Dear Editor:
I am pleased our city leaders attended the Walden Lake Community Association’s Nov. 19 Golf Course Workshop.
I am grateful that the vision for the community will rest with them — and not Visions Golf LLC.
Visions Golf LLC asked for bank loans in 2004 to buy the Walden Lake Golf & Country Club. Granted credit was readily available to just about anyone who could fog a mirror back then, but it was the businessmen at Visions who presumably did their due diligence, weighed the risks and rewards, and signed their commitment for their vision for the future. It was Visions that chose to file a legal complaint on the HOA in 2008, charging every household a mandatory $200-per-month fee, rather than build or market themselves to their customer base. In 2012, Visions was in front of a federal bankruptcy judge, seeking debt relief on yet another new vision for the future. Visions’ vision for a successful golf operation — whether in 2004, 2008 or 2012, whether for 36 holes, 27 holes or 18 holes has been a mirage — not because of the economy, not because of the community, and not because of a lack of interest in golf. It has been simply a lack of execution.
The Tampa Bay Sports Authority, a state-funded entity, chartered to run municipal golf courses in Hillsborough County, reported the following increasing play and revenues in the last three years. Paying customers on their three courses (54 holes) totaled 95,084 in 2010, 103,002 in 2011, 107,800 in 2012, and more than 108,878 projected for year-end 2013. Total revenue has also steadily increased from $2,850,250 in 2010 to more than $3,158,964 in 2013. In sum, total play has increased by more than 14.5%, and revenue has increased by more than 10.8%.
It would not be a apples to apples comparison to compare operational costs (the TBSA does not have reclaimed water), but suffice it to say, golfing interest is not waning on their facilities. (Visions can make all kinds of excuses, but unless the city leaders and even the public can see their books to validate what has been done and what was not done since 2004, one cannot make an informed decision.)
Capitalism is a beautiful concept. And, at other times, it is brutal. There is a dynamic called “creative self- destruction,” by which entities fail and others, stronger or better managed, come up out of the ground. Visions is not too big to fail. Taking their customers for granted has not been smart. Being contemptuous of homeowners, who have invested and cared for their properties long before the constantly changing cockamamie visions of Visions, is also not smart. This community is loaded with savvy leaders, who are more than capable of putting together and executing upon a business plan. Of course, this cannot happen, until Visions Golf is told “no” to any rezoning.
Don Marshall
Walden Lake