GOLF CURSES

OWNERS FIGHTING MANDATORY MEMBERSHIP

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann 
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. 

Published January 29, 2008

For many years the fight in Florida 's community associations has been on: Golf clubs within associations have fought dwindling membership and steep increases of cost. The media reports about golf courses declaring bankruptcy and/or having to close due to lack of finances. But adamant golfers, who moved into these communities hoping to spend their retirement days on the communities’ golf courses, are more and more looking for neighbors to pay for their entertainment.

In most communities membership to the golf club was voluntary when owners bought their home in these communities. Some might have liked the house, some others the surroundings or the community, but never intended to play golf -- or be part of the club running the golf course and/or other recreational entities.

So, what to do if money is scarce, the golf club facilities desperately in need of an overhaul and the unpaid maintenance bills are piling up?

Attorney Larry Glickman from the law firm of Sachs & Sax P. A. in Boca Raton must have had the golden idea -- minimum for the law firms! Glickman’s name pops up in these battles everywhere!

There is a lot of untapped money in these communities -- money belonging to these "disgruntled" owners who don't want to pay their fair share into the golf kitty. But, according to Larry Glickman, that can be easily fixed. Since the majority of the owners in these communities are members of the golf club, they can be easily convinced to vote in favor of an amendment to the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions.  The amendment makes all these owners who are unwilling to pay into the fund for the entertainment of the golf players mandatory members of the golf club. What would you do if you had the choice between voting YEA for an amendment or facing huge special assessments and increases of monthly dues? Maybe a little name change of the club might help confusing the issue even more -- and here it goes!

Who cares that these folks signed a contract guaranteeing them that the recreation clubs, which are part of the community, have voluntary membership and they are not required to join? The fight over these GOLF CURSES is on all over the state. 

But it seems that judges are not too fond of these inventive ways to create more funds for the golf clubs in need. More and more we see a trend that judges reverse the "amended deed restrictions" and make it very clear in their rulings that they are not looking favorably on these kinds of "fund raising" for the golf club.

The latest favorable court ruling for owners resisting mandatory membership in a golf club they don't want to be part of is the case of GRANUZZO VS. WILLOUGHBY GOLF CLUB. INC. The golf club members in the Willoughby Community Association in Stuart, Florida decided it's time for the non-members to share in the ever-growing cost of the golf and country club. With a majority vote of the golf club members they merged both entities -- WILLOUGHBY GOLF CLUB, INC. and WILLOUGHBY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC. -- and made the unwilling owners mandatory members. But not only these owners didn't like the deal, neither did the judge! In his ruling he made it very clear that such an amendment is not only unreasonable in his opinion, but he declared the merger and amendments void and unenforceable ab initio..

By now the whole deal has gotten real expensive -- the ruling demands that the golf club repays all cost to the non-member owners -- and the legal fees are definitely added expense. 

The result of this attempt to raise funds for the golf club: A community of neighbors who don't feel neighborly any more and a big hole in the already deflated kitty of the golf club.

All in all: Nobody is really happy! 


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