Management Company Sues Because Its Ross Isn't A Ross

Rene Stutzman of the Orlando Sentinel shares the bizarre story of a golf management company--behind in its payments--suing the city of Sanford, owners of Mayfield Country Club, claiming the city has lied about the design heritage of the course.

Maece Taylor Inc., which rescued and revived the course four years ago after the city had a falling-out with its previous operator, says its deal with the city is invalid because city officials lied about who designed the course in the 1920s.

The 32-page lease says the course was the work of well-known designer Donald Ross, an icon of American golf in the 1920s and 30s. He designed more than 375 courses, including some of the most revered in the nation: Pinehurst in North Carolina and Oakland Hills near Detroit.

"He is a legend of golf-course architecture," said Michael J. Fay, one of the founders of the Donald Ross Society.

During the past 20 years, Fay has asked city officials for evidence that Ross designed Mayfair — a contract, some of its design drawings, a letter — and they have provided nothing, he said. He has scoured Ross' archives and found no connection to Mayfair.

In July he traveled to Sanford to look the place over. The greens are not all elevated and do not slope back to front, two hallmarks of Ross courses, Fay said.

Oh boy. As for the real reason behind this sudden fascination with their Ross heritage:

The company is supposed to pay the city roughly $11,000 a month, 5 percent of its gross revenue plus $5,000 for reclaimed city water, said Tom George, the city's public-works director.

In June, Maece Taylor was $50,000 behind, according to a proposed lease revision. To help the company, the city agreed to forgive $30,000 of that.

"We even asked them, 'Give us a payment plan that suits you,'" George said.

On the Mayfair website, it looks like someone tried to scrub the place free of Donald Ross but left out the scorecard where his name is printed. There is also a history page which, regardless of who designed the course, would note this problem for a researcher in trying to look at today's course to establish Ross's hand in the place: