In the three months since the links at Plantation Palms Golf Club closed, a homeowners association has been left powerless, and confused neighbors listen to any rumor they can about the fate of the 156-acre course.
A small party tent, which once provided shade to golfers near the clubhouse, now sits neglected, its dirty canopy flapping in the wind. Equipment that used to keep the greens pristine is buried in overgrown grass.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
One hole, not far from the entrance, still sports a small flag, desperately calling attention to golfers who may never come.
Patty Stach doesn’t play golf, but the deserted course has become a nightmare for her. She’s ready to move to a new town, but she can’t even put her Plantation Palms house up for sale because of what’s happening just a block or so away.
“If you’re a golfer, it affects your way of life,” she said. “But even if you’re not a golfer, it affects the value of your home. Who would want to buy into a community where the golf course looks like this?”
Mitch Osceola, Jayson Ray and Steve McDonald — collectively known as MJS Golf Group LLC — bought the course in 2011 through a $2.2 million loan from Native American Bank of Denver. All three have Native American roots: Osceola is a Florida Seminole, Ray is from the Klamath Modoc tribe of Oregon, and McDonald from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Kansas.
Despite their different upbringings, they found common ground in golf. Osceola, Ray and McDonald realized their dream to own a golf course when a Vero Beach developer decided to sell a course they built in the heart of Land O’ Lakes.
“We’ve got big ideas for Plantation Palms that will help the HOA grow as well,” Ray told The Laker at the time.
But now, the ownership is quiet. They haven’t communicated with the HOA, and they didn’t return a message seeking comment from The Laker. The doors that used to welcome golfers are now adorned with a citation from the Pasco County code enforcement office, demanding the grass get cut.
Dave Brooks, a former member of the HOA and a longtime member of the club, says there’s nothing the community can do except wait for something to happen.
“It’s frustrating that the course is in such bad shape, and it’s frustrating that we can’t play the course,” he said. “But at the same time, there’s not much we can do. It’s a privately owned golf course.”
After the May closing, the HOA president David Gunsteens told residents to stay off the course, and that he would close the front gates to the community during the day to stop people from coming in trying to get free trips around the links. Each month, he would update residents on what’s happening with the golf course in the community’s newsletter — at least as much as he could with the little information he had.
“Once again this month, I have to report that we still have no word on the status of the golf course,” Gunsteens wrote in the most recent newsletter. “We continue to attempt to obtain permission from the course owners in order to do some basic mowing in some of the more visible areas, but have continued to be unsuccessful in that area.”
If the county does have to come in and mow, it could make the property even more difficult to sell or bring back online. Especially since the cost to just maintain a 30-foot buffer from neighboring properties would be in the thousands of dollars, said Joaquin Servia, the county’s code enforcement manager.
“The government isn’t really equipped to deal with a situation like that,” Servia said. “It’s such a large area, and there’s no way that any government is going to be able to maintain a golf course like that to the standards that people would really expect.”
The county has three other golf courses that also are in limbo, Servia said. However, the owners at those are doing at least the bare minimum to keep code enforcers at bay.
If the county does come in and do work, they will lien the property, which will make it that much more expensive to sell.
The biggest rumors circulating around the community are that at least two groups — including one led by a resident — have tried to make offers on the golf course, but neither have received a response from Native American Bank. None of those rumors could be verified, and Joel Smith, a senior vice president and chief credit officer for the financial institution, didn’t return a call seeking comment.
However, a receptionist who answered the phone at the bank said they have received a number of calls from people asking about the course.
One way or the other, something needs to happen soon, because Stach says she’s ready to leave.
“It’s a beautiful community, and everybody loves it. It would just be nice to have the golf course up and running,” she said. “Nobody can move right now. We’re all kind of stuck. And as that grass gets deeper and deeper, we’re starting to realize it might be a while.”
Published August 6, 2014
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