roomy, spacious feeling. The holes look more like regulation holes on a regulation course.”
The course has drawn about 20,000 golfers a year, Hollis said, and he is optimistic that number will increase. The cost to play without a cart is $8, but the seasonal rate goes up to $12 beginning November 21, when a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony with Kriseman, First Tee representatives and others is planned, the Tribune reported.
In Naples, Fla., the golf course at LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort has reopened with 18 new greens and newly grassed tee boxes after six months of being closed, Golf Advisor reported.
The renovation was overseen by architect Bob Cupp. The work included rebuilding all 18 greens and enlarging them back to their original sizes. Tee boxes were also re-grassed, and several of them were also rebuilt. In all, LaPlaya now offers more than 120,000 sq. ft. of new putting surfaces, including all holes and practice areas, Golf Advisor reported.
“We are thrilled with the results of the renovation and know the look and feel of the course will propel LaPlaya for many years to come,” General Manager Alan Findlay said. “With the backing of a strong hospitality team in place, we look forward to sustaining memorable golf experiences for all our members and guests.”
The par-72, 6,907-yard golf course at LaPlaya originally opened in 1959 and was designed by Ernie Smith. Cupp was brought in years later to renovate the course. Among its features are 14 lakes and water features, as well as exotic, colorful landscaping, Golf Advisor reported.
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