Dear Editor:
I am a new resident of the Walden Lake community. I purchased a home in Walden Lake for the beauty of the area, proximity to Tampa and Disney, as well as having a golf course within the community.
I wasn’t much impressed with the course when I bought here. As a matter of due diligence, I visited the clubhouse and had the opportunity to sit down and speak to Steve Mercer regarding the course, membership and future plans. I was not impressed with his demeanor, or his ransacked office and sitting area. He said times were tough and he had to lay off most of his office help. This was in the peak of the season. So, I was not depending on a beautiful golf course to go with my home purchase.
My confusion is why the course owners are not aggressively and passionately asking the community why they are not supporting the course. It may be that they don’t care. It may be that they have other agendas. Not sure what this may be — because I would think they would realize there is no separation between the community and the golf course — except in ownership. They depend on us, and we on them. This leads to a somewhat unpleasant story that may disclose to a degree the attitude of the ownership.
I was playing golf at The Lakes course one Sunday morning. Had a tee time at 8:30 a.m. The front nine was backed up on first tee, so it was suggested that I go off the back nine, which I did. When I got to No. 11, I noticed a foursome crossing the bridge. They moved on rather quickly as I hit a few balls in the fairway. When I reached 12, there were several folks on the green — they asked if I wanted to play through — but they didn’t seem to be playing slowly. Because I was just working on my game, I declined.
So, they went on, and as soon as they go off the green, I went ahead and hit a few on the green. By the time I got to the 15th hole, I noticed there were six or seven guys on the green. Took them a while to finish up, so I waited. When they cleared off the green, I hit a few up on the green. As I was making my way around the green, the starter drove by and asked if I wanted to play through. I told him I would probably just pass them up on the first tee.
But, I asked him why they (the golf course) were allowing so many people to be playing together. Now, I have played a lot of golf and have never heard of such a thing — but the starter said they were playing a “special” game. I said something to the effect that I knew this golf course was in trouble and having problems getting people to play there, but that Sundays should be one of the busiest days of the week. This type of play may be one reason why folks didn’t play there.
By now, the massive group was on the tee, and I hit my drive. When I got to the ball, I heard the guys on the green saying for me to play through. I hit up to the green. When I got there, I was lectured by one of the guys about whining to the starter and that they had asked me to play through. I told them I didn’t whine to the starter — just asked him why so many guys were playing together and that that causes slow play. Then another gentleman said, “I live here,” as if he could do whatever he wanted. I said I live here too — so what? Then, another man said, “Well, I own the golf course.”
I figured there was no sense in bickering and moved on. But, it got me to thinking — that maybe the attitude of the ownership is just that. They own it, and they will do what they want.
Also, familiarity breeds contempt. The current owners have become so familiar with the way the association functions and what their impression of what the association and community thinks, that they have become contemptuous with us and deem us unnecessary. This mentality works both ways. The problem is that their course is in our back yard. We may not own it, but we surround it. We can make it really easy for them — or really difficult. Much of that depends on the way we are treated by them.
So, what will it be?
Bob Norton