Congratulations go out to the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, which meets every Wednesday for lunch at Omari’s Grill at the Lexington Oaks Golf Club (GC), for hosting a record-breaking first-ever Charity Golf Open on Apr. 30. The golf tourney attracted nearly 130 golfers to the recently revamped Lexington Oaks GC course.
Although no final figures were available at our press time, current president Jodie Sullivan said it probably raised more than any of the club’s previous fund raisers and benefited the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office Charities, as well as the club’s community projects.
It was a hot day, but the golfers complimented the course, the Lexington Oaks staff (including owner/WC Rotary member Anass El-Omari), the Rotarians and the camaraderie — even though no one won the car donated by Parks Ford or the Sandals vacation by sinking a hole-in-one.
Lunch was served prior to the shotgun start and an awards dinner reception — which also included a cool silent auction of sports memorabilia — was held immediately after in Omari’s Grill.
“This was a great event for the club, the community and the charities,” event chair Justine Esposito said.
For more information about the club, visit WCRotary.com. — GN
Wesley Chapel continues to attract new and popular concepts. (Photo: PopStroke Facebook)
PopStroke Entertainment, a mini-golf and restaurant concept owned by golfing legend Tiger Woods and entrepreneur Greg Bartoli, is coming to Wesley Chapel’s Cypress Creek Town Center on S.R. 56.
According to the PopStroke Entertainment website, and first reported by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Wesley Chapel is just part of a major PopStroke Entertainment expansion that will also include seven new locations in across three states. In Florida, new locations also include Sarasota, Orlando and Delray Beach.
Its two current locations are located in Port St. Lucie and Fort Myers.
(Photo: PopStroke Facebook)
And these aren’t your daddy’s putt-putt golf courses. There are no windmills to hit around, just specially designed holes meant to mimic real putting on a real course. Woods and TGR Design, his award-winning design team, will be building two 18-hole putting courses — at the Fort Myers PopStroke, for example, one course is called the Cub and is more for beginners, while and the other more challenging course is called Tiger.
The courses have synthetic turfs, incorporate fairways into the design, and the primary obstacles — replacing windmills and ramps — will be the same bunkers and rough you face on a real golf course. The undulation changes will bring the course to life.
“I am very excited about our expansion plans,” Woods said in the statement on PopStroke.com. “Putting is a universal part of golf that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels. It has been rewarding to see the broad and diverse group of guests enjoying their experience at PopStroke, and I look forward to seeing players make those long putts in locations throughout the South and Southwest. Each new location will have a different course design and layout giving players unique putting challenges as they travel across the country.”
PopStroke was founded in 2018, and uses technology to enhance the putt putt experience. A customized app will track scores on a digital scoreboard, as well as allowing customers to order food and drinks to be delivered directly to you on the course. There will be an outdoor dining area with a full menu, a variety of craft beer and wine, ice cream, outdoor games and a playground.
The Port St. Lucie location also has three golf simulators, allowing you to play more than 200 courses worldwide.
A mini-golf course is also under construction at The Grove Entertainment Complex, next to the movie theater. It is expected to be completed this year.
A mini golf course, being built by Ryan Mortti (who also happens to own the new Mahana Fresh restaurant in New Tampa), is currently in the design phase in The Grove at Wesley Chapel and could break ground by early September.
The course will be in front of The Grove theater and will be visible from I-75. According to Mortti, the course will feature a Hawaiian theme, with tiki huts and other tropical and water features.
By day, the course will keep golfers shielded from the sun with overhead sail shades and, at night, the holes will be illuminated with neon lights and glow-in-the-dark flags and balls.
“We’re looking to make it as comfortable as possible,” says Mortti. “We’d like to see at least 70 percent of it or so covered for shade.”
DON’T AXE ME WHEN: The Kilted Axe, plagued by permitting issues and a few aborted grand openings due to issues related to Covid-19, now has new owners.
Former minority partners in the Kilted Axe Brian and Rebecca DeCook have purchased the axe-throwing venue from previous primary owners Michael and Alicia Esenwein and hope to have it open sometime this month, with leagues beginning in mid-September.
