Venerable Yet Vulnerable

 West Orange Country Club gets fresh start

by Debra Wood


Land broker Jim Karr, along with a group of investors, purchases the West Orange Country Club.

West Orange Country Club has gained a second chance toward long-term success with the recent purchase by Jim Karr and his partners in West Orange Country Club Inc.

“This is a call out that we need help,” said Karr, who has been a club member since 1981. “The group of investors who bought the club are golf enthusiasts and like it enough to give it another chance to succeed and stay open.”

Citrus growers started the club in 1967. Llyod Clifton designed the tree-lined, par 71 course, which was rebuilt in 2006 with small, well-kept greens. In addition to golf, the club offers tennis and swimming, and dining and banquet facilities.

“It’s a full-service country club,” Karr said. “But it’s relaxed.”

Fellow investor Ed Neill now lives part time in North Carolina and southwest Orange County, yet he never gave up his nearly decade-old membership. He said he hopes to eventually slow down and be able to spend more time at the club. By investing, he feels he is “helping to save the place.”

“I always wanted to be able to go there and enjoy the golf and, more importantly, the people,” Neill said. “The atmosphere at the club is not pretentious, and there isn’t any friction. There’s a great, comfortable camaraderie.”

Club member Frank Dillon called it “wonderful” when Karr and his partners purchased the property.

“What they are doing is very positive,” said Dillon, a member since 1972.

In addition to golf and different levels of membership, West Orange Country Club offers a variety of amenities.

In addition to golf and different levels of membership, West Orange Country Club offers a variety of amenities.

Club Living

For now, if tee times are available, the club offers some private golf games, but Karr hopes to return to “membership only” as soon as the club gains enough members. The public is welcome to eat at the restaurant, and people can wear good-looking jeans.

“It’s a relaxed golf course [where] you can play with your friends and have a good time,” Dillon said. “Or you can go have lunch or dinner in a nice atmosphere.”

Neill raved about the food, available for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The club offers a variety of different memberships, from students starting at $170 per month to an all-inclusive family membership at $725 per month, which includes cart fees, range balls and other necessities. Also, people can join without being referred.

About 100 active golf members and 75 social members belong to the club. Karr would like to double those numbers, and he’d like to see more families join.

The club offers a variety of incentives from points games on the weekends at 8:30 a.m. to games and casual dinners on Wednesdays at 4 p.m.

Call for Members

The amount of time, the cost to play, and the number of new golf courses that have entered the market have made it more difficult for golf courses to succeed. Sabal Point Country Club in Seminole County closed in 2006, and the land is now being developed into apartments and homes. Cypress Creek in Southwest Orlando closed about 10 years ago and was redeveloped. Rock Springs Ridge in Apopka and Rolling Hills near Altamonte Springs closed last year. And, Windermere Golf and Country Club is slated to close in April 2016, with the property to be converted into single-family residential housing.

“Golf grew for a while, but it hit a point of no return,” Karr said. “Over time, more and more people left golf and never came back. We are going through a correction.”

Karr explained that during the past four to five years, as memberships and golf popularity declined, golf clubs raised dues and deferred some maintenance.

“It’s now being run as a business, and our business is to attract as many members as we can,” Karr said. “I love the facility and the people out there.”

Karr does not have experience operating a golf course, but one of the partners does. According to county records, the partners purchased the property for nearly $1.3 million and are investing in sprucing up the facilities, removing dead pine trees, replacing bridges, painting the clubhouse, repairing or replacing the roof, resurfacing the tennis courts, and whatever else is needed.

“They are putting money in it, which we didn’t have,” Dillon said about the upgrades. “That will help drive membership, which is what we need.”

The new investors have committed to operate the 18-hole golf club for a minimum of two years and at least as a recreational facility for an additional three years. The land shall remain recreational for a minimum of five years. After that, if the club is not successful, the investors could sell it to a land developer.

“Our intention is to make this work as a golf course,” Karr said. “If it doesn’t, outside of our effort, the last resort is to sell it for
something else.”

For now the effort is on adding members, particularly those living nearby.

“We need the residents around it to join and allow it to stay a casual, quaint country club facility, and come out and enjoy it,” Karr said.