Lakewood Ranch, Venice golf execs buy Legacy Golf Club for $3.4M

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Less than a year after it acquired the Legacy Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch as part of a six-club buy, ClubCorp Holdings of Dallas has sold it to a local golf executive and his partners.

Jon Whittemore, a Lakewood Ranch resident and principal with Dallas-based club owner and management company Advance Golf, was part of a buyer's group that acquired the 212-acre, 18-hole course for $3.4 million on Nov. 4. ClubCorp had purchased the course for $3.18 million in April from a subsidiary of Och-Ziff Capital Management of New York.

Built by Lakewood Ranch master developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and opened in 1997, the club has changed hands numerous times. Rhode Island-based SPE CO Holdings paid the highest price ever for the property in 2009 for $6.7 million. Whittemore's group, Legacy Golf Holdings, is the fourth owner in six years. Legacy financed its purchase with mortgages from Sabal Palm Bank.

Located inside the Country Club subdivision in Lakewood Ranch, the club features a 5,400-square-foot clubhouse.

Kevin Paschall, a Venice resident who is also a managing member with Legacy Golf Holdings, said Legacy went back on the market because it did not fit ClubCorp's profile. That company primarily buys and owns private golf clubs. The Legacy club is semi-private.

Since getting the keys to the clubhouse, the new owners have put more than $100,000 toward upgrades at Legacy. They overseeded putting surfaces and tees and are making improvements at the clubhouse including adding a meat smoker and pizza oven.

Paschall said rates at the Arnold Palmer Signature course will remain stable. A round of golf costs between $29 and $59, according the club's website.

The new owners plan to add to the golf experience by offering golf rounds that come with breakfast, lunch and two draft beers.

"We're enhancing the product here," Paschall said.

The company principals plan to own the Legacy course long term. Pascall said the course will benefit from having owners who live in the state after being controlled by several that did not the past few years.

Whittemore, Paschall and a third member of their group, Robert Witzel of Flower Mound, Texas, also own Serenoa Golf Club and Rolling Green Golf Club, both in Sarasota. All three of their Sarasota and Manatee county clubs are also owned in part by Advance Golf.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter@MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch, Venice golf execs buy Legacy Golf Club for $3.4M ."