Rees Jones completes facelift of the 109-year-old layout just north of New York City.
Architect Rees Jones has wrapped up a $3.5 million renovation at Westchester Hills Golf Club in White Plains, New York, that was undertaken to improve the functionality and aesthetics of the 109-year-old course just north of New York City.
Westchester Hills’ greens, chipping areas and fairways were expanded, new tees were added and the bunkers were renovated on the layout designed by Peter Clark, the club’s first head professional, and opened in 1913. Jones also installed a new 6,700 square-foot practice green.
“Our design was to liven a classic-style golf course while upgrading the course’s playability and maintenance standards,” Jones said in a media release announcing the completion of the renovation. “The members at Westchester Hills strive for excellence, and we are proud to be included in their success. We fully expect the golf course’s new features to take the Hills golf experience to a new level in the private club community.”
The details of the renovation:
Added 20,000 square feet of green expansions.
Added 50,000 square feet of chipping expansions.
Added 30,000 square feet of fairway expansions.
Installed XGD drainage in all greens.
Upgraded and renovated all bunkers with new sand and capillary concrete drainage.
Installed 10 acres of new sod throughout the course.
Installed a new irrigation system consisting of 12 miles of pipe, 1,250 sprinkler heads and 54 quick connects.
The club also renovated its pool area and landscaping around the clubhouse.
“The membership at Westchester Hills is thrilled to see the completed result at our club,” said Mark Stagg, president of the club that is part of the Privé Privileges program of course-management company Troon. “With so much going on at the club including a pool renovation, elevated dining experiences and significant membership growth, the course redesign is the finishing touch to achieving member satisfaction for years to come.”
Check out the photos of the renovated course below.
Extensive changes will be made to four holes and all 18 greens will be resurfaced.
Walt Disney World in Florida has temporarily shuttered its Magnolia Course, located near the Magic Kingdom, for the summer as each green is upgraded and holes 14 through 17 are renovated. The course is expected to reopen later this year.
Arnold Palmer Golf Management, which operates Disney World’s courses, hired One Club Limited and its head golf course designer, Ken Baker, to oversee the work at the course, which was designed by Joe Lee and opened in 1971. The work to the Magnolia follows extensive changes to Disney’s Palm Golf Course in 2013, Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course in 2014 and 2018, and Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Golf Course in 2018.
In a media release announcing the renovation, Disney unveiled the following changes:
Hole 14: Currently a par 5, will become a par 4 with a new green location
Hole 15: Currently a par 3, will shift location and become a long par 5 with a dogleg to the right
Hole 16: Will shift location and remain a par 4 but will now have a dogleg to the left
Hole 17: Currently a par 4, will become a par 3 with new tee box locations
An artist’s rendering of the new 16th hole on the Magnolia Course at Walt Disney World in Florida (Courtesy of Walt Disney World)
“We were fortunate to have some existing property area available for the redesign of these golf holes,” Baker said. “It has allowed us to create a more dynamic collection of golf shots that also blends seamlessly with the surrounding natural environment. …
“From the first day we began reimagining these golf holes, we took great care in preserving the scenic beauty, challenge and thrill players have enjoyed as they’ve walked the fairways of Disney’s Magnolia. Joe Lee created much of the existing design dynamic of this course with ‘push-up’ golf feature areas. The existing tees, greens and bunkers typically rise above the surrounding terrain and create a classic look and feel to the course. The routing adjustments made to holes 14 through 17 have allowed us to maintain this classic appearance while also incorporating subtle design features that will create some new and exciting challenges for future guests.”
An artist’s rendering of the new 15th hole on the Magnolia Course at Walt Disney World in Florida (Courtesy of Walt Disney World)
Baker also said a new sandy waste area will be added between Nos. 15 and 16, and similar features will be added at other areas of the course. A new bridge through a forest will be constructed to connect Nos. 16 and 17, several bunkers throughout the course will be renovated and new tees will be added on several holes.
The Magnolia was last updated in 2015, when its bunkers and cart paths were renovated.
“We’ve assembled an incredible team that is devoted to creating the best possible experience for our guests from around the globe who travel here for a championship-caliber golf vacation,” Bruce Gerlander, general manager of Arnold Palmer Golf Management, said in the media release. “For more than four decades, Disney’s Magnolia served as a favorite stop on the PGA Tour, and we have been methodically planning for this massive project for years.”
