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Saddlebrook Resort owner to manage golf course
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer WESLEY CHAPEL -- The owner of Saddlebrook Resort has taken over management of Lexington Oaks Golf Club at the request of course owner Pulte Homes. It is Saddlebrook's first foray into managing a golf course beyond its own highly regarded links east of Interstate 75 and could preview Saddlebrook's attempt to manage a tennis stadium that Pasco County officials have considered building in Wesley Chapel. Lexington Oaks, attached to a residential community of the same name, opened nearly two years ago west of I-75 and north of State Road 54. After cutting a deal with Pulte, Dempsey Resort Management, founded by Saddlebrook owner Tom Dempsey, took the reins at Lexington Oaks on Nov. 23. Shawn McCormick, a golf pro with seven years' experience teaching at Saddlebrook, is the new general manager. McCormick retained most of the staff of the company that ran the course before Saddlebrook, Meadowbrook Inc. Dempsey said the contract with Pulte makes good business sense because Lexington Oaks doesn't directly compete with his more upscale operation. With its heavy advanced bookings from conventioneers and corporations, Saddlebrook can't always find room for local players, many of whom don't like paying Saddlebrook's hefty greens fees anyway. "Our two courses are a much higher expense to play than their course," Dempsey said. Dempsey Resort Management, founded in 1998, could also figure in Saddlebrook's pursuit of a tennis stadium. Dempsey wants Pasco to build what he calls the Pasco National Tennis Center with $6-million collected from a 2 percent tax on hotel rooms since 1991. Dempsey has offered to manage the stadium and cover any potential operating losses, but county officials are wary the deal would require hundreds of thousands of dollars in yearly subsidies from the county. Dempsey downplayed the comparison between the Lexington Oaks contract and any future stadium contract. Pulte pays Saddlebrook a fee to handle planning, consulting and budgeting for Lexington Oaks, he said. In a stadium deal, Saddlebrook would pay for those services out of its own pocket in exchange for a cut of the profits from tennis tournaments.
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From today's Pasco Times Jan Glidewell |
