The University of Virginia Foundation recently announced that Love Golf Design, the golf course architecture firm founded by Davis Love III and his brother Mark, will build a new course on the site of the existing Birdwood Golf Course. The firm’s work on the layout is part of a multi-year improvement plan for the Boar’s Head Resort, the Virginia golf team’s facilities and the historic Birdwood Mansion.
“A planned expansion of the Boar’s Head Resort’s tennis facilities will encroach on Birdwood’s third and fourth holes,” said Pat Hogan, Virginia executive vice president and COO. “That eventuality, paired with millions of dollars in deferred maintenance needs on the course, prompted the Foundation to think more broadly.”
Hogan credited sports psychologist Bob Rotella, a former UVA faculty member who works with many golf professionals, and several Cavalier sports teams for making the connection between Love and the UVA Foundation.
“We appreciate the opportunity to work on such a grand scale here at Birdwood,” Davis Love said. “The University is blessed to have plentiful land which gives us the room to create some thought provoking strategies, so we are excited to have the design process underway.”
The course, which partially lies on several hundred acres of rolling countryside, is home to the Virginia men’s and women’s golf teams, and is also open to Boar’s Head guests and the public. Hogan noted that the Foundation owns additional property behind the resort, which allows more room for relocation of holes and added golf facilities.
“After exploring the property this winter, we found so many options it was hard to narrow the new course down to just 18 holes,” lead architect Scot Sherman said. “Davis, Mark and I believe the variety of the site lends itself to building a course with a timeless character, and are pleased to be working with a routing that flows through valleys, over ridges, and across creeks. We have also been asked to study the possibly of building a short course and a putting course – so, the resort really is looking to set a new standard.”
The Love team expects the new design to be finalized by this fall. As the design process continues, private funds are being raised to build the course.
“A planned expansion of the Boar’s Head Resort’s tennis facilities will encroach on Birdwood’s third and fourth holes,” said Pat Hogan, Virginia executive vice president and COO. “That eventuality, paired with millions of dollars in deferred maintenance needs on the course, prompted the Foundation to think more broadly.”
Hogan credited sports psychologist Bob Rotella, a former UVA faculty member who works with many golf professionals, and several Cavalier sports teams for making the connection between Love and the UVA Foundation.
“We appreciate the opportunity to work on such a grand scale here at Birdwood,” Davis Love said. “The University is blessed to have plentiful land which gives us the room to create some thought provoking strategies, so we are excited to have the design process underway.”
The course, which partially lies on several hundred acres of rolling countryside, is home to the Virginia men’s and women’s golf teams, and is also open to Boar’s Head guests and the public. Hogan noted that the Foundation owns additional property behind the resort, which allows more room for relocation of holes and added golf facilities.
“After exploring the property this winter, we found so many options it was hard to narrow the new course down to just 18 holes,” lead architect Scot Sherman said. “Davis, Mark and I believe the variety of the site lends itself to building a course with a timeless character, and are pleased to be working with a routing that flows through valleys, over ridges, and across creeks. We have also been asked to study the possibly of building a short course and a putting course – so, the resort really is looking to set a new standard.”
The Love team expects the new design to be finalized by this fall. As the design process continues, private funds are being raised to build the course.
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