Snake Oil and Truth Bombs

“Ladies and gentlemen, attention, please!

Come in close where everyone can see!

I got a tale to tell, it isn’t gonna cost a dime!

(And if you believe that,

we’re gonna get along just fine.)”

― Stephen King, Needful Things

If you are a Golf Member, you are probably being bombarded, accosted and downright bullied by the “losing side” of the last Golf Board election. Instead of trying to convince you to NOT sign the petition that is going around, please allow me to let you convince yourself. 

Call me an idealist, but I truly believe that good people, common sense, and Truth eventually prevails, even in the face of an onslaught of innuendo, falsities and spurious untruths. 

Ask yourself the following question: 

If someone has to use exaggerations, half-Truths, and downright lies in order to get you to sign something, what is their real agenda? 

In the “recall petition” here are some examples: 

Exaggeration: 

• The board created a restrictive policy specifically to silence member questions. When members or Jim Foley raise issues that expose wrongdoing, the board simply refuses to answer, hiding behind the policy they wrote for themselves. Multiple members who emailed the board received zero response.

The real Truth is that an orderly (and common!) method of speaking at the Board meetings was put into place when the newly elected Golf Board’s very first meeting was disrupted by unruly, rude and out of order comments. It was not “restrictive.” It was put in place to maintain proper order from the out of control angry deposed “golf royalty” mob. The golf board never “refused to answer.” I urge you to watch the video. They simply stated the obvious: This was not a “town hall” meeting and they needed to get on with Golf Board business. They allowed comments at the beginning and at the end. They also answered as well as they could in a forum that was not intended to be a “back and forth, question and answer” forum.

Half Truth:

• Social homeowners and their guests were quietly granted unlimited golf access all 12 months of the year — without any notice to members and without a proper board vote.

“Quietly”---not true. All of the board meetings and committee meetings are public. Furthermore, the former Golf President is still on the Board! Why didn’t he bring this to the attention of his supporters? 

“Unlimited”… absolutely untrue. They were given the ability to play on any leftover, unused tee times at a different rate than Golf members so that we could make up on the lost revenue from the previous board. Revenue is not a dirty word! We must make some money in order to run this very expensive Golf property in an appropriate manner. Letting unused tee times lie fallow, is bad business and bad for the members.   

“Without any notice”…also completely untrue. All board meetings must be duly noticed to comply with Florida Statutes. 

Downright Lie:

• A formal member petition to eliminate public play was rejected without a board vote — violating governing rules — and without any serious consideration of the membership's will.

The petition failed to meet the required methodology and clarity in order to legally put it to a vote. The Board legal counsel was consulted and told that it was NOT A LEGAL PETITION and, therefore, the Board had no choice but to not answer it. 

Now here are some real Truth Bombs:

At the recent “secret meeting” that was held at the former Golf Board President’s home, people who showed up but held “open-minded” positions of the currently elected Board were asked to leave the meeting. If this is about letting the Golf Members learn important information, then why wasn’t everyone allowed to hear this so-called “important” information? 

The previous Board was voted in with approximately 30% of the voting electorate. The second, newly elected Golf Board was voted in with approximately 55% of the voting electorate. (PS: to everyone…we must do better than this, we must all get more involved). Now, the 30%-ers want to overthrow the duly elected wisdom of 55% of the Golf Members? 

The new Golf Board has barely gotten started. Please remember that this newly-elected Golf Board inherited, from the previous Golf Board, a hastily drawn up budget that THREW OUT the recommendations of their own finance committee and DEMOTED the finance committee chair! That is how we ended up with a budget which had ZERO RESERVES, a 47% dues increase, and an $800K cut in revenue. That is not governance, that is a dictatorship.

The previous Golf Board President, was also, the only Director to serve ALONGSIDE LENNAR. He won the previous POA election because there were ONE HUNDRED VOTES cast by Lennar. Now, they are telling people that THIS Board is in the pocket of Lennar? If that wasn’t so funny, it would be downright “hell-arious.” This is the very first Golf Board that has practically nothing to do with Lennar, as Lennar is now in the final homestretch of sales.

The remaining elected people of the first Board were all very close buddies and golfing partners to the previous Golf President. Again, this is not a situation that is conducive to hearing all sides which was made plainly self-evident when that board “stuck it” to the investors and part-time residents which constitute a majority of the people who own here. 

Lastly, the previous Board placed an UNELECTED secretary to a position that our governing documents clearly state must be an ELECTED position. Guess who that secretary was? She is the WIFE of the previous Golf Board President who now wants to grab back the reins of power. 

So, let me lay this out for you very clearly: 

The last Golf Board was comprised of a barely elected President, his UNELECTED WIFE (in violation of our covenants), and his golfing buddies. He was also the only director of the unturned over POA, in an election in which Lennar had 100 votes. When other talented people asked to join committees, they were roundly ignored. 

That is a scary concentration of power, people!

When one prominent resident attempted to bring the violation of the secretary being UNELECTED along with the blatant nepotism to the public attention, he was roundly LIBELED in the next public Golf Board message that went out to the entire community.

Ve haf vays to silence you…

If you want to see that libelous message and the videotape of the member questioning the legality of an UNELECTED secretary, please reach out to me and I will gladly show it to you. 

We all need to wake up to what was going on here before the entire electorate eventually moved in and got wind of it. There was a power grip of a small group of buddies that elected themselves as the reigning “golf royalty” of this community.  Clearly, the incoming membership voted accordingly. Now, the “golf royalty” wants to overturn that fair and balanced election?  

Now, juxtapose this to the NEW Golf Board. They were all duly elected and very diverse in terms of their opinions, positions and, while they may all know each other, they are not “golfing buddies” getting together every week to hang out in The Champion’s Club with their feet on the bar (yes, that was observed behavior as well of the first Golf Board who thought they owned the place). 

Please don’t sign the petition that is going around, especially if you did not know the facts above. If you have signed the petition, call them and tell them that you were not given all of the correct information in order to make an appropriate decision and you want your name removed. As always, I am happy to have a civil conversation with anyone who is a truth-lover. 



Thank you.

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Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. ~Proverbs 18:21 (BSB)

and that's my two cents...maybe three

Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.

~Jeremiah 29:7 (CSB)