Folkloreando.com

There will be no tee times at Ridgewood Lakes Golf and Country Club in Davenport on Saturday cheap golf clubsmorning.
Ridgewood Lakes is closing today, becoming the second Polk County golf course to close the past 13 days.
The Golf Club at ­BridgeWater in North Lakeland closed Sept. 18 and is in Chapter 11 restructuring, although the head golf professional there said the course will reopen.
Ridgewood Lakes, an 18-hole, championship-length golf course 2½ miles south of Interstate 4 on U.S. 27, is a semiprivate course that has been open to public play for the past 17 years.
"They're officially going to shut the place down. The last day of business is (today)," said Jason DeWildt, general manager and director of golf at Ridgewood Lakes.
"I was told this morning (Thursday) to get rid of the carts, liquidate the golf shop," DeWildt said. "My last callaway x24 ironsday is Oct. 31. We're going to board up the windows, everything."
The par-72, 7,031-yard course has been owned by JL Land Development Inc. in Davenport since it opened in 1994.
A person who answered the phone at JL Land Development Thursday afternoon said Vice President Steve Syer declined to comment.
"He said, We appreciate your interest, but that he wouldn't have any comment at this point,'?" said the person, who declined to give her name.
Ridgewood Lakes and The Golf Club at BridgeWater, two of more than 50 courses in Polk County, are part Callaway X22 Ironsof a national trend in course ­closings. More golf courses have closed than opened nationwide for the past five years, according to the National Golf Foundation, with 220 courses shuttered since 2006. And the number of rounds played has dropped 3.8 percent nationally this year.
DeWildt, who came to Ridgewood Lakes in 2007, said 35 people at the golf course are losing their jobs.
"We've already laid everybody off. We only have four people working," he said.
DeWildt said there have been attempts to buy the course, which played host to the Polk County Amateur Championship in 2004 and was scheduled for the inaugural Golfweek Stableford National Championship in January.
"The master association (homeowners) Callaway RAZR Hawk Driver was told last week the golf course was for sale for $1.5 (million). They've had two offers since last Thursday for $1.5, and they've turned both down," DeWildt said.
"They had numerous golf courses call and want to lease the property, and they turned that down, too.
"They're going to shut down the golf course for five years, and they think it's going to take a half-million (dollars) to reopen the golf course," DeWildt said.
The course was open for play on Thursday, and ­DeWildt said it is in great condition.
"We're in phenomenal shape right now," he said.
But course maintenance will cease after today, the final day of September, ­DeWildt said.
"It's just going to start growing. We're not mowing, we're not doing anything," he said.
DeWildt said Ridgewood Lakes, between I-4 and Haines City, has been losing money.
"They say they can't afford the $300,000 loss per year, and that JL Land Development has no more money," DeWildt said.
Supply and demand is a factor.
"Our business was down tremendously in August. Our business is a little better in September," DeWildt said. "But in today's golfing structure, especially where we're located, Orlando is our competition. With 161 golf courses within a 30-mile radius, and Orange County National, Grand Cypress, Celebration and Southern Dunes charging $35 in the summertime, do you want toCallaway RAZR Hawk Fairway Wood go to Ridgewood Lakes for $35, or do you want to go to Grand Cypress for $35?"
Ridgewood Lakes has 100 members. There are five home communities in the development. DeWildt said JL is closing the course at a time that won't impact membership fees, but he said earlier this week that members were upset about the closing.
"Fortunately, we do our membership dues in a quarterly fashion, and the next billing cycle is Oct. 1, which is Saturday," he said.