ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: Golf courses in Florida state parks? Arnold Palmer killed this bad idea last time | Commentary (Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel)

Another scary idea from a scary guy, our erstwhile former Congressman from St. Augustine, who was first duked in as our Congressman in 2012, as if he were an alien implant from Koch Industries.

Golf courses in Florida state parks? Arnold Palmer killed this bad idea last time | Commentary

A Great Blue Heron waits for prey under the mangrove trees in Jonathan Dickinson State Park — where Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection has proposed building 3 golf courses. (Joe Amon / South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

By SCOTT MAXWELL | smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

UPDATED: August 23, 2024 at 4:44 p.m.

More than a decade ago, Florida lawmakers floated one of the worst ideas in this state’s long history of bad ideas. They wanted to grant one politically connected development company the exclusive rights to build golf courses and hotels in Florida’s award-winning park system.

This idea was ludicrous for a slew of reasons — mainly because conservation land is supposed to be preserved, not paved with cart paths and doused with pesticides.

The state invested billions of tax dollars in natural lands to protect water and wildlife — not as site prep for a resort.

Also, this state is littered with shuttered golf courses. Courses have been on the decline for two decades. So the idea of government helping one company start something new while existing courses struggle to keep their clubhouses open is antithetical to free-market principles. And just bad economics.

Not surprisingly, Floridians protested en masse. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, though, is that they were joined by one of the biggest names in golf — Arnold Palmer.

I reached out to Palmer one morning back in 2011 to ask what he thought about building golf courses in state parks, and his company quickly responded to say it was a lousy idea. They said there were plenty of better places to build golf courses and the proposed no-bid deal was supremely suspect.

I publicly shared Palmer’s statement on a Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, the plan was dead. Lawmakers said Floridians had spoken “loud and clear.”

Maxwell: Arnold Palmer helps sink nutty plan for Jack Nicklaus golf courses in state parks

Every once in a while, the people win one. Such was the case last week when one of this year’s goofiest pieces of legislation went down in flames. The idea – to turn state parkland into golf courses, bars and hotels – went from being introduced by one of the most powerful senators in Florida on one Friday to dead the next. Its ill-fated journey involved the media, the residents of this state and two of America’s most famous golfers, competing again for the first time in years … only this time in the political arena. It started March 5, […]

Orlando Sentinel

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