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By Design
NEW BUILDS
Cutalong
Virginia-based architect Tom Clark,
ASGCA Past President, who has two
courses currently in construction,
echoes Lawrence’s view that
timescales and complexity of projects
have changed in the new economic
environment. “At Cutalong, a 1,000
acre site on Lake Anna, the second
largest lake in Virginia, we have
been working on a course project
since 1999,” he says. “We master-
planned the site back in 2000 when
golf was still king and planned 27
holes. I came up with the idea of
trying to do another National Golf
Links. I had an intern one summer
and we researched the best courses
from Ireland, England and Scotland
and the best hole concepts. Two
developers later, and the project
downsized to 18 holes, Ron Whitten
and I are now in the middle of
building the course. It was in 2012
that we went out for bids, awarded
the contract and went to work. The
contractor came in late summer and
was told to stop construction in late
fall, by which time we’d rough graded
four holes. The second year comes—
we finished eight more holes and
he pulled the plug again. Hopefully
we’ll finish those four holes and the
practice facilities this year—and then
do the rest of the course next year,
opening the full 18 in early 2016.”
Clark says the key lesson he’s
learned from Cutalong is not to
go all-in too early. “Start small!” he
says. “We bid to build the practice
facilities and a four-hole loop, so that
people who were buying lots would
have real golf holes to look at. It’s a
segmented approach.”
Cutalong
Location: Lake Anna, Virginia
Architect: Tom Clark, ASGCA Past President