The Kilted Axe, originally cast as a hip beer-and-wine bar and hangout for axe-throwing enthusiasts, as well as a venue for corporate events and leagues, was the first project to break ground within The Grove since the 200-acre retail development was purchased by developer Mark Gold, and it appeared ready to open on time back in January, when its original opening was scheduled. More than 3,700 people replied on Facebook that they were interested in attending that opening.
Permitting issues caused a delay in those plans, and a smaller, soft opening was held in February. An official ribbon cutting, later scheduled for March 7 and then moved to March 28, was then scrapped due to Covid-19 concerns.
The new owners say they plan to carry out the original plans. Rebecca says the most noticeable changes will be inside, where the facility’s original rustic look is getting a makeover into something more upscale and “more Armature Works-style, something that fits into the aesthetics here (at the Grove).”
Otherwise, the original vibe is expected to be the same.
“We plan on making the Kilted Axe something fun and something the community will get behind,” Brian says. “It’s going to be safe, healthy and fun. We think it’s a great business idea and that it’s going to be very successful.”
FEEL THE POWER: Power Martial Arts is the latest business to open in The Grove.
Owned by martial arts master instructors Matt Brown and his wife Lori, who have been teaching at Avalon Park and other locations in and around Wesley Chapel the past five years, Power Martial Arts began holding classes on July 20.
Matt, a 6th degree black belt (Lori is a 7th degree black belt), said he has been eyeing The Grove location for years, but due to inaction in the development, held off while teaching in Lake Bernadette in Zephyrhills and Avalon Park. “We think now that Mark bought the Grove, this is a really good location,” he says.
The Browns started Power Martial Arts in 2006 in Billings, MT, before moving to Florida. They teach five different martial arts styles, from Jiu-Jitsu to Tang Soo Do, or Korean Karate. They offer classes for children, teens and adults, as well as family classes. Classes in other self-defense methods and anti-bullying safety also are available.
Power Martial Arts is located at 6027 Wesley Grove Blvd., Suite 201. For additional information, visit PowerMartialArts.com.
The Pebble Creek Golf Club has been a part of the landscape in New Tampa for more than 50 years, but it appears that the golf course will be sold and replaced with more residential units. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
The rumored sale of the Pebble Creek Golf Club (PCGC) is, to use golfing vernacular, like a perfect approach to the green that stops a few inches short of the cup.
Now, interested developers are deciding whether or not they want to tap the ball into the cup.
Bill Place, the owner of PCGC since 2005, has confirmed that a purchaser for his 149-acre property has been identified, but says that there has been no sale yet.
“Completely wrong,” Place says of the rumors that the club had been sold.
But, it now appears the sale of New Tampa’s first golf course (it opened in 1967) may be just a matter of time.
The interested party, who offered the highest price among what Place says were eight interested developers, is currently going through a 90-day inspection process to help evaluate whether or not it wants to finalize its purchase.
That included meeting with Pebble Creek residents last week, as well as studying zoning issues and exactly how many units — whether apartments, condos or homes — can be built on the property.
“As I understand it, the company we chose has done this in a lot of places and works with the community,” Place says. “It’s not a company that comes in and just blasts away.”
Even if the sale is finalized, Place says that the rezoning process and securing government approval and permits likely will be an 18- to 24-month process.
“It’s safe to say we won’t be going away before then,” says Place, who along with wife Su Lee, owns the company, Ace Golf, that owns PCGC and three other Tampa Bay-area golf courses.
Place did not identify the potential buyers, or how much the offer was on the property.
As For The Community…
Mike Jacobson, the president of the Pebble Creek Homeowners Association, says he has been fielding questions about the potential sale since the rumors began swirling late last year.
“I put something on our web page that basically says Bill Place told me he has multiple bids and is actively planning on selling it,” he says. “Right now, we don’t know who the company is.”
Jacobson says not a single resident he has talked to is happy about the impending sale. He expected residents to make their voices heard when the rezoning comes before the Hillsborough County Commission.
“There’s so many great lakes on that property, there’s no way we’re going to allow those to go away,” Jacobson said. “The other thing I’m concerned about is lacking the infrastructure to handle more homes. Nobody is really looking at this as a positive.”
