North Florida lost another course and gained another housing development last month when the Course at Westland shut down.
Adams Homes has purchased most of the land and site preparation will start soon.
The course was owned by McCumber Golf, which will maintain its headquarters on the site.
No firm figure on the number of homes is available but a McCumber spokesman said it will be “hundreds.”
Built in 1976 as the Troon course of the old DuClay Country Club, it went through several minor redesigns until it was acquired by McCumber Golf in 1994 and completely renovated.
Located off Collins Road on Jacksonville’s west side, it faced strong competition from other public courses such as Hyde Park, Cecil Field and Bent Creek.
All will benefit. Westland had about 35,000 rounds annually and the courses in the immediate area will be the main beneficiaries.
Westland was a regulation-length course with several holes along a swampy area. The stretch from No. 10 through 13 was voted the area’s best four holes “in a row” in a Golf News poll in 1995.
Here are the other North Florida courses which have closed:
Atlantic Beach: A 9-hole course that was part of the old Atlantic Beach hotel. It closed when land was needed for residential construction.
Baymeadows: Built as a private club and opening in 1974, it was designed by Desmond Muirhead and Gene Sarazen. It was the site of USGA qualifying and Monday qualifying for the Greater Jacksonville Open at nearby Deerwood. It became a public course and was redesigned by Mark McCumber when his company leased it in the early 1990’s. It was sold to a developer and closed in 2004, and legal battles still remain as area residents seek to block construction of homes.
Beauclerc: A predominately Jewish club on San Jose Boulevard. Closed when membership declined because area clubs opened their membership. The clubhouse area is now the site of the Jewish Community Alliance. The course area is the adjacent housing development.
Beach Boulevard Par 3: An 18-hole par 3 course and range just east of Southside Boulevard overpass. It closed when owner tried to develop land for commercial use.
Brentwood: A Donald Ross design just west of I-95 on Jacksonville’s north side. Originally called Jacksonville Municipal, it closed in mid-1970’s due to racial tension in area.
DuClay: On Jacksonville’s west side, it was founded as a private club in the late 1960’s but quickly became a public course. It went through various owners and finally closed in the mid-1980’s due to a lack of business. New owners reopened it briefly in 1990 but closed it to emphasize play at the adjacent Troon course. The name was a combination of Clay and Duval for the counties that the owners believed the course straddled (it didn’t.)
Dunes: A popular public course in the Arlington area that closed in 1994 in a political move to get city money for the owners. It’s now a park.
Fairways Executive: An “executive” style course in Arlington that opened in the early 1970’s and closed a decade later due to residential growth.
Florida Country Club: A Donald Ross course in Ortega that opened in 1922 and closed in the late 1930’s due to a decline in membership, losing members to the nearby Timuquana CC.
Fort George: The first nine was built in 1927 and possibly was designed by Donald Ross, and another nine was added later. It closed in the 1990’s due to opposition from island residents who feared a developer would move in and increase play.
Lincoln Park: A 9-hole course built and operated by blacks before integration. It was near the intersection of Edgewood Ave. and U.S. 1 on the northwest side of Jacksonville and closed when integration opened all courses.
Macclenny Pineview: A public course developed in 1968’s by some local residents. It closed last year when the land was sold to become a housing development.
Ponce De Leon: A Donald Ross original that opened in 1916, it was a prominent resort but started to decline when I-95 was built and travelers no longer came south on U.S. 1. It went through various owners and finally closed several years ago when the land was sold to a developer. An effort by St. Augustine civic leaders to buy the course failed when they couldn’t come up with the money.
St. Johns Golf Club: Little is known about this except that it was a 9-hole course in the Talleyrand section of Jacksonville. It probably was opened after World War I and lasted until the Depression.
University Country Club: Once a private club in Arlington, it gradually lost members due to the decline of the area and the outreach of Hidden Hills. It opened in the 1960’s and closed in the early 1990’s after being named Blue Cypress. It’s now the site of a park and a 9-hole course which includes several of the original holes.
Westland: Built as the Troon course of DuClay CC (see above,) it closed last month to become a housing development.
West Meadows: Built and operated by the Caruso family as a public course near Cecil Field, it closed two years ago when the Duval County School Board bought the land for new schools.