PUTNAM, Fla. -- The membership of Live Oak Golf and Country Club Sunday voted in a new ownership group that plans to renovate the 18-hole, South Putnam course.

Daniel Youness of River Pub Restaurant, Donnie King of Harley Paiute campground and Jimmy Salmon of Ponte Vedra Golf and Country Club were selected over another group in a private afternoon meeting, according to Peg Peterson, who prepared a press release on behalf of the club.

Terms were not announced and a settlement date is yet to be determined, though Peterson said the new owners seem anxious to get started.

“The competing group, called the Church group, (is) building the adjacent housing development and had hoped to be able to develop it along with the course as a coordinated package,” wrote Peterson in the statement. “It is unclear how they will proceed now.”

The successful presentation was made by Joey Combs, the golf pro at Ponte Vedra and the man who will serve as course superintendent during the transition.

Originally known as the Fruitland Golf and Country Club, the course was established some 30 years ago, a 9-hole layout operated by volunteers.

“The course began as young retirees came to the area, bought homes and literally began to carve out the layout themselves,” Peterson said. “Stories abound of how they raked the fairways and picked up the pine cones.”

She described the progress of the course as “robust, up until recent years, when the aging population of supporters no longer could keep it properly maintained.”

The current members, by nature of the original charter, cannot make a profit on the sale but instead have received certain perks such as frozen annual dues, Peterson said.

The owners plan either to build a new club house or refurbish the existing one, she said.