Even with home sales and interest being maintained at a brisk pace, an active club and a strong balance sheet, the Sarasota, Fla. property wants to do more to “raise the level of awareness of the community,” according to General Manager David Somers.
Laurel Oak CC Selects Hampton Golf as Management Firm
The Sarasota, Fla. property has two championship golf courses, designed by Gary Player and Rees Jones, and a 45,000-sq. ft. clubhouse that was recently renovated completely, inside and out, through an eight-month project.
Ten Superintendents Win Grants to Attend Golf Industry Show
The program supported by Bayer Environmental Science provides full funding to attend this year’s event in San Diego. For the second year in a row, five of the winners are from hurricane-affected areas.
Esplanade G&CC to Build 7th Course
The new 18-hole layout at the Lakewood Ranch, Fla. property will be designed by Chris Wilczynski, his second for the club. Construction is scheduled for 2019 with a course opening in 2020. The 31,000-acre master-planned community developed by Taylor Morrison is on land that was originally owned by a brewing-company family and has been used…
Southwest Florida Clubs’ “Big Bucks Spending” is Highlighted
In 2017 alone, $1 billion was spent in capital renovations to Florida clubs, and the pace shows no sign of subsiding, as properties focus on restaurant, fitness, tennis, pool, spa and entertainment projects to complement their golf offers. Where 80 percent of homebuyers in Florida developments signed up to be golf members in the 1990s,…
Deaths of Golf Icons Gus Andreone, Willie McRae Reported
Andreone, the oldest member of the PGA of America, died at the age of 107 on October 27 in Sarasota, Fla. He was the long-time golf professional at Pittsburgh’s Edgemont Country Club and a decorated World War II veteran. McRae, 85, died on October 28. He had caddied at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort for 75 years,…
Bonita Bay Club Holds Third “Culinary Boot Camp”
In conjunction with a local high school, the Naples, Fla. property hosts students for intensive sessions that introduces them to practical kitchen-management skills as well as food-preparation instruction and techniques. The camp culminates with the students helping the club’s staff prepare Bonita Bay’s traditional Friday-night buffet. Participants in previous camps now hold full-time culinary positions…
Sarasota’s Bobby Jones GC Holds Public Forums
In a guest opinion column in the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune, Golf Course Manager Sue Martin detailed the history of the nearly 100-year-old property, outlined the operating challenges it now faces, and invited “golfers and non-golfers alike” to come to meetings on June 13 and 14 to “continue the community conversation about how to drive Bobby…
Sanctuary Lake GC Named Billy Casper Golf Facility of the Year
The Troy, Mich. club took the top property honors in the management firm’s second annual “Buffy Awards.” Nick Rash of Highland Woods Golf Course in Highland Park, Ill. was named General Manager of the Year and Pat Franklin of The Meadows Country Club in Sarasota, Fla. was named Superintendent of the Year. Facility awards also went to Quarry Pines GC in Tucson, Ariz. and Lester Park GC in Duluth, Minn.
Ritz-Carlton Plans Luxury Cruise Line
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection includes plans for three cruise ships to accommodate “the 1 percent of global travelers,” and is set to begin sailing in 2020. The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota (Fla.) has been sold for $171 million, while a nearby 22-acre plot was also sold for $9.7 million and is entitled for residential development. Last year,…
Costs Add Up for Florida, Illinois Golf Facilities
Bobby Jones Golf Club in Sarasota, Fla., needs the city’s help covering operating expenses with a $425,000 subsidy, and an early estimate for the next budget is closer to $1 million. The Lake Bluff (Ill.) Golf Club could face closure at the end of 2018 due to past financial losses of nearly $3 million. Keeping…
Homeowners Debate Purchasing University Park CC
A private partnership currently owns the 366 acres that include the club and its 27 holes of golf in Sarasota, Fla., but the partners are looking to either sell or develop the land. Homeowners are discussing buying the land, but some believe the price, $16.75 million, is inflated. The land that contains University Park Country…
Association Buys $3M of Meadows CC’s Debt
Through the deal, the Meadows Community Association will purchase half of the Sarasota, Fla., club’s $6 million debt. The club will still be $3 million in the red, but the sale of 32 acres of club-owned land around the clubhouse and across the street for residential development is likely. The Meadows Country Club in Sarasota,…
Plans Filed for Private Club at Historic Florida Estate
Blake Casper, the CEO of a company that owns more than 50 McDonald’s restaurants around the Tampa, Fla. area, wants to transform the historic Stovall-Lee House, built in 1909, into a social club inspired by clubs in London, England that would also include a five-bedroom bed and breakfast. If approved by the city of Tampa, the club could open within two years, Casper says.
PGA Pro Gus Andreone, 106, Honored for World War II Service
The former head professional at Edgewood CC was awarded with the Chevalier (Knight) medal and inducted into France’s Order of the Legion of Honor in a special ceremony held October 24th in Florida at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum. Andreone served as a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and earned three Bronze Stars during his combat experience as part of the first Armored Division to sail from the U.S. direct to the European mainland.