Champions Retreat Golf Club has taken a dip in its inspection scores, lately—particularly, since Arcis Golf took ownership.
Last October, the Dallas-based golf resort operator closed on its acquisition of the Evans country club, less than week after publicly announcing to members about the change. Arcis assumed operations on Oct. 13, 2023.
MORE: Augusta Mall is safe, records show
On April 17 of this year, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) conducted a routine environmental health inspection at Champions Retreat which yielded a score of 74, or “C.”
The inspector, Leslie Lanier, noted “several risk factors” during the assessment and cited 11 violations. Two of these referred to the person in charge being insufficiently aware of food safety and “their responsibility to report to management information about their health and activities as it relates to diseases that are transmissible through food.”
The other violations listed were largely examples of improper storage or handling, such as an open beverage container on a food prep table next to clean utensils, food contact surfaces not being cleaned properly, an employee wearing jewelry while preparing food and several food items not being at proper temperatures.
Lanier returned on June 5 for a follow-up inspection. This time around, the club received a score of 80, or a “B.” In the report for that inspection, Lanier listed only five violations, including observation of an employee handling a cell phone without washing their hands, the prep unit by the grill not holding proper temperature, and the storage of food past its disposal date.
The last inspection before Arcis bought the club was another routine one, Sept. 21, 2023. Its score was a 91, an “A.” In fact, the lowest health inspection score the DPH graded Champions Retreat in the last three years has been 90.
The Barn, the golf club’s wedding venue, was also inspected on June 5, though the DPH lists it as routine, and was graded 87. The violations observed were food services in need of cleaning and “potentially hazardous food cold held at greater than 41 degrees.” The Barn’s most recent score before that, on Sept. 21 of last year, was 100. Its lowest score since December of 2021 had been a 94.
Arcis Golf owns and operates some 70 clubs throughout the U.S. As of release of this story, it has not responded to requests for comment.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
