The beautiful rolling acres of the new Belle Glade Country Club championship golf course will officially open the day before Thanksgiving — on Wednesday, Nov. 26.
The Belle Glade Country Club restaurant and pro shop have been open since late October — on Moyer Loop off of Morse Boulevard — at the southernmost reaches of The Villages — and starting today, through this weekend, The Villages golf division managers will be out previewing the course, checking that everything is in top condition.
On the first of November, golfers in The Villages were invited to bid for a chance to be among the first 27 foursomes to play the brand new course by putting their ‘bids’ in a collection box at Lake Sumter Landing. Tuesday, Nov. 25, — the day before the grand opening — the Belle Glade links will be reserved for those ‘lottery winners’ to preview the course.
According to Todd Rayburn, of Golf Management Solutions, the Tequesta and Colusa nines at Belle Glade will officially open on Wednesday, with the third Seminole leg to open shortly thereafter. The course includes rolling greens, a fair number of bunkers and a long wooden golf cart bridge over a large water hazard — making the course both a scenic and a challenging one.
New Villages residents who recently moved into their homes near Moyer Loop, most of whom had never seen a golf course under construction before, enjoyed watching the earth moving machines mounding the bunkers and the front loaders and hoists planting the greenery. Once The Villages developers plan a community or a golf course, all the pieces start fitting into place with amazing speed and precision.
The golf pro at Belle Glade, Brett Sherman, was being kept busy between outside duties and scooting back and forth to answer endless phone calls inside the pro shop. He and members of the staff are excited that the course will finally be opening. With the return of the seasonal residents, the starters and ambassadors are bracing for busy days to come.
“With the winter population and all their holiday guests, we expect to be kept really busy,” Jerry Joyce in the pro shop said. “There can never be too many golf holes in The Villages.”
