West End fades away

The Archer teenagers had a great idea on a cool Friday morning: “Let’s play nine holes at West End.”

They drove down Newberry Road to a golf course near Gainesville that had been in use for 50 years. But when they pulled into the parking lot, they knew something wasn’t right.

There were still flags sticking out of holes, flapping in the breeze. The cart barn was full of vehicles, and on the practice range a lone golfer was slapping a bag of used balls onto the range.

But there were only two cars in the parking lot.

“We figured something was wrong,” said 18-year-old Doug Jones. “Very surprising.”

Jones and his friend, David Rowe, 19, would head a little further north to Meadowbrook to get their golf fix for the day.

West End Golf Club, which opened in 1969 and has been a fixture in the golf community, closed its doors in December. The par-60, lighted course has been for sale for more than a year, but finally closed as it became unplayable.

“We had seen a significant drop in play over the last three years,” said Peter Min, whose father, James, bought the course in 1997 for $1.82 million. “We couldn’t keep up with the bills. And that affects the amount of money you can put into it.”

Without the finances coming in, it’s almost impossible to keep pouring money into a golf course. Today, the greens are full of weeds and patches of dirt.

“We kept it open — honestly — longer than we should,” said Min, who works for Pepine Realty and ran the course after his father, who lives in Chicago, bought it. “We tried to explore every option to keep it open as a golf course. What I want to see is it would still be a golf course. We put 20 years into it.

“But the reality is that’s not going to happen.”

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West End Golf Course was the brainchild of Sid and Howard Hodor, a father-son team who opened up nine holes in 1969, patterning the layout after Colonial Palms in Miami.

The course included lights — attached to palm trees when it first opened — for play at night. Once the first nine was open, they began working in a second nine.

In 1971, Scott Dombek was looking for a place where he could work and hit range balls for free. He was given a job washing the course’s 10 carts for $1.50 an hour and all the balls he could hit.

“I didn’t have a (financial) backer so I was giving myself four years to see if I could get in the (PGA) Tour,” Dombek said.

In 1975, head professional Tom Chillemi left and Dombek was asked to be the pro.

“I told Howard I could deal with the people and tournaments and lessons part of it, but I didn’t know anything about bookwork,” Dombek said. “He said that the most important part was dealing with people and he could teach me the bookwork.”

That was the beginning of a long run with Dombek being the face of West End, and the course thrived under his direction.

“If you were going to take a lesson or have a clinic, you were going to West End,” he said. “We taught thousands and thousands of people to play. We were doing as many as 60,000 rounds a year.”

West End appealed to golfers who were just starting and those who were senior citizens because — as an executive course — it was not a long course (only 3,940 yards compared to normal courses that are more than 6,000 yards).

West End fell victim to a struggling economy and the decline of the popularity of golf among the cellphone generation. Sports & Fitness Industry Association data showed that in 2015 the number of those age 18 to 30 playing the game had sagged nearly 35 percent over the previous decade.

And in a transient town where almost half of the residents are students, it became more difficult to maintain the necessary rounds to be financially stable.

Dombek retired in 2014 and stayed on for more than a year to help Peter Min with the transition.

“I drive by there every day,” Dombek said. “It is sad.”

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The closing of West End was another blow to a struggling golf community. There are only five courses in Alachua County and only two of them — Meadowbrook and Ironwood — are open to the public.

(By contrast, there are 17 in senior-heavy Marion County and 63 more within 20 miles of Ocala.)

The Mark Bostick Course at the University of Florida requires a connection to the university (faculty, students, boosters). Haile Plantation and the Gainesville Country Club are private.

The golf course at Turkey Creek closed in 2011, and residents have been trying to revive it for several years, opening up three holes for play recently.

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West End officially closed just before Christmas. The golf carts were sold and removed earlier this week, and other equipment is being sold to other courses in the area.

“When we told people we were closing, a bunch of people came in and told stories about West End and how important it was to them and their families,” Peter Min said. “Our favorite part was the kids. It’s perfect for them.

“But about six years ago, they quit playing. That was the saddest time of all.”

Min said he’s had several offers on the course. He and Meadowbrook owner Tim Marcum worked on negotiations to lease the course, but an offer came in at a higher price (it lists for $6 million).

The new potential owners are waiting to get the property rezoned, likely for residential and/or commercial use.

“It’s a lengthy process,” Min said.

Basically, anyone already living at West End no longer owns golf course property.

In a letter to The Sun, Gainesville resident Paul Hornby recommended turning West End into a nonprofit foundation to preserve the “benefits of maintaining key recreational and green space areas for the general public while providing creative learning opportunities for our youth.”

But it appears the property will some day look a lot like it does across the street at the Tioga Town Center.

West End is abandoned today. The clubhouse that was once the place to go to buy clubs is closed. A few old banners still hang on the facade.

Every once in a while, a golfer will wander onto the practice range and empty a bag of balls toward the tattered netting that is still at the end of the range.

“I worked here in high school,” said Ronnie Everett, who was hitting balls on a windy day to get ready for a tournament in Lake City.

There were only a few balls on the range, but Everett was donating rather than go chase his golf balls down.

“They can have them,” he said.

Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at pat.dooley@gvillesun.com. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.