According to Place, the property already has underlying zoning permitting 600 new units, but he adds that, “there is no way they are going to put that many units on it.”
In September, the PCGC property was listed on the website of land brokers Cushman & Wakefield. The listing boosted the property by heralding its 12 existing lakes, homes in Pebble Creek that are selling “in the mid-$200,000s to upper-$300,000s,” an average household income within a three-mile radius of $106,179 and the 3,189,266 square feet of retail within a three-mile radius of the semi-private golf course.
The detailed listing, which Place denied ever approving, included a marketing flyer, water and sewage map, a zoning site plan, Pebble Creek’s declaration of covenants and restrictions (dated Sept. 2, 1986) and a unit count calculation that said 840 apartment and townhome units were potentially feasible to replace the golf course.
That’s about when Jacobson began hearing from residents, and he called Place for an explanation.
“What he told me was that someone reached out to him about selling it,” Jacobson says. “But, if bids come in and offers come in, he said, ‘I’m going to take it.’ I guess the company took that as an initiative to (list).”
Place has acknowledged that business has not been good at the golf course, which was designed by Bill Amick and offers 6,436 yards of play from the blue tees. He said revenues at the club were down in 2018 by a third, and profits were down by 50 percent.
The construction on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. certainly didn’t help, but many golf courses in general are in an economic slump.
Pebble Creek Golf Club owner Bill Place says that Mulligans Irish Pub inside the golf course’s recently renovated clubhouse is the club’s only money-maker.
Place also said that although Pebble Creek boasts more than 1,000 homes, there are only 20 Pebble Creek homeowners who currently are members of the golf club. Place says the club has tried various specials to lure new members, with cheaper membership dues, to no avail.
Mulligans Irish Pub, the clubhouse restaurant and bar, continues to be successful, however. “Sad to say, but Mulligans is really the only area where we make money,” Place says.
For now, he is letting the transaction unfold as the golf course remains open for business as usual.
“We’re prepared for it to go either way,” Place says of the possible sale. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, we’ll continue to operate as long as it’s feasible. Unfortunately, that’s why we’re here in the first place (because it may not be feasible).”
The Freedom boys golf team is the closest thing to a high school sports dynasty New Tampa has, with four straight District titles and two trips to the State championships since 2013.
After four consecutive District championships, the Freedom golf team took the next step and finally made it back to state, finishing 11th out of 16 teams at the Class 3A State Championships Oct. 25-26.
Playing on the El Campeon Golf Course at the Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, FL, the Patriots got strong outings from Cy Storlien, Cooper Smith and Tyler Bray to finish with a two-day team total of 646 strokes.
Nick Mitchell and Sam Smith both had big rebounds from Day One, shaving a combined 17 strokes from their scores.
Only six strokes separated the sixth-place team and the 11th-place team.
Tampa’s Plant High won the title with a score of 606.
The Patriots, who won their fourth straight District title under coach Mike Passarelli on Oct. 10 at Hunter’s Green Country Club, then took second at Regionals at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor a week later. Storlien was team medalist at both tournaments, shooting 73s while winning his second straight individual District title.
At State, the team started out strong.
On the opening day, Storlien, one of three seniors (along with Mitchell and Bray), birdied Nos. 2, 3 and 10 to go minus-1 after 10 holes on the 6,764-yard, par-72 course.
Storlien bogeyed the final two holes to finish the day with a 3-over par 75.
Cooper Smith was just as hot early, with five birdies in his first round, but struggled with consistency, mixing in three double-bogeys to finish with a 7-over 79.
Bray shot an 80 in the first round, which he duplicated in the second round.
Mitchell struggled with a 91 on day one, and Sam Smith shot a 95, but both Patriots came back strong on day two. Smith knocked 12 shots off his first round with an 83, and Mitchell shot an 86.
Storlien continued his consistent golf. He picked up birdies on the 420-yard No. 5 hole and the 347-yard No. 16, both par 4s.
Smith birdied the par-3 holes at No. 8 and No. 15 to finish with an 80 on the second day.
The trip to states was the second for Freedom. The Patriots also advanced to States in 2013, finishing last.
