The county will reinvest $4.6 million generated by the facilities themselves back into four courses. Osprey Point GC, which has grown to 95,000 annual rounds, will get the largest chunk ($3.2M) for new maintenance equipment, a larger clubhouse and a restaurant.
It’s a common scene in Palm Beach County, Fla.—and elsewhere—to see a golf course close because of a drop in players, or not enough money to operate, and the greens then being sold to build a sea of homes, the Palm Beach Post reported.
But county officials say they are bucking that trend—and are among a minority of municipalities nationwide whose golf courses are self-sustaining, the Post reported.
The golf business is good enough in the county, in fact, that the county plans to spend $4.6 million on four of its courses to keep it that way, the Post reported. And the money won’t come from residents’ taxes, but instead from revenue generated by the golf facilities, according to county documents.
Of the $4.6 million, $3.2 million will go to Osprey Point Golf Course, west of Boca Raton, for new maintenance equipment, a larger clubhouse and a restaurant, the Post reported. The remainder will go to other projects, including upgrading the drainage at the Park Ridge and Southwinds courses in suburban Lake Worth and suburban Boca Raton, respectively, and regrassing the tees, greens and fairways at Okeeheelee Golf Course west of West Palm Beach.
“I think we have great facilities first of all and really good staff. We are in good markets,” said Paul Connell, the county’s Director of Special Facilities for Parks and Recreation.
The county originally opened the Osprey course with a small pro shop and food area, but Connell said that with the course selling more than 95,000 rounds annually, it’s time to add parking, expand the pro shop and build a full-service restaurant, which will be 3,000 sq. ft. and will accommodate 144 diners in and outside, with the outside seating overlooking a lake, the Post reported. The restaurant is expected to be finished by early summer of 2019.
Osprey Point has been recognized with several awards and in 2011 became the first golf course in the state, the second in the country and the fifth in the world to achieve Audubon International Classic Sanctuary status for its environmental efforts, according to the course’s website. In 2015, it then became the first course in the country to be re-certified.
Another likely reason that the Palm Beach County courses are doing well, Connell said, is that Orprey and Okeeheelee, which sells more than 69,000 rounds annually, offer 27 holes. Operating the 27 holes isn’t much more expensive than 18, he noted, but spins off an additional 30 percent in revenue.
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