Course news

Course news

Berkshire Valley designed by RBA
Jefferson, N.J. – The 18-hole, par-71 Berkshire Valley Golf Course opened in May. The 6,800-yard course was built on 600 acres of land. The maintenance building opened in June, and the clubhouse and restaurant are expected to open this month. Berkshire Valley is the largest public golf course in Morris County and the first to open in the county since 1985. Mark Jaretsky is the superintendent.
More than 10 years ago, Morris County Department of Parks and Recreation started to investigate the site as a location for a new golf course. It hired The RBA Group, and RBA prepared a comprehensive development package from site feasibility to construction inspection for an 18-hole championship golf and practice facility on 400 acres. Before designing the course, RBA evaluated all of the environmental constraints, including wetlands, buffers, floodplains, soils, vegetation, endangered species, water quality, groundwater, zoning and utilities.

Somerby opens in Minnesota
Byron Minn. – The private Somerby Golf Club opened recently. Designed by John Fought and Tom Lehman and built by Golden Tee Development, the 7,209-yard course features pockets of grassy wetlands, lakes and ponds that are integrated into the bentgrass fairways and approaches. The par-72 course has five sets of tees, and from the gold tees, it has a slope of 147 and a 75.0 rating. The course also features a 37,00-square-foot, English-manor-style clubhouse. Casey Colin is the course superintendents, and Brian Jones is the director of operations.
Somerby is a new residential community and golf course that sits on 450 acres of rolling hills with thick stands of trees and 26 acres of natural wetlands.

Permit approved for golf project
Olympia Wash. – The state Department of Ecology approved the water-quality permit for The Links at Half Moon Bay, a proposed golf course and resort in Westport. The 401 permit is a water-quality certification named after a section in the federal Clean Water Act. The certification assures the project will protect water quality to meet the state’s standards.
Conditions in the certification require the project to manage its use of herbicides, storm water and waste water in a manner that protects wetlands, the shoreline and the ocean environment. The conditions require monitoring and reporting to ensure that the site stays in compliance with the state’s water quality standards. They also require wetlands be restored and preserved.

Several clubs get certified by Audubon
Oneida Nation Homelands, N.Y. – Audubon International selected the Kaluhyat Golf Club at Turning Stone Resort and Casino, which was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., as a Certified Signature Sanctuary.
Meanwhile, the Shenendoah Golf Club and Sandstone Hollow, both created by Rick Smith, have been officially recertified. Turning Stone is among 44 golf operations in the country and one of two in New York State to receive the status.
The three courses were designed, constructed and are maintained incorporating the existing ecosystems of the sites, ensuring that wetlands, native plant life and wildlife habitats remain undisturbed. A diverse population of wildlife, including deer, foxes and almost 100 species of birds, reside in natural buffer zones separating their dwellings from fairways and greens.
Turning Stone recently opened a championship-level golf course designed by Tom Fazio.

N.Y. course is first to open in years
Newcastle, N.Y. – The Mark Mungeam-designed Hudson Hills Golf Course opened this summer, which is the first time a public course debuted in Westchester County since the 1930s. The club closed down in 1982, when IBM purchased the property with plans to build a corporate research laboratory there. Those plans never materialized. The county stepped in, bought the land back and retained Mungeam to design a new golf course.
Developed by the Westchester County Department of Public Works and operated by Billy Casper Golf Management, the course features significant elevation changes that Mungeam used to create a 6,935-yard, par-71 course with long views and dramatic shot values.

Rochelle Ranch opens in Wyoming
Tucson, Ariz. – In August, golf course architect Ken Kavanaugh was on hand for the grand opening of his latest design, Rochelle Ranch, located in Rawlins, Wyo. Rochelle Ranch is a municipal golf course run by the City of Rawlins. The facility is a gift from local ranchers and investors Curt and Marian Rochelle, who wanted to give something back to their community.
Built by Landscapes Unlimited of Lincoln, Neb., the course measures 7,925 yards from the championship tees and 5,763 yards from the front markers. To accommodate a variety of players on a site that often features strong prairie breezes, Kavanaugh designed extra-wide, strategically bunkered fairways. The layout sports a rugged, rough-hewn look, with weathered, wind-blown bunkers and expansive sand dunes.

First Tee course opens in Minnesota
Blaine, Minn. – The National Youth Golf Center, home of The First Tee of Blaine, Minn., opened a new, 18-hole events course, which is the second phase of the comprehensive golf project developed by the National Sports Center. The first phase, completed four years ago, included an 18-hole putting course with bentgrass greens. PGA Tour Design Services designed and built both courses.
The goal of the new course is to field players from beginners to professionals of all ages. The course measures 7,100 yards and is a par 71 with five par-3 holes. It also has a practice facility with target greens, a large turf tee and hitting pads.
When it’s complete, the complex will consist of the putting course, the 18-hole competitive course and a nine-hole course. Currently, phase one and two are complete. The nine-hole course will start development in a couple years.
Developers and designers dealt with flight patterns related to geese and fowl, winds and wetlands. There’s no open water on the course because it’s a habitat for geese. There was minimal disruption to wetlands, but if wetlands were impacted, they were replaced on and off site at 2-to-1 ratio.
The events course is a blend of wild flowers, prairie grasses, bluegrass and fescue. Bunkers are built with minimal slope for easy maintenance. Greens are large to support various pin locations, and all greens are U.S. Golf Association standard. The grasses chosen for the course were dwarf bluegrass, mainly in the fairway because of their hardiness to golf traffic. The roughs are mostly bluegrass with minimal fescue because of cart traffic. Greens are bentgrass. There are native areas outside of the roughs to give it the feel of a links style golf course.
The superintendent of the course is Jeff Reich.

