FSU golf course gets new management
"Florida State University has shed a financial anchor. The Arnold Palmer company has embraced an opportunity.
FSU has signed a five-year contract with the Arnold Palmer Golf Management company to operate the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course. The Palmer company took over operations on Aug. 1.
The 52-year-old course had become a red stain on the FSU budget, losing as much as $500,000 a year and a total of $3.5 million over the past 10 years.
In June 2013, FSU officials announced they would seek ways to improve revenue and formed an advisory committee. The result was a decision to hire a golf managment company. The Arnold Palmer Golf Management Company beat out at least one other bidder for the contract.
In the new arrangment, FSU continues to own the golf course and will receive two percent of gross revenues. But all expenses will be borne by the management company.
“There were several reasons to go in this direction and one was to mitigate (financial losses),” said Kyle Clark, FSU Vice President for Finance and Administration. “But we also thought the Arnold Palmer company brings great experience to the table. It’s a top notch company with a wealth of experience in improving golf courses and providing a good experience (for consumers).”
Golf legend Arnold Palmer, winner of 62 PGA Tour tournaments, including seven majors, started his golf course management company in 1984. He sold the company in 2005 to Dallas-based Century Golf Partners, though Palmer’s separate golf course design company continues to work with Century Golf.
The company operates 62 golf courses in 15 states. The Don Veller Seminole Golf Course, named for a former FSU football and golf coach, becomes the 10th golf course in Florida operated by Arnold Palmer Golf Management.
“We take clubs that have historically struggled and make them profitable; that’s what we’re known for,” said Dan Cortese, Vice President of Operations for Century Golf. “Our revenue strategies are very different than most companies. There is not a market type we haven’t seen before.”
Cortese said his company will seek to improve the course’s finances by keeping prices inexpensive and attracting more golfers. The company has already instituted a senior rate and “more aggressive student pricing.” It will offer a Player’s Club membership of $39.95 per month, which allows golfers to play after 3 p.m. for only a cart fee.
Cortese said the current monthly memberships ($125 public, $115 faculty/staff and $95 students) will remain the same for now. Cortese said “some of (Seminole’s) pricing is too high for the market,” and his company’s philosophy “is not about price increases.”
“Our philsophy is about growing the tee sheet and memberships,” Cortese said. “The more you maximize round count, the more people you get through the door, the more retail you do, the more food and beverage you sell.”
FSU will continue to use the golf course for its men’s and women’s golf teams, as well as its Professional Golf Management program, which trains students for jobs in the golf industry. FSU’s 10 full-time employees at the course now work for the management company. The course will continue to host FSU events.
The Don Veller Seminole Golf course, opened in 1962, becomes the first college-affiliated golf course in the Arnold Palmer portfolio.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with the tie-in to the university; we are embracing the history (of the golf course),” said Cortese. “We look at this as tremendous opportunity with tremendous growth potential.”
Cortese refused to address rumors the Palmer company is pursuing contracts to operate other Tallahassee courses: “What I’ll say is that we are looking at all markets and all possibilities.”
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