The complimentary event will be held on the Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, Florida and begins Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Tournament director, Ryan Dillon said “It’s a great event,” and “It helps the community out on their wallets a little bit.”

According to Dillon the decision to make the event free wasn’t because of the slumping economy or concern of selling tickets but in fact a free event may attract more people, meaning more people will see the sponsors’ messages.

“The charity’s making the same amount of money,” said Dillon. “We didn’t lose money on this deal. In fact, we’re probably going to make more this year than we would have just selling tickets.”

Harry Theodoracopulos has had his membership suspended from Trump’s, Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida since April of last year and is just now decided to take action against Trump by filing a lawsuit.

Theodoracopulos who paid 125,000 pounds for his membership allegedly had upset staff and fellow members.

Theodoracopulos was notified by Trump in a letter that stated, “You have been abusing numerous caddies, other members and representatives of the club in general,” and “intolerable behavior toward guests and members on the driving range.

The lawsuit comes after Theodoracopulos believes that he did not have an opportunity to defend himself to the club’s board, so will now be taking legal action.

I have been to many different trade shows over the years like Action Sports Retailers, Surf Expo, Magic, as well as a few other grassroots events and in the past I have usually been able to see the whole show in one full day. But this year was a first when I simply could not meet everyone all in one lap.

Perhaps the reason I could not walk the entire show in one day was because I arrived a little later than I wanted to or because some of my meetings were not planned but most of all I think it was an impossible feat because the show is so large!

The PGA show contains nearly 1,000 vendors from every golf industry business sector across the field. If you don’t think that will keep you busy for the day then don’t forget about the education seminars where golf industry leaders address some of golf’s most important issues, and everyone’s favorite part of the day, testing out new equipment.

I would compare the PGA show to the Las Vegas Strip because there is so much to accomplish, observe, and take part in it is so easy to become disorganized and lose critical time that can be spent on the show floor.

Maximizing your productivity requires essential planning. From preregistering to checking out of your hotel room I highly suggest that you plan out every step of your day.

Be sure to plan ahead to get the most out of your business trips that way there is more time afterwards for a little R & R.

David Bollinger and wife Barbara, currently own 78 acres not far from Cedar Crest Boulevard in Upper Milford Township and have made the decision to sell the property because they have no interest in keeping the land in the Lehigh Valley.

The decision to get rid of the property was solidified when long time golf course operator Arthur Schmidt who owns a portion of the 110+/- acre course, decided not to renew the lease on Bollinger’s land.

”The lease is dead,” Bollinger said, ”and I don’t want to own it.”

On March 23rd the 78 acres of the Bollinger’s land will go up for auction AS IS at the Emmaus Fire Company. The beginner course with wide fairways and relatively short length won’t reopen unless a new buyer decides to continue using the land as a golf course.

Mr. Bollinger’s wife purchased the 78 acres in 1984 and later leased it to Schmidt to be used as a 9-hole golf course. When the couple started to spend more time in Florida Schmidt approached the Bollingers about expanding the course into a full 18-hole facility.

”My wife and I had no big plans for it,” he said. ”We reluctantly went ahead and agreed to it.”

The most recent lease was set to expire in May with no plans from Schmidt to renew the contract. Schmidt said he is open to having a golf course continue at the property but the future of the course could hinge on the March 23 sale.

After sending out several dozen information packets to potential bidders Woody Zettlemoyer, co-owner of Zettlemoyer Auction Company LLC of Fogelsville said, ‘There’s a good number of people interested,”.

The golf course could remain standing but only if the new owner agrees to lease the land to Schmidt so he can continue to operate the course, or purchase Schmidt’s land and continues to operate the facility privately.

The property is zoned for high density residential and the future development for apartments, townhouses and single-family homes are a possibility.

A Florida court ruled that Thorpe must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by the first of April for the start of his jail term.

During the 450+ tournaments that Thorpe played on the PGA Tour including three top-10 major finishes Thorpe has earned more than $13M in career earnings and did not file any tax returns during 2002, 2003 and 2004 until after he was confronted by Internal Revenue Service agents.

According to legal court documents the unreported income was $5.36M and $2.06M in tax losses.

Immediately following the one year jail term is a mandatory two year supervised release and 200 hours of community service. Thorpe is also required to make efforts to repay the tax during his supervised release.

The new attraction called “Voices from the Hall” was created to give visitors an even more comprehensive experience while at the museum.

With the help of a small audio guide device, visitors can now experience more than 175 points of interest that highlight personal stories along with anecdotes that have been collected over the last 10 years.

From Arnold Palmer reminiscing about stories with “Ike,” Byron Nelson speaking about how he turned professional, to Tommy Bolt talking about his temper and Ben Crenshaw talking about Harvey Penick’s emotional Masters win, the new addition will further enhance each guest’s encounter with their Hall of Fame members such as Pete Dye, Sandra Haynie, Hale Irwin, Tony Jacklin, Carol Mann, Larry Nelson, Curtis Strange and more.