[afflinkbutton text=”Book your round at Disney’s Magnolia Course” link=”https://www.golfbreaks.com/en-us/vacations/orlando/disneys-magnolia-golf-course/?cid=999739880&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=golfweek&utm_campaign=best_course_lists_q3_22_gw”]
We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage
Eureka Earth photos appear to show a new, longer tee box on the famed par 5 at the home of the Masters.
The architects are at it again at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, with the par-5 13th having been stripped of grass, what appears to be drainage work laid under the fairway and the very real possibility that the famed dogleg-left will play longer in the 2023 Masters.
Eureka Earth, a Twitter handle of Augusta-based flight instructor David Dobbins, frequently posts aerial photos of Augusta National. His latest shots posted to Twitter on Monday show the 13th fairway receiving heavy construction work and what could be a new tee box on land that was purchased in recent years from the adjacent Augusta Country Club.
Augusta National made no comment on the work being done – early privacy in such matters of course renovation is customary for the exclusive club.
🚨🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨🚨
‘Significant Changes’ to No. 13 at ANGC
“The fact that players are hitting middle to short irons into that hole is not really how it was designed”~ Chairman Ridley, April 2022#TheMasters#Masters2023
If it is a tee box being constructed behind a row of trees that currently grows behind the longtime back tee, the hole could be stretched some 40-60 yards. In recent years the par 5 named Azalea has played 510 yards, but strong players with modern equipment have been able to bash the ball down the left side of the dogleg to set up short irons and sometimes even wedges into the green for the second shots. Many players tee off with a 3-wood to more easily hit a big draw than with a modern driver, and they still often have irons in their hands for approach shots into the green in two.
If the construction shown in Eureka Earth’s photo is a tee box that is put into play, players would be required to hit a tee shot of at least some 310-330 yards to get around the corner of the dogleg, guarded by tall pine trees and a creek, to set up any chance to reach the green in two shots. Even for most modern pros, that means driver off the tee.
Eureka Earth’s photos show what appears to be a squared-off area in recently cleared dirt behind the row of trees. The trees would have to come down, if it is indeed a new tee box, providing players a chute through which they can hit their tee shots.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said in his press conference ahead of the 2022 Masters that there was no timetable for when the club might stretch the 13th hole, but he did say it was a possibility. “That’s something that certainly we have considered and will continue to consider,” Ridley said.
The club is unlikely to make any announcement about the hole until much closer to the Masters in April, assuming the recent aerial photos do show a new tee box. Much work was done to the course last year and Eureka Earth captured photos of the work in progress, most noticeably to the 11th and 15th holes, but Augusta National officials did not comment on the renovations until February.
Eureka Earth also recently shot photos of heavy lifting on the par-3 course, with the possibility that several holes will be adjusted before the traditional par-3 event the Wednesday before the Masters starts in 2023.
The private course, ranked No. 3 among all classic courses in the U.S., is closed each summer, and the club normally takes on a variety of projects to the layout.
Raymond Floyd’s vision for the original Raptor Bay golf course in Estero, Florida, went against the grain versus many Sunshine State developments.
The retired four-time major champion wanted to embrace the Florida habitat and keep the course as traditional as possible.
“I’ve always been fond of trying to lay a golf course out as a part of the natural environment and let nature be its beautiful thing that it is,” Floyd said.
Now, 22 years later, the course will be reborn as Saltleaf Golf Preserve after London Bay’s purchase of the golf club in 2020. London Bay held a groundbreaking for the course on Tuesday with plans to open for play in 2023.
The course will be the first major construction project of London Bay’s Saltleaf village, a 500-acre coastal community on Estero Bay with plans for more than 800 residencies.
Bringing Floyd and golf course architect Harry Bowers back to reimagine their original course was a no-brainer, according to Mark Wilson, the founder of London Bay and developer for the project.
“This course was loved by so many people and gets an awful lot of use,” he said.
Saltleaf Golf Preserve will feature an 18-hole championship course as well as a nine-hole, family-friendly short course.
“This is the very first step of the development of Saltleaf,” Wilson said.
Floyd explained that he got his start designing golf courses as a teenager with his father.
“My philosophy has always been traditional,” he said. “I like to not change the land where it doesn’t look like it belongs, and so many golf courses, through the years, there’s so much earth moved, when you go to play it, it just doesn’t belong in the environment.”
That’s why the public-access Raptor Bay doesn’t have any formal bunkers, an element that will remain in the new project. The layout does feature plenty of sand in the form of exposed waste areas, but no traditional sandy pits.