Quinnatisset opens nine new holes
Thompson, Conn. – Quinnatisset Country Club, a private, member-owned golf club, opened nine new holes this summer. Designed and constructed by The Roger Rulewich Group, the new holes were built on the site of the original nine-hole golf course that opened in 1903. This original nine was 2,634 yards and crammed onto 33 acres. Club members purchased a contiguous 42 acre land parcel in 2001 for this expansion. None of the old holes or routing were used in the design. The Rulewich Group started construction in July 2003, and the course opened in June 2004.
The new nine measures 3,247 yards and will play, at least for this year, as the back nine. The front nine, designed by Geoffrey Cornish, opened in 1968 and measures 3,254 yards, bringing the new total yardage to 6,503. The Rulewich Group rebuilt the 10th green on the Cornish nine and added a new practice tee as well.

National Resort to lead growth of Florida resort
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. – National Resort Management Group now will manage the PGA National Resort & Spa. Patrick A. Corso, managing partner of Pinehurst, N.C.-based National Resort Management Group, heads a team charged with leading PGA National through a new phase of growth and renovation. National Resort Management Group replaces Dolce International.
Initial plans include improvements designed to have a significant impact on the quality of the guest experience.
“We will introduce caddies to the golf program, something we know golfers will welcome,” Corso says. “We will develop a group of attractive, exclusive packages to attract golf groups in addition to our meeting customers. And we intend to install a guest feedback system that will tell us what else we need to be doing to improve our performance.”

Jamaican course to get makeover
Montego Bay, Jamaica – Half Moon will invest more than $1 million to upgrade its par-72, Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed golf course – the first phase of what’s slated to be a two-year process.
Golf course architect Roger Rulewich will renovate the course’s back nine holes, creating better site lines, wider fairways, reshaped fairway bunkers, reoriented tees for better angles and expanded greens.
Phase two, which is being planned for mid-2005, will focus on improvements to the course’s front nine holes, moving the 19th Hole Bar  located on the course and expanding the practice facilities of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy.

Nicklaus to design N. Carolina course
Southport, N.C. – St. James Properties retained Nicklaus Design to create the newest course in the Coastal Carolinas – The Reserve Club at St. James Plantation.
Plans are to develop an 18-hole course in the community’s newest neighborhood, The Reserve. The Reserve Club will bring the number of golf holes available to the members and guests of St. James Plantation to 81.
The design team will be led by Michael Nicklaus. The team said the par-72 layout will play more than 7,100 yards from the back tees, but will offer enough tees to accommodate players of all skill levels. The site is a good one from a designer’s perspective because the terrain is rolling and consists of sandy soil, which is ideal for building golf courses, according to Nicklaus. The team complimented the native vegetation and the variety of wooded wetlands.

Courses in Egypt in different stages of development
Taba Heights and Makadi Bay, Egypt – Construction resumed on an 18-hole John Sanford-designed layout that’s the centerpiece of the Taba Heights Golf Resort, located under the table mountain of Taba Heights at the northern point of the Gulf of Aqaba near the border of Egypt and Israel. Course construction started in 2000. Much of the heavy earth work and rough grading were completed before construction was halted because of political unrest and economic difficulties in the area. Landmasters Construction, an Egyptian firm, is building the course for the Taba Heights Resort Co. The championship layout will play 7,050 yards from the back tees and feature smooth-rolling, salt-tolerant paspalum turfgrasses throughout.
South of Cairo is the 18-hole Sanford-designed Makadi Bay Golf Resort near Hurghada. It will be part of a five-hotel resort in Makadi Bay. Three new hotels and 200 villas are planned around the course, which will include a golf academy featuring a 20-acre practice range, nine-hole pitch-and-putt, and three practice holes.
The championship course will have six sets of tees and reach almost 7,500 yards from the tips. The layout works its way through existing sand dunes, with elevation changes of 170 feet affording views of the hotels, Red Sea and mountains.
The golf academy is scheduled to open in a year and the full course in two years. The sandy topography will require minimal earth moving. Water will come from a deep well located in the mountains and be delivered to an irrigation pond located on the seventh and eighth holes. The course will be planted with paspalum grasses, which should thrive even with irrigation water containing 4,000 parts per million of salt.
Travco, an Egyptian travel agency and hotel operator, is the developer/owner.

Missouri club transforms driving range
St. Charles, Mo. – Whitmoor Country Club transformed its driving range into a complete practice center. The new 40,000-square-foot range includes five target greens, four bunkers, and various visual and topographical changes, allowing members to work on every aspect of their game. The new facility is part of about $20 million of capital improvements at the club. The ownership strives to ensure the club stays competitive in the coming decades and members are offered the most amenities and the highest level of service in the area. The private club offers 36 holes of championship golf.

Package offered at Pinehurst Resort until May 2005
Pinehurst, N.C. – Pinehurst Resort will offer its championship package until May 28, 2005, two weeks before the U.S. Open Championship returns. The three-day/two-night Pinehurst Championship package for guests includes:
• Unlimited championship rounds of golf, including a round on Pinehurst No. 2;
• Optional golf clinic to master the challenging Ross greens;
• Tee time announcement on first hole of No. 2 round;
• Caddie on No. 2 round with player’s name on jersey and “Caddie Cam” photographs captured during the round;
• Personalized locker;
• Golfer’s massage at The Spa at Pinehurst;
• Complimentary photo near the Payne Stewart Statue;
• $100 gift card for exclusive championship merchandise;
• Personalized bag tag;
• Welcome gifts in room;
• First-class, round trip transportation from the airport; and
• Accommodations, breakfast and dinner daily.