Groundbreaking for Golf Course Planned

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Cypress Golf Club will be held today, bringing to an end a long-running dispute over the city’s only golf course.

The owners of the property, a Japanese-based company called FJC U.S.A., will have a private ceremony to mark the start of construction of the new 18-hole course. The company bought the golf course in September from developer Lloyd Arnold, owner of the Los Alamitos Race Course.

Today’s ceremonies put to rest a long controversy involving the golf course. In 1986, developers tried to shut it down in order to build a business park. But a number of groups, including one made up of golfers and a grass-roots organization, protested against the shutdown because they said the course, the only one in the city, was also one of the last open spaces in Cypress.

After years of negotiations, a plan was approved in April for the Los Alamitos Race Course including the adjacent golf course.

Plans call for a new clubhouse along with the addition of 30 acres of fairways and 11 acres of lakes. The 18-hole course, considered “masters level,” will be extended from its original par 66 to a championship par 72. A neighboring parcel will include a 75-acre business park, hotel and office buildings.

Arnold bought the 298-acre property, including the golf course, race track and surrounding land, for $71 million last year. He then sold the course to FJC, which also owns courses throughout the country, including the Castle Creek Country Club in San Diego County.

The course is expected to open in 1992.