“(Raptor Bay) has been really, really well received and your resort play loves it, it speeds up play, it’s great for your maintenance, so that was so successful,” Floyd said. “Now that we’re redoing and building another 18 holes, we’re going to take that same theme and carry it through.”
Floyd’s design philosophy had appeal for the developers.
“The way that he used all the natural beauty and so on was really important,” Wilson said.
Wilson, Floyd, Raptor Bay golf director Mark Wilhelmi and others spoke at the groundbreaking before taking the ceremonial photo, complete with shovels and hard hats.
“We’re all familiar with a kid on Christmas Eve who can’t wait for the next morning,” Wilhelmi said. “Well, I’m a balding, 52-year-old kid that is six-and-a-half months away from opening the coolest thing on Earth, and I can’t wait.”
Follow News-Press Sports Reporter Dustin Levy on Twitter: @DustinBLevy. For additional coverage of sports across Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.
It was nearly unbearable until Nicklaus and his team began a major renovation in 2020.
DUBLIN, Ohio – How difficult can the par-3 16th at Muirfield Village Golf Club, at a mere 200 yards at most, play during The Memorial?
In 2020 in the final round, Phil Mickelson laid up 43 yards short on the hole and then putted the ball for his second shot. When the hole measured 173 yards.
The same year, Matt Fitzpatrick, en route to finishing third, purposely tried to hit his tee shots into a greenside bunker the entire week.
“It was just playing that firm that day. I just remember the whole week, it was just really, really firm and it was downwind as well, and it was incredibly hard to stop the ball,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think there was only one man that hit it within 20 feet on the final day, and that was Tiger Woods.
“I think that says it all.”
Since 2011, the 16th has been pivotal in determining who gets to shake Nicklaus’ hand in victory as it has been the toughest hole on the course Nicklaus built in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2020. How tough? There have only been four aces on the hole since 2015. In the 2013 Presidents Cup, Ernie Els was the only player to birdie the hole in singles action as he knocked in a 25-footer.
The hole wasn’t always a terror. For the tournament’s first 37 years, it was a pleasant hole that was not much of a bother. But in 2010, with the Presidents Cup upcoming, the Golden Bear sunk his claws and dug out a lake abutting the green on the left that teamed with three severe bunkers on the right that instantly turned the hole into a monster with plenty of teeth. Especially when it played downwind.
It was nearly unbearable until Nicklaus and his team began a major renovation in 2020 and discovered the shallow green pitched from front to back, and with the surface usually firm, players had a hard time holding the green with tee shots. Especially from 200 yards with wind at their backs.
“Nobody could stop it on the green before,” Nicklaus said. “So we took seven inches out of the center of the green and added seven inches to the back of the green and now the green sits to you.
“It wasn’t fair before. They couldn’t stop the shot. It’s still not an easy shot, but the green will receive a good shot now.”
That’s what the players are hoping for this weekend. If the forecast holds – plenty of sunshine and heat on Saturday and Sunday – the green will be firm. But not a rock, as it was in the past, Nicklaus said.
Jordan Spieth putts on the 16th green during the second round of the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports
Jon Rahm has had his moments on the 16th. The 2020 Memorial champion made an ace on the 16th in the second round and survived a two-stroke penalty in the final round for his ball moving slightly as he addressed the shot in the rough that year. Rahm likes the redo and said the hole is fair but not a pushover. That was the case in 2021 when the hole ranked as the eighth toughest among the 18.
“The new redo makes it a lot easier than it used to be,” Rahm said. “But it all depends on the firmness on the greens, right. I mean, when the greens were as firm as they were in 2020, there wasn’t much you could do. You had to hit it as high as possible and hope for the best, and hope you got up-and-down from long, basically, if you didn’t hit the green.
“Now it’s a little more doable. Still a tough shot, right. Just got to be comfortable with the decision you make, right. I feel like you need to be decisive, choose the club, choose your shot and stick to it because it’s not a big target. It’s a small green, water and bunkers around it.
“But unlike in the past, those up-and-downs are slightly easier than they have been. So it’s not like it’s a hole you’re looking at to make birdie, but I’m pretty sure everybody in the field will take four pars and move on to 17.”
Or as Rory McIlroy said, “just hit it in the middle of green, two putts, take your three and run to the 17th tee.”
Jim Urbina plans to restore Alister MacKenzie’s original intent for the highly rated public-access layout.
Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California, announced Wednesday that it will undertake a renovation of the greens and bunkers on its course designed by the legendary Alister MacKenzie and opened in 1929.
The club has hired architect Jim Urbina to restore the original style of push-up greens as intended by MacKenzie and to restore the bunkers with modern construction methods. The project will take part in two phases, and the club will keep one nine open during the nearly two-year restoration. Work on the front nine is scheduled to begin in April 2023 and wrap up in December that year, then the back nine will be closed April through December in 2024.
“The future of the golf course, in terms of sustainability, requires a full restoration of the greens with modern infrastructure and drainage,” Pasatiempo superintendent Justin Mandon said in a media release announcing the restoration. “Over its nearly 100 years of play, and particularly the more recent increase in the volume of rounds, coupled with the addition of alternative water sources and lack of infrastructure, has led to the rapid evolution of the greens.
“The club’s restoration committee has been working on this project for several years, visiting and consulting numerous golf courses with recent histories of successful restoration work. That information, along with our unique variables, allowed us to develop a scope of work, timeline and process we believe will give us the highest degree of success.”
Pasatiempo Golf Club (Courtesy of Pasatiempo)
The club announced that opening-day photos from 1929, combined with onsite evaluation of the original sub grades, will be used to guide restoration efforts that will incorporate lasers to reconstruct the greens to exacting tolerances and to USGA specifications. The new greens will be seeded with bentgrass. The green surrounds will be resurfaced and sodded to assure proper sloping and contours, with modern infrastructure installed to improve drainage.
The layout has undergone several smaller restorations since 1999. The club was founded by World Golf Hall of Fame member Marion Hollins and was built by Robert Hunter. MacKenzie would go on to live aside the layout’s sixth fairway.
The modern design duo focused on restoring the classic features of Southern Hills.
TULSA, Oklahoma – Perry Maxwell was an Oklahoma golf legend, a banker-turned-architect who designed dozens of courses in the Sooner State and beyond. Best known for his challenging, undulating greens, Maxwell worked – as either principal architect, collaborator or renovator – on many of America’s top-rated courses.
Augusta National, Merion, Crystal Downs and Prairie Dunes – each ranked in the top 15 among Golfweek’s Best ranking of classic courses in the United States – were among the beneficiaries of Maxwell’s touch.
His design tally, of course, includes Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, site of this year’s PGA Championship. Opened in 1936, Southern Hills has been host to a slew of championships ranging from the U.S. Women’s Open to the Senior PGA Championship and counts among its men’s majors four past PGA Championships (1970, ’82, ’94 and ’07) and three U.S. Opens (’58, ’77 and ’01). It sits at No. 1 among private courses in Oklahoma in Golfweek’s Best rankings, and it is No. 38 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S.
No. 12 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. (Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
And thanks to 2019 restoration and renovation efforts by the architecture team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, Southern Hills will again display in full grandeur Maxwell’s brilliant routing and sometimes infuriating greens during this year’s PGA Championship.
“We’re excited about the work we did there,” said Hanse, who in recent years has become known as a go-to expert in restoring major-championship courses . “Perry Maxwell’s routing was absolutely brilliant. I don’t know how you could lay a golf course better on that piece of property. The variety, the character, just the way the holes seem to fit perfectly there. And the features, primarily the greens and how good they were and what interesting targets they were and the level of precision required to play good golf at Southern Hills – it struck us as being really, really high quality.”
Park Ridge Golf Course was built on a closed landfill.
The 18-hole county-owned Park Ridge Golf Course will soon be getting a makeover.
The Parks & Recreation Department expects to spend $1.7 million during the summer to modernize and restore the greens. After 16 years of use, the course needs some upgrades that will be paid from golf course revenues.
Special Facilities Director Paul Connell said 6 inches of soil and grass around bunkers will be removed and replaced. Six feet of sod will also be removed around the greens. And sod from several tees will be releveled because of settling. Any drainage issues will be addressed as well.
The goal of the project is to restore the golf course as closely as possible to the original playing characteristics envisioned by the original designer.
“It was time to upgrade the course,” Connell said, noting that similar work was performed over the last two years at Okeeheelee Golf Course. Southwinds Golf Course is expected to be upgraded within the next two years.
The renovations come at a time when golf in Palm Beach County has seen a resurgence.
Golf operations at the county-owned courses generated a record $12 million in revenues in the 2021 fiscal year with more than300,000 rounds played. Frequent player sales exceeded 7,500, and the department had its highest level of participation for junior golf programming.
