"I fell in love with the game of golf at West End Golf Club, which is right across the street from our location," Zach Courson told Mainstreet Daily News this June, just before he and his brother Stephen opened Fairway Bays inside Tioga Town Center. He had moved away to Jacksonville for 10 years. When he came back in 2024, he said, "Gainesville had closed down three golf courses."
One of the three is the land across Newberry Road from the Tioga square. In 2026, after seven years without a round of golf on it, golf has turned up in two places at once. It arrived indoors on the square in June. Then on June 2, the Alachua County Commission asked staff to look into a public/private golf partnership on the western side of the old course itself.
How the fairways became a county park
West End Golf Course closed in 2019. Its owners blamed falling golf participation and the course not making a profit. A redevelopment proposal followed. It started at 487 residences, commercial space and an 80-room hotel, and a revised version cut that to 70 homes plus open space. As Mainstreet Daily News reported in 2022, the County rejected the zoning change that year.
Alachua County then bought the 75-acre property in the summer of 2024. WCJB put the price at $3.8 million. The site is now West End Community Park, 12830 W. Newberry Road. Its first big job was hosting cross-country and throwing events for the 2025 World Masters Athletics Championships.
The rest of Gainesville's golf went through a similar thinning. Meadowbrook Golf Club on NW 98th Street closed after flooding from Tropical Storm Elsa in 2021. Gainesville Country Club closed for good in July 2022, and a foreclosure auction in February 2024 sold it for $2,008,500. By Mainstreet Daily News' count in July 2026, the county's golf now comes down to two public courses, Ironwood and Turkey Creek, plus Mark Bostick Golf Course at UF and Hawkstone Country Club at Haile Plantation. Ironwood has been moving through a city bid process this summer. That same report found the course ran a $322,683 deficit in 2025 on $579,807 in greens fees.
So golf in Gainesville has had trouble paying its own way, and that is what makes a County-owned course with a private partner an interesting idea.
The square found its own answer first
Fairway Bays opened in June 2026 at 13085 SW 1st Lane, Suite 50. The Coursons found the space in early 2025. The idea came from a golf simulator club another brother belonged to in Atlanta.
According to the same Mainstreet report, the club includes:
- Three bays in 2,400 square feet, fitting six players at once. Two bays work for either hand and one is right-handed only because of space.
- A moving platform in one bay that tilts to match the slopes of real courses. The owners said they may add it to the other two bays if it proves popular.
- More than 400 courses and AI swing analysis that tracks ball speed, attack angle and club speed.
- Memberships from $30 to $400 a month. The $30 level lets members book ahead and bring up to five guests at an hourly rate. The $400 Pro level includes eight hours of bay time a month and league discounts.
- Open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. year-round, holidays included, with outside food allowed and delivery straight to the bays from The West End Tavern.
The club's co-owner learned the game at West End, and he now runs simulator bays a short walk from the old course. A tee time at 5 a.m. or 10 p.m. is something an outdoor course in North Central Florida can't offer.
What the June 2 vote put first
Golf ended up in the June 2 meeting almost as an aside. The main item was the park's master plan, presented by Parks Director Jason Maurer after the Commission sent staff back to rework it. According to the meeting minutes, the revised plan splits the work like this:
| Phase | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Playgrounds, shade sails, adjacent pavilion, event lawn, restrooms, multiuse trail, dog park |
| Phase 2 | Arboretum, landscaping, more pavilions, passive activity hubs, fitness stations, pickleball, basketball and pétanque courts |
| Removed from Phase 1B "at this point" | Disc golf |
Commissioner Prizzia moved to approve staff's funding approach. Her motion dropped disc golf and asked staff to look into a procurement process for a private/public golf partnership on the western side of the property. The minutes record her intent as seeing "how golf could be fit into the park," without significantly affecting the infrastructure already planned. The motion passed 4–0.
The motion asks staff to explore the idea, and no partner or contract has been named. A private partner would carry some of the cost of running a course, and cost is the problem that closed West End in the first place.
The timeline is long. Kimley-Horn landscape architect Elizabeth Van Sickel estimated about a year for design and engineering. Construction would start six to eight months after that. Her best guess was about two years in total before completion, though staff may find ways to move faster. The June agenda lists the money year by year, drawn from Wild Spaces Public Places and impact fees:
| Fiscal year | Wild Spaces Public Places | Impact fees |
|---|---|---|
| FY26 | $250,000 | $250,000 |
| FY27 | $2.5 million | $250,000 |
| FY28 | $2.2 million | $500,000 |
| FY29 | $1.8 million | $250,000 |
The County's March 27 release estimated the next round of improvements at $6.3 million. Neither document explains how that figure relates to the schedule above, so treat them as two separate numbers. One piece is already set. In March the Commission approved the park's first public restrooms, a sidewalk and supporting amenities. They are due before the cross-country and throwing events of the 2027 World Masters Indoor Championships.
How the land gets used today
The County's park page says West End is "not currently open to the public." Scheduled events still bring people onto the grounds. The biggest regular one is the free West End Community parkrun, a 5K every Saturday at 7:30 a.m. The course page describes a mix of permanent paths and grass that can collect mud, leaves and puddles after rain. It asks runners to give way to other path users and to arrive early because parking may be limited. Drivers use the Newberry Road entrance between NW 127th Street and SW 131st Street, across from Tioga Town Center.
Saturdays here make room for bigger events. Parkrun canceled October 3 for the Florida Running Club Invitational and October 10 for the FHSAA Invitational Cross Country Meet, which the Gainesville Sports Commission lists at West End. Before signing up for a Saturday, it makes sense to check the parkrun news page.
The event lawn already exists across the road
By the County's June estimate, the Phase 1 event lawn is roughly two years out. Until then, Tioga's outdoor stage covers the evenings, and the square's fall calendar is free and close by:
- October 16, 7 to 10 p.m. 352 Experience concert, moved to this date because of weather. Free.
- October 23, 7:30 p.m. Ghostbusters II, a free outdoor movie night.
- October 24, 5 to 9 p.m. The Annual Finding Fireflies Event marks six years and more than 700 care packages donated to bereaved families. There will be crafts, face painting, vendors, and a chance to put together a package for another family.
- October 31, 6 to 8 p.m. Trick-or-Treat at Tioga.
- November 7, 9 to 11 a.m. Gainesville Cars & Coffee, free, family-friendly and pet-friendly.
- December 5, 5 to 8 p.m. Light Up Tioga, with a holiday market, tree lighting, Santa photos and food trucks, benefiting United Way North Central Florida.
The weekly schedule keeps going between those dates. The events list has free trivia at West End Tavern on Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Texas Hold'em there on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., and Chess Club at Dave's New York Deli on Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m.
The next public step for the 75 acres will come at the Commission, when staff report back on a golf partnership and the design work turns into construction dates. Those agendas are posted on the County's meeting portal. Watch for "West End Community Park Master Planning" on them.
If you're relocating to the Tioga area, or just trying to understand what's planned for the land across Newberry Road, Anna Olcese can walk you through the West End timeline and what's happening on the Tioga square. Let's find your place. Schedule a relocation consultation.
