Palm Valley Golf Course fills a needed niche

Course where many players picked up game was built 20 years ago.

·         Story updated at 9:52 AM on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009

·         JOHN PEMBERTON/The Times-Union
Jack and Sue Hord have owned the Palm Valley Golf Course for 20 years. Jack is a PGA of America professional.

The Palm Valley Golf Course was built 20 years ago this fall, and owner Jack Hord was ahead of his time with the nine-hole facility.

"I think you could say that," said Jay Jennison, director of the First Tee of St. Johns County, which recently established an affiliate relationship with Palm Valley. "One of the goals of The First Tee and other player-development organizations is to rethink the 18-hole experience and try to get people to realize a good golf experience can be nine holes. Or three holes. If you were going to design a First Tee facility, you'd build what Jack has."

Hord, a native of Clearwater who is a PGA of America professional and former club pro at Baymeadows and the Amelia Plantation, acquired the 30 acres of land that was used to raise horses in 1989. With the help of his wife, Sue, and other relatives and friends, Hord built the pro shop, driving range and putting green that opened in the fall of 1989.

The nine-hole course - seven par-3 holes and two short par-4s - opened in early 1990.

Since then, the niche market for Palm Valley has been for players who might not be accomplished enough for a full-sized, 18-hole course or for players who don't want it. For many, a casual stroll around Palm Valley's nine holes with a pull cart (the course doesn't use electric carts) or simply a couple of wedges and a putter, has been good enough.

The practice range is among the biggest in the area, with a background of tall pine trees.

"The kind of customers we've always wanted to attract are fathers or grandfathers teaching kids to play golf, boyfriends or husbands bringing their girlfriends or wives, or the guy who wants to hit a few balls," Hord said. "That's the nature of this place. I get a good feeling when I think of all the kids who have learned to play golf here. Now that we're with The First Tee, a lot more kids will learn the game here."

Palm Valley also isn't a "pitch and putt" course. The par-3 holes are all full shots for most players, and the two par-4 holes require at least a 150-yard tee shot, and a full wedge or short iron into the greens.

And in a difficult economy for golf, Hord's course remains the best bargain on the First Coast. It costs $7.43, plus tax, to play nine holes. There's a discount for nine more. Range balls for the massive practice area are also reasonably priced.

"That's less than a movie ticket," Sue Hord said with pride about their nine-hole fee. "And it's a lot more peaceful."

When Hord opened the course, he charged $6.50 per nine holes. That's an increase of less than $1 in 20 years.

Hord is charging First Tee members $1 to play the nine-hole course (the USGA's Kids on Course program reimburses courses). Jennison said about 60 junior players per week are taking part in classes and clinics.

Establishing the relationship with Palm Valley was crucial to reaching junior players in north and northwest St. Johns County, Jennison said.

The First Tee of St. Johns County headquarters and home facility is near the St. Johns County Golf Club, in the southern part of the county.

"There certainly was a demand there, and the kids in the northern part of the county don't have as far to go to have lessons and play golf," Jennison said. "Jack has been very good to us."

Hord has faced some challenges recently. The re-routing of Palm Valley Road took most of the traffic between Ponte Vedra Beach and U.S. 1 away from his main entrance, and it's only been recently that the county put up two signs giving directions to the course.

He also lost his greens to two grass diseases in the spring and summer. Hord has rebuilt his second, fourth and eighth greens and overseeded the rest of the greens. The fairways and rough are in good shape.

Hord said his projected income this year will be the smallest since the year he opened.

If it wasn't for the fact that his family has a pest-control business that is the main source of income, Hord said he wouldn't be able to keep the course open.

"This is a labor of love for us," he said of himself, his wife of 40 years and his son, Chris, who teaches the First Tee classes. "Whatever we've made, we put right back into the course. I could have sold this land a long time ago for a lot of money, but money isn't everything."