The Park Ridge work is expected to begin in the middle of May and take about four months to complete. Although the golf course will be closed, the driving range and pro shop will remain open.
Park Ridge Golf Course was built on a closed landfill
The golf course was a joint project of county government and the Solid Waste Authority. It was built on a closed landfill. Park Ridge tops 85 feet at its highest point, offering elevation changes golfers cannot find anywhere else in South Florida. It offers six par 3s, six par 4s, and six par 5s.
It is located off Lantana Road west of Florida’s Turnpike in an unincorporated area of Palm Beach County.
A view the 12th green at the Park Ridge Public Golf Course west of Lake Worth Beach. The course built on an old landfill was designed by Roy Case. (Bill Ingram, The Palm Beach Post)
The facility consists of approximately 25 acres of fairways, 34 acres of lakes, 65 acres of irrigated Bermuda grass roughs which includes the driving range, 3 acres of greens, 4 acres of tees, 10 acres of support facilities, parking lots and landscaped areas, and 23 acres of native maintained area.
It includes a significant amount of acreage in its native state. The facility was recognized by Audubon International as a Certified Sanctuary in 2009.
Like other county-owned courses, Park Ridge play has returned to pre-COVID levels. It had 61,000 rounds of play in FY 2021, a 7 percent increase over FY 2019. And it generated $2.2 million in revenue, a 22 percent increase over FY 2019.
Mike Diamond covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. If you have a tip, he can be reached at mdiamond@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @michael06339386.
Younger designers have chance to shine on their own at Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida.
Cabot, the developer and operator of several golf resorts around the world, has selected the golf architects who will tackle the Canadian company’s latest venture in Florida – and several younger designers have a chance to shine.
Kyle Franz and the team of Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns will renovate the two 18-hole courses at Cabot Citrus Farms, the former World Woods, an hour’s drive north of Tampa. Cabot also tagged Mike Nuzzo to build a short course, a new nine-hole course and the practice facilities.
There had been much speculation among golf architecture fans of who might land the jobs to redesign the two 18-hole layouts originally built by Tom Fazio nearly 30 years ago. Cabot announced in January that it had purchased the 1,200-acre property with plans to reimagine the entire experience. Those initiatives include real estate development, retail operations, restaurants, fitness and spa amenities, communal gathering points and a farmer’s market.
Pine Barrens at World Woods in Florida, which will be turned into Cabot Citrus Farms (Courtesy of Cabot/Evan Schiller)
Cabot, co-founded by Ben Cowan-Dewar and Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, also owns Cabot Cape Breton, site of Cabot Cliffs and Cabot Links, the two highest-ranked courses on Golfweek’s Best Modern Canadian Courses list. The company plans to open Cabot St. Lucia, with 18 holes designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, this year in the Caribbean. The company also is building Cabot Revelstoke, an 18-hole layout by Rod Whitman scheduled to open in 2024, in the Monashee and Selkirk mountain ranges near the city of Revelstoke in British Columbia in western Canada.
Franz will tackle the renovation of the Pine Barrens 18 at the former World Woods, which at one point was ranked by Golfweek’s Best among the top 50 modern courses in the U.S. but by 2021 had fallen to No. 172 on that list and No. 5 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts.
“Cabot Citrus Farms is going to be an extraordinary destination, and we are thrilled to be a part of this effort,” Franz said in a statement announcing the news. “Our goal for Pine Barrens is to take its dramatic, sandy land and maximize it into one of the most spectacular golf courses in the region and country.
“In our view, the perfect formula for Pine Barrens combines rugged sandscapes and vegetation that meld with the natural topography, classical contouring and creative short-grass recovery shots around the greens, wider corridors of play and multiple strategic routes to the pin, fascinating grassing patterns and varied tee box placements so that players get a fresh look at the different options every time they tee it up.”
Franz worked for years for famous designers such as Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. His solo efforts in recent years include such highly acclaimed courses as Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Southern Pines – all near Pinehurst, North Carolina – and the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis.
Rolling Oaks at World Woods in Florida, which will be turned into Cabot Citrus Farms (Courtesy of Cabot/Evan Schiller)
Rhebb and Johns will renovate the Rolling Oaks 18, which ranked No. 22 among Florida’s public-access layouts in 2021. The pair has worked for years on projects with Coore and Crenshaw, and their independent efforts include the much-heralded Winter Park Country Club near Orlando, Point Grey Golf and Country Club in Vancouver and the new Bootlegger par-3 course at Forest Dunes in Michigan. Rhebb, in particular, has spent much of the past two years working for Coore and Crenshaw at the new Cabot Saint Lucia.
