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“In addition to providing a beautiful
golf experience for residents and
guests, the course is a green space
buffer to environmental areas,
including wetlands and a very sensitive
black water stream. The ponds in the
development have been designed
to serve multiple purposes: strategic
features within the golf design,
stormwater management to the
community and an irrigation source for
the course,” he says. “The result was a
golf course integrated with residential
development areas to provide
enhancement value while maintaining
the best possible golf experience and
reasonable development costs.”
Among the community—which
is largely retirees—it’s not just
golfers who benefit. “Golf anchored
the project,” says Love. “But the
environment can be enjoyed by
all. The course has protected
topography and natural features
that lend character to the area, and
extended green space back into
the community. And the clubhouse
provides amenities such as a pool
and social activities that bring the
local population together.”
This role of a golf club as a focal point
for the community is also driving a
trend towards courses reopening.
“People want their golf courses
back,” says ASGCA Past President
Tom Clark, ASGCA, a principal of
Ault, Clark & Associates. “In addition
to restoring the premium on their
property prices, they recognize
that a golf course can tie the whole
development together.”
In addition to two projects for
new golf courses within residential
developments, Clark is currently
working on four projects to reopen golf
courses in established communities.
One of those is at the
Beacon Hill
development in Leesburg, Virginia, a
suburb of Washington, D.C. In 1999,
Clark created the original 27-hole
routing, before the developer handed
the project to a different group for
completion. A colorful history of
changes in ownership eventually saw
the golf course fall out of operation in
the mid-2000s, despite local efforts to
keep it maintained.
“When the course was here, there
was a better sense of community,” says
Terry Allen, one of the homeowners at
Beacon Hill. “We would have a Friday
afternoon couples’ match, and then
all drive our carts over to one of our
homes to socialize afterwards. There
was much more interaction among the
people here.”
Allen and a group of fellow
homeowners have been working to
find a way of getting the golf course
back. They have generated interest
from a variety of potential operators,
and are hopeful to have now identified
one that could see them reopen the
course within the next two years.
Clark has developed revised plans
that will give them a practical route
to getting 18 holes back to operation.
This will begin with clearing the
brush that has grown around the
perimeter of the course, then re-
seeding and sprigging. He’s also
recommending tweaks to the design
to broaden the appeal and give it a
better chance of long-term success.
“When I first visited the completed
course, I was amazed at how deep
they’d built the bunkers—they were
10-15 feet deep in places. They had
left all the streams open and created
what was a very difficult target golf
experience.”
“While I personally like a difficult
golf course,” says Allen, “from a
business standpoint, I understand
the need for it to be softened. Making
Beacon Hill a more playable course is
best for everyone.”
Again, it’s not just the golfers within
the community who will benefit.
“The most attractive thing about
the course is that it is absolutely
beautiful,” says Allen. “It has streams
and ponds, elevation change, it’s
wooded and there are hawks and
deer everywhere.”
Clark’s new plan also provides the
homeowners with the option of using
some of the land for other activities.
“I picked a best 18 that will make
a really nice par-72 course. But it
leaves space for a short course to be
developed, as well as nature trails and
a ball field for the homeowners.”
Lessons of a difficult decade for the
housing market have been learnt,
and developers are adapting their
business plans to find a sensible
balance for their projects.
In Millsboro, Delaware, Lennar
Corporation felt that having a golf
element was crucial to the success of
its
Plantation Lakes
project, even in its
earliest stages. They wanted to market
a golf club membership to people who
GOLF DEVELOPMENT
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By Design
ASGCA Past President Tom Clark has developed a plan that will help get the
golf course at Beacon Hill back into operation