(Photo by Josh Kapke/WUFT News)
After being closed for seven years, the Alachua, Fla. property was acquired by a group of local investors in 2018, who then set about making needed improvements for the golf course, including a new $3 million irrigation system, by doing much of the work themselves. An arrangement was signed in November 2020 with Davey Golf to be the club’s new operating partner, and a ribbon-cutting for the reopening was held on January 23rd.
When the Turkey Creek Golf Club in Alachua, Fla. closed because of a stagnant economy and poor attendance in 2011, many feared it would be for good, station WUFT/WJUF of Gainesville, Fla. reported.
But a red ribbon was sliced at a reopening ceremony on January 23rd, marking the culmination of the club’s turnaround story after what had once been a private club teeming with energy became a barren wasteland with a $300,000 shortfall, WUFT/WJUF reported.
The turnaround started with the club’s acquisition by a group of local investors in 2018, when The Turkey Creek Master Owners Association obtained a $1.35 million loan to buy the land and the golf course. The association then signed an arrangement in November 2020 with Davey Golf to be the property’s new operating partner (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/turkey-creek-gcc-signs-five-year-agreement-with-davey-golf/).
Hal Smith was a Turkey Creek club member when it opened in 1978, WUFT/WJUF reported. So Smith was delighted—with dozens of socially distanced people cheering him on—to tee off after the ribbon-cutting on the first hole of the now public 18-hole course that features fresh, new greens, tilled sand traps and a new irrigation system.
“Best layout around,” Smith said. “It’s a golf course that I loved from the first time I ever played it.”
All slots for the four-person, 22-team scramble that followed his and others’ ceremonial tee shots were filled within 48 hours, WUFT/WJUF reported.
The golf course was slated to reopen in December, but the grass “wasn’t playable,” Susan Hall, a member of the Turkey Creek Board of Directors, told WUFT/WJUF. “It was really hard, because everyone was ready to go,” Hall said.
Many roadblocks made reopening Turkey Creek seem improbable, WUFT/WJUF reported, but none more substantial than the inoperable irrigation system, according to Dave Kratzer, another club Board member. “The first thing you have to have on a golf course is water,” Kratzer said.
Another Board member, Loretta Shane, said that upon learning that it would cost $3 million for a new system, its new ownership decided to save money by doing much of the work themselves, WUFT/WJUF reported.
To do that, over 500 sprinkler head holes needed to be dug by hand over a year’s time, WUFT/WJUF reported. But that led to another problem, because those wanting to make it happen lacked the essential equipment to improve the course. “We didn’t even have a shovel,” Shane said.
In exchange for borrowing a fairway mower and other equipment from nearby Santa Fe High School that could help perform the needed work, WUFT/WJUF reported, the school’s golf team now plays at Turkey Creek for free.
After the holes were dug, the board began searching for additional funding, Kratzer said.
The reopening has not only raised the property value of the homes in the community, Shane said, but it has also brought additional business to “Creek’s 19th,” a restaurant near the first hole.
Rod Fitzpatrick, another Board member who has helped to mow the driving range and practice holes consistently, said the course’s condition affects how neighboring homeowners treat their yards, WUFT/WJUF reported.
“When the golf course is overgrown, weeds up to waist high, people were letting their yards go,” Fitzpatrick said. “If they’re against a nice golf course, they want to keep their yards nice, too.”
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