Nichols Cup Hosts Sports Greats

The 5^th Annual Nichols Cup Celebrity Pro-Am was held February 25 & 26 at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers.  The event hosted sports celebrities such as George McNeil, Johnny Bench, Dwight Evans, Mike Trombley, Gene Keady and Ralph Branca.  This year, the event drew a field of 250 players and raised nearly $500,000.  Beneficiaries were ACT and the Children's Advocacy Center. 

Holes-in-One were scored by Tom Shaw on #15 Wee Friendly and John Bowlin on #3 Long Mean.  Bowlin won a Toyota Highlander donated by Fort Myers Toyota.  Nelson Shively carded a double eagle on #18 Long Mean.

Winners:

Wee Friendly First Place Team:
Bobby Nichols poses with winners Pro Nate Johnson, Ann Gregory, Joe Oddo, Vic Gregory and Jim Coleman. 

Long Mean First Place Team:
Bobby Nichols poses with winners Pro Mark Lye, Bruce Sands, Greg Barr, Jeff Radcliffe and Rokki Rogan




Shula, Griese and Buonoconti Highlight Perfect Season Golf Classic

The Miami Dolphins 1972 perfect-season team celebrated the 35^th Anniversary of that season on March 18 & 19 at the Earl Morrall/Perfect Season NFL Alumni Golf Classic held at the Naples Hilton and Tuscany Reserve Golf Club in Naples.  The event benefited the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southwest Florida and the NCH Pediatric Care Unit.  Celebrities participating included Earl Morrall, Don Shula, Bob Griese, Nick Buonoconti, Bob Griese, Manny Fernandez, Mercury Morris, Larry Little, Nat Moore, Charlie Babb and the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders.




Drive Fore Hope Celebrity Golf Challenge Venue Scheduled for April 13 & 14     

The Drive Fore Hope Celebrity Golf Challenge with Jim Kelly & Friends, a subsidiary of Hunter’s Hope Foundation, will be held April 13 & 14 at The Quarry in Naples.  This is the fourth consecutive year for the event.  Hunter’s Hope was founded in 1997 by Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly and his wife Jill after their infant son Hunter was diagnosed with Krabbe Leukodystrophy.  The foundation raises money to fund research efforts to identify new treatments, therapies, and a cure for Krabbe and other leukodystrophies.




Golfers Tee Off for First Day of Play at Magnolia Landing

February 20 marked the first day of play on the newly opened 18-hole course at The Golf Club at Magnolia Landing designed by Gordon Lewis.  Lewis attended the inaugural event.

Magnolia Landing is set amid a natural backdrop of pine forests and oak groves.  Construction is currently underway on the 10,000-square –foot clubhouse that will overlook the 9^th and 18^th greens.  The facility will offer a grille, pro shop, and men’s and women’s lockers.  The cart barn has already been completed.

The golf course at Magnolia Landing was the site for Taylor Woodrow’s Rock on Scramble & Jam, an outdoor benefit rock concert on March 23 and a golf scramble on March 24.  Rock On benefited four local organizations: the March of Dimes, the John Entwistle Foundation, Barbara’s Friends – The Children’s Hospital Cancer Fund and the Alliance for the Arts.



Golf Inc. Honors Bonita Bay Club as Clubhouse Renovation of the Year

Golf Inc. honored Bonita Bay Club as the nation’s top clubhouse remodel/renovation in its “Clubhouses of the Year” issue.  Atlanta-based architectural firm Niles Bolton Associates Inc. led the renovation with the goals of more room for casual dining, a fresher décor and better use of space.  The competition was based on overall design concept, aesthetics and efficiency.

The clubhouse, which opened in 1986, was expanded during 2003 from 45,000 square feet to more than 55,000 square feet, and its roof was raised to heighten the 8-foot-6-inch-high ceilings.  Floor-to-ceiling glass in dining areas provides panoramic views of the golf courses and natural preserve areas.

Marjorie Feltus-Hawkins, a design professional with 25 years of experience and one of three competition judges said, “This is the epitome of a true renovation. They moved everything around and achieved their goals.”




Weiskopf Tapped For Moraya Bay Golf Course Design

Tom Weiskopf has been selected to design the 18-hole golf course at Signature Communities North Naples Moraya Bay Golf and Beach Club.  It will be Weiskopf’s first golf course design in Florida.  Weiskopf described the planned Moraya Bay Golf and Beach Club course as being unique in today’s market because it has no internal housing. 

“This core style, of course, is a throw-back to the origins of golf course architecture and provides me an ideal palette to create a course that is pure golf experience,” Weiskopf said. “My strategy will reflect the timeless theories of the great courses of that past era and will offer an endless variety of challenges and rewards for the club’s membership.”

Best recognized as a top PGA touring professional for over four decades, Weiskopf’s competitive golfing career lasted more than 30 years and included 25 PGA and Champions Tour wins. Among those wins were the prestigious British Open in 1973 and the Senior Open in 1995. Weiskopf is now considered an internationally prominent and respected golf course designer as well.




Lewis To Design Del Webb Golf Course

Construction has begun on the championship golf course at Del Webb community in Ave Maria.  Gordon G. Lewis has been selected to create the 18-hole course.

Lewis, who has designed approximately 60 golf courses worldwide, said the Del Webb project will offer something to golfers of all skill levels.

“We could have a pro tournament there,” Lewis said. “The back tees would challenge Tiger Woods.  But, on the other hand, every green features several easier pin positions.”

