HOBE SOUND, Fla. — Staff for Governor Ron DeSantis scheduled a meeting with representatives from Folds of Honor about a “Jack Nicklaus Golf Course” in February 2023, according to a record WPTV reviewed from a public records request.
This record shows top officials from the governor’s office had a scheduled meeting with the nonprofit 18 months before their plan to build three golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park became public. The proposal, along with eight other proposals to build projects like pickleball courts and lodging at other state parks, was withdrawn after protests across the state.
Documents show staff was discussing golf course as early as February 2023
WPTV found text messages from a public records request showing Meredith Ivey, then a senior employee at the Florida Department of Commerce, asking if it would help if it was a historic golf trail.
“Just a thought - DOS does have a historic golf trail,” Ivey wrote in an undated text message. “I don’t know if it would help to tie in the historical value of education/history/civics by adding in the historic preservation and museum component re Tuskegee airmen. Just throwing it out there.”
The text is notable as Tuskegee Dunes, which was connected with Folds of Honor, said the course was meant to “tell the inspirational story of the Tuskegee Airmen” in a press release.
Tyler Russell, who was on the text chain and worked at Enterprise Florida at the time, told WPTV that he didn’t remember any specifics about this project in an email. But, he did compliment the role the Tuskegee Airmen played in our history.
“We took very seriously our role to grow and diversify Florida's economy, meeting with many different organizations,” Russell wrote in an email. “The Tuskegee Airmen are a storied part of our state and national history.”
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The state park projects became public after James Gaddis, a former employee at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said he leaked the plans. Gaddis told WPTV in August he leaked the plans because he felt the maps he drew as a state employee were being done secretly.
“It got to the point where we were operating in total secrecy this whole time. I got tired of that," Gaddis said. "We were totally blindsided by this. It came out of nowhere. The fact that we were told not to talk to anybody about this including our buddies who work in other units or in the building."
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Although the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, overseen by the governor, originally defended the proposals, Gov. DeSantis distanced himself from the proposal after pushback from the public in August.
“This was not approved,” Gov. DeSantis said at a press conference in August 2024. “I never saw that.”
Previously, Gaddis said a supervisor instructed him to draw the golf courses for a proposal. He said the supervisor received the directive from Cody Farrill, the governor’s deputy chief of staff. A newly uncovered calendar invite shows the governor’s top staff working with the nonprofit back in February 2023.
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According to the calendar invite, Chief of Staff James Uthmeier organized the meeting. The invite said Alex Kelly, then deputy chief of staff and now current secretary of commerce for Florida, was also a required attendee.
Three Folds of Honor employees, including the nonprofit’s founder and CEO Dan Rooney, were invited, according to the scheduled meeting document.
Although it’s unclear if the meeting actually occurred or the contents discussed, Jack Nicklaus attorney Gene Stearns previously told WPTV the nonprofit contacted Nicklaus to build golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
“If they [Folds of Honor] wanted to do it, then he [Nicklaus] would help them as long as it was okay. As long as the state says it’s okay," he told WPTV.
The governor’s office and the Department of Commerce, which is overseen by the governor’s office and now run by Alex Kelly, didn’t respond to WPTV inquiries by publication.
