Arnold Palmer-designed course scores new owner

LAKEWOOD RANCH — The Legacy Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch, an 18-hole championship public course designed by golfing legend Arnold Palmer, has another owner — its third in six years.

The new owner is Dallas-based ClubCorp, a publicly traded firm that owns more than 200 clubs in 26 states, Washington, D.C, Mexico and China. The Legacy was part of a multi-club portfolio ClubCorp acquired from Stratford Golf Partners and Accord Golf Capital for around $44 million, according to a release. Other courses in the portfolio are in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The firm now owns 13 clubs in Florida, including the Legacy.

ClubCorp officials say they will reinvent and renovate all the newly acquired clubs through a multimillion-dollar investment. That includes adding amenities, functionality and programming, the release adds.

“This acquisition represents one of the smaller portfolios that continue to be attractive to us, and is consistent with our strategy to grow via acquisition and reinvention,” ClubCorp President and CEO Eric Affeldt says in the release. “These clubs fit well with our stated goal to continue consolidating a very fragmented industry.”

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the developer of Lakewood Ranch, built and opened the course in 1997. It sold the course to Troon Golf in 1998. Providence, R.I.-based financier Textron Financial Corp. acquired the club in 2009, after Troon defaulted on its mortgage. A New York City-based hedge fund bought the course in 2013.