Coral Gables votes to reverse some changes at popular public golf course
Let them play golf.
Coral Gables city commissioners on Tuesday unanimously agreed to let golfers who are part of three independent associations keep their priority block play times at the public Granada Golf Course, a perk that was at risk following the city’s revamp of its golf fees and membership structure.
The decision is a win for golfers like Peter Izaguirre and Dawn Fine, who convinced commissioners that losing guaranteed tee times would be detrimental for the health and well-being of residents who rely on them for gathering and socialization.
“I think that overall they saw the benefits of doing the right thing, not only for the three different organizations but for the seniors of Coral Gables,” Izaguirre, the longtime president of the Granada Golf Association, told the Miami Herald after the vote.
The groups found support in an unusual way — through an item co-sponsored by Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, Commissioner Melissa Castro and Mayor Vince Lago to formally recognize the city’s ongoing relationship with the groups and authorize city staff to work with the associations to preserve reserved tee time blocks for existing members. The city would have the ability to adjust and modify those times as needed for maintenance, golf tournaments and other situations, including course capacity and seasonal demand. Commissioners Richard Lara and Ariel Fernandez voted in support of the item.
The unanimous decision came during a nine-hour-long meeting that included several tense moments arising out of longstanding political rivalries. A request by Castro, who is frequently at odds with the mayor, to take one of her golf-related proposals off the table and instead support a similar proposal from Fernandez led to a back-and-forth over the proper procedure to do so.
In the midst of that skirmish, 80-year-old Gables resident Maria Cruz, a frequent commission meeting attendee and critic of Lago, chastised the mayor and referred to him as “our king in residence,” a move that led to Lago voting alongside Anderson and Lara to bar her from making further comments at Tuesday’s meeting. It was at odds with City Attorney Cristina Suárez’s recommendation to first give Cruz a warning and angered Castro and Fernandez, who saw it as a violation of Cruz’s First Amendment rights. Lago argued that he’s warned Cruz in previous meetings to no avail and would no longer allow disrespect in the chambers, a notion that Anderson and Lara, who are both lawyers, agreed with.
But the golfers in attendance were grateful that, despite the bumpy road to get there, all five commissioners voted in their favor.
“I’m just so happy that they preserved our tee times,” said Fine, an officer of the Greenway Women’s Golf Association.
The Granada Golf Association and Greenway Women’s Golf Association have existed in the Gables for over 60 years. The Coral Gables Women’s Golf and Bridge Association has existed for over 90 years. Members pay association fees, plus the regular resident and non-resident rates, to golf at Granada and had guaranteed weekly play times.
But their lack of a written contract with the city put their guaranteed tee times in jeopardy after commissioners voted in March to raise prices and change golf memberships — including scrapping unlimited play for 86 people grandfathered in to an annual membership — to reduce overcrowding and make more money ahead of pricey maintenance for the historic nine-hole course.
Tuesday’s vote fixes that.
“It’s about community. It’s about socialization. It’s about being together,” said Anderson, who sponsored the item after speaking with members of the associations about the potential impact.
The vice mayor’s item was similar to one Castro was going to present for the second time after it was tabled at the April meeting. Castro, who initially brought up the concerns golfers had in a previous meeting, described Tuesday’s decision as a “win for the community.”
But she also expressed her frustration with what she described as “a broader pattern where ideas are repackaged to avoid giving proper credit,” echoing complaints she and Fernandez have previously made in meetings about Lago, Anderson and Lara shooting down Castro’s ideas and then later bringing forward, and approving, similar measures.
Other golf-related ideas that were proposed during the meeting, including Castro’s ask to give seniors a discount and a Fernandez proposal to offer a golf-only membership, rather than requiring golfers to also join the country club, were shot down by Lago, Anderson and Lara, who all said the reason the city raised prices was to reduce overcrowding at the popular course and to help manage rising operating costs. City Manager Peter Iglesias has explained in previous meetings that the golf course is losing money and “operating beyond sustainable levels.”