Nuzzo’s largest success has been Wolf Point Ranch, which Golfweek’s Best ranks as No. 7 among private courses in Texas. As with all the architects selected to rework the former World Woods, he expressed his excitement to work in such a sandy site that allows for extreme creativity.
“Both the site and the client are essential to creating a special golf course,” he said in the media release announcing the designers. “With Cabot Citrus Farms, we have the best of both worlds, a natural sandy site and an innovative, forward-thinking client. Having fewer traditional golf constraints for our portion of the project presents an extra layer of opportunity for creativity. We’re looking forward to seeing the whole project come together!”
In just more than two years since its inception, the National Links Trust has developed a wealth of information that might help municipal golf operators around the country restore courses that are often considered a community’s gateway to the game.
Now the National Links Trust wants to share that information, starting with a symposium Nov. 8-10 in Washington D.C. More than 100 attendees are expected to discuss five pillars: sustainability, community impact, growing the game, architecture and alternative programming. Interested parties can learn more at nationallinkstrust.com.
Since its founding early in 2019, the non-profit National Links Trust surprised itself in some ways by earning the contract to renovate the National Park Service’s three golf courses in D.C.: East Potomac, Rock Creek and Langston.
The mission: provide accessible, affordable and engaging municipal golf courses to positively impact local communities across the U.S. That mission started in D.C., and the NLT hopes to expand its reach at the symposium and beyond.
The three D.C. courses have plenty of pedigree and have served their community as an introduction to golf and as civic hubs for decades. But as with many municipal golf courses, conditioning and funding ebbed and flowed, leaving the layouts in various states of disrepair after decades of deferred maintenance. The NLT was founded by golf-architecture experts Mike McMartin and Will Smith to address the problems. With pro-bono plans by course architects Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and Beau Welling, work has begun.
Historical photo of Rock Creek Golf Course in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of National Links Trust)
“Things are going very well,” NLT CEO Sinclair Eaddy Jr. told Golfweek. “We continue to be very busy at all three golf courses. We’ve made some improvements to things like the golf shops and cart paths, with an eye toward moving toward the longer-term improvements.”
In tackling the three D.C.-area courses, the NLT has learned much about navigating many of the issues that municipal golf faces. It’s not as simple as growing grass. There are political pitfalls, funding issues, usage and accessibility problems that any community is likely to face. Golf has seen an incredible uptick since the COVID-19 pandemic began and as players look for relatively safe experiences outdoors, but saving a golf course – or three – involves much more than rounds played. The level of planning is intense, and NLT wants to share what it has learned.
“We think there’s a successful playbook for renovating and rehabilitating municipal golf courses,” Eaddy said. “We’re doing it here in Washington D.C., and NLT is really focused on the three facilities in the nation’s capital as a model for how to do this around the country.”
Eaddy said NLT has received requests for information from project operators around the country on how to establish leadership teams, recruit talented renovators, fundraise and more.
“Our goal, and this is part of why we created the symposium, is to be a thought leader about thoughtful rehabilitation and renovation of municipal golf courses,” Eaddy said. “That’s how we are able to contribute to other projects around the country right now. While we focus on Washington D.C., we have resources and partners in the industry who helped NLT in its bid to renovate the D.C. golf courses. …
“We think there are some potholes out there for people who are thinking about rehabilitating or renovating municipal golf courses. We’ve gone through that process, and we think we can be helpful to other individuals and organizations that are even considering these types of projects and let them know what the pitfalls are. The hardest process is not just the bricks and mortar or the grass and sand of golf courses. Part of it is project planning and coming up with a roadmap that makes sense for the golf course, the patrons and also the local officials. For most people and most groups, that is the hurdle.”
The NLT has recruited a considerable group to participate at the symposium. Guests include PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, USGA senior management director of public services Rand Jerris, PGA of America honorary president Suzy Whaley and more than a dozen other guests with expertise in everything from land finance to marketing.
On the golf architecture side, Doak, Welling and Jay Blasi – also a course architect and a Golfweek contributing writer – will present on the importance of good design.
Expertise in such a wide range of topics has worked for NLT, Eaddy said, and all these featured guests are willing to share what they have learned to promote community-based, affordable public-access golf.
“We want to be thought partners, Eaddy said, “and we want to help in any way we can.”
