The LPGA returns to Ocala

The Perfect H ST

Golden Ocala steps up for the LPGA Tour

BY CARLTON REESE PHOTOGRAPHY BY RALPH DEMILIO

Professional golf’s return to Ocala last March came and went in the quietude that resembles the very game itself. Hiding its show behind the COVID curtain, the LPGA Tour paraded its stars at Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club with little fanfare, minimal spectators and publicity that left inquiring minds wanting.

For its part, Golden Ocala pulled off a minor miracle by hosting a major league sports event on short notice, but to those watching on television, it all seemed like any other professional golf tournament. In the end, Austin Ernst conquered the Golden Ocala layout and ran away from the field, enjoying if not the accolades of a huge gallery that was missing then at least a celebratory beer shower from her fellow competitors.

The scene at the 2021 Drive On Championship Presented by Volvik at Golden Ocala (a rather verbose title for an event, yes) resembled very little the last time the LPGA Tour ventured into horse country. In 2015 and 2016, the LPGA Coates Championship enjoyed throngs of record crowds, much to the delight of the LPGA Tour and the players themselves, who described the atmosphere as similar to a major championship.

Alas, no ticket sales and only a limited number of passes available to club members made for an event relegated to the cyber vacuum typical in these times of pandemic paranoia. The whole thing from the beginning seemed a secret the LPGA had little interest in revealing.

“The LPGA didn’t really publicize

much, other than on their website,” said Joe Donnelly, general manager at Golden Ocala. “If there had been spectators it would have been a whole different marketing program.”

Before the season began, the LPGA committed itself to limited spectators at events, at least until perhaps May when it returns to the east coast from stops out west and overseas. To its credit, the LPGA scrambled to put together the Ocala event and the one a week earlier in Orlando when it is usually on a five-event swing in Australia and Asia this time of year – those events an impossibility due to restrictions there.

It was not until last December that the LPGA contacted Golden Ocala about the possibility of bringing an event there, and the short turnaround time to hold such a tournament was astonishing. Even if the LPGA had wanted huge galleries, as were seen the very same week at Orlando’s Bay Hill for the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, the logistics of hosting large numbers of spectators was not in the offing.

“We could not have pulled it off in 5-6 weeks if we were doing it with big attendance,” said Donnelly, noting the construction of grandstands, electronic scoreboards and even the recruitment of around 800 volunteers would have been next to impossible on such short notice. As it were, close to 600 spectators did show up daily to the tournament, all consisting of club members, sponsors and guests. Missing were the food trucks, VIP tents and buses that hauled in spectators by the thousands in previous events.

“There was a big difference,” said Jim Letterly, who was a spectator this time around and five years ago. “We were able to get right up to the ropes, be 15 feet away on their tee shots.”

Letterly watched the tournament with his wife and said he missed the atmosphere of the crowds and large grandstands, but that he enjoyed the easy access to good viewing positions.

“It was almost like Sunday at the Camp tournament,” said Letterly, referring to the big amateur event that takes place annually at Ocala Golf Club. “Everyone watching golf and drinking, just having a good time. The players were awesome and hopefully they will come back.”

The course itself faced perhaps the biggest test of all, being in championship condition for an event that just a few months earlier was not even on the calendar. That aspect, however, gave Donnelly and his Golden Ocala staff little concern. The weather was perfect, the azaleas were in full bloom and the lush greens and fairways made for a spectacular television showcase.

With superintendent Jack Creveling, who has experience working at high-end, high-traffic venues that host major tournaments – Creveling worked at the famed TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra before coming to Golden Ocala in 2013 – Donnelly had little concern the track would be LPGA-ready.

“We told those azaleas to bloom that week,” Donnelly joked. “We were lucky; the weather warmed up and we had blue skies for two weeks (before the tournament).

“We try to have our (course) in tournament condition all the time. There were very few changes we had to make for what we were going to do for the LPGA.”

Under such odd circumstances, Golden Ocala proved to be a perfect host for a tour in dire need of something positive following a year that took its toll perhaps harder than most professional sports leagues. The course was in championship condition and the venue well-prepared for a week of the world’s best players descending upon it. Even the mid-week pro-am went off like clockwork.

