Palm Harbor Golf Course Opening Set for Early November
Staff is in place. Triple-wide clubhouse is scheduled to be installed next week.
Palm Coast, FL – September 23, 2009 – The City of Palm Coast’s municipal golf course is becoming a reality. The Palm Harbor Golf Course staff has been hired and the triple-wide clubhouse is scheduled for installation next week. The course opening is now scheduled for early November.
Palm Harbor’s return under City ownership could not come at a more uncertain time. Suffering from the dual collapse of the housing and financial markets, golfers are taking a closer look at their discretionary spending. The number of rounds played nationally is down significantly this year as the inelastic cost structure of golf course operations bumps up against a very elastic revenue stream. Available local golf venues are showing signs of the stress
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Grand Club members are not utilizing the less popular Cypress Course. Meanwhile the highly popular Matanzas Course remains closed indefinitely as the developer awaits an economic upturn.
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Hammock Beach has "temporarily" closed the Conservatory Course two days a week to reduce expenses.
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Rumors persist of a possible sale of the Grand Haven Golf Course, (but Grand Haven resident Bob Million is apparently no longer one of the potential buyers).
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The Grand Club (Cypress, Pines, and Matanzas) and Grand Haven Club are all related to Crescent Resources and LandMar Group in a complex maze of corporate entities impossible to unravel. Crescent and LandMar’s recent chapter 11 bankruptcy will undoubtedly increase pressure for changes there.
The new City course was established to ultimately be self-funding. That goal will be brought closer to reality by the expected flood of local players already anxious for a viable alternative to their present venue.
A Friends of Golf Steering Committee report issued last evening provides a thorough update.
To All Friends of Golf…………….
As the time gets closer for opening Palm Harbor, more and more pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. The full Friends of Golf Steering Committee met yesterday with Kemper and the now completed staff of the new Palm Harbor.
We have already introduced you to the first two members of the Palm Harbor team………….Brian Plummer, Golf Course Superintendant, and Jeff Ryan, Head Professional. The two new people who complete the ensemble are Tom Cioffi, General Manager, and Reggie Hunter, Marketing Director/Events Coordinator.
Tom Cioffi has over 30 years experience in the golf industry and will be responsible for building the Palm Harbor team. Prior to joining Kemper Sports, Tom served as Director of Operations at Julliette Falls Golf and Spa in Dunnellon, Florida. He has a wealth of management experience in the Florida market, serving at facilities such as Heritage Ridge Golf Club in Hobe Sound and the Yacht and Country Club of Stuart. He is a graduate of Lycoming College and has been a member of the PGA since 1981. He is also a member of Club Managers Association of America.
Reggie Hunter rounds out the group as Marketing Director/Events Coordinator. Reggie will be the contact for group and tournament play. She comes to us with a treasure trove of experience in the golf merchandising/tournament planning area. She has been in Florida since 1997 and has held relevant positions at Orange Lake Golf and Country Club in Orlando, LPGA International in Daytona Beach and Stead Hotels, also in Daytona Beach. Her pre-opening assignment is basically to make herself known in Palm Coast and assure that everyone is aware that Palm Harbor is alive and well and ready for business!!
All of the team members appear to us as friendly, enthusiastic, hands-on people and we are confident that your experience at the club will more than meet your expectations.
Scheduled opening is now set for early November. The putting green and practice facility will not open at that time, but will be brought into the picture as soon as possible. There are actually two practice areas and they are considerably larger than they were at the old course. The triple-wide clubhouse is scheduled to be installed early next week. This will include an outside deck and well-equipped food/beverage facility.
The rate schedule has been completed and has been given to the City for review. These rates will be presented to the City Council at a future meeting for their approval and at that time they will be published. There will be a three-tiered rate schedule: 1. City Resident/Property Owner, 2. Florida Resident, 3. Out of State Resident. Tee times in general will be available 7 days out, with City residents having the advantage of making a time 8 days out.
There will not be actual memberships in the beginning, but this might be adopted at a later date. However, a frequent-player card purchased in advance will entitle the holder to playing discounts and advance tee times. There will also be a loyalty program, which will generate reward points based on amount of play. The details of these programs are still being worked out and will be published when everything is in place.
A junior program for young golfers is already being assembled. A close working relationship with the schools is highly anticipated.
There has been a huge amount of interest in the Men’s and Ladies’ Associations. It appears that we will go back to the original Association days of Tuesday for the ladies and Wednesday for the men. If you are interested in association play, please send an e-mail to palmharbormga@yahoo.com for the men and palmharborwga@bellsouth.net for the ladies. If you wish to join the 9-hole ladies group, please indicate that in your e-mail and we will send your request in the right direction. We will be holding organizational meetings for the Associations sometime during the next few weeks and will send an e-mail to those who have expressed interest when those meetings are set up.
If you have not seen the Construction Updates or the Palm Harbor History article, be sure to visit the website at www.palmharborgolfclub.com .
As always, we will pass on any relevant new information as soon as it becomes available to us.
Friends of Golf Steering Committee
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No one saw this coming?
Palm Coast gets this golf course for $1 and then sends thousands repairing it and then will sit on it and make the people of Palm Coast pay for repairs. What a group!
ITT Levitt
Dear Toby: Do you know when the groundbreaking will commence for the Concrete, Block, and Stucco Clubhouse? Will it be the like the design that ITT Levitt showed us initially, the latter Herb Bratloff Design or another Design?
Also, do you know if the ‘Boat to Golf Dock’ Feature we were shown there by ITT Levitt will be returned to us, we ask because the NO TRESPASSING signs are still there; we really miss having friends/acquaintances BOAT over to join in at the Social at our Clubhouse.
Thank you.
George Edward Chuddy
Reply to George
There are no plans to build a clubhouse at this time. It will happen in the future if the economics allow it. As for the boat dock, I suggest you talk to the Kemper Sports folks who will be operating the course for the City.