Prudence at the cost of history?

Charley-ruined Punta Gorda CC may be leveled

• Above, Donald Ross-designed Punta Gorda Country Club sustained heavy damage to its course, including a water-cooler stand, at left, and the course restroom, at right, from Hurricane Charley. (picture is missing) • A ball washer is one of the few things left standing along the fairways of Punta Gorda Country Club. photos by TODD STUBING/The News-Press

If all the trees fall on a Donald Ross golf course and no one is going to replace them, should history care?

That altered version of an age-old rhetorical question is taking place at Punta Gorda Country Club, a 1920s design still laying in waste more than a month after Hurricane Charley tore through Southwest Florida.

Designed by the esteemed Scottish architect of such legendary gems as Pinehurst No. 2 and Detroit's Oakland Hills Country Club, cite of the Ryder Cup that ended Sunday, Punta Gorda had been slated for sale and development even before Charley struck last month.

Its membership entered into an agreement with California-based Trimerica Mortgage Company to sell the club in exchange for nearby Port Charlotte Golf Club, which Trimerica purchased last year to set up the property swap.

The members of Punta Gorda would receive a longer, more attractive course, while Trimerica would move forward with plans to develop Punta Gorda Country Club, which is located on commercially valuable property between U.S. 17 and the Charlotte County Airport, and has some undesirable characteristics for a golf course.

"It's a dated golf course," said Bruce Hagen, president of the club's board of directors. "For today's world, it's a flat golf course, not much character to it. When people start picking golf courses, what kind of product do you have to sell?"

Flooding in the area annually leaves the course largely unplayable for much of August and September, according to director of golf Mark Faulkner. Hagen said as few as 10 percent of the club's members live south of the Peace River and east of Interstate 75, where the course is located.

"We're not drawing members from close by the golf course," Hagen said. "In today's world, everybody wants to live by the golf course."

With those drawbacks and the attrition of an aging membership, the club's member roll has plummeted from 325 10 years ago to just 135 today. About four years ago, those remaining began considering selling the course, famous architect or not.

"There's no sentiment there, among our membership, anyway," Hagen said. "They were members at our club because it was a very user-friendly golf club, and they enjoyed the camaraderie that it offered. That's what brought them and what brings anybody in. And the prices they could afford."

At $3,500, Punta Gorda's membership cost is cheaper than most full-length courses in Southwest Florida.

Two years ago, the club had a deal to sell that collapsed on the day it was closing, Hagen said.

Then, last year, Trimerica got involved, and the members at Punta Gorda began leasing Port Charlotte, effectively operating two courses at once.

That arrangement would have remained in place until the deal closed, potentially next April, but Charley suddenly left the club members with two obliterated golf courses and no revenue.

Punta Gorda had about 900 trees snapped and uprooted, while nearly all its structures suffered major damage. Port Charlotte had nearly as many trees destroyed and just as much damage to its clubhouse, cart barns and other structures.

"We think a tornado went through," Faulkner said of Punta Gorda, noting a cinder-block halfway house ripped to the ground. "With the amount of trees that are down, and the way they're laying, some are laying to the left and some are laying to the right. And they're right next to each other."

With insurance contributing a "token" amount to recovery efforts at both clubs, according to Hagen, and many members still dealing with personal losses, Punta Gorda's members decided to spend their time and resources over the last month repairing Port Charlotte.

That course reopened Monday, providing Punta Gorda members with much-needed revenue, but their home course remains in the same splintered condition left by Charley.

"If it wasn't for the fact that we were going to close it down anyway, then we would probably rebuild it," Faulkner said. "If we do (rebuild it), who knows what the golf business is going to be like, with everybody losing their houses."

"Real sad to see it go this way," said superintendent Brad Wright, who has worked at the club for 51/2 years. "It was going to be sad to see it go anyway."

Hagen said the membership has not yet discussed whether to leave Punta Gorda closed for the season, nor is the deal with Trimerica certain to close.

A telephone call to the company was not returned.

Still, the old, perhaps historic, course's days seem numbered.

"I mourn an old Ross course that goes by the wayside," said Michael Fay, executive director and one of four founders of the Donald Ross Society, a historical group based in Connecticut.

"No one likes to see a piece of history disappear," Fay said. "But it seems to me people would much rather see people eat worms on TV than listen to Shakespeare. Everything is a little topsy-turvy in this world."

Of the 413 courses Ross designed nationwide, Fay said about 375 still remain. In Florida, 38 of 46 Ross courses still exist, including Fort Myers Country Club and the exclusive Seminole Golf Club in North Palm Beach.

Some have been lost to development, however.

In this case, a hurricane is to blame, too.

"Running a golf course is like running a business," Hagen said. "Even though people think it's all fun and games, it isn't. You've got your insurance, taxes, phone bill. And you've got to take in money to operate the thing."

going to be like, with everybody losing their houses."

"Real sad to see it go this way," said superintendent Brad Wright, who has worked at the club for 51/2 years. "It was going to be sad to see it go anyway."

Hagen said the membership has not yet discussed whether to leave Punta Gorda closed for the season, nor is the deal with Trimerica certain to close.

A telephone call to the company was not returned.

Still, the old, perhaps historic, course's days seem numbered.

"I mourn an old Ross course that goes by the wayside," said Michael Fay, executive director and one of four founders of the Donald Ross Society, a historical group based in Connecticut.

"No one likes to see a piece of history disappear," Fay said. "But it seems to me people would much rather see people eat worms on TV than listen to Shakespeare. Everything is a little topsy-turvy in this world."

Of the 413 courses Ross designed nationwide, Fay said about 375 still remain. In Florida, 38 of 46 Ross courses still exist, including Fort Myers Country Club and the exclusive Seminole Golf Club in North Palm Beach.

Some have been lost to development, however. In this case, a hurricane is to blame, too.

"Running a golf course is like running a business," Hagen said. "Even though people think it's all fun and games, it isn't. You've got your insurance, taxes, phone bill. And you've got to take in money to operate the thing."