The once-private club in Tuscaloosa, Ala., was taken over last year by an LLC that was formed to keep it from closing. A tornado hampered renewal efforts, but the property has now been rebranded and reopened as a public course.
Managers of the newest public golf course in Tuscaloosa, Ala. are spreading the word that they are open and ready for business, TuscaloosaNews.com reported.
Tall Pines Golf Club at Woodland Forrest—formerly the private Woodland Forrest Country Club—is now open to all comers, TuscaloosaNews.com reported, and the students and faculty of local universities, including the University of Alabama, can play at a discount.
The members-only Woodland Forest CC was taken over last year by Golf Club at Woodland Forrest LLC, a company that was formed to purchase the country club’s mortgage in order to keep it from closing permanently, TuscaloosaNews.com reported.
Newell Allen, manager of the recently christened Tall Pines Golf Club and an investor in the company that bought the course, said opening the course to the public is one of many changes that came with the new ownership.
So far, almost $500,000 has been invested in purchasing and overhauling the golf course and clubhouse, TuscaloosaNews.com reported. And Allen, a retired classified advertising manager at The Tuscaloosa News, told the website that the work, which hasn’t been easy, is far from over.
“The biggest challenge was the tornado; we’re still cleaning up after [it]” Allen said, referring to the storm that tore through the Woodland Forrest neighborhood and golf course on April 28, 2014, just as he and his fellow investors were preparing to purchase the course in a foreclosure sale.
Last year’s storm came three years and one day after the devastating tornado of April 27, 2011, which damaged or destroyed about 12 percent of Tuscaloosa, TuscaloosaNews.com reported
Today, remnants of the 2014 storm remain scattered across the course, the website reported, particularly on hole 13, where downed trees still lay off the fairway
It took 15 dumptruck loads to clear fallen trees and debris from the tee box area of hole 12, the website added.
Woodland Forrest Country Club was built in 1971, and the golf course opened the next year, TuscaloosaNews.com reported. The course was designed to allow homes to be built along its spacious fairways, with a total of about 600 homes in the Woodland Forrest subdivision and a nearby neighborhood.
But while many of those homeowners joined the country club, by April 2014 membership had dropped to 147 members, TuscaloosaNews.com reported.
Today, the club has added 10 to 15 full-time or “senior” members (at $190/month), and another 50 to 60 have joined as social members ($59/month), which Allen said gives them unlimited access to the clubhouse and pool.
But the growth in use and membership isn’t causing the investors to rest easy, TuscaloosaNews.com reported. He and his fellow investors did not buy the property to reap a windfall, Allen said. “All we did was buy it to keep it open and improve it,” he said. “Every dime we make we’re pouring right back into the course. All we’re trying to do is improve everything.”
Initial rates for play at the newly named Tall Pines Golf Club at Woodland Forrest, TuscaloosaNews.com reported, are as follows:
18 holes with a cart: Friday-Sunday, $40.35; Tuesday-Thursday, $34.90
18 holes with a cart (student/faculty discount): Friday-Sunday, $25.10; Tuesday-Thursday, $15.25
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