GOLF
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Allabastro confirmed that they are very challenging.
“They are the backbone of our course. All golf courses have
certain holes you have to get through and these are ours.”
Once the course has been through a growing season the
greens will be easier to play, Nicklaus said.
Nicklaus’s new passion is designing golf courses all over
the world through his company Nicklaus Design. Named
the “most powerful person in golf” by Golf Inc. Magazine in
October, he is chairman of the privately held Nicklaus
Companies. They currently have 313 courses open for play
worldwide, and at least 50 have appeared on national and
international Top 100 lists.
He’s thriving on the travel and change in focus, saying
that in some of the countries where golf is a new game, he
has a blank slate and is able to shape the game’s future
there. He’s also seeing things he never expected to see.
“In Russia I saw signs, must be 50, 60 years old, still there,
which say what to do in case of an atomic bomb attack. You
don’t even see things like this anywhere. It’s very fascinating
to go into places like that.
Penn-Florida will tear down the riverside clubhouse built
in 1991, build a new one, and use the waterfront for 145 hirise
condominiums, Applegate said, but there’s no timetable
yet. The golf course renovation was the first phase of the $90
million project.
Originally open to the public, Santa Lucia was switched
over to a private club with memberships only for
Ballantrae/Santa Lucia residents when Penn-Florida took
over. More memberships may become available this fall.
An aerial view of the 17th hole shows off the new green.
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The first hole was lengthened and improvements made to the bunker.