“Visitors will love stepping into the stories and personal accounts straight from the World Golf Hall of Fame members and other notable golf figures and historians heard on ‘Voices from the Hall’,” said Jack Peter, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the World Golf Hall of Fame. “We are certain this audio tour will add great value to each guest’s visit and will leave them with even more information and special details they can only get here at the Hall.”

“Voices from the Hall” has been in development for more than five years and will continue to expand as the World Golf Hall of Fame welcomes new inductees.

The 2,000+ acres off Collier Boulevard in East Naples once destined for a luxury golf course development is now going to be auctioned off to the public to the highest bidder on Thursday.

“Wow. It’s unusual. It’s not something I’ve seen a lot,” said Dwight Brock, Collier County’s clerk of the courts.

The buyers of the land paid nearly $108 million for the property in 2005 and was recorded as the fourth most expensive land purchase in Collier County’s history.

Mike Taylor of Vision & Faith Inc. assembled chunks of land and sold it to nationally known luxury home builder, Toll-Rattlesnake LLC, a partnership between Toll Brothers, and the Florida-based commercial developer, Sembler Co.

It is undetermined who will own the land but it may end up back in the hands of one of the former owners, George Bauer. Bauer along with Vision & Faith Inc., sued Toll-Rattlesnake LLC after the buyers failed to make the required payments on the mortgage.

“A very large percentage of what we sell at the auction is bought back by the plaintiff at a very small dollar value,” Brock said. “They start the bidding at $100 and a lot of times it never moves.”

In 2008, Sembler filed a lawsuit against, Bauer , Toll Brothers, Vision & Faith, and, Taylor for damages related to the sale and the failings of the partnership.

A countersuit was filed by Bauer and Vision & Faith Inc. where A Collier County Circuit judge ruled in favor of Bauer, who has a lien on the property.

The complicated land deal involved more than 70 parcels and after acquiring the land, Toll-Rattlesnake LLC forced the closing of a public gun range located at the northernmost end of Florida Sports Park.

At one time there was talk about moving the 28-acre sports park which includes a Swamp Buggy track, a popular tourist attraction that has been in the area since 1949, so the land can be used to make a golf course and a new housing project.

Environmentalists opposed conceptual site plans for a new one hundred acre faith-based college, commercial devlopments, and residential developments.

“This is a property that includes lands that go out into the Picayune State Forest,” said Nancy Payton, a field representative for the Florida Wildlife Federation. “There has also been concern about how development would be placed on this parcel, how this parcel fits into the proposed road that Collier County wants to have one mile east of 951.”

“There was some effort to put some development on it and that didn’t get very far,” Payton said.

One parcel was spun off for the new Physicians Regional hospital. There was going to be a Baptist College,” Payton said. “Somehow that didn’t work out.”

Payton’s concern is the property might become home to the Chicago Cubs if they decide to bring their spring training to Collier County.

“It’s a puzzle that has a lot of green baggage, meaning environmental concerns,” Payton said. “I wish there was some Florida Forever money so that they could buy it.”

The Florida State Legislature failed to set aside any funds this fiscal year for the Florida Forever program, which is meant to preserve land and protect wild places. Since the project was first proposed, new research has shown that more Florida Panthers are roaming the area which only elevate concerns for the land.

The final judgment in foreclosure exceeded $103.4 million. It was the result of a legal battle that began in March 2008.

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A private buyer has made an offer for $2.4 million but owed creditors, including Wachovia Bank are still awaiting $3.6 Million.

The offer was official Tuesday when Bob Naples, president of the member-owned club announced that Thomas O’Malley, chairman of Switzerland-based refinery Petroplus would make the purchase.

O’Malley is currently the owner of a Worth Avenue condo in Palm Beach and recently bought two Palm City golf courses. The Chapter 11 reorganization could allow O’Malley to make the purchase without being responsible for the debt.

According to court records the of the club in 2006 was $9 million and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office lists the value at $5.8 million.

In 2006 before any sign of the recession the country club spent about $3.5 million renovating its Arthur Hills-designed golf course but when the recession hit memberships began to slip and events were canceled.

The Ironhorse housing community has approximately 320 homes valued between $300,000 to $1 million. The club has 200 golf memberships, but needs at least 20 more golf members and 50 “social memberships” to make the club viable said, Naples.

Social memberships were required until a Fourth District Court of Appeal judge backed a 2008 circuit court ruling that said that Ironhorse’s developer couldn’t unilaterally change homeowner documents forcing residents to pay the $2,900 fee in 2009.

A new voluntary social membership fee will go into affect that will cost members $2,200 annually.

During the impromptu landing Gibson’s plane clipped a tree near the 12th tee box ripping off the wing and rolled down the fairway stopping just short of a pond.

“I thought I was going to die.” Gibson said, but only sustained minor injuries and was able to walk away from the incident. The Federal Aviation Administration will conduct an investigation.