The Del Webb practice facilities will be state-of-the-art and include a practice tee with island greens, a fairway trap and chipping and putting greens. The overall course will include generous fairways, large teeing areas and United States Golf Association greens complimented by ridges, terraces and undulations to test golfers’ putting skills.




Mediterra Opens New Learning Center

The Club at Mediterra in Naples opened its new 1,800-square-foot golf learning center in January.  Under the management of recently appointed Director of Instruction, Adam Bazalgette, the facility offers the latest in high-tech instruction. 

The learning center is located on the south side of Mediterra’s double-sided driving range and features an enclosed hitting station, a video room with launch monitor, open-hitting stations and a short-game practice area. 

“My goal for this facility is to combine the best of what is offered at a top golf school, with the more personal nature of individual instruction found at a private club,” said Bazalgette.

Golfing Naples & Southwest Florida asked local golfer Rich Zapfel to spend an hour with Bazalgette at the learning center.  Bazalgette videotaped Zapfel on the range and then conducted a swing analysis in the video room.  He then conducted on-screen, side-by-side comparisons of Zapfel’s swing mechanics placed next to those of Michelle Wie, Justin Rose and Aaron Baddely.  The last portion of the session was dedicated to swing adjustment based on Bazalgette’s critique.  

“I felt that the split-screen imaging was very helpful in allowing me to visualize what I was doing in comparison with professional golfers,” said Zapfel.  “Adam was visual and effective in describing what I should do.”

Bazalgette was formerly the director of golf for the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Naples.  He has earned a number of teaching honors including Southwest Florida Teacher of the Year in 1998 and recognition by Gulfshore Life as one of the areas top 10 golf pros.  Bazalgette has been a Class A PGA member since 1989.




Pelican Preserve Opens New Nine

Fort Myers’ Pelican Preserve added nine new holes that opened in January.  The Ibis joins the Heron and Egret as the club’s third Chip Powell-designed course.  The Ibis plays 3,543 yards from the Championship tees.  Several holes are surrounded by nature preserves.  The greens feature Tifeagle Ultradwarf, with 419 Bermuda on the fairways.




Local Golf Communities Make Travel + Leisure Golf’s Top 100 List

Bonita Bay, Mediterra, TwinEagles and Tuscany Reserve were listed as among “America’s Top 100 Golf Communities” by Travel + Leisure Golf in the magazine’s January/February 2007 issue.  The four were among 23 golf course communities in Florida that made the magazine’s second annual “Top 100” list.




Bonita Bay Club Redesign Earns National Recognition

The renovation of Bonita Bay Club was one of nine projects recognized in the 2006 Design Showcase published by Club Management, the official magazine of the Club Managers Association of America. The renovation was led by the Atlanta-based architectural firm Niles Bolton Associates Inc.

The clubhouse was expanded from 45,000 square feet to more than 55,000 square feet, and its roof was raised to heighten the 8-foot-6-inch-high ceilings. One of the most dramatic changes was the lobby, where natural stone is used on the floor, the ceiling vaults to more than 13 feet, and a gallery leads to views of the golf course. With floor-to-ceiling glass, all dining spaces capture panoramic views of the golf courses and natural preserve areas.




Valencia Golf and Country Club Builds New Clubhouse

Valencia Golf and Country Club has begun construction on a new community clubhouse which will include a café, lounge, kitchen, card room, movie theater, fitness center and children’s playroom.  Valencia Golf and Country Club features a Gordon Lewis-designed course.  The course, which is rated three-and-one-half stars by Golf Digest, is also open for public daily play, but annual membership secures seven-day advance tee times, a reduction of cart fees for members and their guests and a discount on pro shop merchandise.  Facilities include a grass driving range, a putting green and a bunker for short game practice.  




Wildcat Run Hosts Rally for a Cure

Wildcat Run Golf & Country Club hosted its annual member-guest golf tournament, Rally for a Cure, benefiting the Susan G. Komen Foundation on January 24.  The event marked the 11^th year that Wildcat Run has supported breast cancer research and awareness through a Rally for a Cure event. 

This year, the golf tournament raised more than $16,000 with 120 lady golfer’s participating.  After the tournament ended, a Wildcat run member donated the remaining $3,000 rounding it up to the $20,000 raised.  Since 1996, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has received more than $16 million through these types of fundraising events.




Wildcat Run Hosts Golf Tournament for Arnie’s Army

Wildcat Run Golf & Country Club hosted a Men's Guest Day Golf Tournament on January 25 that benefited Arnie’s Army, Arnold Palmer’s charitable effort that fights Prostate Cancer.

For the past five years, Wildcat Run has joined other country clubs nationally by facilitating an event to raise both awareness and funds to support research directed by the Prostate Cancer Foundation.  Since 2003, Arnie’s Army has raised several million dollars for the Prostate Cancer Foundation's mission.




Sherry Captures Florida Junior Tour Title

Fort Myers Aaron Sherry captured the Florida Junior Tour event at The Conservancy at Hammock Beach in Palm Coast on February 3.  He shot a 72-72/144, winning by three strokes.




Weinand Wins on Florida Junior Tour

Naples’ Carson Weinand won the Florida Junior Tour’s 16-18 age division title at Fox Hollow Golf Club in Tarpon Springs on February 10 & 11.  He shot a 73-74/147 to capture the titles, earn exempt status on the tour and gain entry into the FSGA Boys Junior Championship.




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