A public, Collier County-funded 12-hole golf course is in the works for Golden Gate City. The
course will be a reconstruction of the old Golden Gate golf course, which was
purchased by the county in 2019.
The new course will share a property with affordable workforce housing and First
Tee – Naples/Collier, a golf-oriented youth development organization. These
projects, alongside the golf course, are intended to help develop Golden Gate City
and improve the quality of life for citizens.
“[Golden Gate City] has really suffered from a lack of attention by the county
commission, really for the last 20 years,” Collier County Commissioner Burt
Saunders, whose district includes Golden Gate City, said in July. “The workforce
housing project and golf course are part of an overall plan to really improve that
community over the next five to 10 years.”
Some people in Golden Gate City are excited to have a golf presence, especially after
the original course’s 2019 closure. Kaydee Tuff is optimistic that having one of
few public courses in Collier will improve attitudes about Golden Gate and bring economic growth.
“There's not a lot of opportunities for people to say, ‘Hey, let's go to Golden Gate,’
because it's pretty much a bedroom community,” Tuff said. “It’s giving us
something to use to stand out and have as our own. It will make people want to
value Golden Gate. The course is going to be for all of Collier County and provide
people with a very central, affordable place to play.”
Tuff added that designing 12 holes of play instead of the traditional 18 is a good
choice. Courses like The Yards in Ponte Vedra Beach and Paradise Golf in
Arcadia also are 12-holers. Both have been designed or updated within the past
five years. They highlight the benefits of shorter courses in cost, play time and
accessibility.
“You can play in under three hours,” overseer of Paradise Golf Course Jeff Neal
said. “Our maintenance budget is less because we have six fewer holes to maintain
than the 18-hole courses. And you’ll hear this over and over again: nine holes just
isn’t enough for a lot of people, and 18 gets to be too much. 12 is the sweet spot.”
Paradise Golf Course is located in DeSoto County, about 70 to 80 miles north of Collier.
But Neal said it still attracts guests from Naples, Estero and Bonita, which emphasizes
the need for more public golf in Southwest Florida. Supporters of the new Golden Gate course
said they believe it will help, and get more people involved in golf.
Golden Gate City is four square miles with about 25,000 people,
making it one of the most densely-populated areas in Southwest Florida. It's not an
incorporated city, despite the way most residents refer to it. It is governed by
Collier County. It's often called city to differentiate it from Golden Gate Estates - a much larger
area to the north and east.
The community is mostly lower income. Backers said the number of jobs generated by the course and the
workforce housing will improve Golden Gate City’s economic standing. Both projects also should
provide more employment for Golden Gate residents.
“This golf course is sort of central to that whole community,” Collier Commissioner Burt Saunders said. “I felt
that it was critically important for the future of that overall community to maintain
this as a golf course and improve the overall quality of life in Golden Gate.”
This story was reported and written as part of the Democracy Watch program, a collaboration between FGCU Journalism and WGCU News.