Why The Track
The next chapter of Ironwood.
Why now, why us, and why the name. A beloved community asset, told through Gainesville's own history, and built in the open for the whole city.
The Moment
Gainesville golf is at a crossroads
Ironwood is officially for sale from the City of Gainesville. The only municipal course in town is getting a new chapter, and that choice will shape public golf here for a generation.
It wasn't always this thin. Growing up, Gainesville golf was rich: West End, Meadowbrook, Ironwood, Turkey Creek, the University of Florida's Mark Bostick, and the private Gainesville Country Club. One by one, West End and Meadowbrook shuttered. Today the city is down to two public courses.
This is a moment, not a threat. A beloved community asset deserves to be better than ever, led by a team that puts the community first and makes the golf better than it's ever been. That's exactly what we intend to do.
The Name
Why we call it The Track
We didn't reach for a swatch book or a trend. The name comes from home ground, four meanings at once, all of them local.
Gainesville grew up on the railroad. The depot district that the city loves today, now reborn as Depot Park, was once the hub where the lines met and the town took shape. “The Track” honors that history, and the name a city already cherishes.
A track is also where this town chases greatness. The University of Florida runs one of the country's elite track and field programs, sending Olympic gold medalists like Grant Holloway and Christian Taylor out from Percy Beard Track, named for a Gator coach who took silver at the 1932 Games. Here, a track is where champions are made.
And just down the road sits Ocala, horse country, where the track means something else entirely.
And a track is what golfers call a course. It is the highest compliment you can pay one. “Now that is a good track.” Four meanings, all of them local, tying this corner of North Florida together.
From here, for here.
The Mark
Why the hog
Before Gainesville was Gainesville, this place had another name.
The land around here was once known as Hogtown, named for a Seminole village that raised hogs, and the eponym of Hogtown Creek, which still runs through the city today. Locals have carried the name with pride ever since.
Our hog mark is a tip of the cap to that history. A little grounded, a little proud, unmistakably Gainesville. We call him Payne, after Paynes Prairie just south of town. The whole brand is built the same way: every color named for the prairies, springs, and oaks within a few miles of the first tee.
Our Approach
Built in public, with the public, for the public
We're launching this bid out in the open. The plan, the vision, the invitation, all public. That's how a community asset should change hands.
Elevated and for everyone aren't in tension. They're the whole point. A public course with the polish of a private one and the heart of a city park, in the spirit of Cabot, The Park in West Palm Beach, and The Patch in Augusta. A driving range is a feature. The Track is a place.
Gainesville residents and workers will always play for less than visitors, because we believe we can build a course tourists travel for and locals deserve to play. We're not building a course for tourists. We're building a course for Gainesville that tourists will want to play.
The next chapter belongs to Gainesville.
Help us write it.