The Legend Continues
The year 1978 brought a young Ron Leatherwood to the club as Golf Professional. Ron is an anomaly among golf pros. “I would say that the head golf professional, probably throughout the country, has probably the same span as a running back in the NFL,” Ron stated after recently celebrating 30th anniversary with Cypress Lake Country Club. “I think it’s about two to three years. It’s like they’re in and out and get hurt and they’re gone.” Ron was named Southwest Florida Golf Professional of the Year by his peers in the Southwest Florida PGA in April 2005. Ron heads an excellent staff of golf professionals; he and his staff are trademarks of calm, friendly and efficient management and adherence to the game’s highest standards.
The old clubhouse no longer met the needs of the expanded membership by 1988, and construction of a new clubhouse was approved in that year. Recent years have seen substantial work on the club property. In 2001, Ron Garl, the creative and prolific course architect who designed Fiddlesticks’ Long Mean and the Crown Colony course locally, supervised the renovation of the course. Ron’s mission is to design and build memorable courses that challenge players to excel. His goal as a golf course designer is to plan golf courses that artfully employ the unique characteristics of the natural terrain, while adhering to sensitive land management where both the environment and man can not only coexist ~ but also thrive. Ron’s work truly embodies the spirit of Cypress Lake County Club, while staying true to Dick Wilson’s original design.
During the summer of 2003, the interior of the clubhouse was remodeled. The summer 2004 brought two projects: a new clubhouse roof and construction of a new golf course maintenance building. The roof was completed less than a week before Hurricane Charley blew through and it survived nicely. Progress on the maintenance building slowed, and it was completed in early 2005. The club faces the future with confidence and optimism, certain of its identity, the loyalty of its members, the quality of its resources and the power of its rich history and lasting traditions.
Note: The source of much of this material is the excellent “Brief History of Cypress Lake Country Club” by James A. Franklin, Jr. with notes by James Suffridge.