Birdies and bogies now abound at Davie golf course

For years, the Arrowhead Golf Course lay dormant. No golfers were seen zipping down the cart paths or out hitting their drivers off the tee boxes. The only activity was the wildlife camping out on the barren greens.

But the Davie-owned golf course reopened for play in November, for the first time in three years. Under a new name and new management, native trees, rolling fairways and tee shots aplenty now occupy the resurrected golf course.

With its updated design and new moniker, Davie Golf and Country Club currently boasts more than 150 rounds of golf are being played a day.

?A lot of people are really enjoying it,? said Danny Boswell, general manager of the course. ?Comments have been 99 percent positive.?

Closed since December 2008 as part of an Interstate 595 expansion project, the town purchased the nearly 40-year-old course from the state in 2010, eventually paying $3.8 million for the land.

Davie?s decision to buy the 18-hole PGA course was controversial at the time, but town leaders decided buying the land was the best way to protect the open space.

?Some people forget that the town bought a brand-new golf course,? Davie spokesman Phillip Holste said.

After months of negotiations, the town reached a deal in October with Greenway Golf Associates to run the course for five years.

In order to improve the drainage for I-595, the Florida Department of Transportation had to increase the number of lakes and dug into the golf course?s fairways, greens and rough.

But following a $4 million redesign paid for by the Transportation Department, the course has new turf, lakes, trees, greens and concrete cart paths.

The soil taken out during construction of the new lake system was deposited around the course to create additional contours from the tees to the greens.

Harry Penny, a starter at the course since 2001, said the current conditions make a round of golf more challenging.

?The old course was flat,? he said. ?Now it?s tougher and more fun to play.?

Federico Tonella, who drove from Palmetto Bay to play a round of golf at the course, said the old design wasn?t his favorite.

?We used to hate this course,? Tonella said. ?Now it has the best greens in Broward County. We love it.?

Greenway predicts 42,000 rounds of golf will be played at the course in its first year and hopes to generate more than $1.5 million in revenue.

The town anticipates collecting more than $800,000 of that revenue under the terms of the contract.

?So far we?re on par or ahead of what we originally projected,? said Ken Campbell, managing partner of Greenway.

Two nearby courses, Plantation Preserve and Bonaventure in Weston, are averaging similar numbers with 125 to 200 rounds of golf played each day.

But how will the new Davie Golf and Country Club keep golfers coming back?

By offering golfers a quality course and a little bit of fun, Boswell said.

Greenway?s eight-member maintenance crew is working to continue improving the course?s conditions.

Greenway is also looking at ways to lighten the mood for golfers hoping to better their handicap.

The management company will have music at different staging areas around the course, offer iPod caddies and employees will carry a water gun on the beverage cart to shoot at golfers for a laugh.

Boswell added golfers can have their own water gun, too.

?We?re ambassadors of fun,? he said. ?We?re not trying to be the police.?

Since Julie Dowd already hit the course?s first hole-in-one, the ?fun? seems poised to continue.

Dowd, of Weston, took out her 5-wood and knocked the ball 111 yards from the tee on the second hole par-three and sunk the coveted shot Dec.10.

It was her second hole-in-one after just 31/2 years of playing the game.

?When you get a hole-in-one, you think you can do it again,? she said. ?It?s nice to have a challenge.?

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/26/2568801/birdies-and-bogies-now-abound.html

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