“It was cool; really fun,” said Steve Albright, a Golden Ocala member who played in the Wednesday pro-am tournament with tour professionals Nelly Korda and Katherine Kirk. “They were both very nice and gracious; it was fun to watch them play.

“They were both very grateful to have the tournament there and they were very complimentary of the golf course.”

With the success of the tournament, hopes are that the LPGA will return to Golden Ocala next season, making Marion CounGOLDEN OCALA PROVED TO BE A PERFECT HOST FOR A TOUR IN DIRE NEED OF SOMETHING POSITIVE FOLLOWING A YEAR THAT TOOK ITS TOLL PERHAPS HARDER THAN MOST PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LEAGUES.

ty an annual fixture on the tour’s calendar.

“They have always wanted to come back; they just had to have the right title sponsor to do it,” Donnelly said. “We’re talking to the LPGA and we have a few sponsors we’re going to pick up talks with here soon. The LPGA wants to have it again and I believe the Roberts family (owners of Golden Ocala) would love to have it back as well.”

Most appealing to the tour would certainly be a replay of the galleries that showed up in 2015-16 when 88,000 spectators trod the grounds, an unusually large number for a non-major championship. If this most recent event were an audition of sorts, Golden Ocala proved up to the task and worthy of a chance to repeat the success of five years ago.

A 2022 return of the LPGA would be

another chance for Ocala/Marion County to strut its stuff on the national stage, showcasing some its world class amenities and southern charms. What would be a walk on the red carpet for Golden Ocala would also be good for the business of all here.

“It’s good for membership sales; it’s good for marketing our real estate and it’s also good for our community,” Donnelly said. “When you have a big event with a lot of people in attendance, it’s good for the hotels and for the restaurants – everything.

“With the TV coverage, we knew we would get some exposure that way. We thought, maybe we could build some goodwill with some of the sponsors and talk with them about bringing it back next year.”

A YEAR OF RENOVATIONS AND ADDITIONS

The recent LPGA event marked a surprise exclamation point to a year of big changes at Golden Ocala. During the past summer’s pandemic slowdown, management decided it was as good a time as any to put the course under some renovations that would likely have happened in the future anyway. The course was shut down while greens and many tee boxes were re-built, which resulted in some firm conditions for the tournament, a fact that was not lost on some of the players.

“Some of (the players) loved them,” Donnelly said of the renovated greens which are still in the maturation process. “Some were wanting them to hold the ball a little better, but they’re the best players in the world and they proved it.

“By the time they (hopefully) come back next year, the greens will be accepting shots a little better.”

The renovations to the golf course don’t even tell half the story of what is happening at Golden Ocala. Currently under construction is a new nine-hole course that will include the two spectacular practice holes which already exist.

Plans call for the new nine to include tribute holes of iconic golf courses around the world, just as the original 18 holes at Golden Ocala enjoy. The course now contains holes that are tributes to Augusta National’s Nos. 12, 13 and 16; St. Andrew’s Nos. 1 and 17; Royal Troon’s No. 8; Muirfield’s No. 9 and Baltusrol’s No. 4.

Donnelly is not revealing too much information about the new nine’s tribute holes, but did say there will be “a few” of them, one patterned after Bethpage Black.

“The current golf course we have out here is fantastic,” Donnelly said. “We think the nine holes we’re building right now will live up to that and even exceed what we have now.”

Donnelly says Golden Ocala will eschew plans that other private clubs have done with new courses in the past by integrating it with the original course. Instead of making the new nine ultra-exclusive, it will become part of a 3-course rotation where each nine is its own distinctive track. Member play will consist of rotating to and from the nines, offering different options depending on which hole a player begins.

“We will name the three nines,” Donnelly said. “It will give us the availability for more morning tee times, more preferred times.”

Renovations, construction of new courses, the wooing of professional tournaments – it’s busines as usual at Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club.

Corporate events are golden here.

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GRAND OPENING 2021

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