The facility now includes a full-service, 40-person practice facility plus reconstructed green complexes, concrete cart paths, more bunkers around the golf course and more trees.
With an eye toward transforming the area’s only municipal golf course into a more profitable operation, the City of Pensacola, Fla., and the Parks and Recreation Department invested $750,000 on what many would call a long overdue, “extreme makeover” to Osceola Municipal Golf Course.
The First Tee facility now includes a full-service, 40-person practice facility — complete with a massive, new putting and pitching green, and separate sand bunker — while golfers on the course will enjoy reconstructed green complexes with the finest putting surface available, concrete cart paths, more bunkers around the golf course and more trees.
Architect Harrison Minchew, a long-time Arnold Palmer protégé, oversaw the six-month project.
Four new holes were constructed at Osceola, including a trio of new par-3s. The course remains approximately the same length — slightly more than 6,400 yards from the back tee boxes — but the former par-72 will reopen as a par-70. In addition, the new tee areas are squared and significantly larger, with separate tees for seniors and ladies, along with junior tee markers.
The long-anticipated opening day of public play at Osceola will be Oct. 8. The course originally scheduled to reopen around early September but was postponed by a tropical storm — which actually proved to be a blessing as the majority of the new turf, especially the MiniVerde Bermuda grass greens, is in very good condition.
In addition, the Osceola clubhouse has also been refreshed with new carpeting, flat-screen TVs and a new restaurant.
It was the biggest reshaping effort since Osceola opened in 1926. Local reports say $500,000 was provided by local option sales tax revenue, while the remainder will be paid back from course revenue over a five-year period.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.