Shuttered Orlando Courses Becoming An Orange County Issue

Considering that the annual PGA Show is in Orlando, the Golf Course Supers take their convention there every few years and Arnold Palmer along with Golf Channel call it home, it’s a bit of an embarrassment/shame that Orange County, Florida officials are hearing briefings about shuttered golf courses.

The neighborhood blight of a closed course is becoming an issue in a county that has seen seven close and three more classified as “challenged” by planning officials.

Stephen Hudak reports for the Orlando Sentinel.

Now, homeowners who paid a premium for golf-front property are fighting to protect their investments.

Hundreds of residents jammed Avalon Middle School in November to oppose a plan that would have converted the 271-acre Eastwood Golf Course into 300 homes, 70,000 square feet of commercial space and other nongolfing properties.

Seminole County added tighter restrictions last year on the maintenance of large tracts of land, an ordinance that could be applied to defunct golf courses such as Rolling Hills Golf Club near Altamonte Springs.

The links, overrun by weeds and joy riders, had become a headache for code-enforcement officers and deputy sheriffs.

Two video pieces, on one the above story and another on the shuttered Rolling Hills, should really raise your spirits.