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by Francis D. James (Author)
Currently in this year of 2025, recreational golf is growing everywhere in the world. The demand to play golf is on the increase, yet in two Florida counties, Volusia and Flagler, nine courses have been shut down, most permanently, while some remain in a state of political football. The Golf Philanthropist is a fictional novel that attempts to present the dilemmas faced by local golfers when they lose their place to play the game. The story follows the history of the Palm Oaks Golf and Country Club over a forty-year period, from the early seventies to the year 2015.
In an area with many resident golfers and visiting golfers these course closings in Northeast Central Florida have placed a severe strain on the courses that remain open. The closed courses that have not been developed with residential homes, remain in a state of doom, with run down clubhouses and fairways overtaken by weeds. In the novel, Palm Oaks Golf and Country Club faces many trials and attacks by mother nature and eventually is shut down for a five-year period. The course and the entire community is eventually saved by the Golf Philanthropist, who rebuilds the course and the community with a dedicated plan and saves the course from the developers who were ready to destroy it and develop the property with homes and condominiums. As a result of the efforts of all the local golfers, inspired by the leadership provided by the Golf Philanthropist the course returns to glory and retains the former status of a must-play golf course for locals and visitors.
